Analyzing the Creation of Meaning and Achieving "value" in the Story of the Prophet Solomon and the Queen of Sheba

Storytelling is one of the important strategies in the Holy Qur'an to express its teachings. In this literary-artistic style, the Qur'an tries to stimulate religious feeling and human consciousness. One of the most important and fascinating stories of the Qur'an, which is illustrated for the educational purposes and the propagation of values, is the story of the Prophet Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In the present study, the story is interpreted with a semiotic approach with the aim of explaining the Qur'anic concepts and applying them, as well as understanding the methodology of the Qur'an in producing discourse. With such an objective, it answers the question of how the process of meaning creation occurs. The narrative structure in the text is such that the performance function controls the process of creating meaning. The findings showed that the performance function governing this story shapes the performance discourse system. The nature of this system is shaped by the elimination of the crisis of meaning (polytheism). In this system, the strategy of acquiring a valuable object has both an operational and a programmatic aspect. Solomon and his activists achieved the object through a process of competence-performance and step-by-step operation, moving the Sabaeans from the first meaning (polytheism and lack of faith) to the second meaning (monotheism and godliness). In this way, with Solomon's soft power, the polytheistic political system in the land of Sheba is transformed into a monotheistic political system.



1. Introduction

The narrations of the prophets are rich and unique collections that have the capacity of the semiotic study. These stories are mentioned in the Qur'an in order to awaken both the human and society and bring them closer to the ideal situation. In fact, the art of storytelling in the Qur'an is considered as a strategy to propagate the values and intellectual development of the society.

Since the main purpose of the Holy Qur'an is to convey messages in line with the human guidance, it cannot be claimed that the narrations in the Qur'an have only aesthetic and artistic functions. Accordingly, the semiotic necessity of the Qur'anic narrations as well as the method of creating meaning so as to produce discourse are of special importance. One of these unique narrations, which is depicted with the aim of belief and political education with a special artistic technique, is the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The present study aims to explain the managerial role and the soft power of Solomon as well as the credibility of the Queen of Sheba in order to analyze the discourse functions of the story. The main issue of this study is to find the role of cognitive presence in how the Queen of Sheba believes and reaches the object of faith. The present study aims to explain the Qur'anic concepts and to apply them and to understand the Qur'anic method in producing discourse, as well as to explain the managerial role and the soft power of Solomon and the credibility of the Queen of Sheba, in order to analyze the discourse functions of the story.



2. Purpose, Questions and Hypotheses

The present study aims to explain the Qur'anic concepts and to apply them and to understand the Qur'anic method in producing discourse, as well as to explain the managerial role and the soft power of Solomon and the credibility of the Queen of Sheba, in order to analyze the discourse functions of the story.

This article seeks the answers to two questions: A. What kind of system does the governing process of the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba create in the Qur'an? B. How is an attachment with an object of value obtained? It is assumed that the the performance function makes the performance-oriented discourse governing and the actors achieve the object of value through a step-by-step operation and a narrative performance process.



3. Innovation

Because semiotics provides a methodological and coherent framework for the study of prolific texts, the narrative domains of the Holy Qur'an also provide the basis for such studies. Researchers have taken advantage of this opportunity to write in the field of semiotics in the Qur'anic stories.


Qur'anic performance-oriented discourses have not been studied yet. The present article attempts to study and analyze one of the most beautiful stories of the Qur'an focusing on the performance and manner of the presence of the actors.



4. Methodology

This article analyzes the discourse functions of the story of the Prophet Solomon and the Queen of Sheba with an analytical-inferential method and a semiotic approach.



5. Results

The findings suggest that the performance function governing this story shapes the performance discourse system. The nature of this system has been shaped by resolving the crisis of meaning (polytheism). In this system, the strategy of acquiring the object of value has both operational and programmatic aspects. Different ways of the presence of the actors, on which the creation of meaning depends, are tied to the modal verbs, and the performance obtains results through the process. In this action system, polytheism and sun-worship are a crisis that has led the people of the land of Sheba to break away from the object of value of faith and monotheism. The Prophet Solomon uses his soft power to lead the people of Sheba to the valuable object of monotheism and to resolve the crisis. He achieves the goal through a step-by-step operation and a performance process, which he is in the center of it, accompanied by the actors, and connects the Shebans to the object.In this programmatic operation, meaning changes from a negative state of unbelief to a positive state of faith in God.Thus, with Solomon's soft power, the political system based on polytheism in the land of Sheba is changed to a political system based on monotheism