TY - JOUR

T1 - The Hermeneutics of Miracle: Evolution, Eloquence, and the Critique of Scientific Exegesis in the Literary School of tafsir. Part I: From Muhammad cAbduh to Amin al-Khali

AU - Naguib, S.

PY - 2019/10/31

Y1 - 2019/10/31

N2 - One of the earliest and more enduring modern critiques of scientific exegesis of the Qur'an (al-tafsir al- (c)ilmi) emerges out of the literary school of tafsir. First advanced by Amin al-Khuli in the 1930s and later elaborated by Bint al-Shati', the main premise of their critique is that, first and foremost, a modern hermeneutic appropriate for the Qur'an' s textuality must develop from the linguistic and literary traditions of Arabic. This paper focuses on al-Khuli, situating his critique in the broader context of Muhammad (c)Abduh's hermeneutic legacy. First, it examines (c)Abduh's reconfiguration of the premodern conception of the Qur'an's miraculousness, and its impact on al-Khuli' s efforts to renew a literary-aesthetic appreciation of the Qur'an's miracle and experiment with the notion of its extraordinary psychological effect. Secondly, based on an enquiry into a number of his writings, the paper demonstrates that al-Khuli's approach also reflects a faithful espousal of (c)Abduh's ideas about science, and that his literary contribution to the question of the Qur'an's miracle is emphatically configured through a scientific-primarily evolutionary-outlook. In the course of the paper, it becomes apparent that even al-Khuli' s critique of scientific exegesis is largely derived from his evolutionary epistemology. The main contention of this paper is that al-Khuli's commitment to science was philosophical, but his critique of scientific exegesis was methodological. And it is only by interrogating these aspects of his thought together that we come to understand the underlying hermeneutic assumptions which inform his objections to scientific exegesis.

AB - One of the earliest and more enduring modern critiques of scientific exegesis of the Qur'an (al-tafsir al- (c)ilmi) emerges out of the literary school of tafsir. First advanced by Amin al-Khuli in the 1930s and later elaborated by Bint al-Shati', the main premise of their critique is that, first and foremost, a modern hermeneutic appropriate for the Qur'an' s textuality must develop from the linguistic and literary traditions of Arabic. This paper focuses on al-Khuli, situating his critique in the broader context of Muhammad (c)Abduh's hermeneutic legacy. First, it examines (c)Abduh's reconfiguration of the premodern conception of the Qur'an's miraculousness, and its impact on al-Khuli' s efforts to renew a literary-aesthetic appreciation of the Qur'an's miracle and experiment with the notion of its extraordinary psychological effect. Secondly, based on an enquiry into a number of his writings, the paper demonstrates that al-Khuli's approach also reflects a faithful espousal of (c)Abduh's ideas about science, and that his literary contribution to the question of the Qur'an's miracle is emphatically configured through a scientific-primarily evolutionary-outlook. In the course of the paper, it becomes apparent that even al-Khuli' s critique of scientific exegesis is largely derived from his evolutionary epistemology. The main contention of this paper is that al-Khuli's commitment to science was philosophical, but his critique of scientific exegesis was methodological. And it is only by interrogating these aspects of his thought together that we come to understand the underlying hermeneutic assumptions which inform his objections to scientific exegesis.

U2 - 10.3366/jqs.2019.0399

DO - 10.3366/jqs.2019.0399

M3 - Journal article

VL - 21

SP - 57

EP - 88

JO - Journal of Qur'anic Studies

JF - Journal of Qur'anic Studies

SN - 1465-3591

IS - 3

ER -