Surplus of Meaning or Suspending Philology? Some Reflections on the Philological Ramification of the Classical Qurʾān Commentary

Year 2024, , 3 - 29, 08.07.2024

Merve Palanci

https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1416368

Abstract

This study examines the philological data criteria used for exploring the genuine meanings and denominators of Arabic verbatim of the Qurʾān by Muslim exegetes of the classical period, with a special focus on the philological ramification of the commentary of dhālika l-kitāb pattern in Q 2:2.
Having attained the status of a corpus (kitāb) in the aftermath of a very long-phased oral tradition, the Qurʾān’s textus receptus reflects both portrayals of verbality and scriptural traits embedded in its Arabic verbatim information yielded by the compilation process. The Qurʾān, representing a junction spot for oral and written traditions in Arab culture, is known to be molded according to the Arabic language register and also formalized the language’s post facto grammar. In this vein, the Qurʾānic text bears a reflexive affiliation with its pertinent language. This article argues that the lingual reciprocity between the Qurʾānic text and its language underwent a critical suspension through commentaries when the case was Qurʾān’s al-kitāb. In this article, the first layer of the data reflects the historical background of the term kitāb. Then, it construes the word within Qurʾān’s cross-references. It exemplifies commentaries on the dhālika l-kitāb pattern, circumventing philological evidence. After elucidating different grounds leading to philological ramification, I argue that a philological inference from the Qurʾān nests in its fullest sense only when the commentator credits historical data and cross-references within the Qurʾānic content.

Keywords

Qurʾān, exegesis, philological exegesis, dhālika l-kitāb, surplus of meaning

References

• Abū Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid. Mafhūm al-naṣṣ: Dirāsah fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. Al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ: al-Markaz al-Thaqāfī al-ʿArabī, 2013.
• Aksan, Doğan. Her Yönüyle Dil: Ana Çizgileriyle Dilbilim. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları, 2007.
• Alexander, Elizabeth Shanks. Transmitting Mishnah: The Shaping Influence of Oral Tradition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Alpyağıl, Recep. Kimin Tarihi, Hangi Hermenötik?: Kur’ân’ı Anlama Yolunda Felsefī Denemeler I. İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık, 2018.
• Altındaş, Mücteba. Kur’an’da Kitap Kavramı. Ankara: Ankara University, Institute of Social Sciences, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2012.
• Andani, Khalil. Revelation in Islam: Qurʾānic, Sunni, and Shiʿi Ismaili Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2019
• Arslan, Hulusi - Karagöz, Numan. “Dilin Kökeni ve Teolojik Bağlamı”. Mesned İlahiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 12/2 (Autumn 2021), 431-451. https://doi.org/10.51605/mesned.929586
• Austin, J. L. How to Do Things with Words: The William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962.
• Aydar, Hidayet. “Kur’an’da Kitap Kavramı ve Bir Kitap Olarak Levh-i Mahfuz”. İstanbul Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 2 (April 2000), 63-141.
• Baalbaki, Ramzi. The Legacy of the Kitāb: Sībawahyi’s Analytical Methods within the Context of the Arabic Grammatical Theory. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
• al-Balādhurī, Abū l-Ḥasan Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá ibn Jābir ibn Dāwūd. Futūḥ al-buldān. Beirut: Dār Maktabat al-Hilāl, 1988.
• Bulut, Ali. “Sözlü Gelenekten Yazılı Geleneğe Geçiş ve Bunda Kur’an’ın Etkisi”. İslâm Öncesi Araplarda Dil ve Edebiyat. 107-114. Edited by Mustafa Çağrıcı. İstanbul: KURAMER, 2019.
• Coşkun, Muhammed. Modern Dünyada Kur’an Yorumu. İstanbul: Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Vakfı Yayınları, 2018.
• Cündioğlu, Dücane. Anlamın Buharlaşması ve Kur’an -Hermeneutik Bir Deneyim II-. İstanbul: Kapı Yayınları, 6th edition, 2013.
• Cündioğlu, Dücane. Sözlü Kültürden Yazılı Kültüre Anlamın Tarihi. İstanbul: Kitabevi, 1997.
• Çıkar, Mehmet Şirin. “İlk Dönem Arap Dilbilimi”. Kur’an ve Dil: Dilbilim ve Hermenötik Sempozyumu (17-18 Mayıs 2001). 255-264. Erzurum: Bakanlar Matbaası, 2002.
• Dindi, Emrah. İlahi Kelamın Kendine Yabancılaşması: Hermeneutik Bir Soruşturma. Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2021.
• Dowling Long, Siobhán - Long, Fiachra. Reading the Sacred Scriptures: From Oral Tradition to Written Documents and Their Reception. London, New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
• Er, Hasan. Dinî Sözcelerin Edimselliği. Bursa: Bursa Uludağ University, Institute of Social Sciences, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2019.
• Flügel, Gustav. Die Grammatischen Schulen der Araber. Erste Abtheilung. Die Schulen von Basra und Kufa und die Gemischte Schule. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1862.
• Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. Translated by Joel Weinsheimer - Donald G. Marshall. London: Continuum Publishing Group, 2nd edition, 2006.
• Gezer, Süleyman. Sözlü Kültürden Yazılı Kültüre Kur’an. Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2015.
• Goldziher, Ignaz. On the History of Grammar among the Arabs: An Essay in Literary History. Translated by Kinga Dévényi - Tamás Iványi. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994.
• Graham, William A. “The Earliest Meaning of ‘Qurʾān’”. Die Welt des Islams 23/24 (1984), 361-377. https://doi.org/10.2307/1570680
• Gündüzöz, Soner. “Arap Sözlük Bilimi ve Sözlük Çalışmaları”. İslam Medeniyetinde Dil İlimleri: Tarih ve Problemler. Edited by İsmail Güler. 23-64. İstanbul: İSAM Yayınları, 2017.
• Ibn Abī Ḥātim, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Rāzī. Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿazīm.Edited by Asʿad Muḥammad Ṭayyib. Riyadh: Maktabat Nizār Muṣṭafá al-Bāz, 1997.
• Ibn al-Jawzī,Abū l-Faraj Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammadal-Bagdādī . Nuzhat al-aʿyun al-nawāẓir fī ʿilm al-wujūh wa-l-naẓāʾir. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm Kāẓim al-Rāḍī. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1984.
• Jaffee, Martin S. Torah in the Mouth: Writing and Oral Tradition in Palestinian Judaism, 200 BCE-400 CE. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Jourdan, Christine - Tuite, Kevin. Language, Culture, and Society: Key Topics in Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge - New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Kopf, L. “Religious Influences on Medieval Arabic Philology”. Studia Islamica 5 (1956), 33-59. https://doi.org/10.2307/1595158
• Madigan, Daniel A. The Qur’ân’s Self-Image: Writing and Authority in Islam’s Scripture. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001.
• al-Māturīdī, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Taʾwīlāt Ahl al-sunnah: Tafsīr al-Māturīdī. Edited by Majdī Bāsallūm. 10 Vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2005.
• al-Māwardī, Abū Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥabīb al-Baṣrī. al-Nukat wa-l-ʿuyūn. Edited by ʿAbd al-Maqsūd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. Beirut: Dār al-Kutūb al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d.
• Muqātil ibn Sulaimān, Abū Ḥasan. Tafsīr Muqātil ibn Sulaiman. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh Maḥmūd Shiḥātah. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 2010.
• Neuwirth, Angelika. “The ‘Discovery of Writing’ in the Qurʾan: Tracing an Epistemic Revolution in Late Antiquity”. Nun: Jurnal Studi Alquran Dan Tafsir Di Nusantara 2/1 (2016), 25-55. https://doi.org/10.32459/nun.v2i1.2
• Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Routledge, 2012.
• Öğmüş, Harun. “Halku’l-Kur’ân Tartışmalarının Vahyin Allah’tan İnsana İntikaliyle İlgili Telakkiler Üzerindeki Etkisi”. Selçuk Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 28/28 (2009), 19-46.
• Özbalıkçı, Mehmet Reşit. “Sîbeveyhi”. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. 37/130-134. İstanbul: TDV Yayınları, 2009.
• Öznurhan, Halim. “Kur’an’ın Arap Diline Tesiri”. İslâm Öncesi Araplarda Dil ve Edebiyat. Edited by Mustafa Çağrıcı. 116-158. İstanbul: KURAMER, 2019.
• Özsoy, Ömer. “‘Çeviri Kuramı’ Açısından Kur’an Çevirisi Sorunu”. 2. Kur’an Sempozyumu Tebliğler - Müzakereler 4-5 Kasım 1995. 253-270. Ankara: Bilgi Vakfı Yayınları, 1996.
• al-Rāzī, ʿAbū ʿAbd Allāh Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. Mafātiḥ al-ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420.
• Ricoeur, Paul. Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation. Translated by Dennis B. Savage. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970.
• Robinson, Neal. Discovering the Qurʾan: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text. London: SCM Press, 2nd edition, 2003.
• Saleh, Waled. “The Etymological Fallacy and Qurʾanic Studies: Muhammad, Paradise and Late Antiquity”. The Qurʾān in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu. Edited by Angelika Neuwirth - Nicolai Sinai - Michael Marx. 649-697. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004176881.i-864.177
• al-Samarqandī, Abū l-Layth Imām al-Hudá Naṣr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm. Baḥr al-ʿulūm. Edited by ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿawwiḍ et al. 3 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1993.
• Shah, Mustafa. “The Philological Endeavours of the Early Arabic Linguists: Theological Implications of the tawqīf-iṣṭilāḥ Antithesis and the majāz Controversy — Part I ”. Journal of Qurʾanic Studies 1/1 (1999), 27-46. https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.1999.1.1.27
• Stein, Peter. “Literacy In Pre-Islamic Arabia: An Analysis of the Epigraphic Evidence”. The Qurʾān in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu. Edited by Angelika Neuwirth - Nicolai Sinai - Michael Marx. 255-280. Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2009.BRILL, 2009.
• https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004176881.i-864.58
• al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān. Edited by ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī. 26 Vols. Giza: Dār Hijr, 2001.
• Toprak, Mehmet Sait. Talmud ve Hadîs: Karşılaştırmalı Bir Araştırma. İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayıncılık, 2012.
• Türcan, Selim. İlk dönem Kur’an Tasavvuru ve Dönüşümü -Kimlik ve Kitâb İlişkisi Bağlamında-. Ankara: Ankara University, Institute of Social Sciences, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2007.
• Versteegh, C. H. M. Greek Elements in Arabic Linguistic Thinking. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
• Versteegh, Kees. Arabic Grammar and Qurʼānic Exegesis in Early Islam. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993.
• Yalçın, Huzeyfe. Tefsirlere Yansıyan Mezhebî Yorumların Kritiği: Halku’l-Kur’ân Örneği. Mardin: Mardin Artuklu University, Institute of Social Sciences, Master’s Thesis, 2021.
• Yavuz, Yusuf Şevki. “Esam, Ebû Bekir”. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. 11/353-355. İstanbul: TDV Yayınları, 1995.
• al-Zajjāj, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn al-Sarī ibn Sahl. Maʿānī l-Qurʾān wa-iʿrābuhū. Edited by ʿAbd al-Jalīl ʿAbduh Shalabī. 5 vols. Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub, 1988.
• al-Zamakhsharī, Abū l-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar ibn Muḥammad al-Khwārazmī. al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl wa-ʿuyūn al-aqāwīl fī wujūh al-taʾwīl. 4 Vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1407.