Hermeneutic Historical Approaches to The Interpretation of the Quran

In contrast to textualist scholars, stating that the meanings of the Quran are fixed and unchangeable over time, hermeneutic historical approaches argue that the meaning of a particular Qur’anic verse (or hadith) is, to a large extent, indeterminate and is related to the historical-social context of the time of revelation. According to the latter, in addition to the linguistic analyses, other issues including hermeneutic, historical, and literary theories are studied as well. Those scholars who follow such approach are in a variety of backgrounds, e.g. Fazlur Rahman, Muhammad Arkoun, Muhammad Shahrour, Amina Wadud, Asma Barlas and Khaled Abou El Fadl. Although all these scholars can be classified in one range, their views and understandings of the Qur’an mainly vary. The present paper, based on the analytical-descriptive method, aims to show the differences between this approach and the contexualists’, presenting a short analysis of the former’s views.