نشریه پژوهش های قرآنی
سال بیست و پنجم شماره 2 (پیاپی 95، تابستان 1399)

Aiming at upgrading the cultural approach to the Holy Qu’ran, we try in this research to state the desirable model for human cultural growth from the viewpoint of the Holy Qur’an. This article has been arranged with the descriptive-analytical method and is a quality research due to the data employed. This writing regards “knowledge of the necessities of cultural Qur’an studies” as a starting point for a more desirable explanation of the issue. “The basic role of the Holy Qur’an in cultural reform”, “sovereignty of secular approach in cultural studies”, “creating common understanding from cultural viewpoint of the Qur’an”, and “creating a mental image of a desirable cultural future from the viewpoint of the Qur’an” are among the most significant necessities in this respect. The results yielded by analysis of the collected data indicates that “spiritualism”, “rationalism”, pragmatism”, and “scientism” are the four sides of human cultural growth from the viewpoint of the Qur’an, which covers all aspects of culture, and of course, each is organized by “cultural association” originated form the Revealed Verses of the Holy Qur’an.

Lack of new and developed methods in impression from the Holy Qur’an and religious sources is one of the basic shortcomings of religious studies, especially theorization, for solving the present day problems. Shahid Sadr is among the few eminent scholars who have spoken of a relatively new method and, with an exclusive explanation of thematic interpretation, gives it an extraordinary characteristic. This article deals with critical reading of “interrogation” (istinṭāq) [lit. inquiry from the Qu’an] in thematic interpretation and “its application in the theory of history traditions in the Qur’an”. The article examines “interrogation” as only one of the procedures and processes of the thematic interpretation and theorization based on the Qur’an; and do not regard it as the whole thematic interpretation. It is aimed at explanation of interrogation and its components in Shahid Sadr’s thematic interpretation and pursuit of the extent with which it is applied in the theory of history traditions. The article answers two major questions: 1. What are the components of interrogation in Shahid Sadr’s thematic interpretation? 2. To what extent has the mentioned component been used in the theory of history traditions? The research is carried out with the method of text analysis. It is to be explained that we face two texts; a text that speaks of thematic interpretation and the theory of history traditions, and the text of the Holy Qur’an according to which the theoretician organizes his theory on the basis of its denotations. Analysis of the Qur’anic denotations is based on the method of legal reasoning (ijtihād) in Qur’anic literal denotation. Countless works have been written about Shahid Sadr’s thematic interpretation. The difference of the approach used in this article with them is in that, firstly – only a few of the mentioned works have briefly relied on Shahid Sadr’s thematic interpretation method; secondly, none of them have organized Shahid Sadr’s thematic interpretation method in a conceptual model; thirdly, they would not examine the process of interrogation and the extent of its application in theorization.

The ruling for polygamy has been mentioned in verse 3, Sūrat al Nisā of the Holy Qur’an. According to this verse some have regarded monogamy as the principle and considered polygamy as related to the social and individual requisitions. In contrast, some others maintain the preference of polygamy over monogamy. Using the descriptive-analytical method and after stating the relation between condition and result in the beginning of the verse, this article has examined the denotation of this verse to monogamy and polygamy and has concluded that the phrase “That makes it likelier that you will not be unfair”, due to holding two possibilities in the indicated (dhālik), does not denote monogamy. Similarly the command “then marry” implies prohibition and does not denote polygamy just as the priority of the phrase “then marry [other] women that you like, two, ...” over the phrase “But if you fear that you may not treat them fairly, then [marry only] one” does not denote preference of polygamy either. Thus, the noble verse does not represent the monogamy or polygamy principle; rather, it only denotes the permissibility of polygamy.

From the viewpoint of the Qur’an, act of worship and attaining mercy are among the main intensions of the creation of human kind; however, the course of rebellion and chastisement pursued by most human beings, especially the eternity of chastisement implies the violation of Divine intention. The present research indicates that removal of the above ambiguity is dependent upon a proper analysis of the issue of chastisement and eternity; that is, chastisement is to be regarded as having a didactic aspect and eternity as a lengthy period rather than everlasting; it is because the meaning of everlasting chastisement is opposed to rational rules of Monotheism and would cause ambiguity in the philosophy of creation. With a descriptive-analytical approach, the present writing examines the most important reasons for the eternality as well as their [the reasons] strength as contrasted with Monotheistic, rational, and traditional reasons so that while providing a foundation for negation of everlastingness of chastisement it would present a more consistent and profounder image of the philosophy of creation from the viewpoint of the Qur’an. Because of its inclusion of the sentimental and motivational components, this image is practically effective in solving the society’s psychological complexities.

There is difference of opinion among the proponents of jurisprudential interpretation concerning the domain and scope of reason in Qur’an interpretation. In this research we intend to examine the dominion of the authority of reason in Tafsīr al-Mīzān as one the most significant jurisprudential interpretations of the two major sects (of Shi’a and Sunni). To this end, first what is intended by reason and its types (reason as the source and reason as beacon) are clarified and accordingly the jurisprudential interpretation of the Qur’an are divided into three groups of traditionist, rationalist, and functionalist. Due to the fact that the reason as beacon and intuition were specifically out of the scope of this article, we continued the discourse in the realm of reason as the source and proceeded to examine various types of rationalist jurisprudential interpretation, i.e., the rationally evident; rational proofs; theological, philosophical, and scientific fundamentals, and the objects of perception of practical intellect in Al-Mīzān. It was concluded that all types of rationalist jurisprudential interpretations are brought up in Tafsīr al-Mīzān; therefore, from the viewpoint of the writer of Al-Mīzān the authority dominion of the reason as the source in the interpretation of the Qur’an includes all the above-mentioned types.

In this research, which is carried out with a quality study and an analytical approach, at first, prudence is briefly touched upon and then with an analysis of the most evident example of prudence in Sūrat al-Yūsif (A.S.), i.e., the incidence of embedding the king’s cup in Benjamin’s load and conforming legal criteria to it, while responding to peripheral misconceptions, new findings have been achieved; firstly, the most important congestion (tazāḥum) in this incidence – which is misconceived by most interpreters – is specified. Secondly, by applying the components involved in this incidence, including accusing Benjamin of theft to the criteria of moral action, the misconception of moral blameworthiness and using immoral means in this prudence is rejected. Thirdly, four strategies for discernment of prudence have been enumerated and then by applying systemic thinking to the management of the incidence, the comprehensive systemic outlook as Yūsif’s (A.S.) macro-strategy in discernment of prudence has been introduced.

Analysis of the Divine Names employed in the intervals of the verses is among the significant interpretational discourses. Maintaining that the juxtaposition of the words and verses are scriptural (tawqīfī), the Qur’an researchers have examined the Names mentioned in the end of the verses so that while getting an accurate understanding of them, they would find out their relation with the content of the verses and the intention of the Sūra. This research, with an analytical approach and with reliance on exegetical texts and lexicons, is intended to explain how the Most Beautiful Names of God at the end of the verses are related to the contents and intention of Sūrat al-Aḥzāb. The findings indicate that this systematic relation concerns both the very verse itself and the verses before and after it so that by eliminating them or substituting them with other Names, the meaning and intention of the verse would be distressed and the splendor of the verses’ eloquence would be diminished. Its most frequent reasons are casual inference (ta‘līl); completion; threat; emphasis; and preparations for new rulings. Similarly, examining these Names would be a reliable conjecture for discovering and establishing the intention of the Sūra.