Ontology and Accessibility Relations in the Holy Quran: Towards a Sacred Text-World Model

This paper applies Text World Theory (Werth, 1999; Gavins, 2007) to examine the concepts of ontology and accessibility relations in the Holy Quran, with the hope of introducing a Sacred Text-World Model suitable for sacred and religious discourses. Although many scholars have tested the boundaries of the text-world framework to literary and non-literary texts, very few studies have applied the model to religious discourse (see for example, Mahmoud, 2018, 2024). Therefore, this paper is an attempt to augment Text World Theory to adapt sacred discourse. Based on the application of the Sacred Text World Theory to the Holy Quran, the analysis demonstrates that the Quran consistently creates stratified ontological spheres, including the divine, the angelic, the metaphysical, the human and the material. All of these domains are considered real from an Islamic point of view. The analysis further reveals how accessibility relations (epistemic, deontic, temporal, spatial, etc.) govern believers' engagement with these domains.