Arkoun’s Hermeneutic Approach in Reading Islamic Thought: A Comparative Linguistic Study

Abstract

Objectives: The dilemma of reading the Quranic text has become more sensitive than ever before among readers of utilitarian ideologies in our present era. They are concerned primarily with understanding superficial aspects of the text. However, contemporary readings have created a new approach, surpassing the boundaries of traditional reading mechanisms to delve into its depths, attempting to uncover its hidden layers that have been concealed for a long time. Hence, this study aims to elucidate Arkoun’s approach through his methodology of interpreting Quranic texts, which relies on contemporary scientific methods and takes into account the figurative nature of the Quran and the consequent multiplicity of meanings of the same words depending on time and place. It also highlights the impossibility of unilaterally determining the meaning of the Quranic text, considering that its meanings are open-ended and cannot be exhausted.

Methods: The research employed multiple methodologies, including anthropological, hermeneutical, analytical, and critical approaches, to trace the conceptual foundations of interpretation, uncovering the characteristics and manifestations of sacredness, and the historical method in exploring the roots of interpreting religious texts within Islamic thought across its various stages. This was achieved through a hermeneutical methodology that integrates contemporary scientific approaches.

Results: Therefore, researchers briefly reviewed interpretative readings and forms of understanding in Islamic hermeneutic thought, intertwining them with the description of interpretation as a general human phenomenon. They thus observed it within this framework before proceeding to compare it with interpretive perspectives such as juridical interpretation and the new prospective interpretation proposed by Arkoun.

Conclusion: The study concluded by elucidating the interpretive tools Arkoun relied on in his general Islamic text interpretation, particularly in Quranic interpretation. These tools include linguistic analysis, metaphor, distinguishing between meaning and the effects of meaning, unilaterality of meaning, and the conflict of interpretations.