Modern Quranic Interpretation

Quranic Interpretation/ Tafsir Tafsir bi’l-ma’thur or bi’l-ma’qul –Classical scholars say interpretation only based on personal reason (ra’y) is prohibited… it must accord with and be backed up by transmitted material Ta’wil/Interpretation vs. Tafsir: “It is He who revealed the Book in it are strongly establishes ayat these are the Mother of the Book and others that are ambiguous and those who have misguidance in their hearts they follow the ambiguous of it seeking to cause dissention and seeking its ta’wil and none knows its ta’wil except God and those firm in knowledge they say ‘We believe in it, all if it comes from our Lord’ and none remembers this but those possessed of reason. (3:7) –Where does the comma go? Who can know?

Muhammad b. al-Sa’ib al-Kalbi (d. 763) attributes to Ibn Abbas (d. 688): “The Quran was [revealed] in four aspects: tafsir [the literal meaning?], which scholars know; Arabic with which the Arabs are acquainted; lawful and unlawful, of which it is not permissible for people to be unaware; and tawil [the deeper meaning?] that only God knows.” Ibn Abbas also says that ta’wil is “what will be (ma huwa ka’in).” Al-Maturidi: “The tafsir belongs to the Companions, the tawil to the scholars ( fuqaha), because the companions saw the events and knew the circumstances of the revelation of the Quran”

Early Tafsir Types Explanation of words and circumstances: derived from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatada, Ali b. Abi Talha – Collections: Muhammad b. Saib al- Kalbi and Muqatil b. Sulayman (d. 767) Grammar/Language Works: Ma’ani al- Quran by al-Farra’ (d. 822) Stories of the Prophets: ex. Tafsir of al- Dahhak b. Muzahim of Balkh (d. 723), al- Suddi

Later Tafsir Genres Asbab al-nuzul: ex. of al-Wahidi (d. 1075) Summa Works: linguistic, historical, and theological orientations; ex. al-Tabari (d. 923), al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144) al-Razi (d. 1210) Ahkam al-Quran works: ex. al-Jassas (d. 980) Mystical Tafsirs: al-Sulami (d. 1022) and Ibn Arabi (d. 1240)

Modern Tafsir Continuations of Classical Genre: Ruh al-ma’ani of Mahmud al-Alusi (d. 1854) Modernist Tafsir: –the Quran as its own best interpreter ex. Muhamad Abduh (d. 1905); Azad ‘let the Quran disclose its own reality’ Revolutionary/Activist: Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) and Ali Shariati (d. 1977) Literary Critical Analysis: ex. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd Quran-Only Movement: M. Tawfiq Sidqi (d. 1920) in Egypt and Abdallah Chakralawi (d. 1930) in India

Sayyid Qutb From literary critic to fundamentalist… thanks to prison… executed 1966 Islam as ideal, authentic system: social justice w/out Communist atheism; freedom w/out limitless toleration of the West Shariah vs. Fiqh Reflective reading of the Quran… his own understanding of God’s words –First 16/30 volumes written before entering prison in 1954, the rest from prison Tawhid vs. Shirk / Jahiliyya vs. Islam (emerges in 1964)

Ali Shariati Tawhid, Shirk & Hijra: tawhid as radical social equality, bringing all under God’s justice vs. Shirk = deifying of human institutions and injustices… Hijra transition between the two “Life is conviction and struggle and nothing more. Look at the Companions of the Prophet, they were all men of the sword, concerned with improving their society, men of justice.” Quran as revolution for the masses: the Quran “begins in the name of God and ends in the name of the masses (al-nas)”

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd Famous Book: Mafhum al-nass Quran is eminently tied to interpretation; no objective meaning… speech act  Divine speech subject to rules of human interpretation because it became temporal, limited in a time and place Interpreter is essential component of meaning  will always change/not fixed Influence of Ibn Arabi: infinite meanings? Critique of religious authority

Abu’l-Kalam Azad Muslim political activist against British in India – joins Indian National Party against Muslim League Against narrow communalism: hijra as internal, spiritual Rejection of Scholasticism: “Had Imam Razi chosen to represent what exactly the Quran stood for, at least two thirds of what he wrote would have been left unwritten.”

Friday Question

Quran and Science Miraculous school: Rida? Compatibility School: Khan Not-Interested School: azad