Asia Institute - Research Publications

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Muslims in the West and their attitudes to full participation in western societies: some reflections

Saeed, A (CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2008)
Some reflections on the Contextualist approach to ethico-legal texts of the Quran

Saeed, A (CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2008-01-01)

Abstract A “contextualist” reading of the Quran is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among those Muslims referred to as “progressive-ijtihadis”. One of the primary concerns of this reading is that in order to understand and interpret the ethico-legal content of the Quran and relate that content to the changing needs and circumstances of Muslims today, it is important to approach the text at different levels, giving a high degree of emphasis to the socio-historical context of the text. In the classical tafsīr this emphasis on socio-historical context was not considered important, particularly in the interpretation of the ethico-legal texts, despite the frequent use of asbāb al-nuzūl literature. In this paper, I will explore how progressive-ijtihadis are adopting a contextualist reading of ethico-legal texts of the Quran. To illustrate this, I will use one or two such texts (verses) and their interpretations by the progressive-ijtihadis and will seek to demonstrate the contours of this approach, and highlight some of the challenges this approach is facing.
The Qur'an: An introduction

Saeed, A (Routledge, 2008-01-25)