The Problems of Conscience and Hermeneutics: A Few Contemporary Approaches

Abstract

This paper surveys the contemporary approaches to the problems of
 conscience raised by the verse, exploring modes of resolving the issues
 that arise when believing Muslims approach the verse and find its
 apparent meaning to violate their pre-existing notions of justice,
 notions which are partly informed the by the Qur'anic text itself. It
 finds that the prescription of 'hitting' one's wife, as the last of
 three mitigating directives when dealing with a woman who embodies the
 quality of "nushuz", creates a moment of interruption in the
 relationship between the believer and text. Contemporary scholars engage
 both text and historical precedent in the present context when
 (re)interpreting Qur'an 4:34 and the relative weight given to text and
 precedent determines the conclusions of individual arguments.