An Explanation of Theoretical Foundations of Qur’anic Structural Interpretation

The interpretive tradition has witnessed innovation and growth in its approaches over the centuries. The unanswered questions have led to the pursuit of new approaches to understanding the Qur’an until today. The structural approach to the interpretation of Qur’anic chapters, which considers each Surah a coherent text with a systematic connection between its components, is one of the emerging approaches in the field of Qur’anic interpretation that still needs to strengthen and refine its theoretical foundations. This article critically analyzes the barriers of this approach in the theoretical field, challenging the validity and acceptability of this approach. Lack of cultural and linguistic evidence of the revelation of the Qur’an, inconsistency of the order of Qur’anic verses with the order of revelation, non-confiscation of the Qur’anic order, and lack of Qur’anic and narrative support are among the most important obstacles to the structural interpretation approach. The result of this analysis suggests that some of these obstacles are not specific to the structural approach to the interpretation of the Qur’an. Rather, they have targeted all interpretive approaches. This analysis also makes it clear that the structural approach to the interpretation of the Qur’an, although in some issues such as the confinement of the order of Surahs needs to strengthen its principles and further explain and promote these principles, in general in its theoretical field is strong and defensible.