Qur Anic Hermeneutics

This is a study of one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur'an which is still in use today, and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Qur'anic Hermeneutics argues for the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qur'an and outlines a new method of Qur'anic exegesis called intertextual polysemy. By interweaving science, history and religious studies, Abdulla Galadari introduces a linguistic approach which draws on neuropsychology. This book features examples of intertextual polysemy within the Qur'an, as well as between the Qur'an and the Bible. It provides examples that intimately engage with Christological concepts of the Gospels, in addition to examples of allegorical interpretation through inner-Qur'anic allusions. Galadari reveals how new creative insights are possible, and argues that the Qur'an did not come to denounce the Gospel–which is one of the stumbling blocks between Islam and Christianity–but only to interpret it in its own words.

The work of the twelfth-century Shi’ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma’ al-bayan, is one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur’an, and is still in use today. This work is an in-depth case study of Islamic exegetical methods and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam. Drawing on a wide variety of sources including unpublished manuscripts, the author examines how exegesis serves to construct, maintain and defend the status of the Qur’an as scripture and to uphold certain ideological agendas, among them the notion of the literary and rhetorical supremacy of God’s revelation in Arabic. Focusing on the genre and process of Qur’anic exegesis itself, he treats Qur’an interpretation as part of a category of religious practice recognizable from the history and comparative study of religion. Written in clear and accessible style, Qur’anic Hermeneutics makes Qur’anic exegesis intelligible to specialists in Islam as well as those interested in scripture and its interpretation in general. As such, it will be a valuable reference to scholars of Islamic studies, religion and scripture.

This is the first major study in a Western language of Rashid al-Din Maybudi's Persian commentary on the Qur'an Kashf al-asrar wa 'uddat al-abrar (Unveiling of Mysteries and Provision of the Righteous). Annabel Keeler explores the interplay between scriptural exegesis and mystical doctrine in a twelfth-century Sufi commentary on the Qur'an. Previously little-known outside the Persian-speaking world, it is increasingly recognized as a key work in the development of Sufi Qur'anic interpretation. This volume provides invaluable background for anyone wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Persian mystical poetry and prose, and other major works of Sufi literature. Over a decade since this book's first publication, the bibliography and notes have been updated.

The fourth volume of the groundbreaking Handbook of Qurʾānic Hermeneutics comprises 29 chapters dealing with the hermeneutical approach to the Qurʾān by Muslim authors of the 19th and 20th centuries. These authors had to deal with the changes and influences of modernity on Muslim society. Scientific progress and related developments in the natural sciences and humanities posed new questions and challenges to the traditional interpretation of the Qurʾān. The confrontation with the colonial period also shaped the way of thinking of some of these authors and their hermeneutical work. This led them to a search for identity and a reassessment of their own traditions and beliefs. Authors in this volume reflect on these historical experiences in their interpretation of the Qurʾān. The hermeneutical approaches to the Qurʾān in this volume are, thus, closely linked to the social, political, and intellectual conditions in which the authors have done their work. They represent a response to the challenges and changes of their time. By critically engaging with modernity, scientific progress, and the colonial legacy, these authors contributed to understanding and interpreting Islam in a new context.

Since the reign of the Abassid Caliph at Baghdad al-Mutawakil (847-861) more than eleven centuries ago, the discussion about the nature of the Qur'an has been blocked in favour of the Orthodox view that it is the exclusive verbatim Word of God. The human dimension, which includes the language as well as the recipient, is almost absent. This book aims to reopen the debate by rereading the classical material and addressing the present situation of Muslims in the context of the challenges of modernity. The basic question is whether or not Muslims can modernize their societies without disregarding their own belief. The implicit answer is that this is indeed possible once the human dimension of the Qur'an is regarded. So far, Muslims have only been able to rethink Tradition while the question of the Qur'an is untouched. Those who dared to open the question were condemned as heretics, and some of them were executed. Nasr Abu Zayd, Ibn Rushd Professor at the University for Humanistics (Netherlands), delves into the academic adventure of reopening the debate that has been blocked for so long."

The Studies in the History and Culture of the Islamic Orient (STIO) is the series of “Supplements” to the journal Der Islam. Both are published by the Section for the History and Culture of the Near East in the Asian-African Institute of the University of Hamburg. The Section was established in 1908, before the foundation of the University of Hamburg. Under its first Director, C.H. Becker, it was the first academic centre in Germany in which teaching and research concentrated on the historical and cultural aspects of the Islamic world, and not just on philological issues. Many of Germany’s leading authorities in Islamic Studies have studied and/or taught here. The “Supplements” have maintained the same high quality and met the same high demands as the journal Der Islam and have published numerous studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world which have represented milestones in their relevant fields. The “New Series” of Supplements appearing since 2004 carries this tradition forward and provides a platform for publishing studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world from the beginnings of Islam up to the present day.