The semantical analysis of the concept of nation in holy Qur'an

The people gathering or coming together in accordance with a nation are called a/an eponym, communion, ummah, people of a nation, or residents of a nation in respect to a society. In Islamic literature, the concept of nation is used to express the meanings of religion and sharia. The Qur'an determined the meaning scope of nation in Islamic literature and used this concept in place of the word 'religion'. It is found out that this concept, which is mentioned in fifteen places in the Qur'an, is used in the sense of religion, belief system, and shariah. In this study, we will deal with the concept of "nation" by using semantic analysis and diacronic methods. In this way, we will examine the changes in its meaning from the beginning until today by investigating the first use of this concept in the poems from the period of jahiliyyah. Today, it has been seen that the concept of nation is completely detracted from its context in its meaning scope and that the concept of nation is used in the sense of a human community coming from the same background, or human communities that meet in common ground such as race, religion, language, culture, and geography. In the Qur'an, while the nation expresses the whole of the principles around which a community is gathered, today it is used to express the community itself. In this study, considering all the places where the concept of "nation" is mentioned, the researcher makes a conclusion by arguing that there is no connection between the concept of nation stated in this study and a human community with a racial, national, or cultural unity.