Tradition and the Politics of Interpretation: A Study on Islamic Hermeneutics and its Role in (Re)shaping Our Realities Today

Abstract

The main critical objective of this study is to present an overview of the development of hermeneutic theory in the Arab-Islamic intellectual tradition and its influence on our realities today. Through a historical and comparative analysis, an attempt will be made to examine the traditional sources of Islamic theories of interpretation to check if there are principles that can be viewed as forming a theory of hermeneutics in Arabic literary, philosophical and cultural tradition. Thus, some light is shed on the Arab-Islamic theories of ta’wil and tafsir within the comparative framework of Western hermeneutics. The study attempts to examine the complex issue of ta’wil through correlation between the concepts of tafsir and ta’wil in the Islamic thought, on the one hand; and the relationship between ta’wil and Western ‘hermeneutics’, on the other. As Arab-Islamic civilization is seen as a text-based civilization (Hadharat al-Nass), ta’wil as the theory and practice of interpretation is an important component of this text-based civilization. Hence, the significance of this study lies in its attempts to show how hermeneutics, as the need of the hour, entails a contemporary application of tradition that embodies a philosophy of living traditions as sites of unfolding meaning and not as relics of the past but as blueprints for the future.