Abstract

Reader-response theory is based on the assumption that a literary work takes place in the mutual
relationship between the reader and the text. According to this theory, the meaning is constructed
through a transaction between the reader and the text within a particular context. Readers assume
multiple roles when responding to a variety of forms of literature. The process of developing
responses facilitates active and meaningful reading and increases emotional and intellectual
participation in the text, which ultimately provides learners with better comprehension and
awareness of the text. The potential value of classroom discussions helps learners to express their
emotional reactions, to elicit their responses, to nourish their perspectives for furthering depth of
their interpretation, to corroborate their opinions and share their responses for building a social
relationship. It is crucial that learners are directed to perform more adequately in response to
texts and actively engage in dialogues to pose literal and inferential questions, to explore a range
of possible meanings and to foster cognitive development and comprehension.

Keywords: reader-response theory, literature discussions, speaking skills, text, reader,

interpretation

Introduction

َ ‫ين َأ ْن َع ْم‬
‫ت‬ َ ‫ص َراطَ الَّ ِذ‬
ِ َ ‫ْال َح ْم ُد هَّلِل ِ َربِّ ْال َعالَ ِم‬
………………………‫ين‬

ِ ‫َعلَ ْي ِه ْم َغي ِْر ْال َم ْغضُو‬

َ ِّ‫ب َعلَ ْي ِه ْم َواَل الضَّال‬
‫ين‬
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds……………..Your anger or of those who are astray.

‫ سب تعریفیں ہللا ہی کے لئے ہیں ج و‬.‫ہللا کے نام سےشروع جو نہایت مہربان اور رحم فرمانےواال ہے‬
)!‫تمام جہانوں کا پالنے واال ہے۔نہایت مہربان بہت رحم فرمانے واال ہے۔رو ِز جزا ک ا مال ک ہے۔)اے ہللا‬
‫ہم تیری ہی عبادت کرتے ہیں اور ہم تجھ ہی سے مدد چاہتے ہیں۔ہمیں سیدھا راس تہ دکھ ا۔ان لوگ وں ک ا‬
‫راستہ جن پر تو نے انعام فرمایا ان لوگوں کا نہیں جن پر غضب کیا گیا ہے اور نہ (ہی) گمراہوں کا‬
Research question

 Who is the reader?

 Who is the implied reader?
 What experiences, thoughts, or knowledge does the text evoke?
 What aspects or characters of the text do you identify or misidentify
with, and how does this process of identification affect your response to
the text?

Objectives

The purpose of applying the reader-response literary criticism is to emphasize the
importance of the reader's relationship to the text.

Discussion

Bressler points out: “Unlike the New Critics, [Rosenblatt] shifts the emphasis of textual analysis
away from the text alone and views the reader and the text as partners in the interpretative
process.”9 Rosenblatt’s main tenet is the notion of the transactional experience between the
reader and the text, where the text brings past experiences back to the reader, but at the same
time the text is shaping those emotional experiences by selecting and ordering the ideas in a
well-structured way. In other words, during the reading process there is emotion to be taken into
account, but the creation of meaning is still restricted to some probable meanings within the text.
According to Rosenblatt, a poem is produced each time reader and text come partners in the
interpretative process. Likewise Quaranic verses and its reader come partners iin the interpretive
process for example the verse
 1:7

ِ ‫ت َعلَ ْي ِه ْم َغي ِْر ْال َم ْغضُو‬

Xَ ِّ‫ب َعلَ ْي ِه ْم َواَل الضَّال‬
‫ين‬ َ ‫ين َأ ْن َع ْم‬
َ ‫ص َراطَ الَّ ِذ‬
ِ
The Path Upon Those Whom You have bestowed Your Favour Not Of Those
Who Have Evoked Your Anger Or Of Those Who Went Astray

During analyzing the verse the text brings the reader ideas and knowledge of the people
upon Whom Allah Almighty bestowed His Favor. Allah Almighty has given us is the blessing
of Islam, knowledge of this Deen. There are four types of people who have been bestowed
with Allah’s blessings : prophets, thurthfull people, martyrs and uprights.

He also points out and defines the three types of readers: the real reader, the virtual reader and
the ideal reader. The real reader is the person who is actually reading the text, book in hand,
concentrating on the words, silently—or not—reading the words printed. This reader is not
fictitious. The virtual reader is the possible person for whom the author writes, unless the writer
is writing for himself or herself. According to Prince, “Every author […] develops his [or her]
narrative as a function of a certain type of reader whom he [or she] bestows certain qualities,
faculties, and inclinations according to his [or her] opinion of men in general and according to
the obligations he [or she] feels should be respected.
Finally, the ideal reader is the one who would understand perfectly what the writer intends to
communicate and who would agree with the writer’s ideology and perception of life.
Likewise in the interpretation of Sura Fatiha the real reader is the one who is actually reading the
text. The virtual reader here, is the subject of the each verse and Whole Quran. Every reader
who reads Quranic verses he feels that it has been revealed through Allah’s Prophets to him in
particular and whole mankind in general. Ideal reader is the one who picks up real message of
Quranic verses such as Sura Fatiha.Allah Almighty here is teaching the mankind in implicit and
explicit manners how to seek guidance from Allah Almighty through his bestowed peoples.
At the same, Allah Almighty also teaches the reader to prevent those path chosen by the people
who had been gone astray.

When we ask for this path, those who Allah has bestowed his favour, Who are these people?
In Sura Nisa verse # 69 Allah Almighty tells us whoever obeys Allah and the messenger those
will be with the ones Allah has bestowed his favour and these people are:
 the Prophets,
 the Sadikeen who are the Truthful Ones,
 the Martyrs and
 As Saliheen those who are Righteous.
These are the ones Allah Almighty has bestowed his favour upon.
What is the blessing Allah has given them?
It’s the blessing of Islam, blessing of knowledge, of the guidance. We want to be on the same
path as them, those who are practising, they have the knowledge. If you study the lives of the
Sahaba you will see that their lives were practical, they did what they said. They had the
knowledge and the knowledge was in their actions. These people sacrificed their time for Allah
Almighty they spent their time in the service of Allah, their dedication and their commitment to
the deen, they were submissive, truthful, honest, patient, trustworthy, and they called people to
Allah’s way, so they had the knowledge, implemented it and spread it to others, called others to
the same thing that they had, to the blessings that they had, to spend in the way of Allah. So in
other words, we are asking for all of these qualities. When we say ۡ‫ص َرٲطَ ٱلَّ ِذينَ َأ ۡن َعمۡ تَ َعلَ ۡي ِهم‬
ِ we are
asking for these qualities that these people had. Allah Almighty is pleased with them and they
are pleased with him, so we want to be like them, we are asking for the same path that they
walked upon, and for this, we need to study their lives.

Not of those who have evoked your anger or of those who went astray.
And we ask Allah not to make us of those Ghari Al Maghdubi Alayhim, not of those who
invoked your anger.
Who are those who invoked Allah’s anger?
They are those who went astray after gaining knowledge.
And not of those who went astray – Daleen are those who went astray without having the
knowledge, they are ignorant, they did not learn nor did they try to learn, so there are two
different groups here. Those that had the knowledge and yet they disregarded that knowledge
and went astray and those that did not even learn, they did not have the knowledge nor did the
seek it.
 Those that had the knowledge and yet they disregarded that knowledge and went astray and
 Those that did not even learn, they did not have the knowledge nor did they seek it.
Now Allah Almighty is angry with those who know and yet they still do wrong, thus Allah
Almighty describes Al Maghdubi as those who know and yet they still do wrong, as we would
when we know something better we know better than what we are doing, they know they should
not be doing what they are doing, yet deliberately they still do that and this is what invokes the
anger of Allah.
Allah’s anger becomes his punishment. So we look at the previous nations of Nuh who was the
first nation to be destroyed, then Ad and Thamud and over time Bani Israel also had the
punishment of Allah Almighty upon them.
Allah Almighty says in the Quran Sirat Al Lathina An'amta Alayhim – the path of
those who Allah favored. In the Quran Allah Almighty says today I have completed my
favour upon you.

There are many favors that Allah Almighty has given us but the blessing that is mentioned the
greatest blessing that Allah Almighty have given us is the blessing of Islam, knowledge of this
deen. We ask Allah Almighty to make us continue to walk upon this path of Islam until death.
Ameen.
From this Surah, we learn that to be upon the path of those who are blessed, you must act upon it
so that we can be saved on the Day of Judgment.
When we end this Surah we say, Ameen. O Allah accept this dua. The Messenger of Allah said
when the Iman says Ameen then say Ameen, because whoever says Ameen with the angels his
previous sins will be forgiven. Ameen is not just to be said after Suratal Al Fatihah but at any
time that someone makes a dua – when we say Ameen, we are saying O Allah answer our dua.
Affective Stylistics:

Affective fallacy, according to the followers of New Criticism, the misconception that arises
from judging a poem by the emotional effect that it produces in the reader.
In case of interpreting the Quranic verses many readers go astray or deviate form the real
message and the content of the verses.
Allah Almighy himself states in The Holy Quran.

‫ َّو یَ ْه ِدیْ بِ ٖه َكثِ ْی ًر‬-‫ُضلُّ بِ ٖه َكثِ ْیر ًۙا‬

ِ ‫ی‬

There are many people who get astray and there are many who get ushered (by Holy Quran).

According to Holland, interpretation is a process consisting of three stages or modes: In defense

mode, our psychological defenses are raised by the text. In the fantasy mode, we find a way
to interpret the text that will tranquilize those defenses and thus fulfill our desire to be
protected from threats to our psychological equilibrium. And finally, in the transformation
mode, we transform the first two steps into an abstract interpretation so that we can get
the psychological satisfaction we desire (without acknowledging to ourselves the anxiety-
producing defenses and guilt-producing fantasies that underlie our .assessment of the text.)

Defense Mode

In defense mode, when Allah Almighty mentions consequences of bad deeds done by people
even with the knowledge of the guiding books, the readers psychological defense mode rises and
he/she ponders over what he/she is doing and what should be done. In order to prevent the results
framed by their whole life’s deeds.
 ‫ُون َعلَ ْي ِه‬
َ ‫ فَ َش ٰـ ِرب‬. ‫ون‬ َ ُ‫ُٔون ِم ْنهَا ْٱلبُط‬ ٍ ۢ ُّ‫ون ِمن َش َج ۢ ٍر ِّمن َزق‬
َ ‫ فَ َمالِـ‬. ‫وم‬ َ ُ‫لَـَٔا ِكل‬
ِ ‫ هَ ٰـ َذا نُ ُزلُهُ ْم يَ ْو َم ٱل ِّد‬. ‫ب ْٱل ِه ِيم‬
.‫ين‬ َ ْ‫ُون ُشر‬َ ‫ فَ َش ٰـ ِرب‬.‫ِم َن ْٱل َح ِم ِيم‬
“Will certainly eat from ˹the fruit of˺ the trees of Zaqqûm, filling up your bellies with it. Then on
top of that you will drink boiling water. and you will drink ˹it˺ like thirsty camels do.”This will
be their accommodation on the Day of Judgment.”

Fantasy Mode:

In fantasy mode, even though the reader’s psychological defense mode rises his /her mode gets
tranquilized and turned in to fantasy mode having read the following.

َ ‫ْال َح ْم ُد هَّلِل ِ َربِّ ْال َعالَ ِم‬

‫ين‬

We say All Praise to Allah Lord of the Worlds.

Allah Almighty is perfect we can praise Allah Almighty and we can praise others, but it is not
the same it is not at the same level, we can praise someone but in the heart, we may not really
mean it so it can never be at the same level.
Rabb – What does Rabb mean? There are three qualities of Rabb  
 One who plans
 One who creates
 One who nourishes
It is Allah Almighty who created the universes, who sustains the universes and he nourishes the
universes all the way to the end. He owns everything that is why all praise is for him.
The sun, it always comes out on time because Allah Almighty is controlling it. There is so much
harmony in the universe because Allah Almighty is controlling this. Some people believe that
Allah Almighty just created and that was it, but this is not so Allah Almighty maintains the
universe and all that is in between them.

ِ ‫الرَّحْ ٰ َم ِن الر‬
‫َّح ِيم‬

The Entirely Merciful The Especially Merciful

Allah Almighty is constantly merciful to us, he grants us blessings and we sin, yet he continues
to grant us blessings. He does not immediately punish us.
Ar Rahman – He is entirely merciful to us and he gives to us whether we show gratitude or not,
he continues to give to us all the time. Imagine if you were to do a favour for someone if you
were to give to somebody and they did not show gratitude towards you. And again, you give to
someone and they still did not show gratitude by the third time there is no way you would want
to go back to that person, and yet each time we commit a sin, each time we do something wrong
Allah still continues to give to us.

ِ ‫َمالِ ِك يَ ْو ِم ال ِّد‬
‫ين‬
Sovereign Of The Day Of Recompense
Allah Almighty is Sovereign of the Day of Recompense. Malik means Sovereign, Master,
Complete Owner of the day of Recompense, the Day of Judgment.
What does it mean that he is the Sovereign of that Day? Or the Master of that Day?
It means that all things are in his hands, everything is under his control. On that day only Allah
Almighty will have authority. That day whatever a person has done in the Dunya they will
recompense, they will be giving their result, they will be given their payment.
Every Malik is not an owner – He might own a thing e.g. You have some kings that don’t have
an authority like the Queen she does not do anything, but Allah Almighty is Malik and Owner he
does both, he owns and has the authority to do everything.
Nothing will be hidden from Allah. He is the exclusive owner of that day and this means that all
deeds will be completely before him and not just in terms of physically, not just that physically
people will be enclosed, but the deeds, the reality of deeds will be before Allah, the intentions
behind them, and Allah will give recompense accordingly. The reward for those who did good
and recompense for those who did evil.
We learn that everything is in Allah's hand, we should not rely on people but turn to Allah
because on that day Kings, Queens everybody will be the same.
Does man think that he will be left alone that he is here and no one will question him? But on
that day they will be questioned so we need to work for that day from now so we can attain
Jannah.

We learn we should submit ourselves to Allah Almighty in this world. Allah is the owner of this
world and the hereafter. A person will be brought forth from the first to the last on that day.

‫ َكَأ ْمثَ ٰـ ِل‬.‫ين‬ ٌ ۭ ‫ َوحُو ٌر ِع‬. ‫ُون‬َ ‫ َولَحْ ِم طَي ۢ ٍْر ِّم َّما يَ ْشتَه‬. ‫ُون‬ َ ‫َوفَ ٰـ ِكهَ ۢ ٍة ِّم َّما يَتَ َخيَّر‬
‫ُون فِيهَا لَ ْغ ۭ ًوا َواَل‬ َ ُ‫وا يَ ْع َمل‬
َ ‫ اَل يَ ْس َمع‬. ‫ون‬ ۟ ُ‫ َج َزٓا ۢ ًء بما َكان‬. ‫ٱللُّْؤ لُ ْٱلم ْكنُون‬
َِ ِ َ ‫ِؤ‬
.‫ ِإاَّل قِياًۭل َسلَ ٰـ ًۭما َسلَ ٰـ ًۭما‬. ‫تَْأثِي ًما‬

They will also be served˺ any fruit they choose. and meat from any bird they desire. And ˹they
will have˺ maidens with gorgeous eyes, like pristine pearls, all˺ as a reward for what they used to
do. There they will never hear any idle or sinful talk. only good and virtuous speech.

The Phenomenological method

There are really two kinds of Reader-Response Criticism that could be found in the writings of

the American literary theorist, Stanley Fish; one is a phenomenological approach and the other is

an epistemological theory characteristic of Fish’s later works.

The Phenomenological method has much to commend itself to us as it focuses on what happens

in the reader’s mind as he or she reads.

After reading Surah Fatihah verses reader develops The Phenomenological approach as in a

short examination of the Surah Fatihah verses, the crux is to ask Dua to guide you towards Sirat

Al Mustaqeem i.e. straight path. There is so much depth in this Dua. It summarizes the goal of

this life – to remain rooted to the path of Allah and not be led astray by the whisperings of

Satan.

Conclusion