Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Qur'anic Exegesis; Massimo Campanini

Massimo Campanini [+–]

University of Trento

Massimo Campanini was born in Milan in 1954. He graduated in philosophy at the University of Milan in 1977 with a thesis on Giordano Bruno’s thought. Later he obtained a degree in Arabic at the Institute for the Middle and Far East of Milan in 1984. Lecturer in history and institutions of the Muslim world at the University of Urbino and of Arabic culture at the University of Milan; reader in History of Islamic countries at the Oriental University in Naples; presently, he is Associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Trento. He published about 100 scientific articles and 30 books, a few of them translated in Spanish, Portuguese and Serbo-croatian. In English he published The Qur’an: The Basics 2nd edition (Routledge 2016), Introduction to Islamic Philosophy (Edinburgh University Press 2008) and The Qur’an: Modern Muslim Interpretations (Routledge 2011).

This book explores the possibility of a hermeneutics of the Qur’an. It starts from the presupposition that the Qur’an can be studied as a philosophical book. Thus the analysis is theoretical more than historical. Many philosophers commented the Qur’an and many supported their theories by resorting to the Qur’an. Thinkers like Fakhr al-Din al-Razi connected traditional theology and philosophy in their Qur’anic commentary. Others like Nasr Abu Zayd used philosophy to deconstruct the Qur’an paving the way for a modern humanistic hermeneutics. This book tries to go a step further: it aims to offer a path within the Qur’an that – through philosophy – leads to a fresh understanding of fundamental tenets of Islamic thought, most importantly tawhid – God’s oneness – and to a fresh reading of the Qur’anic text. This book applies the phenomenological and ontological hermeneutics of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger to the study of the Qur’an going far beyond Annemarie Schimmel’s phenomenological approach that is neither philosophical nor properly phenomenological (in Husserl’s sense).

Series: Themes in Qur'anic Studies

Preliminaries

Objectives [+–] vii-viii

Acknowledgements [+–] ix

Part I: The Problems of Modern Hermeneutics of the Qur’ān

Introduction [+–] 3-4

1. What is Hermeneutics? [+–] 5-9

Hermeneutics is a pivotal science in the understanding of religions and their holy texts. This book proceeds from Friedrich Nietzsche’s radical assumption that there are no facts, only interpretations. This assertion is not intended in a nihilistic way, but as an invitation to decode the signs through which we are able to perceive meaning.

2: The Qur’an as Event [+–] 10-22

In the footsteps of Martin Heidegger, the chapter argues that interpreting is mainly to convey a message and an announcement. The Qur’an is both a message and an announcement and interpreting it means to “disclose” (a-letheia, kashf) truth. The Qur’an is an event in so far as it is a linguistic system wherein the Being (that is God) shows Himself and the truth is “disclosed” through the words of God conveyed by the Prophet.

3: Tafsīr and Ta’wīl [+–] 23-26

While tafsir is the “traditional” commentary, ta’wil involves a hermeneutical approach of “disclosure”, that can be literary or philosophical, or religious and spiritual. Unfortunately, Islamic thought did not develop ta’wil enough. The science of ta’wīl remained within the limits of “thinkable” and “thought” in Mohammed Arkoun’s terms. A new ta’wil implies that the veil of appearance must be removed to show Truth, decoding “signs” that refer to a world of symbols that must be interpreted. Nasr Abu Zayd’s method is particularly extolled.

4: Symbolism [+–] 27-43

This chapter analyses hermeneutically which is the meaning of symbol (mathal) and in which sense God is the “highest symbol” of the universe. A number of Qur’anic “signs” or “verses” (ayat) are studied in order to point out that the hidden must be drawn out of secrecy and showed, “disclosed” in openness, and this is possible only through interpretation. Muhammad and the Kaaba are chosen as particularly meaningful symbols of creed.

5: Being and Language [+–] 44-52

Qur’anic hermeneutics is strictly linked to the use and implications of language. Language is the “house” (as Heidegger would put it) in which the Being (God) shows Himself; and as Gadamer put it: “Being that can be understood is, insofar as it can be understood, language”. Starting from these premises, the chapter studies Ibn Rushd’s (Averroes) hermeneutical proposal in the Fasl al-maqal (Decisive Treatise), one of the most interesting experiments in Islamic thought moving towards a hermeneutics of Being as language.

6: Literary Hermeneutics [+–] 53-73

In the footsteps of Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah, this chapter analyses a number of famous Qur’anic stories (the prophet Joseph, Moses and al-Khidr, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba), to demonstrate the utility of finding a philosophical pattern connecting together apparently heterogeneous stories. Literary hermeneutics is one of the main methodological keys for reconstructing the meaning of a text and its history. The Holy Book of Islam appears to contain historical facts and narratives, but it essentially conveys its message through a complex axiological symbolism.

7: Structure and Historicity [+–] 74-83

In De Saussure’s terminology, the Qur’an could be considered as a langue. Moreover, “structure” does not mean simply the “order”, nazm, of the text and its potential coherence and well-constructed shape, but alludes also to the internal coherence and self-reference of the Qur’anic language. The problems of language and “disclosure” surface again. The issue is examined through Hasan Hanafi’s and Fazlur Rahman’s thematic approach to the Holy Text.

8: Scientific Hermeneutics [+–] 84-87

The controversial issue of tafsir ‘ilmi is briefly discussed in this chapter, showing that this approach can sometimes go far beyond symbolic hermeneutics – although it aims to stress the rationality of the universe.

9: The Translation of the Qur’ān as Hermeneutical Exercise [+–] 88-95

Translating is a highly hermeneutical activity. Translating is always interpreting. The problem is: When we are translating the Qur’an, are we “betraying” its meanings? Discussing the topic of the Qur’an’s translation is then a very difficult task. On the one hand, the Qur’an is not a normal literary text; and, on the other, Muslims do not accept the translation into another human language of the direct speech of God who spoke in Arabic. This chapter focuses on Nasr Abu Zayd’s, Fazlur Rahman’s and other commentators’ approach to understand how it is possible to convey to all human beings, who speak many languages, the meaning of a message originally expressed in Arabic. The problem of the Qur’an’s inimitability (i‘jaz) is crucial.

10: Hermeneutics and Praxis [+–] 96-99

Contemporary Islamic thought has a particular political character and aim. Obviously this character inspires the militant Qur’anic hermeneutics of thinkers like Amina Wadud and Farid Esack.

11: Summary of Part I [+–] 100-101

This short chapter reiterates the unavoidability of hermeneutics and of a symbolic, contextual (referring to Abdullah Saeed) approach to the Qur’an.

Part II: The Qur’an and Phenomenology

12: Phenomenology [+–] 105-111

Phenomenology is one of philosophy’s interpretative keys. But why choose phenomenology for a study of the Qur’an, rather than – for example – idealism or existentialism? The reason is that phenomenology is an instrument more useful than others in allowing a philosophical interpretation of the Qur’an. Phenomenology, through reduction, intentionality and eidetic intuition, has the advantage of placing the question of truth within parentheses. Phenomenology poses the question of truth as an endless quest.

13: A Phenomenological Path in the Qur’ān [+–] 112-132

This chapter is the very core of the book. The validity of a reading that takes phenomenology as its point of departure but which integrates a phenomenological perspective with a hermeneutic one (understood as tension and open demand) is reiterated. Phenomenology in Husserl’s sense is integrated with an eminently ontological vision inspired by Heidegger. Thus it is possible to deal with simple essences (èidos) and their universal value remaining far from the arbitrariness of subjectivity. In Islam Being is God. Phenomenological hermeneutics, by showing truth as a manifestation of and tension towards, emphasises that certainty and reality establish themselves as telos and purpose. The Qur’an does not hide Being in entity, it does not reduce God to man, nor, as Sufism does, does it attribute all the Being of creatures to God. The Qur’an shows (discloses) how God, absent in transcendence, remains present as telos and truth. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali is the pivotal author studied in this chapter with other theologians like Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani and al-Shahrastani.

14: Conclusion – From Hermeneutics to Praxis [+–] 133-141

This chapter argues that phenomenological hermeneutics must become an active instrument in interpretation of history. God must remain an objective, an objective that will probably never be attained, in order to keep alive the universal value of truth which makes of Him the living reality within human history. Hasan Hanafi’s thought is studied as a particularly fulfilled expression of a progressive contemporary Islam. Hanafi succeeded in constructing – on a phenomenological basis – a philosophy that re-reads both Islam’s authentic role as a religion and ideology, and paves the way for future perspectives (hopefully not destroyed by terrorism) in the history of Muslim peoples.

End Matter

Bibliography [+–] 142-149

The book explores the conditions of possibility of a contemporary (and potentially future) hermeneutics of the Qur’an. The hermeneutical key of the future proposed here is philosophy, starting from the presupposition that the Qur’an can be studied as a philosophical book. Thus the analysis is theoretical more than historical. Many philosophers commented the Qur’an. Many philosophers supported their theories by resorting to the Qur’an. Thinkers like Fakhr al-Din al-Razi connected traditional theology and philosophy in their Qur’anic commentary. Thinkers like Nasr Abu Zayd used philosophy to deconstruct the Qur’an paving the way for a modern humanistic hermeneutics. The book tries to go a step further: it aims to offer a path within the Qur’an that – through philosophy – leads to a fresh understanding of fundamental tenets of Islamic thought like tawhid or God’s oneness and to a fresh fathoming of the same Qur’anic text. Upon the tawhid bases Islam was built and flourished. The Qur’anic text provided the sound reference for enacting human praxis. Now hermeneutics, not only as a method, but as a paradigm, can lead to a re-reading of tawhid and other Islamic ideas in the name of philosophy. The book applies the phenomenological and ontological hermeneutics of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger to the study of the Qur’an going far beyond the previous Annemarie Schimmel’s phenomenological approach that is not either philosophical or properly phenomenological (in Husserl’s sense). Bibliography

Index [+–] 150-154

Reviews

This is an innovative and valuable addition to the growing literature on the Qur’an and philosophy and is worth serious attention.
Philosophy East and West

This book is, without a doubt, Campanini's own great contribution to the ongoing hermeneutical applications to the Holy Text. Campanini's book will find its way to philosophical and theological seminars in the field of contemporary Islamic thought, owing to the ideas expressed with balance, nuances, and its profound informative structure.
Synthesis Philosophica

The Qur’an can be considered as a philosophical book: it does not contain only theological truths. The new exegetical approach which applies philosophical tools to the Qur’an is perhaps definable as “Philosophical Qur’anology”, a neologism I coined along with the “Philosophical Christology”: as Jesus Christ in Christianity is the object of thought, so in Islam the Qur’an can become the object of thought, being the role of Christ in Islam played by the Qur’an. I chose phenomenology in order to study the pivotal philosophical principle of Islam: the Oneness and Uniqueness of God.
Extract from an interview with the author appearing in Corriere del Trentino 26 November 2016

This is an excellent introductory text for students researching the field of hermeneutics, Qur’an and Islamic studies. The style and use of language is consistent and unambiguous. The author develops the argument by easing the reader into the field, as he builds up the core philosophical tools to be utilised in the examination of the Qur’an. He presumes only that the reader is conversant with major terms in the fields of philosophy and Islamic (Qur’anic) studies and has some awareness of the arguments and discussions in the field. Overall, this is a recommended text for scholars and students seeking to engage with the Quran from a philosophical, or more specifically, a deep intellectual perspective.
The Muslim World Book Review

A condensation of the two enduring research interests—Quranic Studies and philosophy in the Muslim world—of the Italian scholar of Islam Massimo Campanini, with the purpose of presenting the Quran as a book of philosophy. While a relatively slim volume, the book’s coverage ranges wide, with occasional close readings of select samples from the Quran as actual exercises in philosophically informed exegesis and discourse analysis.
Journal of the American Oriental Society

He has succeeded in laying the foundations of a new methodology and offers a useful resource to those seeking a philosophical approach to the Qurann, while also providing an excellent introduction to Qurannic hermeneutics both from a methodological point of view and in terms of content. Although we should ask ourselves whether, in practice, this philosophical approach enables a more accurate understanding of the Qurannic God and of Islam’s sacred text, certainly this ground-breaking volume will be of great interest to scholars working in a number of fields.
ISLAMOCHRISTIANA

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Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Qur'anic Exegesis

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Massimo Campanini [+–]

University of Trento

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