Creative Hermeneutics: a Comparative Analysis of Three Islamic Approaches

Abstract

THE modern study of Islamic hermeneutics is in its infancy. One reason for this is the field's vastness. It involves dimensions of almost all the traditional Islamic sciences: Qur'anic commentary, prophetic tradition, jurisprudence, dialectical theology, historiography, the study of Islamic sectarianism, grammar, rhetoric, mysticism, and philosophy. Each of these areas created particular conceptions of textual interpretation, each had its own methodologies, developed over centuries. Each arose and evolved through the efforts of individual participants, within the context of compkx webs of interstitial relationships maintained with other fields of study, in response to the needs of particular intellectual environments, the demands of different historical conditions'.