Monotheism in Religious Texts: A Cognitive-Semantic Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss4/Pt1.2191Keywords:
monotheism, semantic-cognitive analysis, religious textsAbstract
This study presents a cognitive-semantic analysis of monotheism in the Glorious Qur'an and the Holy Bible. Most of the previous studies focus on the religious, historical, or linguistic meanings of monotheism; therefore, this study seeks to address this gap by exploring the cognitive-semantic aspect of monotheism and the similarities and differences between the selected Qur'anic and Biblical texts. This study employs a qualitative approach to analyse six texts: three texts from the Glorious Qur'an and the other three texts are from the Holy Bible. It adopts an eclectic model which includes Johnson's Image Schema Theory (1987), Fauconnier's Mental Space Theory (1984), and Palmer's Lexical Relations Theory (1997). The analysis shows that the selected Qur'anic and Biblical texts reject polytheism and assert the divine singularity, but they differ in the religious doctrines that they reveal. The selected Qur'anic texts emphasise a strict monotheistic belief, whereas the selected Biblical texts involve the doctrine of Trinity.
Downloads
References
The Glorious Qur'an
The Holy Bible
Abdullah, O. C., & Ishak, M. S. H. (2011). Commonalities and differences among Abrahamic
faiths. Journal of Islam in Asia, Special Issue(3).
Ali, A. Y. (2004). The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an: Text, translation and commentary. Amana
Publications.
Ali, M. H. (2023). Islam and the unity of being. In J. P. Syndor & A. J. Watson (Eds.),
Nondualism: An interreligious exploration (pp. 3–18). Lexington Books.
Al-Qahtani, S. b. A. b. W. (2000). The light of monotheism and the darkness of polytheism in
the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah (3rd ed.). Al-Sunna Publishing.
Arlis, A., Jelani, A. B., & Taufiq, A. (2023). Integrating the principle of monotheism into
constitutional law. El-Hekam: Jurnal Studi Keislaman, 8(1), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.31958/jeh.v8i1.8227
Arman, M. Y. A., Chowdhury, A., Rafi, A. H., & Nahar, K. (2025). One God, many
perspectives: A comparative study of monotheism in Abrahamic religions from an
Islamic viewpoint. International Journal of Cultural and Religious Studies, 5(1), 1–15.
https://doi.org/10.32996/ijcrs.2025.5.1.5
Badawi, E. M., & Abdel Haleem, M. (2008). Arabic-English dictionary of Quranic usage. Brill.
Creswell, J. W. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
traditions. Sage Publications.
Croft, W., & Cruse, D. A. (2004). Cognitive linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Cruse, D. A. (2000). Meaning in language: An introduction to semantics and pragmatics.
Oxford University Press.
Crystal, D. (1998). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. Blackwell.
Crystal, D. (2008). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics (6th ed.). Blackwell.
Denova, R. (2019). Monotheism in the ancient world. World History Encyclopedia.
Durie, M. (2025). Islam's monotheistic doctrine of Tawhīd: Perspectives for Christian-Muslim
encounters. The Australian University of Theology.
Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh University
Press.
Fatima, K., Siddiqui, U. M., & Jadoon, A. (2022). Belief in oneness of god (tawḥīd) in Islam
and the doctrine of monotheism in Zoroastrianism: A comparative study in light of interfaith harmony and global peace. Pakistan Journal of Social Research, 4(1), 897–903.
Fauconnier, G. (1994). Mental spaces: Aspects of meaning construction in natural language.
Cambridge University Press.
Geeraerts, D. (2010). Theories of lexical semantics. Oxford University Press.
Gibbs, R. W. (2006). Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge University Press.
Hashi, A. A. (2013). Between monotheism and Tawhid: A comparative analysis. Revelation
and Science, 3(2), 23–29.
Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis.
Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277–1288.
Husain, W. A. F., & Khan, A. U. D. (2025). A comparative analysis of monotheism in Islam
and Judaism. BITARA International Journal of Civilizational Studies and Human Sciences, 8(2), 257–280. http://www.bitarajournal.com
Ibrahim, C. (2022). Islam and monotheism. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108986007
Johnson, L. T. (2012). The history of Christianity: From the disciples to the dawn of the
Reformation [Course guidebook]. The Great Courses.
Johnson, M. (1987). The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and
reason. University of Chicago Press.
The King James Version of the Holy Bible [PDF version]. (2004).
Kazem, A. S., & Khalifa, A. H. F. (2022). Evidence for monotheism in Islam and Qur'an and
meaning of names and attributes. Journal of Islamic Sciences, 47(1), 1–21.
Khan, A. D., & Husain, W. A. F. W. (2025). A comparative analysis of monotheism in Islam
and Judaism. BITARA International Journal of Civilizational Studies and Human Sciences, 8(2), 257–276. http://www.bitarajournal.com
King James Version (2004). The Holy Bible (PDF ed.). DaVince Tools. http://www.davince.com/bible
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. The University of Chicago Press.
Lemmens, M. (2015). Cognitive semantics. Taylor & Francis Group.
Murphy, M. L. (2003). Semantic relations and the lexicon. Cambridge University Press.
Owaid, M. K., & Atatfa, O. A. W. (2026). Legitimising privacy breach: A critical-cognitive
analysis of the UK government's narrative on LFR technology. Wasit Journal for
Human Sciences, 22(2), 1370–1387. https://doi.org/10.31185/wjfh.Vol22.Iss2.1651
Palmer, F. R. (1997). Semantics: A new outline. Cambridge University Press.
Philips, A. A. B. (2005). The fundamentals of tawheed: Islamic monotheism. MSA-USC.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/tawheed
Sharvani, Z. A. K. (2016). Monotheism in Islam with reference to Tawhid, Shirk and Kufr.
Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 6(5), 247–253. https://www.oiirj.org/oiirj/sept-oct2016/30.pdf
Smith, M. S. (2013). God in translation: Deities in cross-cultural discourse in the biblical
world. Eerdmans Publishing.
Sommer, B. D. (2016). Monotheism. In J. Barton (Ed.), The Hebrew Bible: A critical
companion (pp. 239–270). Princeton University Press.
Vitkovic, S. (2018). The similarities and differences between Abrahamic religions. IJASOS-
International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences, 4(11). 455-462
http:/ijasos.ocerintjournals.org/issue/38943/455673
Yule, G. (2023). The study of language. Cambridge University Press.
Ziqi, Z. (2023). A literature review of the image schema theory and concepts of construction.
International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 9(6), 542–546.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Batoul Hassan Jassim , Prof. Dr. Hashim A. M. AlHusseini
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
