Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd The life of Abu
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
The life of Abu Zayd-I Born in 1943 in Egypt He, from a young age, is a qari and hafız. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood and was briefly imprisoned in 1954. He was influenced by the writings of the charismatic leader, Sayyid Qutb. He began to study literature at Cairo University, specialising in Islamic studies. In 1976, he received his Master’s degree. He went on to study and lecture at the American University in Cairo and at the University of Pennsylvania. He did Ph. D. at the University of Cairo. From 1985 to 1989, he worked as a visiting professor at Osaka University.
The life of Abu Zayd-II On returning to Egypt , he took up a position as Assistant Professor in Islamic and Rhetorical Studies at Cairo University. In 1993 Abd al-Sabur Shahin publicly denounced Abu Zayd as an apostate (murtadd). Soon after, several articles accusing him of heresy have been published in semi-state press. In June a group of Islamists applied to the family court to nullify the marriage between Abu Zayd and his wife, arguing that Islamic law forbids a marriage between a Muslim woman and an apostate. The charge was dismissed in the first instance.
The life of Abu Zayd-III In 1995 the judge proclaimed Abu Zayd heretic and announced the dissolution of his marriage. Shortly after, a group of professor at al-Azhar University issued a joint statement calling for Abu Zayd’s execution. Finally, he was forced into exile with his wife. Since then, he has been professor of Islamic Studies at Leiden University in Holland. He was influenced by Amin al-Khuli and Izutsu
His works Al-Ittijah al-‘aqli fi al-tafsir Falsafat al-ta’wil Anzimat al-‘alamat. Madkhal ila al-simiyutiqa Mefhum al-nass Ishkaliyyat al-qira’a wa aliyyat al-ta’wil Al-Khitab al-dini. Ru’ya naqdiyya Nakd al-khitab al-dini Al-nass, al-sulta, al-haqiqa
His approach the Qur’an Religio-ethical He, like certain Muslim thinkers, emphasises that the Qur’an provides general ethical guidlines, but does not have the answer to all human and social issues. All social or physical phenomena are traced directly to God, and the texts are expected to explain these phenomena. To him, this understanding of the Qur’an at the same time contradicts the message of the Qur’an itself. The Muslims understood that the religious texts present no explanation for physical and human phenomena. – The first Muslims asked the Prophet whether his behaviour was based on a revelation or on his personal experience and reason. He criticises those are in favor of Islamisation of knowledge, because they think in all fields of culture and science the Qur’an and Sunna should become the authority for judgments and analyses. It means the Qur’an and Sunna should dominate all areas of life.
His approach the Qur’an Dialectic relationship between the Qur’an and the reality-I It is necessary to focus on the historical context of the revelation for distinguishing between its historical meaning (ma’na) and its broader, continuing significance (maghza). Since the linguistic system of the Qur’an itself focuses on the original addressees, a consciousness of the historicity of the text is especially important if we are able to understand its message today. Revelation is not independent of the reality.
His approach the Qur’an Dialectic relationship between the Qur’an and the reality-II The Absolute reveals Itself to humans by means of Its speech. It lowers Itself to them (yatanazzalu ilayhim), by imploying their cultural and linguistic system of meaning. The revelation adapts itself to the linguistic and intellectual horizon of the first addressees: in order to change the reality, it embodies it. Abu Zayd underlines the dialectic relationship that exists between the Qur’an and reality in many aspects of the history of its revelation. The causes of revelation (al-asbab al-nuzul) and the abrogating and the abrogated ( al-nasikh wal-mansukh) imply the dialectic relationship.
His approach the Qur’an The Qur’an is a literary text By sending down the Qur’an in Arabic, God had adopted a human language. He chose the specific linguistic system of the first recepient. God chose Arabic to communicate with man. That’s why man must analyse His speech by using the same methods and rules which are applied to any other verbal speech. The tools of literary studies are generally hermeneutics, literary criticism, semantics, linguistics and linguistic science. By using these tools a researcher will be capable of analysing of the specific linguistic system of the Qur’an and decoding its code. In so doing, such an interpretation transcends the historical meaning of the Qur’an for Arab society at the time of its revelation.
Abu Zayd’s views on ta’wil (interpretation) Abu Zayd sees Arab culture as a civilisation of the text. This fact also implies that it is also a civilisation of interpretation. The message of the text can only be revealed by its interpreters. The interpretation (ta’wil) is the other side of the text. He deliberatly uses the term ta’wil instead of more common term tafsir, in order to emphasise the share of the human intellect in the act of interpretation. Without ta’wil the Qur’an would be a meaningless text. The Qur’anic text changed from the very moment, from its existence as a divine text (al-nass al-ilahi), and became something understandable, a human text (al-nass al-insani), because it changed from revelation to interpretation.
Abu Zayd’s views on ta’wil (interpretation) Relativity of ta’wil (interpretation) An individual’s interpretation is never absolute (fahm mutlaq). It is always relative (fahm nisbi), since the information in the divine message varies according to whoever receives it. He also argues that any interpretation based on the authority of the elders would link the meaning of the text to the intellectual horizon and cultural milieu of the first generation of Islam.
Abu Zayd’s views on ta’wil (interpretation) Relativity of ta’wil (interpretation) Hermeneutics stresses the subjectivity of any kind of understanding of a text. Applied to the Qur’an, this means that it has no objective meaning which is accessible to individuals (or theologians). There is no strict natural scientific distinction exists between the subject (interpreter) and the object (text). Instead, each interpretation is the result of a certain relationship between the text and its interpreter, and reflects the uniqueness of this relationship.
Abu Zayd’s views on ta’wil (interpretation) Plurality of ta’wil (interpretation) He tries to discover the various interpretations and historical background of the single Qur’anic text from the early days of Islam up to the present. He also aims to demonstrate the ‘interpretational diversity’ (al-taaddud al-ta’wili) that exists within the Islamic tradition. to show this diversity has been increasingly neglected across Islamic history. For example, he examined the rational interpretation of the Qur’an according to the Mutazila. In doctoral thesis he studied the mystical interpretation by Muhyi al-Din ibn al-Arabi.
Critique of religious discourse Abu Zayd criticises what he described as ‘the hold of reactionary thought over tradition’, which has often marginalised or banished critical, rational, heterodox and mystical tendencies from ‘the paradise of Islam’. Islamic cultural history has been reduced to politically conservative, traditional theology. The free relationship to the Qur’an has been lost. Certain interpretations have become canonised in the contemporary range of existing interpretations. Although there is not clergy in Islam certain theologians behave as if there is. They seem to speak in the name of God. What can be done in this situation, and how? By means of a scientific understanding of the Qur’an and leaving aside layers of ideological interpretation, the historical reality of the text can be brought to light.
Why has he been faced such a rigid reaction? According to Navid Kermani His criticism of leading contemporary theologians and journalists in Egypt and his challenging of their monopoly on the interpretation of the sacred texts is highly political. – He strictly criticises the present religious discourse which is rooted in Egypt. To him, theologians who hold the right to speak in the name of God always instrumentalise religion politically.
Why has he been faced such a rigid reaction? According to Navid Kermani The other reason for receiving reactions is about his vocabulary and methods he employes to discuss the Qur’an. Influenced by Western hermeneutics and linguistics, he does not avoid using certain terms like ideology, historicity, code and dialectics, and discusses God’s revelation. He puts forth some issues within the literature of Qur’anic disciplins. Muslim scholars discussed such issues in the course of history. His writings contain large passages of rather dry explanations from traditional Qur’anic studies, or analyses of these. During a long interview published by the journal al-Qahira in November 1993, Abu Zayd himself repeatedly stressed that he did not aim to present a completely new concept or thesis, but simply to rework themes which have already been discussed in classical Qur’anic studies.
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