reynolds-the-quran-in-its-historical-context-2

84 Nasr Abu Zaydidentification of the direction of the Qur'an will enabie the interpreter to extract -·-­the historical or temporal aspects of the text that no longer carry any significance -.in the present context. -Once the Qur'an is decoded in the light of its original historical, culturaland linguistic context, it has to be re-encoded into the code of the cultural andlinguistic context of the interpreter. In other words, the deeper structurethe Qur'an must be reconstructed from the surface structure. Subsequently, the -deep structure must be rewritten in another surface structure, which is that oftoday. This entails an interpretative openness because the endless process of_interpretation and re-interpretation cannot but differ in time. If the interpreter doesnot remain open, the Qur' an will always remain-as it is now- subject to politicalmanipulation. Furthermore, if the message of the Qur'an is believed by Muslims _to be valid for all mankind regardless of time and space, an open interpretation isnecessary._To keep the resulting diversity of interpretations from developing into ideo-- -logical manipulations of the Qur'an's meaning, an awareness of the differencebetweenthe original contextual "meaning," which is almost fixed because of itshistoricity, and the deduced "significance" ofthat meaning, which is changeable,is a necessary methodological prerequisite. Secondly, the deduced significanceshould be rationally connected to the meaning. It must be remembered that interpretationsare only valid as long as they do not violate the methodological rulesmentioned above. Otherwise interpretations may in fact be predetermined ideologicalconclusions for which absolute claims are made. Because the text is historical,though originally divine, its interpretation is absolutely human. 85From text to discourse(s)A few years ago, I started to realize that the tension surrounding many issues inthe text cannot be solved by dealing with the Qur'an as only a text. The Qur'an -­maintains that, as a text authored by God, it has no contradictions (Q 4:82). Yet -the phenomenon of contradiction does exist; it was realized by the theologianswho tried painfully to solve it by adhering to the duality of clarity-ambiguity. Itwas also realized by the jurists who tried to solve it by adhering to the doctrine of -·abrogation. In modern Qur'anic studies in the Muslim world, the phenomenon isalso realized and the solution proposed is to distinguish between two dimensionsin the Qur'anic worldview, the "universal" and the "historical." In all these efforts,85 See the recently published paper by Sukidi Mulyadi, "Na~r ~!amid Abii Zayd and the quest for a _humanistic hermeneutics of the Qur'lin," Die Welt des /slams, 49, 2009, 181-21 I, in which theauthor depicts the "humanistic hermeneutics" in my early l.n,,~r-,;;r;ilr.-;;;;c;--.;t=r.'""~=·"-'"-a'o""' __ ,,time I specifically articulated a "humanistic hermeneutic" approach was in my inaugural lectureafter accepting the position of "Ibn Rushd Chair for Islam and Humanism" at the University of -Humanistics in Utrecht. See, Rethinking the Qur 'iin: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutic of theQur 'an, Amsterdam: The Humanistics University Press, 2004.Towards understanding the Qur 'an's worldview 85_ phenomenon is realized but not fully acknowledged. 86 My assessment is thatconcept of textuality with its underlying assumption of the author is the causethis paradox between historicity and divinity, or between the chronologicaland the mu~baforder.-~'"'"~'u.llll'. the fact that the Qur' an was originally a series of discourses, each ofhas a certain historical context and a certain degree of independence, IsuJgge:ste:d a redefinition of the Qur'an as discourse(s). These discourses reflectrather than monophony and reflect not only different situations butdifferent addressees. A humanistic hermeneutics, I suggest, is to considerin every discourse-unit, first, who the speaker is and who the addressees are;second, the mode of discourse under investigation, whether argumentative,polemical, proscriptive, prescriptive, descriptive, inClusive or excluetc.Thus I do not deal with the sUra or with the 'aya as independent units;unit is the identified discourse according to the norms suggested. From such a,-,plerstJective.the chronological arrangement ofQur'anic chapters presents only anstep towards a chronological arrangement of discourse, a project thatto be accomplished in the future.- For now, I propose dividing the Qur' an's worlds- not exactly worldview- intointerdependent domains, each of which reflects one level that has been takenand disconnected from the othe~ levels in one of the Islamic disciplines,fiqh, theology, philosophy and mysticism. These worlds could be:sumrrtari':zed as follows:' One, cosmology. Here the Qur'iinic view of the cosmos, the universe, nature,- and recreation, the creator, death, and resurrection are presented.-Two, the divine-human relationship. Here immanence and distinction areemphasized. Despite this emphasized immanence, mediation between theand the human is presented; angels fill the space between heaven and earthbring down God's command. The fact that God always sends guidance tovia the mediation of angels is a token of His care for them. Humans inare expected to be grateful. In the covenant narrative all human beings~~ 1 rnn,.,J,,rJ their obligation to obey God's dictates because of His status assovereign: "When your lord took from the children of Adam, from their(?uhiirihim) their seed and called them to testify of themselves: • Am I notFazlur Rahman's "dquble movement" is a representative example of this effort. First, the Qur'anis recognized as "tlie divine response through the Prophet's mind to the moral-social situation of_,,·the Prophet's Arabia, particularly to the problems of the commercial Meccan society." In order to· , :-,bring its meaning to our modern situation, the process ofthe "double movement" is suggested, first· )o move "from the present situation to Qur'linic times, then back to the present. ... The first step__ ofthe first movement, then, consists of understanding the meaning of the Qur'lin as a whole as wellof the specific tenets that constitute responses to specific answers. The second step is to--generalize those specific answers and enunciate them as statements of general moral-social objec­·: :--.-:. tives that can be 'distilled' from specific texts .... The second movement is to be from the general-:_-_view to the specific view that is to be formulated and realized now." Islam and Modernity:_:-Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982,5-7.