Between Revelation and Interpretation: A Critical Examination of Orientalist-Influenced Hermeneutics in Muslim Scholarship

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Member, Association of Qur’an and Orientalism, Seminary of Qom, Iran.

2 PhD Scholar, Higher Education Center for Qur’an and Hadith, Al-Mustafa International University

3 Assistant Professor, Director of Rasul Akram University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

“Orientalist- Influenced” scholars are those who orient their intellectual trajectory according to Orientalist frameworks, adopting their principles, methodologies, and tendencies for textual inference. These thinkers prioritize philosophical hermeneutics in textual study and interpretation, conceptualizing the “textual perspective” as a dialectic between object (text) and subject (interpreter) - viewing it through historically constructed "sequential presuppositions" and, to some extent, textual expansiveness. Consequently, this paper employs a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the correlation between the theories of such Orientalist-influenced thinkers (including Soroush, Shabestari, Abu Zaid, and Fazlur Rahman) and philosophical hermeneutics. The study critically engages with the multiplicity and fluidity of textual meaning - what may be termed its cognitive relativism - demonstrating how its application by Orientalist-aligned scholars remains incongruent with Islamic exegetical tradition.

Keywords

References

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