TY - JOUR
T1 - Tradition, reason, and Qur'anic exegesis in the modern period
T2 - The Hermeneutics of Said Nursi
AU - Coruh, Hakan
N1 - Includes bibliographical references.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Key figures in modernist Qur’an exegesis include Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898) and Muhammad ʿAbduh (d. 1905). This article presents the exegetical principles of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960), a Muslim thinker and a major twentieth-century Turkish scholar who is not necessarily to be labelled a ‘modernist’, on tafsīr bi-al-maʾthūr (tradition-based exegesis) and tafsīr bi-al-raʾ y (reason-based exegesis) with special reference to the views of early Muslim modernist thinkers. It particularly refers to Nursi’s work on usūl al-tafsīr, Muh ākamāt (Reasonings), and his onevolume commentary, Ishārāt al-iʿjāz (Signs of Inimitability), in order to understand his method of tafsīr. The purpose of the article is to place Nursi within the historical framework of Qur’an exegesis and it argues that, while there are some similarities between ʿAbduh and Nursi since the latter is influenced by the former, the methodological differences are clear. While ʿAbduh’s method is text-based, Nursi’s is based on kalām (Islamic theology). While ʿAbduh is critical of the classical style tafsīr and linguistic discussions in tafsīr, Nursi can be considered to be a modern representative of the Ottoman exegetical school and a follower in the way of al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538⁄1144), Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606⁄1210) and al-Bayd āwī (d. 685/1286).
AB - Key figures in modernist Qur’an exegesis include Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898) and Muhammad ʿAbduh (d. 1905). This article presents the exegetical principles of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960), a Muslim thinker and a major twentieth-century Turkish scholar who is not necessarily to be labelled a ‘modernist’, on tafsīr bi-al-maʾthūr (tradition-based exegesis) and tafsīr bi-al-raʾ y (reason-based exegesis) with special reference to the views of early Muslim modernist thinkers. It particularly refers to Nursi’s work on usūl al-tafsīr, Muh ākamāt (Reasonings), and his onevolume commentary, Ishārāt al-iʿjāz (Signs of Inimitability), in order to understand his method of tafsīr. The purpose of the article is to place Nursi within the historical framework of Qur’an exegesis and it argues that, while there are some similarities between ʿAbduh and Nursi since the latter is influenced by the former, the methodological differences are clear. While ʿAbduh’s method is text-based, Nursi’s is based on kalām (Islamic theology). While ʿAbduh is critical of the classical style tafsīr and linguistic discussions in tafsīr, Nursi can be considered to be a modern representative of the Ottoman exegetical school and a follower in the way of al-Zamakhsharī (d. 538⁄1144), Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606⁄1210) and al-Bayd āwī (d. 685/1286).
KW - Said Nursi
KW - Muhammad Abduh
KW - Modernist Qur'an
KW - Exegesis
U2 - 10.1080/09596410.2017.1280915
DO - 10.1080/09596410.2017.1280915
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6410
VL - 28
SP - 85
EP - 104
JO - Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
JF - Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
IS - 1
ER -