Meaning of “the Right Imam” based upon the Holy Quran’s Verses

The concept of “the Right Imam” is one of the most significant Quranic concepts and has attracted the attention of various jurisprudential, theological, mystical, interpretative, narrative and historical schools. However, it has not been dealt with by a semantic approach yet. Although the word “Imam” with the meaning of right leader has been used in 5 ranks in the Holy Quran, it could be said that most of the verses of the Holy Quran serve on fostering of perfect human. Using a semantic approach, this study has attempted to illustrate the concept of “the Right Imam” and to explore its meaning components by referring to the Holy Quran. Since semantics adopts an analytic and painstaking approach to texts, it is known as an appropriate method to decipher the actual meaning of words. Analysis of concurrent approaches in the 5 verses in which the concept of “the Right Imam” has been used, demonstrated that “the Right Imam” concept, in divine application, is identified by the meanings of falsification, guidance, and invitation on the syntagmatic axis and with the meanings of caliph, verse, word, Ummah, and path on the paradigmatic axis within the same semantic field. Discovering the semantic components of the word “Imam” uncovers the latent knowledge behind the verses and reveals the systemic thoughts of the Holy Quran.