Qurʾānic Hermeneutics with Reference to Narratives: A Study in Classical Exegetical Traditions ABSTRACT This dissertation is a critical study of the hermeneutical analysis used in classical tafsīr with reference to some Qurʾānic narrative passages. It examines those discourses that are related to these narrative passages by producing a comparative review of the some widely used Qurʾānic commentaries—namely, those by Hūd ibn Muḥakkim, al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, al-Thaʿlabī, al-Rāzī, al-Ṭabrisī, Ruzbihān al-Baqlī, and Nisābūrī. It critically studies the conditions that influenced the interpreters’ prejudices and preconceptions. Also, this research critically analyzes the gap that exists between these Qur’ānic narratives and their interpretations. This research consists of five chapters. The first two chapters deal with hermeneutics and narratives with respect to approaches and methods. The last three chapters are case studies, which explore the hermeneutical discourses related to these narratives. An analysis of the early methods of exegesis used on selected Qurʾānic narrative passages—conducted through the interrelated concepts of linguistics, grammar, lexicography, mysticism, history, textuality, and theology- will serve as the framework within which to study the level of understanding of these interpreters of the Qurʾānic text and their impact on the Muslim community. Critical research is conducted and primary sources are used to study how these exegetes understood the Qurʾānic text and contextualized the available knowledge to interpret Qurʾānic narratives on the literary, textual narrative, theological, and mystical levels.

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The work of one of Islam’s most celebrated philosophers, Mulla Sadra Shirazi(d. 1045/1635 or 1050/1640), is characterized by a unique synthesis of the main strands of Islamic thought. Yet Sadra’s role as a philosopher was not simply to synthesize. His penetrating intellect and ability to cast new light on some of the fundamental problems of Islamic thought ensured that all of his books would be landmarks of intellectual achievement in their own right. Amongst his most significant but seriously neglected writings are his compositions on the Qur’an and its sciences. Broadly speaking, the present study investigates the manner in which scriptural exegesis, philosophy, and mysticism came together in Sadra’s writings on the Qur’an. More specifically, this study aims to examine the sophistication of the discussions to be found in Sadra’s Qur’anic works by focusing on his last complete and most mature tafsir, the Tafsir Surat al-fatiha. After surveying the history, reception, and content of Sadra’s writings on the Qur’an and presenting a coherent picture of the theoretical dimensions of his scriptural hermeneutics, we will go on to examine the Tafsir Surat al-fatiha’s structure and sources. This will set the stage for a careful analysis of the problems in cosmology, metaphysics, anthropology, theology, and soteriology addressed by Sadra in the work. Not only will our study demonstrate the manner in which Sadra reads scripture, but it will also afford us a window into the development of his religious thought, since the Fatiha provides him with the opportunity to recast many of his philosophical concerns within the Qur’an’s universe of discourse.

The work of one of Islam’s most celebrated philosophers, Mulla Sadra Shirazi(d. 1045/1635 or 1050/1640), is characterized by a unique synthesis of the main strands of Islamic thought. Yet Sadra’s role as a philosopher was not simply to synthesize. His penetrating intellect and ability to cast new light on some of the fundamental problems of Islamic thought ensured that all of his books would be landmarks of intellectual achievement in their own right. Amongst his most significant but seriously neglected writings are his compositions on the Qur’an and its sciences. Broadly speaking, the present study investigates the manner in which scriptural exegesis, philosophy, and mysticism came together in Sadra’s writings on the Qur’an. More specifically, this study aims to examine the sophistication of the discussions to be found in Sadra’s Qur’anic works by focusing on his last complete and most mature tafsir, the Tafsir Surat al-fatiha. After surveying the history, reception, and content of Sadra’s writings on the Qur’an and presenting a coherent picture of the theoretical dimensions of his scriptural hermeneutics, we will go on to examine the Tafsir Surat al-fatiha’s structure and sources. This will set the stage for a careful analysis of the problems in cosmology, metaphysics, anthropology, theology, and soteriology addressed by Sadra in the work. Not only will our study demonstrate the manner in which Sadra reads scripture, but it will also afford us a window into the development of his religious thought, since the Fatiha provides him with the opportunity to recast many of his philosophical concerns within the Qur’an’s universe of discourse.

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The Qur'an has always been a medium through and upon which Islam and the Muslim faith are structured and built. It mediates the relationship between Muslims and God. Despite its alleged divine origin, the Qur'an as a scriptural and textual reality remains to be understood by Muslims. Many theories and principles have been developed out of the long Qur'anic interpretive tradition to address the Muslims' theological and legal needs. One of the most interesting, yet controversial, exegetical legal theories is the theory of naskh, a theory stipulating the abrogation of a verse of the Qur'an by another. The discourse of naskh raises many unsettling theological and legal questions. The present proposed research attempts to reassess the early Muslim understanding of the theory of Qur'anic abrogation. It raises fundamental questions about the accuracy of the assumptions of the early Muslim conception of textual annulment and the ongoing legal discourse of Islamic law in Muslim scholarship. It is the thesis of this proposed study that the theory of abrogation has been historically and traditionally conceived and discussed in a very rigid and dogmatic fashion as a result of the theological misconception of the immutability of both the divine will and revelation, and that the theory of naskh, as such, has failed to appropriate the legal contents of the law within the structures of juridical discourse. In other words, the rigidity and dogmatic nature of the theory of naskh has rendered the theory an inadequate conceptual framework to deal with an ever changing legal need of our time. Muslims to this day have struggled to preserve, adapt and redefine their social and legal norms in the face of changing situations. A central issue in this ongoing struggle has been the question of the nature, status, authority, and viability of the Qur'an and the Islamic law. The intellectual tradition of Islam has provided the underpinnings for adaptation, reform, and evolution. It is within this tradition of Islamic intellectualism that this proposed research intends to contribute. The theological component of this research will influence the way revelation is understood in Islam, while the legal component hopes to initiate a new Muslim attitude towards Islamic law. The exegetical consideration will hopefully create a reorientation of hermeneutical principle in Qur'anic exegesis. This study of naskh, for all its intent and purpose as outlined above, is primarily a study of naskh al-Qur'an as captured by the formative sources of `Sunni' Islam. It is therefore the case that this study should be strictly understood as one that does not pretend to include nor represent the views of Shi`ism on naskh in the Qur'an or the theory of naskh in itself. / Religion

Histories of tafsīr in South Asia have been mainly focused on identifying extant works of Qur’anic scholarship in the region. There are only a few academic works that explore the primary sources in detail. Surveys of the present state of the study of modern Qur’anic commentaries also highlight the lacunae in our knowledge of regional tafsīr and Qur’anic hermeneutics. Focusing on Urdu and Arabic works, the current study as a work of intellectual history is the first systematic attempt to open a new area of inquiry. Building on the earlier historiography of the pre-modern tafsīr in South Asia, it charts the development of Qur’anic hermeneutics in British India by focusing on the works of Sayyid Aḥmad Khān (d. 1898), Ashraf ʿAlī Thānawī (d. 1943), and Ḥamīd al-Dīn Farāhī (d. 1930), along with larger exegetical literature that emerged in North India. Looking beyond the artificial dichotomy of modernity and tradition and of reform and revivalism, as forces making an impact on Muslim Qur’anic thought, the current study focuses on two questions. What were the continuities and shifts in Qur’anic hermeneutics in British India since the latter half of the nineteenth century? Why did Qur’anic hermeneutics evolve the way it did in the multiple milieux of colonial India? The thesis also investigates an ancillary question: In developing their positions on Qur’anic hermeneutics, how did Muslim scholars in the period under examination conceive their relationship with the Muslim intellectual tradition in terms of their continuity or discontinuity? The study demonstrates the impact of historical forces and Muslim creative thinking on the development of modern Qur’anic hermeneutics in South Asia. Disagreeing on some key points with the current scholarship on modern Qur’an commentaries and Muslim scholarship in British India, the study shows that the period witnessed to the rise of new approaches to the study of the Qur’an in addition to the continuation of earlier trends. Moreover, it shows that Muslim scholarly ideas on the nature of the Muslim intellectual tradition in general, including Qur’anic exegesis, had a decisive impact on the development of thinking about the Qur’an in this period. / Graduate / 2021-12-22

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This study opens with an introduction to the transpersonal orientation, which Boucouvalas presents as a meta-framework of the transpersonal field that includes individual, group/societal, and planetary/cosmic domains. Three major theoretical perspectives of the field framed the study: the hierarchical stages of development, spiral path, and participatory. I offer a philosophical hermeneutic reading of the Qur'an to trace the development of human collective consciousness as a construct of the interaction between the autonomous and homonomous self at the individual, group, and cosmic levels on one plane of reality with the Divine on the other. This analysis, which utilizes Gadamer's conceptualization of philosophical hermeneutics as a research philosophy, concludes that this process of collective human development is comprised of three clearly distinct representations: familial, national, and cosmic/planetary. I articulate development and growth as a process of the expansion of collective consciousness. The cosmic/planetary human consciousness represents the ultimate reach of this expansion, for it assimilates the national and familial types while simultaneously transforming and transcending them within its reach. Based on the historical development of human consciousness in the Qur'an depicted in this study, I propose that human collective consciousness has reached the domains of cosmic consciousness, which began at the time of the Qur'an being read by Muhammad. However, individuals and groups may still operate within the limiting boundaries of national consciousness in the form of religious, ethnic, racial, and nation states. The Qur'an, and possibly other religious texts, should be understood within this expanded cosmic/planetary consciousness reach because they represent humanity's collective heritage. Moreover, those individuals operating within a strictly national consciousness should not be entrusted with explaining these texts to humanity at large or imposing their own limiting understanding on the world. I conclude by outlining some implications for adult education as a process, a program and a movement. I presented the possible contribution of a transpersonal adult learning theory based on this study's meta-framework as a comprehensive worldview to adult education and learning combining multiple dimensions of being, including the rational, affective, spiritual, imaginative, somatic, and sociocultural domains through relevant experiences of body-mind-spirit. / Ph. D.

Au cours des premiers siècles de l’Islam, le rôle du manuscrit est essentiel dans la transmission du texte coranique. Cependant, comment utiliser les manuscrits dans une perspective historique, alors qu’ils sont aujourd’hui réduits à l’état de fragments, dispersés dans les collections mondiales ? En soumettant les fragments à une étude pluridisciplinaire unissant l’approche formelle et l’analyse textuelle, nous parvenons à reconstituer les liens entre les manuscrits et à en évaluer la portée historique. Ces liens révèlent qu’au 2e/8e siècle, il existe plusieurs traditions manuscrites en cours de normalisation et de codification. En définitive, l’étude des manuscrits met à jour les détails d’un épisode effacé de l’histoire du Coran : celui de sa standardisation progressive, tant dans sa forme que dans son texte. / During the first centuries of Islam, the Qur’anic manuscript plays an essential role in the textual transmission of the Qur’an. However, how can we use these manuscripts, now preserved as fragments scattered all over the world, in the light of history? Through a multidisciplinary way, combining formal and textual analyses, we are able to reconstruct the links between the manuscripts and to evaluate their historical implication. These links reveal that the 2nd/8th century is a decisive stage for the Qur’anic normalization, where several Qur’anic traditions are concurrent. Thus, the study of the Qur’anic manuscript elucidates some details of a significant moment for the history of the Qur’an: the process of its codification and canonization, in its form and its text.