The sura as a unity: A twentieth-century develolpment in Qur'anic exegesis PDF

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8 The sura as a unity *"•£?£ a^y^SJSTS^:'- a"d Sh3"ef- AMUl KadeI A" A twentieth century development in Qur'an exegesis Mustansir Mir Twentieth-century Qur'an commentary makes a definite break with the traditional style of exegesis, which, in general terms, may be sai...

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8 The sura as a unity *"•£?£ a^y^SJSTS^:'- a"d Sh3"ef- AMUl KadeI A" A twentieth century development in Qur'an exegesis Mustansir Mir

Twentieth-century Qur'an commentary makes a definite break with the traditional style of exegesis, which, in general terms, may be said to have lasted from the early Islamic centuries to the end of the nineteenth century.1 One manifestation of this break is the view that the quranic suras are unities. I shall argue that this view is now fairly well-established in modern Qur'an commentary. I shall do so by looking at the works of a number of modern exegetes. The study is divided into four sections. The first section provides a brief historical background. The second section gives a descriptive account of the relevant aspects of the works of six modern Qur'an commentators. The third section of fers an analysis of that account. A few general remarks make up the fourth, concluding section. PRELIMINARY In itself, the idea of the suras as unities is not new. Zarkashi (745-794/1344-1391) in his Burhdn1 devotes a whole chapter to it, and so does Suyuti (d. 911/1505) in his Itqan,3 an abridgment and revision of Zarkashl's work.4 Zarkash! reports the disagreement of scholars on the subject 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam (577-660/1181-1262) argues that the Qur'an, revealed as it was under extremely diverse circumstances and in a period of more than twenty years, could not possibly have continuity and coherence (irtibdt). One of Zarkashi's mashayikh, identified by Suyuti as Wall al-Din al-Mallawi,5 rebuts the argument by saying that while historical circumstances determined the order in which the quranic revelations were sent down, considerations of wisdom determined the order in which those revelations were arranged: wa-faslu'l-khitdbi annahu 'aid hasabi 'l-waqa'i'i tanzilan wa-'ala hasabi 'l-hikmatitartOtan." Zarkashi himself speaks of what he calls 'Urn al-mundsaba in quite favorable terms, identifying a few types of mundsabdt one may find in...