Methodology for Exploring the Quranic Meaning according to Taha Jaber Al-Alwani (1935 - 2016)

Abstract

The research aims to review the modern methodology in the issue of ‘revealing the meaning of the Qur’an’ by focusing on the thought of one of the significant figures of modern readings, Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, because his thought occupies a special position within these readings and is considered one of the first scholars who applied the systematic reading of the Qur’an. The researcher employed a descriptive-analytical approach to read and analyze Al-Alwani’s intellectual work, related to the methodology of reading and interpreting the text, to find out what this methodology can offer as an alternative vision for exploring the Qur’anic meaning. It is divided into two sections. The first is about Al-Alwani’s reviews of the traditional Qur’anic sciences, and the second is about the features of the methodology for revealing the Qur’anic meaning. Among the results of this research is that Al-Alwani goes beyond the traditional dealing with the Holy Qur’an to a new methodology that serves the Qur’an in its total unity and its relationship with the movement of man and the universe. So, we find that he made great efforts to review and purify the sciences of the Qur’an, which he believes have obscured the universality of the Qur’anic discourse. Therefore, we are with a renewed interpretive vision to look at the verses and surahs of the Holy Qur’an, from the perspective of structural unity and combining the two readings, whose goal is to understand and serve the overall purposes of the Holy Qur’an, and work to represent and achieve them in the life of the individual and society.