Jurist Interpret Islamic Law

The Islamic and Western traditions of Qur’anic exegesis are two markedly different bodies of literature. Their differences stem from the divergent nature of their objectives and presumptions: Islamic analysis is a religious exegesis which attempts to explain the passages of the Qur’an in their religious context. Western analysis approaches the Qur’an from a rationalist perspective that does not seek to understand the religious elements of the Qur’an but to determine its literary, narrative, and historical qualities.

Both traditions analyze the same body of material, but their markedly different conclusions can be explained by the pre-existing assumptions which the researchers started with and the purpose of their analysis. I will examine the Islamic and Western traditions of exegesis and skeptical criticism, noting their differences of technique, goal, and presumption, and those points where their methods are in agreement.

Qur’anic Reflexive Comparison

Many techniques are used by Islamic scholars to analyze the Qur’an. The most important and most authoritative method is analysis of the Qur’an through the use other Qur’anic passages. This is the preferred method of exegesis because it uses the only absolutely flawless authority (the Qur’an) as the source for its interpretation.

An example of this self-analysis would be using verse 4:12 and 4:176 in conjunction, for verse 4:176 was a later revelation that reinforced the inheritance rulings given in verse 4:12. The difficulty with this method stems from the relatively few verses which have a clearly explanatory Qur’anic passage that can be associated with them; as a result other methods must often be used.

Use of the Hadith

The second most authoritative method explains a verse though Prophetic hadith, those sayings of the Prophet which were not part of the Qur’an as a whole. This Tafsir by Ibn’Abbas on Surah 93:6 seems to illustrate this method:

Allah then mentioned His blessings upon the Prophet (pbuh) saying (Did He not find thee) O Muhammad (an orphan) without a father or mother (and protect (thee)) and joined you to your uncle Abu Talib and sufficed you your provision? The Prophet (pbuh) said: " Yes, O Gabriel! "

Referencing the Companions

Thirdly, the sayings of Mohammed’s companions, a term used to designate contemporaries of his who would have been in a position to hear directly from him can be used. This is a commonly used technique because a fairly large corpus of the companion’s writings have survived. This passage from the Tafsir Ibn’Abbas on Surah 2:3 uses the words of Abu Bakr (Mohammed’s father-in-law) and his companions:

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