Muqābalah in Surah Al-Lail: A Study of Semantic Aesthetics and Qur’anic Rhetoric

Aulia Rezki; Novita Syafitri; Muhammad Khaidir Ali

Authors

Aulia Rezki Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara
Novita Syafitri Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara
Muhammad Khaidir Ali Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara

Keywords:

muqābalah, surah al-lail, qur’anic rhetoric, semantic aesthetics, balāghah

Abstract

This article examines muqābalah in Surah Al-Lail as a semantic-aesthetic and rhetorical mechanism that organizes Qur’anic meaning through structured opposition. The study responds to the tendency to treat muqābalah merely as a formal ornament within badīʿ, whereas in Surah Al-Lail contrast functions as an interpretive principle that shapes the chapter’s moral and theological argument. The objective of the study is to identify the major patterns of semantic opposition in Surah Al-Lail, analyze their contribution to the surah’s rhetorical coherence, and clarify their ethical and theological functions in relation to human striving, divine guidance, and eschatological recompense. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative textual-hermeneutical design supported by semantic-rhetorical analysis and limited corpus-assisted verification. The Arabic text of Surah Al-Lail is examined through close reading, classical balāghah, Qur’anic semantics, discourse analysis, and lexical verification. The findings show that muqābalah structures the surah through a progressive sequence of contrasts: cosmic polarity, human differentiation, ethical opposition, rhetorical persuasion, and final consequence. The oppositions between night and day, giving and withholding, God-consciousness and self-sufficiency, affirmation and denial, ease and hardship, and salvation and punishment form a coherent semantic field. The study contributes theoretically by reframing muqābalah as semantic architecture rather than simple antithesis, demonstrating that Qur’anic aesthetic form actively produces moral reasoning, theological meaning, and persuasive force.

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