In the previous programme I attempted to introduce some methods of interpreting the Qur’an that I believe can be used by anyone to increase their spiritual experience of engaging with the revealed message. The programme described some of the restrictions that interpreters of the Qur’an faced in the past and outlined some of the sources of information and techniques that are available to the contemporary reader.
In this programme I am going to introduce you to some great scholars and it must be said from the outset that many of them were not Muslims. In Europe from the 17th C. onwards there was an influx of information from contact with other civilisations and a growing belief that the rules of the universe could be revealed by systematic enquiry. However these enquiries were not restricted to chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy. The natures of being, knowledge and Creation became topics for empirical analysis.
As Muslims we are enjoined by the Qur’an to seek knowledge of Allah (swt) by observing nature but importantly we are not given to believe that Creation is a one-off perfect event. Rather we believe that the temporal universe and the human spirit are part of a creative journey that leads towards the Perfect. For us Allah (swt) does not stop creating after a certain period of time in the past. Volcanoes forming new land and earthquakes are terrifying events that prove creation continues and that mountains are still being caused to rise. Scientific discovery should be no problem for Muslims, we need have no problem with Evolution its just the way Allah (swt) chose to manifest His Will, yet religions that do have a problem with reality insist that we should too.
However, European religious thinking was restricted by the dogmatic belief that Creation had happened and that they knew the date, roughly, that it had. So when industrialisation and technology swept towards them like a tsunami threatening to tear their secure beliefs root and branch from the soil of Europe they had to react.
For some the answer was simple; if God isn’t the simple being we thought He was then He doesn’t exist. Others understood that it was not God that had a problem but that men had a problem reading revealed texts in the context of increased knowledge. They understood, perhaps without knowing this verse,
No just estimate of Allah do they make when they say: "Nothing doth Allah send down to man (by way of revelation)" Say: "Who then sent down the Book which Moses brought?- a light and guidance to man: But ye make it into (separate) sheets for show, while ye conceal much (of its contents): therein were ye taught that which ye knew not- neither ye nor your fathers." Say: "Allah (sent it down)": Then leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling[1]
Though they may not have been aware of this text, knowledge that they had not been aware of put an end to the belief in phlogiston and an end to counting the number of angels that might stand on the head of a pin. Science had proven that God was not a being limited by space and time; that He (swt) wrote the laws but was not limited by them. Several names stand out in the new approach to reading religious texts and works of art, which it will be seen have a bearing upon the validity of the method. The much misjudged Herder[2] (1744-1803) and Schleiermacher[3] (1768-1834) in the 18th and 19th centuries promoted a hermeneutic method of reading Biblical texts and said that every problem of interpretation is a problem of understanding by defining hermeneutics as the art of avoiding misunderstanding. He provided a solution that avoided misunderstandings arising between grammatical and psychological methods when trying to understand a text and thereby the writer. Thus a grammatically clear statement such as ‘put your right shoe on before the left’ is followed by the question, “what does the writer mean?” Is it just about shoes or does the author have obscure metaphorical, psychological or spiritual intentions? Most importantly how does a reader know there is more to what is before him than what is apparent?
A group of art philosophers developed the theories that underpinned the art movement known as ‘Romantic’. Theorists such as the Schlegels, Wackenröder and others discussed the theory of the ‘Sublime’ in which an often ill-defined quality within a work of art inspired a sense of awe in the viewer or listener. The theory described the non-rational psychological effect of encountering something enormous and unfathomable hidden within a work of art. This might be described as a moment or space, where reason and customary understanding are overwhelmed by emotion or spirituality.
In the early 20th C, the philosopher of religion Rudolph Otto (1869-1937) used the theory of ‘Numenism’ to define religious phenomena from temporal phenomena.[4] This theory has similarities to those of Hermeneutics and of the Sublime in that something within man is spiritual and this spiritual component responds to the encounter with God or His signs. Otto described this as tremmens et fascinans, terror and fascination, something that is so frightening or awesome that a viewer cannot look away. Joachim Wach[5] (1898-1955) used this as part of his definition of homo religioso in distinction to our everyday identity as homo sapiens. Spiritual man, not thinking man. We Muslims might call this taqwa and think of the Imams (asa) turning white and shaking as they prayed to Allah (swt).
What we now have is two methods for exegesis, hermeneutic and literary analyses, that take us beyond ‘common-sense’ and grammatical interpretation, allowing us to access some of the nuanced and hidden meanings within the Qur’an’s verses. We also have, by placing equal value on our intellectual and emotional responses, a means of recognizing when there may be something more for us to find. Have you ever read the Qur’an or listened to it read, maybe a verse you thought you knew well, and suddenly it seems new? Some feeling tingles within you? ‘Ali (as) said that opportunities are fleeting like clouds so seize them while they are there. These moments are those opportunities and our spiritual or emotional intelligence is urging us to look more deeply.
The Qur’an is an eternal guidance for mankind. It is not a cookery book that simply repeats a recipe mechanically nor is it an antiquity that only exists in a museum. Its verses are not dusty shelves where some scholar has stored catalogued specimens. It is an active and functioning laboratory in which human beings can research and learn so that their lives are fuller and their spirits journey further towards the goal that Allah (swt) intends for them.
In the following programme or two I will define and apply thematic and topical tafsīr hermeneutically to some verses whose literal readings have, unfortunately, been used by mischief makers. As such I did not select them as examples but they were thrown at me by people who thought they could shake my faith more easily than faith makes me shake.
[1] Q6:91
[2] Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (1784-1791) University of Chicago Press, 1968.
[3] Hermeneutics and Criticism (1805) Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy, CUP, 1998
[4] Das Heiligen, (1917) The Idea of the Holy, Oxford University Press, 1923
[5] The Comparative Study of Religions, Columbia University Press, 1958.