Münster journal for Islamic and philosophical studies

Foreword

Editorial Board — 2023-08-07

The enduring openness of the Qur’ān

Mouhanad Khorchide — 2023-08-07

God is transcendent and is therefore not comprehensible. This means that His revealed uncreated Word, which we encounter in the created Qur’ānic word, is also not really comprehensible. This does not mean that the Qur’ān is incomprehensible; rather, it signifies that the contingent form of its language is so rich in meanings and contexts of meaning that it is impossible to reduce the Qur’ānic discourse to a single, supposedly "true" interpretation. To emphasize the claim that the Qur’ān is an open book, Mouhanad Khorchide addresses three main points in this article. First, the diversity of Qur’ānic meanings is an important aspect to affirm the manifestation of God's mercy; second, reducing the Qur’ān to a judicial and ethical code would make it a closed book, contrary to the hermeneutical methodology proposed by Khorchide; thirdly, the researcher gives an example of reading the Qur’ān according to the openness concept, which prevents arbitrary reading.

Divine Providence in the Mu‘tazila’s thought

Haidar Hobballah — 2023-08-07

The divine providence in the Mu‘tazila’s though, unlike the Ash‘aris who denied it, is considered one of the most important rules of Islamic theology after the rule of “al-taḥsīn wa al-taqbīḥ al-‘aqlī”. Many religious beliefs and very important results in theology were built on it, such as: The divine justice, the Promise and the Threat “al-wa‘d wa l-wa‘id”, the moral infallibility “‘Iṣmah”. Rather, the divine Providence has been extended to the Imamiyyah to reach the principles of islamic jurisprudence, so they used it in the issues of consensus “ijmā‘”, to establish what was known as “al-ijmā‘ al-lutfī, which was theorized by Abu Ja‘far al-Tusi (d. 460 H/ 1067 CE.); In addition to islamic law, in several issues, including issues of enjoining good and forbidding wrong, and the guardianship of the Islamic Jurist. This paper attempts to critically read the rule of Divine Providence from the angle of its applicability in various fields, to conclude that the field of application of the rule in divine action is not as wide as Mu’tazili thought has pursued throughout history.

The Mercy of God according to the Mu‘tazila during the 11th/5th and 12th/6th centuries

Mohammed Erradi — 2023-08-07

As an Islamic theological idiom, «The Mercy of God» has a number of significant theological contexts, some of which are framed by the natural and existential visions that Islamic theologians have set within a unified intellectual system. This article aims to study the idiom «The Mercy of God» through a historical and analytical approach that focuses on the Mu‘tazila of Basra during the 11th and 12th centuries CE. Although the idiom initially refers to a marginal discussion, it remains linked to a network of terms dealing with fundamental theological issues among Mu‘tazilite traditions during the period under study. The article also examines the extent to which some modern reformers, such as Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905), represent this concept, which did not seem entirely clear in his most important work Risālat al-Tawḥīd, but which, in turn, was oriented with indications that religions in general, and Islam in particular, are a divine mercy.

The semantic change of Mercy and its hermeneutical potential in the classical Islamic theological context

Abdelilah Boudib — 2023-08-07

The concept of mercy is heavily present in Qurʾān and Hadiths, but given the many cultural and political factors, it was not enough to make Mercy the basis of religious consideration, particularly in Islamic theological traditions. The Mu‘tazila concentrated on the value of justice al-‘adl and based most of their doctrinal system on it, and mercy in this context has no value other than its slight links with the rule of divine providence; While mercy is present in the Ash‘arī theology as a will for good that can be activated by God according to His will without the restrictions of al-‘adl; The interaction of islamic theology with Sufism led to the presence of the concept of mercy in certain theological and Sufi schools, in which mercy played a fundamental role to deal with a number of sensitive theological issues, such as the eschatological destiny of humankind. This study aims to trace the semantic development of the concept of mercy by dealing with the following issues: the meaning of the concept of mercy in the Islamic theological context; the reasons for the infrequent presence of mercy in the early debates of Islamic theologians; how to interpret its presence in later theological schools during the 11th and 12th centuries CE?

Editorial Board — 2023-08-07

Mary in the Qur’an and the Gospels: Biblical Intertextuality

Rita Faraj — 2023-08-07

The politics of contemporary Islamists by Ridwan Al-Sayyid

Badr Eljounaidi — 2023-08-07

Woe unto those who are praying (Q 107: 4): On considering the Qur’ān a historical source for the life of Muhammad

Yassine Yahyaoui — 2023-08-07

This study explores the evolution of the interpretation of Q 107: 4 from the late Antique Qur’ānic exegesis to the medieval exegesis. The importance to refer to the passage is twofold. First: The consensus of commentators to place Q 107 in the Meccan context, except for Q 107: 4-7, which is placed in the Medinan context; Second, the interpretation of this passage set an example for the rupture of Qur’ānic exegesis with the historical context of the Qur’ān, which also leads to a rupture with the historical context of the Prophet’s biography. While the debate in Qur’ānic studies and early Islamic history continues as to the extent to which the Qur’an can be considered a source of the Prophet’s biography, this study argues that writing the Prophet’s biography based on the Qur’ān as a historical source is possible from a historical point of view.