Criticism of the Exposition of Nasr Hamid Abuzayd on the Historicity of the Quran

Historicity of the text stresses on its being influenced by the cultural, and social realities of thetime of its creation. The present article studies the exposition of Nasr Hamid Abuzayd on the historicity of the Quran. He believes that the Quran is a cultural product. Thus the original meaning of the Quran is a historical one and it should be interpreted in the light of these realities. However, the linguistic signs in the Quran are of the capability to lie on the focal point of “creative interpretation”being reconstructed according to the social and linguistic realities of the age of the interpreter. The object of interpretation of the Quran should be understanding the signification rather than the meaning relevant to the time of revelation. This approach requires that those parts of the Quran which are not compatible with the cultural and linguistic realities of the contemporary age should be considered mere historical evidence. The most significant problem with Abu Zayd' s view is delimitation of the Quran in the tight circle of the circumstances of the age of revelartion, and submission to the infiltration of false concepts arising from the ignorance and backwardedness of the culture of that age into the revealed substance.