A precise understanding of the vocabulary of the Qur’an is among the most important prerequisites for interpreting its verses and discerning the divine intent. One of the fundamental issues in this regard is the identification of the semantic core of Qur’anic words—that is, the underlying meaning to which all the uses and derivatives of a particular lexical root ultimately return. In his al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, ʿAllāma Ḥasan Muṣṭafawī adopts this premise and posits a central and unified meaning for each Qur’anic root, regarding many of the meanings proposed in lexical sources as instances, implications, or consequences of that semantic core.
Using a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach, the present study examines Muṣṭafawī’s account of the semantic core of Qur’anic vocabulary in comparison with the views of Muslim lexicographers, particularly Ibn Fāris in Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha, as well as selected Shiʿi exegetical works. To this end, the corpus of Qur’anic words addressed in al-Taḥqīq was examined in general terms, and a number of representative lexical items were selected for comparative analysis. The findings indicate that attention to the semantic core not only establishes greater coherence among the diverse uses of Qur’anic vocabulary but, in many cases, also facilitates the discovery of new semantic nuances that have received comparatively limited attention in earlier lexicographical and exegetical works. Moreover, analysis of the selected examples demonstrates that, by placing the semantic core at the center of his approach, Muṣṭafawī offers interpretations that diverge in numerous instances from the prevailing views of lexicographers and exegetes, thereby providing novel readings of certain Qur’anic lexical items. Accordingly, an approach grounded in the semantic core can reveal overlooked dimensions of Qur’anic lexical studies and open new avenues for identifying less-recognized layers and semantic nuances in the process of Qur’anic interpretation.