Assistant Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith sciences, Al_Zahra University, Tehran, Iran,
10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
Abstract
Time is a fundamental and abstract concept that has consistently attracted the attention of researchers across various fields, including cognitive linguistics. Within this framework, time is examined in cognitive semantics through conceptual metaphors and in cognitive grammar through the functions of grammatical tense. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present study analyzes the non-temporal functions of the past tense in Quranic Arabic to clarify their relationship with the language’s conceptualization of time. The findings show that the non-temporal uses of the past tense in the Quran—including timeless truths, the future as an accomplished fact, inherent characteristics, and divine supplications—reflect the predominance of stability and certainty. This pattern contrasts with the non-temporal functions of the past tense in Persian and English, which are grounded in epistemic distance. The difference between these patterns reflects distinct modes of conceptualizing time. In Quranic Arabic, the past is conceptualized as lying ahead and the future behind, based on the notion of evidentiality (or "being in view"), whereas in Persian and English the conceptualization is reversed, based on forward motion. Stability and certainty, the defining features of these non-temporal uses of the past tense, can therefore be regarded as cognitive consequences of this evidential perspective.
Zouelm,A . (2026). The Connection Between the Non-Temporal Functions of the Past Tense Verb and the Pattern of Temporal Conceptualization in Quranic Arabic. (e14051). Quranic Studies and Islamic Culture, (), e14051 doi: 10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
MLA
Zouelm,A . "The Connection Between the Non-Temporal Functions of the Past Tense Verb and the Pattern of Temporal Conceptualization in Quranic Arabic" .e14051 , Quranic Studies and Islamic Culture, , , 2026, e14051. doi: 10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
HARVARD
Zouelm A. (2026). 'The Connection Between the Non-Temporal Functions of the Past Tense Verb and the Pattern of Temporal Conceptualization in Quranic Arabic', Quranic Studies and Islamic Culture, (), e14051. doi: 10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
CHICAGO
A Zouelm, "The Connection Between the Non-Temporal Functions of the Past Tense Verb and the Pattern of Temporal Conceptualization in Quranic Arabic," Quranic Studies and Islamic Culture, (2026): e14051, doi: 10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
VANCOUVER
Zouelm A. The Connection Between the Non-Temporal Functions of the Past Tense Verb and the Pattern of Temporal Conceptualization in Quranic Arabic. Quranic Studies and Islamic Culture. 2026;():e14051 (In Persian). doi: 10.22034/isqs.2026.52565.2430
