The Limits of Historical Context: A Methodological Reassessment of Reynolds’ New Perspectives on the Qurʾān

Öz

This study offers a methodological reassessment of Gabriel Said Reynolds’ edited volume New Perspectives on the Qurʾān: The Qurʾan in Its Historical Context 2 (Routledge, 2011), fifteen years after publication, situating it within Reynolds’ wider research programme. Measured against uṣūl al-tafsīr, balāgha, and ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, the volume’s framework reveals three interlocking assumptions: that “historical context” settles Qurʾanic meaning where the exegetical tradition disagrees; that the cumulative tafsīr tradition can be bypassed in favour of cognate-language evidence; and that the Qurʾan’s literary structure is best read against a biblical “subtext.” Through case studies of Sidney Griffith on al-naṣārā, Christoph Luxenberg on Q 53, and Reynolds on Q 19, the study argues that the classical apparatus, including the furūq al-lughawiyya, the muʿarrab and gharīb al-Qurʾān literature, the qirāʾāt, and iʿjāz lughawī, supplies instruments more precise than those the volume deploys, and proposes an integrative methodology coordinating both registers.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Tafsir
• Tafsir Methodology
• Qurʾanic Studies
• ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān
• Balāgha
• Late Antiquity
• Syro-Aramaic Hypothesis.

Tarihsel Bağlamın Sınırları: Reynolds'ın New Perspectives on the Qur'ān Eserinin Metodolojik Bir Yeniden Değerlendirmesi

Öz

Bu çalışma, Gabriel Said Reynolds tarafından editörlüğü yapılan New Perspectives on the Qurʾān: The Qurʾan in Its Historical Context 2 (Routledge, 2011) adlı eserin yayımlanmasından on beş yıl sonra metodolojik bir yeniden değerlendirmesini sunmaktadır. Usûlü't-tefsîr, belâgat ve ulûmü'l-Kur'ān ölçütleriyle değerlendirildiğinde, eserin çerçevesi üç birbiriyle bağlantılı varsayımı ortaya koymaktadır: "tarihsel bağlam"ın, tefsir geleneğinin ihtilaf ettiği yerlerde Kur'ân anlamını belirlediği; mütearif tefsir geleneğinin sâmî dillerden gelen kanıtlar lehine atlanabileceği; ve Kur'ân'ın edebî yapısının en iyi şekilde İncîlî bir "alt-metin"den türetilmiş olarak okunacağı. Sidney Griffith'in en-Nasârâ, Christoph Luxenberg'in Q 53 ve Reynolds'ın Q 19 okumalarına ilişkin örnek olay incelemeleri aracılığıyla bu çalışma, klasik tefsir geleneğinin—özellikle furûku'l-luğaviyye, kırâ'ât ve iʿcâzü'l-luğavî—eserin kullandığından daha hassas analitik araçlar sunduğunu ve her iki kaydı koordine eden bütünleştirici bir metodolojinin Kur'ân metnine daha yüksek sadakatli okumalar verdiğini ileri sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Tefsir
• Tefsir Metodolojisi
• Kur'an Araştırmaları
• Ulûmu'l-Kur'ān
• Belâgat
• Geç Antik Çağ
• Süryano-Aramî Hipotezi

Kaynakça

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