Qur’anic Studies: Methodology and Hermeneutics (IQSA)

Call For Papers: This year the Methodology and Hermeneutics unit invites proposals for a panel describing the emergent hermeneutics that are used to examine the text of the Qur'an. What are the emergent hermeneutics in, for example, apologetic, feminist, conservative, and scholarly methods of reading the Qur'an? Do emergent hermeneutics force meaning into to the Qur'an, consider the text outside of its historical context and/or stretch its interpretations beyond what is linguistically bearable? How are tensions between fidelity to the text and changing contexts negotiated in various approaches to Qur'anic hermeneutics? Are there traces of historical, critical, and earlier linguistic studies in these emergent hermeneutics? We especially welcome papers that deal with new trends in minority Muslim communities. The unit will additionally host a pre-arranged round-table discussion entitled 'The Qur'an as a Violent Text?' The panel will be divided into two parts: one examining violent images in the Qur'an, whether eschatological violence (apocalyptic visions, images of God as vengeful, violence in the afterlife), or human, 'divinely' sanctioned, violence (jihad and qital, 'verbal violence'/curses, sexual slavery, qisas, spousal violence), and one exploring the methods and hermeneutics of the study of violence in the field of Qur'anic studies. Panelists will be asked to explore and explain the violent images that occur in the text and to address the following questions: how does violence appear in Qur'anic narratives? Is violence in the Qur'an a means of attaining justice/order (as in Q. 2:191, al-fitnatu ashaddu min al-qatl)? Are violent images and themes reflective of earlier scriptural precedent, or of the Qur'an's original historical context and environment? How should we as scholars study the issue of violence in the Qur'an, particularly considering the way that Qur'anic passages may have been cited to legitimate actual physical violence? How can we in the field of Qur'anic studies

Program Unit Chairs

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