A critical analysis of James Bellamy's reformist view on the words "أَبًّا", "لمَّا", and "جِبْتِ"

James Bellamy, one of the prominent contemporary orientalists, has adopted a corrective approach to the analysis of Quranic vocabulary, claiming that some words in this sacred text have been distorted or modified and need to be reread and corrected. In his research, especially in articles published in Semitic linguistic journals, he has reviewed some Quranic words and suggested different meanings for them. Among these words are “أَبًّا”, “لَمَّا” and “جِبْتِ”, which Bellamy, relying on the method of comparative linguistics and historical analysis, has considered to have meanings different from the common understandings in Islamic interpretations. This study, with an analytical-critical approach, examines Bellamy’s arguments from three basic perspectives: first, the extent to which his suggestions conform to the rules of historical linguistics and textual evidence; second, the evaluation of intratextual evidence and the context of Quranic verses; and third, comparing his view with ancient interpretive and lexical sources. The findings of this study show that although Bellamy's approach contains significant innovations in some cases, his analyses face serious shortcomings due to reasons such as disregard for the general context of the Arabic language, ignoring the semantic developments of words in their historical course, and lack of coherence with other intra-Quranic evidence. In addition, some of his hypotheses are based on linguistic speculations that lack sufficient textual support and historical documentation. The results of the study emphasize the importance of accuracy in linguistic analyses of sacred texts and show that the interpretation of Quranic words cannot be based solely on corrective hypotheses and without considering the general framework of the Arabic language and the contextual structure of the verses. Therefore, critiquing and examining reformist views in the field of Quranic linguistics requires simultaneous attention to linguistic, interpretive, and historical methods in order to prevent incorrect interpretations and the imposition of invalid meanings on the Quranic text.