Evaluation of the researches of Jane Dammen McAuliffe

This article is written to review the work of Professor Dammen McAuliffe that he has written concerning the Qur’an and its exegesis. He is a prominent western known for his Qur’anic research and in his many works he has dealt with the Qur’anic exegesis too. He considers the Qur’anic text as an impressive and authoritative but in terms of the document he has some objections. Such as the collection of the Qur’an not taking place in the life time of the Prophet, dependedy on the Qur’an on ahadith. These two objections are against the profound proofs that claim the Qur’an was compiled in the life time of the Prophet and therefore, enjoys the status of uninterrupted transmission. McAuliffe has classified the history of the Qur’anic exegesis into three stages: Genesis, classical and modern. The main objection in his work is that during explaining the famous exegetes amongst the companions of the Prophet he ignored the name of Imam ‘Ali and considered the authenticity of the qur’anic exegesis relying on hadith. His interpretation of the modern era exegesis is as the continuity of the same classic era with a change, which helped the emergence of new interpretive voices having the most important characteristics of this age. This orientalist has tried his best to present the useful information utilizing two famous exegeses of entitled ‘al Burhan’ and ‘al Itqan’.