The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Qur'anic Exegesis (Book report)
The title is a book in the Quranic field, edited by S. R. Burge, published by Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies as one of the Qur'anic Studies Series. The following is a report of the book.[1]
Overview
• Provides the first in-depth discussion focusing on the relationship between the interpretation of the Qur'an and the meanings of words, from the beginnings of Qur'anic exegesis to the contemporary period.
• Analyses individual tafsīr scholars' approaches to lexicology, as well as offering comparative thematic studies of law, women in Islam, and theology.
• Explores the translation, interpretation, and meanings of words, thereby contextualising debates about the translation of the Qur'an in contemporary Islam.
Description
The basic intention of Qur'anic exegesis (tafsīr) is to understand what the text of the Qur'an means. Before attempting to understand anything of the Qur'anic worldview, its theology and ethical values, there is a need for exegetes to engage with the individual words found in the Qur'an itself. Yet, exegetes and translators, whether medieval or modern, have different theological perspectives, which influence how they do this. Many modern scholars have recognised that lexicology plays an important part in exegesis, but there are few studies of how exegetes use it to develop their interpretations of the Qur'an or that address lexicology in Qur'anic exegesis in any depth. This volume of essays addresses this gap in the scholarship.
The Meaning of the Word provides an overview of the development of lexicological analysis in the tafsīr tradition, and examines how exegetes interpreted words in the Qur'an. The contributions reflect on lexicology in Qur'anic exegesis through studies of a wide range of subjects, from linguistics to literary criticism, and law and gender to mysticism; from examinations of the issue of lexicology in the Arab, Persian and Turkish worlds to its examination in the European world; and from studies of the earliest discussions of Qurâanic lexica to those made in twentieth-century Turkey and recent English translations of the Qur'an. This volume will become a subject-specific reference volume for anyone working on the interpretation of the Qurâan, but also in Islamic Studies and the wider field of Religious Studies. lexicology in the Arab, Persian, Turkish, and European worlds; and studies of the earliest discussions of Qur'anic lexica to those made in twentieth-century Turkey and recent English translations of the Qur'an.
Table of Contents
Preface
Notes on Contributors
Notes on Transliteration, Conventions, and Abbreviations
Introduction
1:Words, Hemeneutics, and the Construction of Meaning, S. R. Burge
Section I: Lexicology and the Formative Period of Qur'anic Exegesis
2:In Search of Meaning: Lexical Explanation in Early Qur'anic Commentaries, Kees Versteegh
3:Lexicological Hadith and the 'School' of Ibn 'Abbās, Herbert Berg
4:The Interpretation of Three Qur'anic Terms (Siyāḥa, ḥikma and ṣiddīq) of Special Interest to the Early Renunciants, Christopher Melchert
Section II: Lexical Methodologies in Action: Four Case Studies
5:The Use of Lexicography in the Great Qur'anic commentary of al- Wāḥidī (d. 468/1076), Claude Gilliot
6:Authority and the Defence of Readings in Medieval Qur'anic Exegesis: Lexicology and the Case of Falaq (Q. 113:1), S. R. Burge
7:Poetic Licence and the Qur'anic Names of Hell: The Treatment of Cognate Substitution in al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī's Qur'anic Lexicon, Devin Stewart
8:Paradoxes in Shahrastānī's Lexicological Methodology, Toby Mayer
Section III: Words, Interpretation, and Legal Disputes
9:From Qur'an to Fiqh: Sunni and Shi'i Tafsīr on the Inheritance Verses and the 'Named' Cases (al-Masā'il al-Mulaqqaba), Agostino Cilardo
10:Marital Discord in Qur'anic Exegesis: A Lexical Analysis of Husbandly and Wifely Nushūz in Q. 4:34 and Q. 4:128, Ayesha S. Chaudhry
11:The Optional Ramadan Fast: Debating Q. 2:184 in the Early Turkish Republic, M. Brett Wilson
Section IV: The Word in Translation: Medieval and Modern Disputes
12:The Persian Fātiḥa of Salmān al-Fārisī and the Modern Controversy over Translating the Qur'an, Travis Zadeh
13:The Qur'an Today: Translating the Translatable, Stefan Wild
Bibliography
Index of Qur'anic Citations
General Index
Author Information
Edited by S. R. Burge, Research Associate, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Stephen R. Burge is Research Associate at Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. He is the author of Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti's al-Haba'ik fi akhbar al-mala'ik (Routledge, 2012).
Contributors:
Herbert Berg is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
S. R. Burge is a Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.
Ayesha S. Chaudhry is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia.
Agostino Cilardo is Professor of the History and Institutions of the Islamic World, and Professor of Islamic Law at the Università degli Studi di Napoli 'L'Orientale'.
Claude Gilliot is Professor Emeritus of the Université d'Aix-Marseille and IREMAM, and a member of the Institut Dominicain d'Études Orientales (IDEO) in Cairo.
Toby Mayer is a Research Associate in the Qur'anic Studies Unit at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.
Christopher Melchert is University Lecturer in Arabic and Islam at the University of Oxford. Devin Stewart is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Emory University.
Kees Versteegh is Professor Emeritus of the University of Nijmegen.
Stefan Wild is Professor Emeritus of the University of Bonn (Rheinische Freidrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn).
M. Brett Wilson is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Macalester College. Travis Zadeh is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Haverford College.
Reviews and Awards
"This volume of essays, dealing with how Muslims have grappled with issues of meaning in the Qur'an through lexicography and translation through the centuries, brings together some excellent research and penetrating analysis. It provides a valuable contribution to the discipline." - Andrew Rippin, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria, Canada
"In this volume, a fascinating array of subject areas, including theology, mysticism, the linguistic sciences, literary criticism, law and translation, provides the thematic backdrop against which key aspects of classical exegetical discourses are gauged and contextualized." - Mustafa Shah, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London