Interpreting the Qur'an

206 Pages·2008·1.34 MB·English

by  Abdullah Saeed

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1111 Interpreting the Qur a¯n
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3111 Debates among Muslims over the conception of the authority of the
4 Qur∞ån underlie much of what is read about Islam in the popular media
5 these days. This book by Abdullah Saeed will add a new voice to those
6 debates and, as its impact is felt, broaden the popular conception of
7 what Islam is all about today.
8 Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria, Canada
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20111 How is the Qur∞ån – central to all Muslim societies – to be understood
1 today in order to meet the needs of these societies? Abdullah Saeed, a
2 distinguished Muslim scholar, explores the interpretation of the ethico-
3 legal content of the Qur∞ån, whilst taking into consideration the changing
4 nature of the modern world.
5 Saeed explores the current debates surrounding the interpretation of the
6 Qur∞ån, and their impact on contemporary understanding of this sacred
7 text. As he attempts to determine the text’s relevance to modern issues
8 without compromising the overall framework of the Qur∞ån and its core
9 beliefs and practices, he proposes a fresh approach, which takes into
30111 account the historical and contemporary contexts of interpretation.
1 This book is likely to inspire healthy debate and appeal to a genera-
2 tion of students and scholars seeking a contemporary approach to the
3 interpretation of the Qur∞ånic text.
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5 Abdullah Saeed is the Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies
6 and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam at
7 the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has written widely on Islam
8 and is the author and editor of a number of books, including Approaches
9 to Qur∞ån in Contemporary Indonesia (2005), Freedom of Religion,
40111 Apostasy and Islam (co-author, 2004), Islam and Political Legitimacy
1 (2003),Islam in Australia(2003) and Islamic Banking and Interest(1996).
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Context of the debate on interpretation iii
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1111 Interpreting the Qur a¯n
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2 Towards a contemporary
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approach
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Abdullah Saeed
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3 First published 2006
4 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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6 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
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© 2006 Abdullah Saeed
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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2 “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
3 collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
5 reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
6 other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
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without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
30111
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
1 Saeed, Abdullah.
2 Interpreting the Qur∞an: towards a contemporary
approach/Abdullah Saeed. – 1st ed.
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p. cm.
4 Includes bibliographical references and index.
5 1. Koran – Hermeneutics. 2. Koran – Criticism, interpretation, etc.
I. Title
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BP130.2.S193 2005
7 2997.1′226′01 – dc22 2004029204
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ISBN 0–415–36537–6 (hbk)
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ISBN 0–415–36538–4 (pbk)
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Context of the debate on interpretation v
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For Rasheeda and Isaam
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Context of the debate on interpretation vii
1111 Contents
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3111 Acknowledgements viii
4 Foreword ix
5 ANDREW RIPPIN, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA, CANADA
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1 Introduction 1
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2 The context of the debate on interpretation 8
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3 Revelation and interpretation 26
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3 4 Interpretation based on tradition and textualism 42
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5 5 Interpretation based on reason 57
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7 6 Flexibility in reading the text 69
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9 7 Abrogation and reinterpretation 77
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1 8 The meaning of the text as an approximation 90
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3 9 Recognition of the complexity of meaning 102
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10 Socio-historical context and interpretation 116
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11 Ethico-legal texts and a hierarchy of values 126
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12 Epilogue 145
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1 Glossary 155
2 Notes 159
3 Bibliography 175
44111 Index 183
viii Context of the debate on interpretation
1111 Acknowledgements
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4111 Many people have contributed to the research, writing and publication
5 of this book. In particular I would like to express my gratitude to Andrew
6 Rippin, who read the manuscript and provided critical comments for
7 revising it and strongly encouraged me to publish it; to Lesley Riddle of
8 Routledge for her encouragement and support for the publication of the
9 book; to Gemma Dunn and Diana Chambers for editorial support; to my
20111 colleagues and friends, Jacky Angus, Redha Ameur, Abdul Ghafoor Abdul
1 Raheem, Riyad Asvat and Rachel Woodlock, for their comments and feed-
2 back; to Donna Williams for her reading and contribution to the polishing
3 of the manuscript; to Andy Fuller for his critical look at the manuscript
4 and his comments as well as his research assistance and help in the final
5 preparation of the manuscript; to the Journal of Qur∞anic Studies for
6 permission to publish a revised version of the article ‘Rethinking
7 “Revelation”’ (1999) which forms Chapter 3 of this book; and finally to
8 my wife Rasheeda and son Isaam who have supported me without any
9 complaints, as usual.
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Context of the debate on interpretation ix
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4111 The challenges that face the modern religious thinker are both daunting
5 and profound. Two assumptions are generally made: that the fundamental
6 truths of religion itself (however they are defined) are of value to humanity
7 and that the relevance of religion to human concerns of today must at
8 all costs be demonstrated. The stumbling block for many people seems
9 to be the structures of traditional religious authority that are so closely
20111 tied to the text of scripture in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; questions
1 that the twenty-first century poses so frequently thus appear to strike at
2 the heart of religion itself as it has conventionally been conceived. This
3 is true whether the discussion is about gay ministers in Christian churches,
4 definitions of Jewish descent, or Muslim marriage to multiple wives. How
5 are the deeply felt moral principles of today to be reconciled with a text
6 of scripture that has always been understood in ways that challenge those
7 emerging and evolving contemporary positions?
8 When Muslims deal with the text of the Qur∞ån, understood to be
9 literally the ‘Word of God’, the issue arises in many ways, some of which
30111 certainly prove to be more pressing morally than others. Within the Muslim
1 world, the matter first arose in recent times when the question of the rela-
2 tionship between the text and history was discussed. How was the text
3 of the Qur∞ån to be reconciled with older historical sources (e.g. the Bible)
4 that recount the ‘facts’ differently? Such discussions invoked the principles
5 of the historical-critical method and were, for many people, reasonably
6 well accommodated within the strictures of Muslim faith. That is, the
7 authority of the text was relocated through a process of interpretation so
8 that it resided, for example, in the moral vision of Islam as a whole where
9 the details of history do not matter, but only the moral aims of the story
40111 remain relevant. These discussions raised the difficult issue of how to
1 reconcile modern intellectual attitudes to the text of scripture and did so
2 by dealing with concerns that, certainly by the measure of more contem-
3 porary debates, could not be said to raise the more pressing and practical
44111 issues of law and morality.