Decolonizing the Meaning of Yam: The Ecological Crisis of the Nile Delta and the Erosion of Prophetic Memory in Modern Exegesis

Durrotun Nashah; Kartika Sari

doi:10.55927/ijis.v5i7.57

Authors

Durrotun Nashah UIN Syarif Hidayatullah
Kartika Sari IAIN Syaikh Abdurrahman Siddik

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55927/ijis.v5i7.57

Keywords:

Yam, Decolonization of Exegesis, Decolonial Ecolinguistics, Ecological Repentance, Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the ecological crisis in the Nile Delta (2016–2026) triggered by an epistemological shift in the meaning of the word Yam (يم) in the prophetic narrative of Moses from an authoritative theological entity to mere neutral hydrological data. This research seeks to uncover how the concretization of wetlands legitimizes the destruction of prophetic historical memory. The methods employed include Decolonial Ecolinguistics, integrating stylistic-phonological analysis (the psychoacoustic effects of the closed mim sound), Edward Said’s Traveling Theory to trace the migration of textual meaning, and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Egyptian development policy documents. The research findings indicate that the reduction of the meaning of Yam to a “flat” physical fact provides justification for massive infrastructure projects that eradicate papyrus plants (Cyperus papyrus). This extinction results in “systematic amnesia,” where the Qur’anic narrative loses its empirical anchor and is reduced to mere myth due to the loss of material evidence in nature. In conclusion, the environmental crisis in the Nile Delta is a manifestation of an interpretive crisis. This study proposes the concept of Ecological Repentance (al-tawbah al-īkūlūjiyyah) as a theo-ecological solution. The salvation of the Nile ecosystem must begin with decolonizing the perspective on sacred texts, restoring nature as an “ayat” that has the right to sustainability, transcending materialistic-economic logic

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