Qurʾanic Hermeneutics
Authors: Galadari Abdulla 
Published: July 2018

Qurʾanic Hermeneutics argues for the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qurʾan and outlines a new method of Qurʾanic exegesis called intertextual polysemy. By interweaving science, history, and religious studies, Abdulla Galadari introduces a linguistic approach which draws on neuropsychology.

This book features examples of intertextual polysemy within the Qurʾan, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible. It provides examples that intimately engage with Christological concepts of the Gospels, in addition to examples of allegorical interpretation through inner-Qurʾanic allusions. Galadari reveals how new creative insights are possible, and argues that the Qurʾan did not come to denounce the Gospel – which is one of the stumbling blocks between Islam and Christianity – but only to interpret it in its own words.

There is a debate among academic and religious scholars alike on the reliability of classical Qurʾanic exegesis for interpretation. This book proposes a new and innovative method of Qurʾanic exegesis called intertextual polysemy, using provocative examples. It breaks away the shackles of classical exegesis and tries to demystify the concept of Muhammad’s revelation and allegories by adopting concepts of neuropsychology. It introduces Psychological Qurʾanic Criticism as a field, similar to that found in Biblical Studies.

The book proposes a method that argues the importance of understanding the polysemous nature of the words in the Qurʾan and uses intertextuality between the Qurʾan and itself, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible to identify how words and their various morphologies are used. It also gives insightful but controversial examples using this methodology.

To argue in favour of such a method, the book touches very crucial and sometimes controversial subjects. An example of such, contrary to recent scholarly debates, the book argues that “taḥrīf,” according to the Qurʾan, perhaps means turning away (inḥirāf) from Scriptures, and not necessarily changing either the words or their meanings. This is a diverging thought from existing literature that did not look at this as a possible definition of the term.

The book also presents few working examples of intertextual polysemy for Qurʾanic hermeneutics. It gives examples for intertextualizing the Qurʾan with itself, as well as between the Qurʾan and the Bible. Many of the stumbling blocks between Christianity and Islam when it comes to Christology and the theology are completely reinterpreted showing that in fact the Qurʾan did not come to denounce the Gospel, but only interpret it in its own words. With those examples, it shows how new creative insights on understanding possible deeper meanings to the Qurʾan along with its Biblical subtext. As examples adopted in the book, it shows how the term Ibn Allah in the Qurʾan is defining the Temple of God, not actually the Son. It also mentions how the concept that God neither begets nor is begotten in the Qurʾan is an attempt to interpret the Logos in the Gospel of John and not denying it, as it is currently assumed by both academic and religious scholars.

This book is very different than existing literature in Qurʾanic studies in that it proposes and argues in favour of a new method of Qurʾanic hermeneutics using a linguistic approach that is not found in any other books in the field, stemming from a possible neuropsychological basis.