1st Edition

The Qur'an Modern Muslim Interpretations

By Massimo Campanini Copyright 2008
    160 Pages
    by Routledge

    156 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Qur’an: Modern Muslim Interpretations offers a lucid guide to how Muslims have read the Qur’an in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Massimo Campanini explores early approaches to the understanding of the Qur’an, including that of the Salafis and the construction of the Islamic Renaissance Movement, contrasting the development of traditionalist and ‘scientific’ interpretations and examining the work of the phenomenologists who followed. This lively book explores the radical ideas of Sayyid Qutb and his followers, a significant part of what is known as political Islamism, and investigates the idea of exegesis as a liberation theology, through the work of Esack and Wadud.

    Students taking courses on the interpretation of the Qur’an will find this an invaluable aid to their study, and it is essential reading for all those interested in how Muslims have understood the Qur’an in the contemporary period.

      Introduction: The Qur’an and Praxis  1. Traditional Commentary  2. The Qur’an as Text, Discourse and Structure  3. Radical Exegesis of the Qur’an: Sayyid Qutb  4. The Qur’an and the Hermeneutics of Liberation  Appendix: Other Areas of Qur’anic Exegesis

      Biography

      Massimo Campanini is Professor of History of the Arab Countries at the Oriental University in Naples.

      'This work provides a unique survey of modern Muslim voices dealing with the Qur'an and subjects them to insightful analysis. Paying attention to both academic and popular writers who are engaged in eliciting meaning from the Qur'an that is meaningful in the world of the 20th and 21st centuries, the author provides an incisive overview to the range of Muslim thought in the Arab world as well as Iran, Europe and further afield.'Andrew Rippin, University of Victoria, Canada

      'This is an impressive survey of the topic of the Qur'an and its interpretation in the modern period ... Professor’s Campanini’s work deserves to be widely read and its appearance in English is a very welcomed addition to our understanding of the Qur'an in the modern period.' - Walid A. Saleh, University of Toronto, Canada

      "An excellent introductory work on the modern tafsīr tradition which would be useful to students and general readers alike." - AMIDU OLALEKAN SANNI; Journal of Qur’anic Studies, Vol 15, no 2, pp. 183-186 (2013).