Shi`a Pajoohi

Shi`a Pajoohi

A Study of the Inner Meanings of Quranic Verses based on the Quranic Exegesis Taʾwīl al-Āyāt al-Ẓāhira using Derrida’s Deconstruction Method

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
zahra Aghabarari 1
seyyedmohammad razavi 2
mahdi mahdiabbasi 3
1 PhD student, Quran and Hadith, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
2 Assistant professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
3 Assistant professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Deconstruction, a form of philosophical and literary analysis, is largely derived from the works of Jacques Derrida, which explores fundamental conceptual distinctions or “conflicts” through meticulous analysis of philosophical logic and language. This method is used in the study of texts and the approaches and methods of writers. The Quranic exegesis Taʾwīl al-āyāt al-ẓāhira (Interpretation of apparent Quranic verses) offers a somewhat esoteric interpretation of the Quran, adopting an akhbarist approach with innovative ideas at some points. Now, these two points give rise to the following question: Given Derrida’s deconstruction method, has al-Astarābādī in Taʾwīl al-āyāt al-ẓāhira engaged in deconstruction? Our study indicates that, adopting the perspective that the inner layer of the Quran is trans-temporal, al-Astarābādī has called the semantic unity of the apparent meanings of the Quran into question. By revealing the inner meanings of the Quran, he has produced a new interpretation of its apparent meaning. Unlike interpretations of the Quran with the Quran, priority is given to the hypertextual periphery of the Quran, aligning with Derrida’s approach. However, in his human perspective on meaning, he diverges from Derrida by appealing to the sacred, providing a new type of deconstruction that can be evaluated against the commonsensical approach of the apparent meanings of the Quran. He believes that the new dialectics unveil the esoteric meaning, differing from Derrida in that he believes this dialectic can be interpreted solely by the Infallibles. In some cases, he interprets meanings using the phenomenon of succession. Thus, contrary to the deconstruction method, he does not view the syntagmatic relationship as a criterion of meaningfulness, which was underscored by Derrida.
Keywords
Derrida
al-Astarābādī
Taʾwīl al-āyāt al-ẓāhira
deconstruction
Subjects
The Noble Quran.
Ahmadi, Mohammad Hassan. 1398 Sh. “Tafsīr-i Qurʾān va luzūm-i iḥrāz-i murād-i jiddī.” Pazhūhishnāmih-yi tafsīr va zabān-i Qurʾān 8, no. 1 (October): 155-72.
Ākhūnd Khurāsānī, Muḥammad Kāẓim. 1414 AH. Kifāyat al-uṣūl. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute.
Alston, William. 1970. Theories of Meaning. USA: n.p.
Anṣārī, Murtaḍā al-. 1419 AH. Farāʾid al-uṣūl. Qom: Majmaʿ Fikr-i Islāmī.
Arefian, Abdolhamid. 1382 Sh. “Jāvdānigī-yi Qurʾān va ḥaqīqat-i vaḥy.” Pazhūhish-hāyi Qurʾānī, no. 35-36 (autumn and winter): 242-73.
Astarābādī, ʿAlī al-. 1409 AH. Taʾwīl al-āyāt al-ẓāhira fī faḍāʾil al-ʿitrat al-ṭāhira. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute.
Bennington, Geoffrey. 1993. Jacques Derrida. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Brinton, Laurel J. 2000. The Structure of Modern English: A Linguistic Introduction. Illustrated edition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Colebrook, Claire. 2002. Routledge Critical Thinkers. London: Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques. 1973. Speech and Phenomena. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
François, Dosse. 1997. History of Structuralism: The Rising Sign. Paris: La Decouverte.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 1386 Sh. Zabān bih masābih-yi miyānjī-yi tajrubih-yi hirminutīkī dar hirminutīk-i mudirn: guzīdih-yi justārhā, Nietzsche, va dīgarān. Translated by Babak Ahmadi, Mehran Mohajer, and Mohammad Nabavi. Tehran: Markaz Publications.
Grondin, Jean. 1997. Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics. Connecticut: Yale University Press.
Haghighi, Shahrokh. 1379 Sh. Guẕār az mudirnītih? Nietzsche, Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida. Tehran: Agah.
Hjelmslev, Louis. 1969. Prolegomena to a Theory of Language. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. n.d. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa ilā taḥṣīl masāʾil al-sharīʿa. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Ibn Ḥazm, Abū Muḥammad. n.d. Al-Faṣl fī al-milal wa-l-ahwāʾ wa-l-niḥal. Cairo: Maktabat al-Khānajī.
Isazadeh, Nikzad. 1381 Sh. “Rāz-i jāvdānigī-yi Qurʾān.” Pursimān, no. 1.
Izutsu, Toshihiko. 1388 Sh. Khudā va insān dar Qurʾān. Translated by Ahmad Aram. Tehran: Sherkat-e Sahami-ye Enteshar.
Jafari, Nematollah. 1397 Sh. “Uṣūl va rāhkār-hāyi tafsīr-i Qurʾān bar asās-i muqtażiyāt-i zaman.” Qurʾān va ʿilm, no. 23 (autumn and winter): 79-108.
James, Williams. 2005. Understanding Poststructuralism. London: Routledge.
Javadi Amoli, Abdollah. 1378 Sh. Tasnīm. Qom: Esra.
Khatami, Mahmoud. 1386 Sh. “Derrida va sākhtārshikanī.” Faṣlnāmih-yi falsafī, ʿirfānī va adabī 2, no. 4-5: 213-23.
Martinet, André. 1989. "Linguistique générale, linguistique structurale, linguistique fonctionnelle." La Linguistique 25, no. 1: 145-54.
Mesbah Yazdi, Muhammad Taqi. 1392 Sh. Qurʾānshināsī. Qom: Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute.
Nekoonam, Jafar. 1388 Sh. “ʿUrfī būdan-i zabān-i Qurʾān.” Ṣaḥīfih-yi mubīn, no. 20 (autumn): 13-25.
Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Muʿtazilī, Abū al-Ḥasan. n.d. Al-Mughnī fī abwāb al-tawḥīd wa-l-ʿadl. Cairo: n.d.
Qundūzī, Sulaymān b. Ibrāhīm al-. n.d. Yanābīʿi al-mawadda li-dhawī al-qurbā. Qom: Dār al-Uswa li-l-Ṭibāʿa wa-l-Nashr.
Rezaei Esfehani, Mohammad. 1392 Sh. Manṭiq-i tafsīr-i Qurʾān. Qom: al-Mustafa Publications.
Safavi, Koroush. 1379 Sh. Darāmadī bar maʿnāshināsī. Tehran: Sooreh-ye Mehr.
Ṣaffār, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. 1404 AH. Baṣāʾir al-darajāt. Qom: Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library.
Sajedi, Abolfazl. 1387 Sh. “Qurʾān, kalām-i basharī yā ilāhī?” Qabasāt 13, no. 48 (August): 19-42.
Sowa, John F. 1987. “Semantic Networks.” Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018.
Tabatabaʾi, Sayyid Muhammad Husayn. 1379 AH. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya.
Ṭūsī, Abū Jaʿfar al-. 1409 AH. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Islamic Propagation Office.
Tustarī, Qāḍī Nūr Allāh al-. 1409 AH. Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq wa-izhāq al-bāṭil. Qom: Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library.
Shi`a Pajoohi
Volume 10, Issue 26 - Serial Number 26
September 2024
Pages 39-68