Evaluating Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s Theory on the Influence of the Culture of the Time on the Understanding and Interpretation (Taʾwīl) of the Qurʾān

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.

2 Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Multimedia, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran.

3 Department of Islamic Studies, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Abū Zayd is among the contemporary Arab reformers who exerted considerable effort to address the challenges facing the Muslim world today. The core of his response, however, relied on modern Western methods for understanding and interpreting the Qurʾān. The present article therefore undertakes to examine and critique his theory concerning the influence of the culture of the time on the understanding and interpretation (taʾwīl) of the Qurʾān. The method employed is content analysis, with a critical approach. According to the analysis conducted, the foundational principles (mabānī) of his theory are as follows: the necessity of distinguishing between religion and religious thought; the cultural‑geographical fabric of Qurʾānic meanings; the prophetic experience of revelation (waḥy); and the Qurʾān as expressive of the meaning of life, not as a law book. Moreover, the components of the theory include: the Qurʾān as living discourse rather than silent text; the need to consider the horizon outside the text; the necessity of distinguishing between the principal (aṣl) and the subsidiary (farʿ) in Qurʾānic addresses; the variability of Qurʾānic concepts; and the necessity of an open and living interpretation of the Qurʾān. However, the aforementioned principles and components are flawed for reasons such as: a mistaken understanding of religion and religious thought; the grounding of understanding and interpretation of the Qurʾān in the intent of God Almighty; the Qurʾān as divine revelation; the grounding of the meaning of life on the basis of life; the Qurʾān being simultaneously text and discourse; the incorrect determination of the principal and subsidiary in rulings (aḥkām); the non‑relativity of Qurʾānic rulings; and the failure to provide the effective cause (manāṭ) of rulings. Ultimately, it must be concluded that Abū Zayd regards understanding and interpretation of the Qurʾān as based on the culture of the time, whereas his view is incorrect according to Qurʾānic texts, ḥadīth‑based evidence, historical sources, and rational arguments.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

 

References

The Noble Qurʾān. (al‑Qurʾān al‑Karīm)
Nahj al‑Balāghah [The Peak of Eloquence].
Abū Zayd, Ḥāmid. (2004 [1383 SH]). Naqd‑i Guftār‑i Dīnī [Critique of Religious Discourse]. Translated by Ḥasan Yūsufī Ashkawarī and Muḥammad Jawāhirkalām. Tehran: Ṭarḥ‑i Naw.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (2001 [1380 SH]). Maʿnā‑yi Matn [Meaning of the Text]. Translated by Murtaz̤ā Karīmī‑Niyā. Tehran: Ṭarḥ‑i Naw.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (2017 [1396 SH]). Nawsāzī, Taḥrīm wa Taʾwīl (Az Shinākht‑i ʿIlmī tā Harās az Takfīr) [Renewal, Prohibition, and Hermeneutical Interpretation: From Scientific Knowledge to Fear of Excommunication]. Translated by Muḥsin Ārmīn. Tehran: Nashr‑i Nī.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (1995). al‑Naṣṣ, al‑Sulṭah, al‑Ḥaqīqah [Text, Authority, Truth]. Beirut: al‑Markaz al‑Thaqāfī al‑ʿArabī.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (2000). Mafhūm al‑Naṣṣ: Dirāsah fī ʿUlūm al‑Qurʾān [The Concept of the Text: A Study in the Sciences of the Qurʾān]. Beirut: al‑Markaz al‑Thaqāfī al‑ʿArabī.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (1992c). al‑Manhaj al‑Wāfī fī Fahm al‑Nuṣūṣ al‑Dīnīyah [The Comprehensive Method for Understanding Religious Texts]. Beirut: al‑Hilāl.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (1992a). Ishkālīyāt al‑Qirāʾah wa Ālīyāt al‑Taʾwīl [Problems of Reading and Mechanisms of Hermeneutical Interpretation]. Beirut: al‑Markaz al‑Thaqāfī al‑ʿArabī.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (1992b). Naqd al‑Khiṭāb al‑Dīnī [Critique of Religious Discourse]. Cairo: Sīnā lil‑Nashr.
Blachère, Régis. (1986 [1365 SH]). Dar Āstānah‑yi Qurʾān [At the Threshold of the Qurʾān]. Translated by Maḥmūd Rāmyār. Tehran: Daftar‑i Nashr‑i Farhang‑i Islāmī.
Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. (2007 [1386 SH]). Manzilat‑i ʿAql dar Handasih‑yi Maʿrifat‑i Dīnī [The Station of Intellect in the Geometry of Religious Knowledge]. Edited and researched by Aḥmad Wāʿiẓī. Qom: Markaz‑i Nashr‑i Asrāʾ.
Ḥāmidī, Sayyid Munaṣṣif and Iʿtiṣāmī, Sayyid Mahdī. (2007 [1386 SH]). “Tāʾthīrpazīrī‑yi Duktur Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd az Mustashriqān” [Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s Intellectual Dependency on Orientalists]. Qurʾān wa Mustashriqān [The Qurʾān and Orientalists], (2), pp. 157–192.
Ḥujjatī, Muḥammad Bāqir. (2005 [1384 SH]). Pazhūhishī dar Tārīkh‑i Qurʾān‑i Karīm [A Research into the History of the Noble Qurʾān]. Tehran: Daftar‑i Nashr‑i Farhang‑i Islāmī.
Ḥaqqānī, Rayḥānah. (2017 [1396 SH]). “Naẓariyyah‑yi Taʾwīl wa Iṣlāḥgarī‑yi Dīnī: Barrisī‑yi Dīdgāh‑i Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd dar Taʾwīl wa Āthār‑i Ān” [The Theory of Hermeneutical Interpretation (Taʾwīl) and Religious Reform: A Study of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s View on Taʾwīl and Its Consequences]. Andīshih‑hā‑yi Qurʾānī‑yi Mutafikkirān‑i Muʿāṣir [Qurʾānic Thoughts of Contemporary Thinkers], (124), pp. 49–68.
Dargāhʹzādih, Muḥammad, et al. (2023 [1402 SH]). “Arzyābī‑yi Naẓariyyah‑yi Jābirī dar Taghyīr‑i ʿAṣrī‑yi Guftār‑i Qurʾān” [An Evaluation of al‑Jābirī’s Theory on the Temporal Change of Qurʾānic Discourse]. Pazhūhishnāmah‑yi Kalām [Journal of Theological Research], 10(19), pp. 299–324.
Dargāhʹzādih, Muḥammad, et al. (2022 [1401 SH]). “Arzyābī‑yi Naẓariyyah‑yi Arkūn dar Khwānish‑i Insānī az Qurʾān” [An Evaluation of Arkoun’s Theory of a Humanistic Reading of the Qurʾān]. Taḥqīqāt‑i Kalāmī [Theological Investigations], 10(37), pp. 27–48.
Zarnūshih Farāhānī, Ḥasan and Ṣafrih, Ḥusayn. (2019 [1398 SH]). “Barrisī wa Naqd‑i Mabānī‑yi Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd dar Ithbāt‑i Tārīkhmandī‑yi Qurʾān‑i Karīm” [An Examination and Critique of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s Foundations for Proving the Historicity of the Noble Qurʾān]. Muṭāliʿāt‑i Qurʾān wa Ḥadīth [Qurʾān and Ḥadīth Studies], 13(25), pp. 1–22.
Zanjānī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh. (n.d. [bī‑tā]). Tārīkh al‑Qurʾān [History of the Qurʾān]. Tehran: Maktabat al‑Ṣadr.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (2011 [1390 SH]). al‑Mīzān fī Tafsīr al‑Qurʾān [The Balance in the Exegesis of the Qurʾān]. Beirut: Muʾassasat al‑Aʿlamī lil‑Maṭbūʿāt.
Ṭabarsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan. (1993 [1372 SH]). Majmaʿ al‑Bayān fī Tafsīr al‑Qurʾān [The Gathering of Elucidation in the Exegesis of the Qurʾān]. Tehran: Nāṣir Khusraw.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan. (n.d. [bī‑tā]). al‑Tibyān fī Tafsīr al‑Qurʾān [The Clarification in the Exegesis of the Qurʾān]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al‑Turāth al‑ʿArabī.
ʿAlīkhānī, ʿAlī Akbar. (2003 [1382 SH]). “ʿAdālat‑i Qurʾānī dar Andīshih‑yi Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd” [Qurʾānic Justice in the Thought of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd]. Maqālāt wa Barrasī‑hā [Articles and Reviews], (74), pp. 121–138.
Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb. (1987 [1407 AH]). al‑Kāfī [The Sufficient Book]. Tehran: Dār al‑Kutub al‑Islāmīyah.
Golī, Javād and Yūsufiyān, Ḥasan. (2010 [1389 SH]). “Jaryān‑shināsī‑yi Nūmuʿtazilah” [A Genealogy of the Neo‑Muʿtazilah Movement]. Maʿrifat‑i Kalāmī [Theological Knowledge], 1(3), pp. 113–140.
Mālikī, Muḥammad and Bakhshāyish Ardastānī, Aḥmad. (2016 [1395 SH]). “Bāzkhwānī‑yi Sunnat wa Rawishshināsī‑yi Ān dar Andīshih‑hā‑yi Muḥammad Arkūn” [A Re‑reading of Tradition and Its Methodology in the Thought of Muḥammad Arkūn]. Pazhūhishnāmah‑yi ʿUlūm‑i Siyāsī [Journal of Political Science Research], 11(42), pp. 171–196.
Muṭīʿī, Ḥasan ʿAlī; Muḥammad Riḍāʾī, Muḥammad; and Bādāshitī, ʿAlī Ilāh. (2020 [1399 SH]). “Barrisī‑yi Naẓar‑i Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd dar Taʾwīl wa Naqd‑i Ān bar Asās‑i Dīdgāh‑i ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī” [An Examination of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd’s View on Taʾwīl and Its Critique Based on the Perspective of ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī]. Falsafah‑yi Dīn [Philosophy of Religion], 17(1), pp. 1–22.
Manṣūrzādih, Muḥammad Bāqir and Masʿūd, Zahrā. (2017 [1396 SH]). “Barrisī‑yi Mabānī‑yi Andīshih‑hā‑yi Siyāsī dar Miyān‑i Nūmuʿtazilīyān bā Taʾkīd bar Ārāʾ‑yi Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd” [A Study of the Foundations of Political Thought among the Neo‑Muʿtazilah with Emphasis on the Views of Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd]. Faṣlnāmah‑yi Siyāsat [Politics Quarterly], 4(13), pp. 37–49.
Naṣrī, ʿAbd Allāh. (2013 [1392 SH]). “Qurʾān bi‑Mathābah‑yi Guftār, Nah Matn: Naqd‑i Ākharīn Dīdgāh‑i Abū Zayd dar Bāb‑i Waḥy wa Qurʾān” [The Qurʾān as Discourse, Not Text: A Critique of Abū Zayd’s Final View on Revelation and the Qurʾān]. Naqd wa Naẓar [Critique and Reflection], 18(70), pp. 2–30.
Waṣfī, Muḥammad Riḍā. (2008 [1387 SH]). Nūmuʿtazilīyān: Guftugū‑yi Intiqādī bā Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, ʿĀbid al‑Jābirī, Ḥasan Ḥanafī wa Muḥammad Arkūn [The Neo‑Muʿtazilah: A Critical Dialogue with Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, ʿĀbid al‑Jābirī, Ḥasan Ḥanafī, and Muḥammad Arkūn]. Tehran: Nigāh‑i Muʿāṣir.
Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. (2001). Ein Leben mit dem Islam [A Life with Islam]. Freiburg: Herder

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics