Context and Internal Relationships: Keys to Qur'anic Exegesis

Abdel-Haleem, Muhammad

Abstract

This paper argues that a most relevant and fruitful approach to understanding the text of the Qur'an is by means of two key concepts developed by Muslim scholars in the classical period: context and internal relationships. The importance of context (maqiim) was recognized and formulated for the study of the text of the Our'an by Muslim linguists whose work in this respect anticipated by many centuries modern linguistic thinking. Internal relationships were encapsulated in the dictum: al-qur'iin yufassiru ba '{iuhu ba '{ian (different parts of the Qur'an explain one another), which, given the structure of quranic material, was argued to provide the most correct method of understanding the Our'an.

Citation

Abdel-Haleem, M. (1993). Context and Internal Relationships: Keys to Qur'anic Exegesis. In A.-K. A. Shereef, & G. Hawting (Eds.), Approaches to the Qur'an (71-98). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203988848-10

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 1993
• Deposit Date: May 7, 2009
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 71-98
• Book Title: Approaches to the Qur'an
• ISBN: 9780415057554
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203988848-10