Time-based interpretation of Quran

TEHRAN (IQNA) – The Quran addresses us in our own time and context, but our understanding of it may differ from that of the early Muslims or those who lived in later centuries.

This is what Hojat-ol-Islam Mohammad Ali Ayazi, a Quran researcher and university lecturer, explained about the time-based interpretation of Quran. Here are some highlights from his speech:

The time-based interpretation of Quran means to present a new image of Quran that suits the needs and demands of each era, considering the social and cultural environment of that era.

Such an approach has usually been taken when Muslims got acquainted with new culture and knowledge and as a result, the experimental sciences and humanities developed.

To appreciate the importance and necessity of the time-based interpretation of Quran, we should note some points.

The first one is that Quran interpretation underwent many changes in the 14th century. There was a period when only a traditional interpretation of Quran was done, based solely on the hadiths of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the infallible Imams. Then came the ijtihadi interpretation of Quran, followed by the attention to the literal aspect of Quran. After that, Quran was interpreted from philosophical, jurisprudential and theological perspectives.

The relation between “understanding” and the “addressee” is important. It means that what we understand from Quran today may not be the same as what people understood from it at the time of its revelation. Moreover, not all Quran interpreters at that time had the same understanding.

Some scholars such as Amin Khuli and Bint Al-Shati said that many of the points mentioned by Quran interpreters today were not grasped by the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). This is not because we misunderstand Quran, but because human knowledge has evolved over history, resulting in the emergence of different disciplines such as humanities, psychology, social sciences, etc.