Muslim Exegetes Research Articles

The Semantic and Contextual Meanings of the Cognitive Words “yʕqilu:n, yatafakaru:n, yatadabaru:n, yafqahu:n” in Holy Qur’an

The current study endeavors to identify the semantic and contextual meanings of four cognitive words: “yʕqilu:n, yatafakaru:n, yatadabaru:n, yafqahu:n” in Holy Qur'an. The motive for this study comes from the vague semantic relations expressed by Muslim exegetes and interpreters of these words. Additionally, translating them into other languages such as English is considered challenging due to the cognitive resemblance, nature, and senses they express. Thus, the study aims to unravel the slight cognitive distinctions among these cognitive words by scrutinizing the micro and macro levels of structure and contexts of the Holy Qur'an. To accomplish the aims of the study, the Semantic Approach of Toshihiko Izutsu (2008) is adopted as a theoretical framework along with a contextual syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the targeted data. The findings reveal that the four cognitive verbs denote different semantic senses and are used in the Holy Qur'an in different contexts. They express different cognitive skills and mental abilities. Moreover, the findings show that these verbs are used differently in the Holy Qur'an to whom they are addressed and the consequences of using them.

Surplus of Meaning or Suspending Philology? Some Reflections on the Philological Ramification of the Classical Qurʾān Commentary

This study examines the philological data criteria used for exploring the genuine meanings and denominators of Arabic verbatim of the Qurʾān by Muslim exegetes of the classical period, with a special focus on the philological ramification of the commentary of dhālika l-kitāb pattern in Q 2:2. Having attained the status of a corpus (kitāb) in the aftermath of a very long-phased oral tradition, the Qurʾān’s textus receptus reflects both portrayals of verbality and scriptural traits embedded in its Arabic verbatim information yielded by the compilation process. The Qurʾān, representing a junction spot for oral and written traditions in Arab culture, is known to be molded according to the Arabic language register and also formalized the language’s post facto grammar. In this vein, the Qurʾānic text bears a reflexive affiliation with its pertinent language. This article argues that the lingual reciprocity between the Qurʾānic text and its language underwent a critical suspension through commentaries when the case was Qurʾān’s al-kitāb. In this article, the first layer of the data reflects the historical background of the term kitāb. Then, it construes the word within Qurʾān’s cross-references. It exemplifies commentaries on the dhālika l-kitāb pattern, circumventing philological evidence. After elucidating different grounds leading to philological ramification, I argue that a philological inference from the Qurʾān nests in its fullest sense only when the commentator credits historical data and cross-references within the Qurʾānic content.

Iltifāt and Narrative Voice in the Qurʾān: Grammatical Shifts and Nested Dialogue in Sūrahs 19, 20, and 18

Abstract This article analyzes the Qurʾān’s use of an Arabic rhetorical device called iltifāt, the shift of person within a text. It addresses the way iltifāt has been interpreted by medieval Muslim exegetes and the implications of its use for the structure and cosmology of the Qurʾān. By analyzing the use of iltifāt in the Qurʾān, the article demonstrates that the qurʾānic narrator exclusively refers to itself in the first-person plural, and that shifts to other persons (e.g., first-person singular) signify shifts into nested dialogues, asides, and/or narratives within narratives. Furthermore, the way this narrator refers to earthly and heavenly beings suggests that this first-person plural narrator holds a distinct place in the Qurʾān’s cosmology, one that is linked to but distinct from God and other inhabitants of the heavens.

Once again on Noah’s lost son in the Qur’ān: the Enochic connection

Abstract In the Qur’ān, a son of Noah dies in the flood because, the Qur’ān states, he is not actually of Noah’s family. The passage in question (Q 11:46) was puzzling to classical Muslim exegetes and modern scholars alike, and the search for parallel narratives in previous biblical and parabiblical texts has been largely unsuccessful. Another Qur’ānic passage that portrays Noah’s wife in negative terms (Q 66:10) led some early Muslim scholars to consider the possibility that she cheated on his husband but this interpretation was later dismissed on the principle of prophetic infallibility. In this paper, the story of Noah’s perished son is examined in the light of Second Temple Jewish texts, in particular the First Book of Enoch and the Genesis Apocryphon, where the sexual corruption of the fallen angels leads to cases of doubtful paternity. In these sources Noah’s own birth is recounted as a wondrous event that makes Noah’s father Lamech suspect that his wife had the child from an angel. Lamech’s grandfather Enoch eventually confirms Noah’s righteous conception and birth but the narrative motifs around antediluvian sexual decadence, conjugal disloyalty and miraculous birth stories survive into other Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts. I argue that the Qur’ān, too, was aware of these narrative motifs and the story of Noah’s son constitutes a unique Qur’ānic spin on certain of these Enochic themes.

Did Muslim Exegetes Ever Accept Jesus’ Crucifixion? Debunking a Recent Myth

In recent years, there has been a growing tendency among a minority of scholars, including a few Muslims, to argue that the Qur’an does not reject the historicity of the crucifixion of Jesus. This misinterpretation of the Qur’an has to claim support

Buddhism according to Modern Muslim Exegetes

Abstract This paper offers preliminary notes on Buddhism in modern Muslim exegesis with an emphasis on Tafsir al-Qasimi by Muhammad Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866–1914) and al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qurʾan by Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaʾi (1892–1981). The research adopts a qualitative design using content analysis to collect the data. In this paper two main questions regarding both exegetes will be explored. The first question concerns the sources of both scholars for their information about Buddhism by including the discussion in their exegesis. The second question concerns the methodology they used to discuss Buddhism in the Qurʾan since this has not been done by any classical exegetes nor among the most modern exegetes. Studies have found that the approach of the two exegetes is different from both the classical and modern exegetes because their work also contains resources from the fields of comparative religion and the history of religion to make their work relevant in the current context and reliable to be referred to by any parties. The author concludes that both al-Qasimi and Tabatabaʾi used analysis (taḥlil) in discussing verses related to the position of the Buddha.

The Problem of the Meccan Verses In the Research of Certain Orientalists

أهداف البحث: يهدف البحث لإعادة النظر في بعض مقولات المستشرقين عن طبيعة الفروقات بين السور المكية والمدنية في القرآن؛ خاصة الادعاء بأن النبي كان يعيد كتابة القرآن ويحرره وفقا للتطورات النفسية والسياسية التي كان يمر بها. ويسعى البحث للتعرف على مصدر هذه المقولات من خلال الأعمال التي نشرها أربعة من كبار المستشرقين فيما يتصل بالقرآن المكي، ثم مقارنتها مع ما ورد في نصوص القرآن المكي، وتبيين المفارقة الكبيرة بينهما. منهج الدراسة: يسير البحث على منهج تحليل النصوص وفقا لأساليب البلاغة العربية، كما يستأنس بالمنهج التاريخي، حيث ينظر الى النصوص في السياق التاريخي الذي ودرت فيه. النتائج: توصل الباحث الى عدم صحة الأقوال الثلاثة التالية: أن النبي كان يعيد كتابة القرآن وفقا للتطورات النفسية والسياسية التي كان يمر بها، وأن الهجرة كانت تمثل تطورا جذريا في دعوة الإسلام، وأن السور المكية كانت متشائمة في مجملها. وقد تبين خطأ هذه الأقوال من خلال تتبع دقيق لنصوص السور المكية التي تؤكد عكس ذلك. أصالة البحث: يبين البحث أن بعض دراسات المستشرقين تعتمد على مرتكزات فكرية مسبقة، وأن بعضهم يحاول أن يعيد ترتيب آيات القرآن وسوره وفقا لتلك المرتكزات، مما يخرجها تماما عن الموضوعية العلمية والأمانة الفكرية.

Divine Sensations: Sensory Language and Rhetoric in Bernard of Clairvaux's ‘On Conversion’

What does it mean to speak of God in a sensory language? Christian exegetes in the middle ages were steeped in a Biblical language of visions and voices, not to mention the anthropomorphic and sensual imagery of the Song of Songs. Although they had inherited early Christian theologians' distrust towards human sense perception, medieval preachers and theologians from the twelfth century onwards talked about divinity in metaphorical language that systematically evoked not just seeing and hearing, but also the senses of touch, taste, and smell. This article discusses the wildly imagistic, sensory, and sensual language of the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux. Focusing on Bernard's sermon ‘On Conversion’ ( De conversione), given in Paris in 1140, I will interrogate the underlying theoretical assumptions in Bernard's rich rhetoric, and his emphasis on the senses. The central claim I make is that in these representations of the divine, embodied experience is both affirmed and negated at the same time. To bring out this point, I will consider why medieval Christian writers such as Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter the Venerable regarded Jewish and Muslim exegetes' ‘carnal’ hermeneutics—and the latter's use of sensual and sensuous imagery to convey conceptions of divine bliss—as radically different from their own approaches.

Volume 36 Issue 2 - Spring 2019

This issue begins with an editorial on humanistic education and Islam by the journal editor, Ovamir Anjum.
 It then features two research articles: Kareem Rosshandler’s “A Review of Contemporary Arabic Scholarship on the Use of Isrā’īliyyāt for Interpreting the Qur’an” is an important exploration of how modern Arabophone Muslim exegetes employ Israelite narratives in their commentaries. The second article, Abbas Ahsan’s “Quine’s Ontology and the Islamic Tradition,” is a meticulous philosophical treatment of a fundamental point: whether naturalist philosophy, particularly in its Quinean form, is commensurable with an absolutely transcendent notion of God as expressed in certain dominant theological traditions of Islam.
 A review essay on the second edition of Jonathan Brown's celebrated book Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World precedes eight book reviews.
 Finally, in a refreshing and provocative essay, “Islam in English,” Oludamini Ogunnaike and Mohammed Rustom make a case for new vocabulary that could express, not merely describe, Islam in English.

Islām and Genesis 17: A Study in Scriptural Intertextuality

Abraham Geiger’s 1833 essay launched a particular genre of research that posits foreign etymology for many terms in the Qur’ān. Whereas some work has been erudite, others have posited far-fetched concepts to the point where at least one author opines that Aramaic was the original language of the Qur’ān. Muslim exegetes have compounded the problem by seeking to interpret the Qur’ān on its own, without reference to other Abrahamic scriptures. I argue that Muhammad’s audience understood him clearly since he was using terms that had become part of the Arabic language long before his time. I examine three terms: islām, imān, and dīn, showing that the meaning of these words in the Qur’ān can be deciphered by reliance on context of usage and intertextuality. To this end, I refer to several verses of the Qur’ān as well as of the Hebrew Bible and Talmudic literature. A proper understanding of these words allows us to see Q3:19 and Q5:3 as pluralistic instead of the particularistic interpretation that most exegetes proffer.

Between Myth-Making and Shiite Exegesis: Nasnās and Qurʾān 2:30

Abstract This paper explores the role that the myth of the Nasnās, a pre-Adamic humanlike creature, plays in the Shiite exegesis of Qurʾān 2:30. It aims to shed light on the blurry line between myth-making, fiction and Quranic commentary. Of a cosmological nature, this verse has long provoked speculation by Muslim exegetes about universal history. Nevertheless, the Shiite evocation of the Nasnās in this context is unique and reflects a somewhat different cosmological perception. Whether this perception is the result of commentators’ endeavors to tackle some of the theological difficulties posed by this verse or a mere reflection of their heretofore existing cosmological notions, is an additional tension to be addressed.

Language as Power: Literary Interpretations of the Qur'an in Early Islam

AbstractHow did pre-modern Muslim exegetes view the mediating role of language in accessing the Qur'an's meaning? What conception of language undergirded their arguments? And what sources of normative authority informed their interpretive canvas? By pursuing this cluster of questions, this essay aims to sketch a picture of the relationship between language and revelation in pre-modern traditions of Qur'an exegesis. More specifically, I conduct a close reading of the Qur'an commentary authored by the prominent Twelver Shi‘i theologian, poet, and historian, al-Sharif al-Radi (d.1015ce). Al-Radi's commentary is a literary exegesis of the Qur'an; in it he presents his concern with ambiguity in the Qur'an and presents language as the hermeneutical key to resolving it. I argue that al-Radi's invocation of varied grammatical rules and his construction of literary arguments were embedded in a particular epistemological and theological conception of the normative relationship between language and revelation. Further, I also interrogate the historically specific conditions and the variety of intellectual currents and vectors (other than sectarian affiliation) that informed al-Radi's hermeneutical choices. By paying close attention to describing the multivalent interpretive traditions that informed al-Radi's Qur'an hermeneutic, this article highlights the conceptual problems attached to the very category of a “Shi‘i Qur'an hermeneutic,” a category that stands authorised through the unsound assumption that sectarian identity and hermeneutical horizons readily correspond in a predictable and seamless fashion. It is precisely this assumption of neat correspondence between sectarian identity and hermeneutical temperament that this essay seeks to challenge and disrupt.

A Subtle Difference: On Ending One's Own Life in Muslim Religious Thought

AbstractIn the focus of this article is the complex problem to validate the deliberate disposal of a Muslim's own life for an Islamically sustained cause – popularmodus operandiin the contemporary religiously inspired militant contexts – from a range of religious perspectives. While the general tenor suggest that such an action constitutes deliberate suicide(qatl nafsah)and is to be firmly rejected, the eschatological concept of ‘martyrdom’(istishhād)adds an alternative interpretation that allows for a positive and even commendable appraisal of such an act.It is shown here that, from the formative period of Islam onwards, Muslim exegetes, theologians, jurists and philosophers have struggled to come to some kind of agreement over what delineates ‘suicide’ from ‘martyrdom’. Underlying all those attempts is the question what constitutes ‘life’: it appears that the substantial differences in the appraisal of a Muslim's disposal of her or his own life are, in fact, rooted in different conceptions of ‘life’ itself. It is shown how the dismissal of such acts as ‘suicide’ or endorsement as ‘martyrdom’ was, and is, sustained by complex theological and philosophical arguments, including those of volition versus predetermination, as well as such on vegetative growth versus the eudemonistic ‘good life’. Depending on which view is being adopted, one and the same act of disposing one's own life can either be consistently denounced as religiously reprehensible, or equally consistently as religiously commendable.

The Caliphate of Adam: Theological Politics of the Qurʾānic Term Ḫalīfa

This paper studies how medieval Sunnite Muslim exegetes from al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) to Ibn Kaṯīr (d. 774/1373) understood the Qurʾānic term ḫalīfa and other Ḫ.L.F-derived terms. While previous scholarship has examined how exegetes generally understood the term, this paper scrutinizes the exegetical commentaries (tafsīr) chronologically in order to discern the semantic and terminological shifts accompanying different commentaries over time. It demonstrates the importance of an intertextual approach in placing tafsīr literature in dialogue with writings on the caliphate in works of theology (kalām) and law ( fiqh). Overall, the paper argues that the legal and theological development of the Sunnite theory of the caliphate provided exegetes with new clusters of terminology associated with the caliphate to enrich their commentaries on the Ḫ.L.F verses. This process was in turn catalyzed by the systematization of the caliphate discourse and the canonization of the four-caliphs thesis during the Sunnite Revival.

Was Jerusalem Part of Palestine? The Forgotten City of Ramla, 900–1900

When the Muslims conquered the Levant in the seventh century they at times changed the meaning of ‘Palestine’. They preserved its erstwhile sense as a region but also came to see Palestine as synonymous with the city of Ramla. From the tenth to the early twentieth century, dozens of Muslim exegetes, travellers and chroniclers explained that Ramla and Palestine were the same place. Others thought Palestine was a small region based around Ramla, one that did not include Jerusalem, or that Palestine had much more to do with Ramla than it did Jerusalem. The association had much to do with the cultural tendency in the Arab Middle East to conflate cities and regions as well as the critical role Ramla played in Palestine for much of its history: it served as the capital of the District of Palestine for more than three centuries, its economic hub for many more and its imagined geographical centre up until the early nineteenth century.

Ḥukm bi-mā anzala'llāh: The Forgotten Prehistory of an Islamist Slogan

The phrases ḥukm bi-mā anzala'llāh (‘ruling/judging by that which God has revealed’) and ḥukm bi-ghayri mā anzala'llāh (‘ruling/judging by other than that which God has revealed’) as well as the identities of the kāfirūn, ẓālimūn, and fāsiqūn guilty of the latter have preoccupied Muslim exegetes of Sūrat al-Māʾida, verses 42–8. Among Muʿtazilīs, the verses pointed to the instrumentality of revelation, including that of the Muslims, an idea that some Twelver Shīʿī exegetes preserved. Among Sunnīs, the verses referred specifically to the ideal interaction between Muslim and non-Muslim legal systems. This article will explore how Rashīd Riḍā laid the groundwork for the Islamist appropriation of these verses by taking Twelver Shīʿī exegesis of the verses out of its original context. The religious debate following the assassination of Anwar Sadat dramatised the clash between the traditional Sunnī understanding of the verses and the novel interpretation offered by Riḍā and later Islamist exegetes such as Shaʿrāwī and Quṭb.

The Politics of the Two Qiblahs and the Emergence of an Alternative Islamic Monotheism

Changing the prayer direction from Makkah to Jerusalem and then back to Makkah was probably one of the first Muslim community’s most contentious incidents. Due to its being highlighted in Q. 2:142-44, it has aroused an unending debate among Muslim exegetes, jurists, and western historians as to why the qiblah was changed. Was it based on a divine command or Muhammad’s independent judgment, a move to dilute the Arabs’ emotional attachment to the Ka‘bah, or a move to win over Madinah’s Jewish community? Might it have been a throwback to the Abrahamic heritage, envisaged by the Prophet as a base for a wider, monolithic Islamic nationalism? This article seeks to closely examine and clarify the “qiblah literature” in an attempt to reveal the Ka‘bah’s role not only as a geographical locale but also as a spiritual magnet, and to find out whether this incident represented a break or a continuation of an earlier strategy of socio-religious change.

The Politics of the Two Qiblahs and the Emergence of an Alternative Islamic Monotheism

Changing the prayer direction from Makkah to Jerusalem and then back to Makkah was probably one of the first Muslim community’s most contentious incidents. Due to its being highlighted in Q. 2:142-44, it has aroused an unending debate among Muslim exegetes, jurists, and western historians as to why the qiblah was changed. Was it based on a divine command or Muhammad’s independent judgment, a move to dilute the Arabs’ emotional attachment to the Ka‘bah, or a move to win over Madinah’s Jewish community? Might it have been a throwback to the Abrahamic heritage, envisaged by the Prophet as a base for a wider, monolithic Islamic nationalism? This article seeks to closely examine and clarify the “qiblah literature” in an attempt to reveal the Ka‘bah’s role not only as a geographical locale but also as a spiritual magnet, and to find out whether this incident represented a break or a continuation of an earlier strategy of socio-religious change.

Ijtihad in Quranic Exegesis

<p>The ijtihadi method of Quranic exegesis is one of the popular and proper methods of interpretation of religious texts. It is superior to the methods of subjective opinion (<em>tafsīr bi al-ra</em><em>ʾ</em><em>y</em>) and narrative exegesis, and possesses many positive features and applications. These features, which are results of the evolution and comprehensiveness of ijtihadi exegesis as well as the multidisciplinary approach, have led to favourable reception of this method among Muslim exegetes. With a focus on the exegesis by Shaykh Ṭūsī, founder of the ijtihadi approach, exegetes have developed necessary conditions for using the method. These include jurisprudential, ethical, academic, and, most importantly in this approach, rational conditions. Muslim exegetes have provided valid reasons for ijtihadi tafsir including Quranic, narrative, and conventional rationales as well as the argument for the necessity of ijtihadi tafsir and the fact that it was an early method utilised by exegetes. Each of these rationales differ in their manner of presentation. However, all exegetes are unanimous that ijtihadi tafsir is permissible.</p>

Some Cosmological Notions from Late Antiquity in Q 18:60–65


 
 
 The Quranic terms sarab, a hapax legomenon, and majmaʿ al-baḥrayn have generated a number of different interpretations among both Muslim exegetes and Western scholars. In this article I demonstrate how they can be better understood when read in the light of the cultural context of late antiquity and, in particular, of the cosmological imagery of this historical period.