Abstract
This paper explains Edip Yüksel's view of the Qur'an, the Bible and the Hadith. He set(s) up a hierarchy of authority of the holy scriptures as a land point. The Qur'an stands at the highest level of the hierarchy because it is the most authentic word of God; there is no contradiction within; it is revealed for all humanity; and is the Final Testament. The second rank is the Bible which is still be considered as God's authority over mankind, however with some contradictory messages. There is the Hadith in the last place, a level of manmade works, because it does not have Gods authority. Moreover, it is very contradictory. In an attempt to interpret the Quran, he propose(s) the realization of justice, unity and peace over mankind. For the sake of achieving those goals, the Christian scriptures are cross-referenced with the Qur'an either using direct, indirect, and referral method. The selected topics can be grouped into four kinds; theology, law, social issues, and stories. The functions of Biblical use in tafsir were to complement, to compare, and even to criticize the Bible itself. 'Critical,' is the right word to describe Edip's attitude toward the Bible.
Highlights
Edip Yüksel is one of several modern interpreters who does not use hadith as a tool in interpreting the Qur'an, because he returns the authority of interpretation entirely only to the word of God, by carrying out the philosophy of "Quran alone"
Coupled with a simple logic, that hadith is not used as a source of reference, it can be used as a "cross-reference", because both the Bible and hadith are texts outside the Qur'an or external-reference
Afterwards how do we identify the original message from what has been distorted?this identification can be done in two ways; first by reading the Bible from the perspective of the Qur'an; and second by criticizing the text, as did Bart Ehrman and Bruce Metzger (Yüksel 2007: 60). this is different from the Hadith whose authority is not directly legitimized by the Qur'an, even the Qur'an itself forbids awaiting the arrival of Hadith and tells it (Yüksel 2007: 279-80, 299, 361, 469)
Summary
Edip Yüksel is one of several modern interpreters who does not use hadith as a tool in interpreting the Qur'an, because he returns the authority of interpretation entirely only to the word of God, by carrying out the philosophy of "Quran alone". Edip considers that there are too many contradictions in Hadith till making the second source of Islam is not credible, and there is a strong suspicion that such contradictions are made only to strengthen the hegemony of each group, tribe, ideology, or class (Yüksel 2007: 473-475).he continues to acknowledge that Hadith remains useful as a reading material and no need to place it as a second source, or even align it with the Qur'an (Yüksel 2007: 12) He tried to understand God's message purely through the signs he had given both in the Qur'an and in the universe. Both Hadith and Talmud are used as complement to interpret their respective scriptures (Yüksel 2007: 66). this was Edip's logic, which placed the Qur'an in the highest position, followed by the Bible, only after that the other books included Hadith, tafseer, fiqh, and many others
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