Qoran Shenakht

This study examines the challenge of understanding the Qur’anic anthropomorphic attributes (ṣifāt khabariyya), a longstanding theological–hermeneutical problem in Islamic thought. The theory of “assigning words to the spirits of meanings” claims that Qur’anic terms are originally designated for universal, immaterial realities rather than concrete material referents, thereby enabling a “real” understanding of such verses without recourse to corporealism, figurative interpretation, or tafwīḍ. Employing a descriptive–analytical method and drawing on insights from the philosophy of language, hermeneutics, and uṣūl al-fiqh, the article explicates the linguistic and epistemological foundations of this theory and then critically evaluates them. The findings show that the theory encounters several fundamental problems: first, from a linguistic–historical perspective, it conflicts with the inherently social and conventional nature of language; second, in the domain of uṣūl al-fiqh, it relies on a speculative ʿillah mustanbaṭah that exceeds the proper scope of linguistic designation; third, it conflates the mental universal concept with the actual mawḍūʿ lahu of a term; and fourth, it lacks functional comprehensiveness in interpreting the relevant Qur’anic passages. The study concludes that the theory operates less as a defensible linguistic model and more as a structured mystical hermeneutic imposed upon the phenomenon of language, and thus cannot serve as a reliable general principle for Qur’anic interpretation.