A Hermeneutic Perspective on Rationalists versus Doctrinists

Abstract

In this paper the issue of the hermeneutic theory in the Islamic heritage of rationalists and doctrinists is being discussed, and an effort will be made to cipher a procedural definition of interpretation despite of all the contradictions and criticism experienced by this term throughout Islamic history. Therefore, traditionalists may be seen as an indispensable source alongwith doctrinists such as Ibn al-Arabi, al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Abd al-Qaher al-Jurjani, al-Tabari, al-Shatibi, and Ibn Taymiyyah.