Religious Writings and Religious Systems

Like the Pentateuch, a revealed canon which defines all Judaisms as Judaism, the Qur’an unites all Islams into an Islam. The Qur’an (“recitation”) presently has for Muslims three main functions as: (1) a theological concept (2) a liturgical device and (3) a written scripture. While the focus of this paper is on the last function, it is understood that the other two are of significance in their own right and that they have had an impact on the redaction and exegesis of the written document. With the ultimate intention of creating an ethically based sociopolitical order under God, the Qur’an is a document attempting to make history sacred in the face of the repeated failures of history. The Qur’an, like the Pentateuch, constitutes “salvation history,” that is, of humankind’s relation with God and vice versa. “What really happened” is inextricable. For this reason (along with other cogent reasons) the Qur’an must be approached internally and allowed to speak for itself. This does not imply an abandonment of diachronic considerations. After all, things did “happen,” both in an imagined and in a real time context. What is required is a recognition of the system qua system, amenable to synchronic analysis. Such initial ‘ahistoricism’ acknowledges the primacy of the social entity in system formation and of the text as a reaction to particular situations and circumstances. It facilitates a recognition of the text as an intentioned discourse between an authorship and an audience.

This type of approach, focussing on the synchronicity of text thus far has not characterized Qur’anic studies. Subscribing to the ‘magic’ of reductionism, both theocentric and non-theocentric analysts have been addicted to the notion that “history” will explain the “meaning” of the Qur’an. Muslim (and subsequently non-Muslim) Qur’anic studies have been dominated from the start, that is, from the death of the Prophet, by attempts to reconstruct the chronology of the Prophet’s career and the linked history of the Muslim community. Muslim exegesis thus has emphasized the exploration of the situation or incident (isnad) associated with the revelation to Muhammed.