Enhancing Interpersonal Communication: Lessons from 'Qaulan Sadidan' in the Quran

As humans, we tend to commit mistakes while dealing with people in our daily life, especially by using inappropriate communication and thus can compromise our rapport and relationship with others. It is undeniable that excellent human interactions will require effective communication as humans need to inform, express feelings, imagine, influence, and meet social expectations on a daily basis. Therefore, this article aims to investigate effective communication in human interactions based on the phrase of “Qaulan Sadidan” in the Quran. The phrase was revealed twice in two places: Surah al-Nisa’ verse 9 and Surah al-Ahzab, verse 70. In terms of understanding exegesis of the Quranic verses, the researchers select books from five medieval and contemporary scholars namely Tafsir al-Jalalayn by Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, Tafsir al-Quran al-‘Adzim by Ibn Kathir, Jami’ al-Bayan fi Ta’wil al-Quran by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Safwat al-Tafasir by Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni and Al-Kashshaf ‘an Haqa’iq Ghawamidh al-Tanzil by al-Zamakhshari. The researchers then extend the understanding of those verses to study the correlation of “Qaulan Sadidan” with effective communication in the context of human interactions. This study adopts inductive and analytical study where two Quranic verses from Surah al-Nisa’ and Surah al-Ahzab will be used and analysed to explore the deep and detailed meaning of the “Qaulan Sadidan” before analysing the correlation of “Qaulan Sadidan” with effective communication. It is obtained that the opinions of the Muslim scholars vary in terms of describing the meaning of “Qaulan Sadidan” and “Qaulan Sadidan” with effective communication can be adopted by individuals in their daily life interactions. Furthermore, it also can be concluded from both verses that by using Qaulan Sadidan in communication, Muslims will achieve a great attainment or “fawz ‘adzim” from Allah. These important findings eventually lead to the formation of a conceptual framework for effective communication based on those two Quranic verses.