kināyah In Qur’an 2:187: A Study of Qur’anic Aesthetics, Linguistic Ethics, And Legal Implications

Miftahul Husna; Fatimah Zahra

Authors

Miftahul Husna Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara
Fatimah Zahra Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara

Keywords:

kināyah, qur’anic aesthetics, linguistic ethics, islamic legal hermeneutics, quran 2:187

Abstract

This article examines kināyah in Qur’an 2:187 as a Qur’anic mode of expression that integrates aesthetic refinement, linguistic ethics, and legal clarity. The study addresses the tendency to separate the verse’s rhetorical beauty from its ethical and juridical functions, especially in discussions of marital intimacy, fasting, and iʿtikāf. Using a qualitative textual-hermeneutical method, the article analyses the Arabic text of Q. 2:187 through selected expressions, including al-rafath ilā nisāʾikum, hunna libās lakum wa-antum libās lahunna, bāshirūhunna, and al-khayṭ al-abyaḍ min al-khayṭ al-aswad. The analysis combines Arabic rhetorical theory, Qur’anic stylistics, linguistic ethics, and Islamic legal hermeneutics. The findings show that kināyah in Q. 2:187 functions first as disciplined Qur’anic indirection, allowing intimate realities to be expressed clearly without vulgarity. Second, the garment imagery constructs marital intimacy through reciprocity, protection, concealment, and dignity. Third, the verse establishes a linguistic ethics of sexual discourse by sustaining modesty and legal intelligibility at once. Fourth, rhetorical indirection does not weaken legal meaning; rather, it supports the verse’s rulings on conjugal permission during Ramadan nights, the temporal boundary of fasting, and the prohibition of sexual relations during iʿtikāf. The article contributes to Qur’anic Studies, Arabic rhetoric, Islamic legal hermeneutics, and linguistic ethics by reframing kināyah as a Qur’anic strategy in which aesthetics, ethics, and law are mutually constitutive.

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