MATERIAL EXEGESIS OF THE QUR’AN: SOURCE AND EXTENSION: AL HEDĀYAH WAL ‘IRFĀN EXEGESIS AS A MODEL

Abstract

Authorship in Qur'anic exegesis went through several stages, whereby various approaches and trends in interpretation were produced, where scientific interpretations were the most welcomed, while other approaches were reprehensible, due to either ideological or doctrinal inputs borne in the interpretation process or adhering a certain political trend which led to deviated interpretation. Thus, we can say: ideologizing the Qur’anic interpretation and yielding it to a certain doctrine of fanatic approach was started as early as the second Hijri century by the Mu'tazilites. In the modern era, some of modernists, fascinated by modern sciences and their success in explaining some cosmic phenomena, tried to hold the theories of physics and other applied sciences arbiters over the interpretation of the Qur'an. Moreover, that led them to deny the miracles by which Allah supported His prophets and messengers and arbitrarily interpreted them in a victory for the laws and theories of nature, which have been proven by modern science. Among them is Muhammad Abu Zayd al-Damanhouri, who noted his modernist view on the margin of a book of the Holy Qur'an, and called it “Al-Hedayah wal-“Irfan” (guidance and gratitude in the interpretation of the Qur'an). However, he denied the miracles of the prophets, and he denied the existence of angels and jinn. Also, He interpreted all these verses materially, so this research was to discuss this issue.