Traditional and morphology-oriented approaches toward the Quranic rhyme

The article describes and compares two approaches toward the study of rhymes in the Quran. The first approach borrows a lot from traditional Arabic philology and is widespread in Arabic studies. This approach considers the Quranic rhyme the repetition of final consonant phonemes in final words of the verses (ayat). The second approach implies taking into account the features of the Arabic language morphology, as well as the application of modern literary and linguistic concepts. In this case, assonance caused by the unity of morphological derivational and inflectional models of rhyming words is to be considered the main component of the Quranic rhyme. The author indicates that the second approach is more capable of explaining the rhymes of the Quranic verses, especially in cases where the traditional approach is ineffective. Surahs of the early Meccan period are used as the material for the comparison which points to the importance of taking into account the features of the Arabic language morphology when studying the artistic style of the Quran and other Arabic texts written in rhymed prose (saj’).