Abaya U1 2013), 215-29. CONTINUITY, CONTEXT, AND COHERENCE IN HIE QUR’AN: A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE IDEA AZM IN TAFSIR LITERATURE Mustansir Mir® Abstract 1s paper aya eve works of tai oh ide ne, sr eoberenc erin fare of the Qari. Te nts tobe works are eased ave Taber Ris, Big. and aman gy —the las ue, deacon dent diced toe i conde tht modern tit, omped ith nisina eli ae cpr ofthe ae of ten te Quran and hse Rt ah ew of Quan nse ic ‘noe pele thn the ews af the ther eves died Keywords: Quin, fit mii, Introduction {will begin by explaining thesenses in which Luse che chee keywords in the paper's main title—continuity, context, and coherence: by condnuity 1 mean linkage berween some or all the verses of surah by context | mean a Inamework of caning which is cypcaly created hy ase of verses seen to fom a cluster and which hep 0 Altermine the meaning of one or more verses occurring inside of inthe vicinity ofthat chistes and by eoherenee F mean overall, oF nganic, unity or coherence ina stra. I would like to make theee points in regard to his explanation, Fis, itis nor offered as the oly possible explanation of the thece terms ici a working description mended w ay the groundwork for discussion i this pape, an will undergo qualification lace in the paper Second, the explanation suggests a certain gradation in cms of complexity starting, at the basic level, with continuity and ending, atthe high coherence, with context making up the middle. Third, che thie ‘wen ae Une Yam, Oki US, isteywordscan besa to come under the umbels of the Able word. pa which ong wih deat incl of then 3 ew ‘ick camps om bn Manis Lira Arab wl sow nazar Tata onda f Ca "sting (ely, colle the pels cm a sing tentiomat Ventas talaga, “he boulders cling rae ronan ah oh ya main in Prat: ma ong pur oc figara, according a Qt tM lina lbdin: chemo nin el 3c oF ‘els thar have nfo yout orave bon well ranged that Wall hac hve boo dg mthodly or ascording to pan. Taken Togs these empl clearly denote contin and coherence. But the ies of contest can lobe driv rom he, sine content presuppose continuity and iil presupposed in coberence wl, thercore, se neg asthe mother term for the tte keyword ‘clang sometimes tp ones and smetin® to tore tha one, of them ‘We are now ready co inguite how the idea of maqm—in the senses of continuity, context, and coherence—is found in literature, The review; a selective one, covers the works of the following authors. 1. Aba Jar Mulbammad ibn Jari al Tabart(224-310/839- 923) 2, Rakhr al-Din Abia ‘Abdallsh ibn “Umar ab Rist (544 606/1 150-1210) 3. Aba "l-Masan Thi ibn Umar al-Biga' (809-885/1406— 1480) 4. Hamid al-Din al- Farah (1863-1930). 5. Amin Absa Isla (1906-1997) The lase two authors will be discussed together AA prcfatory remark about one of the key terms inthe tte is in order. I think it goes without saying that none of che authors on ‘our list—and none on any other posible list—would deny, atleast Th ne i nd, 18 wl as Da ty aT Ne 98, "Dia Nava i yb ee Dil ky, 195), 1088 oni Com nC een theoretically, the existence o significance of nazm-asycontent inthe ‘Quin. As such, evidence is hardly needed co prove that, in one way for another, all out authors would invoke context to interpret, ot {accord preference toa certain interpretation ofthis or that Qui’anic ‘ers. Iwil have more to say about context later on. For nov, Iwill Focus on continuity and coherence. Tabast Tabats Jani alBayon ft Tif aL Quran? wpe the sale traded xg fir mata) Falling bis standard Siegel proce, Tabor introduces & Quran ese wih dhe ptsca!- fale f so alec offershisnderanding SF the meaning of the yon, and flows thi up with ast of Tepe, ot rita, pref wid the prise, aa-Bt-ahu ad (nd gle cb aco dieu man gaa di Us Ws exegetical Splints, Taba indicate is sopport or preference for one ‘ingebved explanation of the vse owe guns ane, but Chou hat he not inered In dicveing nezmascomtinly ot magmas cobecne in the Qutaie wx. Oceasonaly, he sex Col vere wth one aot, but, fist is modatan for ding so snot cont to find aby nepi-scaonshipberwen weer fr i chac wore the cane, he mou be doing 0 vote oF more frequen-vand,seoond, the lik that he happent to etabih Becvecn recs hal bas mich ssbsancs. Take an example: Q 230.99 el the soy of Cod stllaon of Ada ax His om cath The pes bepin with the mon wa db gale rabbub, “And hen ur Lond utp ha acrding scan Ban Scola the parle id, “when” inthis vee redundant and, thereoredopeuableoromisie nme idh mina Uhura ecw treeone me naa ‘hadi Taba rej this view arguing ha the panei n de yrs dows haves meaning tints an tnknown te: wg ‘lt majan une Tag Ba hen Taba acs roblcpantd that he no with mang iy has ithe wedi hsp vere, sine thre nothing Inthe peeling vrs to which may be one by conjunsion? Ti Mama ea a pn aa ern. 3 oe teen gio 80 «ERE adn“Tahar answers sha, in a preceding ers (28), in which God reminds the Iaclites of his blessings upon them —baya tafirane bi Walt so-humtume aomanacan ficayakaom strum yuomioutm thm gubyhuom thumma ila tujtima—the meaning, of udbkura is tmbedded, and that the sime meaning is indicated by the particle ‘hin idba gala rabbuta in verse 30, so thatthe meaning of wdkuri direc or indirectly presene in both verses, 28 and 30, links the ‘hwo verses, God thus saying: Remember my blesings spon you and remember when [said the angels, “Tam going eo instal a caliph ‘on earth” Ieis not dificult to se that his inkage between the 10 verse (28 and 30) is« purely grammatical one and has nothing t0 clo withthe actual content of the verses invalve Razi Riz probably the Rest major mufacirto makes rcatvey systematic attempt to find mgmt in she Quin, He declares that most of the ‘subtleties of the Qur'an are lodged in the links and relationships Iherwoen the Que'anic verses: afuburu lai LQurted madalatn fi ‘earthed wa neusabit”by his tft, known as A Tair al-Kabir (or Mafath al-Ghayb), Riz frequenely investigates the relationships between the Quranic verses they follow one another, introducing his discussion of uch rlaionships with several more or les Fixed phrases, which, in variant forts, ince terms ike isa, erallug, and nazin, For example: ‘tam anna ‘isl balsa b-met gublab fi hayfiyati taal badbibi ‘Lagat bicma ‘gable lam anna hdd met aligun bind tagaddama sein min gash Pharfiyyati nazi wayhini? anna f ‘Accimes Revi soems to be searching for pattems of though oF srangement in the Quranic presentation, Ths, some verses may Serve asa muquddima co the verses that follow" iis dhe Qur'an practice (ada) to fallow up wid ehnex”) with wad promise” fd afieradducing arguments in suppore of a certain claim i has made, the Qur'an quotesand then replies to objections raised against, its claim.'* In general, Rial tries co see the verses oF passages of a tina 8 connected from the ran’ beginning to its end. At times, Ihe states his belief ithe unity of a snd quite emphatically. In his commentary on Q 41:44 (u-law jana Quridnan ajemiyaan Taga Law fa fssilee ayatuba ea jemiyun soa irabigyun . he ejects the view that this verse was revealed in response to the ‘objection made by some, namely, Why vas the Quu’an not revealed ina language ocher than Arabic (aw li nussila TQur imu bi-lagh TAjami) To cite sich a sabe abcd for this verse is, Rast says, 0 commit a great wrong against the Que'in (hayfion zion “la LQur'an), for ie implies that the Qur'an coacains ierlevant vetses, and if this indeed were the eae, then how could one ela the Qur'an to be a well-ordered book (biahen munszzaman), not to speak of claiming inimitabilty For i fn an ide awn ‘mu izan)? Fle then remarks that this west Hike the other verses in the sind, ate ted to verse 5 of the surah, Ri concludes by saying Tis 295, 025,922.01 5 Ha Q 167 99,25 416, 6 IBL-82 A, SASH 7. Ok nr. 30 Ture, 157-138 which re mage 159), i, 1390 © Roremople bid, 2122, 2022, theta 226 "Renin ow I inf an mit mae CE bw we ha arin ar 2680 an alsin Sap AD a er. vol (Bo ar 72, 530(ogi qulabune fe akinmatin mimind tadia lay.) Anyone who considers the matter with fairness, shunning aebitearines, will realize chat, if we interpre this verse the way we hhave, the whole singh will hcome, foun begining co en, a singles well-ordered discourse, moving towaed single goal, and so this imerpretatin is preferable to the one they have presented, ius own words ae as follows We-kullumanangofawe-lamyara'asaf alimaannt idha fassarna hadhiht "Layaua ‘la Tvajhi lad cdhakarna sitat hidhihi "-xirata sin awwalil ily akbiiha laiman wabidan -mantagaman mastigan nabywagharadin wahidia. f-yakin Inadha"-easew ala mim dhakaraha, “Time and again, Ril exclaims how ape or beautiful uch and such an arrangement of Quranic verses ina given place i; for example swa-man ansafic ‘alia ana bidhatartibun hatanan fi Pala.” Rint approach to nagvin the Qu inealsforaevalservatons. Ran views (Quranic nazm_esentally in terme of linear connection histo show thatthe verses ofan are ake by coniniy He inks up the nvidia verses or pataes ofa seas ie ges trough the stra although somtimes as wesw in the case of sah, he explains he connected fara with reference {0.4 pincipl ies in the nin Second, om ocivon, but nota a tule, Rt invokes Quranic naz as deerinane of ierpretaton, 45 6 sin his commentary on Q 41:4, In Q 2.213 (ete Ena tenomatan wate ba da a Lrinyna mubasbrn ‘mundiring.»), he interprets the word abu to mea specially, ‘hore who had lived in Moses, che definite artic bn Bing for ‘eso pine knowledge, ot for signi. 0 thorough incon. Ras eas off is intron By sayings “And this view agyees withthe verses naz a acon wich what precedes the verse and what follows i (othadha gol matabigu Honan Tan hw Qa Sm, 27549 tl SharQ se 2» ay. ComcnCaen ade ‘hayast warmup tema gabled watima baldabd)."* Also, 28 in the eae of Q 41:44, o in some ather cass, Ri ejects a verse alleged sabad al-nuzsi iin bis view, iti in conflice with naz base interpretation of that verse. Third, it would be correct to say that the focus of Riais nzzme-based approach to the Quan i the verses ofa stah, although in some cases he tes vo establish nazm- relationships between nats a wel, by linking up the closing verses ‘of one sirah and the opening verses ofthe net Bigatt Quranic naz constitutes a leitmocif in Big'Ts Quranic commentary Nase al-Durer ff Tandw aleAyati wa-LSutvar” Bigat aims to bring out the rclationships informing the sequence of the verses in the Quianic sre as well as of the ss in the ‘cocived arrangement ofthe Qur'an (mundus tartib alana wi ‘Lapa He quotes his shay, Abii Fadl tba ‘Abdallah, who lad slow “the fundamental principle for understanding the muna of the Quranic verses” The principle, as explained by the saykh, ‘consists in taking the following into consideration fis, te purpose for which a singh has been revealed (al-ghaadu adh sigat tabi ‘Lsantn); second, the propaceuties called for by that purpose (ond gahsaju iaybi dhalika Lgharadue mina Prugaddinds), and the Varying levels of those propaedutics in so far 38 they stand in proximity to or ata remove from the purpose in question ff mara ‘ies Lrugaddimati fi Vqurbi wa--bu'di mina Lmallabiy, and, third, with discussion of the propacdeuties under way, what that purpose calls for next in trms of the nee for che itenc consider the rules and corollaries that follow logically and are necessitated by ugha (rad yastaabiuha min isehna nafs Laas’ ile alam vu Pawseimt Veit lah Wattage Palaghats). Abita concludes: “This, then, isthe general principle that contcols the process ofesablshing connections berween all pars ofthe Qur'an (at-amru Lulliyye Trmuhaymine ‘le bukit Erabt bayna jamti EQurian), and when you pur it into practice, you will, God HT naan a "nr Mem a 8 Daa awilling, clearly soe the natuee of mzzm in detail—berween one verse andl another and beeween one sah andl another” Incomentng onthe opening nah of dhe Quin, a teh, Bigh' sy that the grote rch so alli that paseo al nds edie 0 God, who ough ce quite with all teats of psfction (bb th Ta wala jam mahi we {el Tlamal that He alone is dhe ower al possessor 0 tis orld ad the exe (tas bmi ent wa Fathi aad that He alone is worthy of being warship and petitioned For bel (ane liga dat wn Psnat, being the only one soe ob peso forthe foro ung people the Fath of those who will steced ad of racing them rom the path of {ose who wll sfler perio (bio f mayb a sin “fitiina wang mr trigd Chalkina manson bd sulin. Al of this binges on, ays Big’ on people worshiping. 0 offer and awe, God alone Gut madre dha uli mantgabere "ibaa rabbi lef 1 thadt), an eis accndiog 0 Big wht ee stra amc bring into rele” Bigs’ thooretcal statement aboue determining che maz of a sana dhvough identification ofthe rinh's phar rises pes that are only marginally fale ia is tar. As ean be seen from his Comments on Fithah, his satement of the sirals ghar lacks specificity, amounting. 3s it does to «summary or paraphrase ofthe tetire sna. Aer discussing the sinahs ghana, Bigi't explains the stral’yerse by breaking ach verse down into shorte peces—words and pihraes-—and then tues to point out the connections between these pieces. A certain adhocism informs his approach, however instead of aking 2 synoptic view of the sah’ verses and linking them up in light ofthe sinus gharad, Big’ connects any two verse segments iin isolation fiom the rest ofthe snas verses Similarly Big TSartompe co discover nazmin the sequence ofthe sings yields mixed reves. He says righty that the opening sina, Fea is connected with the following seb, Bagarab, dhrough the notion of hud, “guidance”: in Fira, one prays for guidance— 2 CoC he an Adina tsnta tmusagina—(Q 16), and Bagara opens with the sraxement that the Quan a guldance forthe ight hun 1 Tmutapina (Q 22). But this is 4 veal, not a subwanive, connection. One ofthe stranger ways im which Big establish hz connections i by rleenee tothe linguistic properties ofthe ‘Arabic alphabetical characters, Fis view of the relationship between ‘arabs 19, Maryan and 20, Ta, an example. According to him, the ht part of sinh 19 sugest the posible that Mafarnmad may not come hae a are enough following, but seh 20 says thatthe cat apposite will ape, as is borne out says Big’, by the wide span Between the points of aration of the wo broken Jeers opening the sinab—the head ofthe tongue (allen) in the case of the fist lee, 4, andthe deepest att of the doa {agit hal in the case ofthe second leer, ha Bigg? caimsta have broken new ground inthe field of Quy'anie -munasaas of mez: he has written a taf, he says, “in an acai ‘which T have not seen anyone having preceded me” (ff fannin ma nat man sabagan iayhi. This claim is alee surprising since Fhe quotes Zarkashis reatment of the issue of zm, which includes a clear relerence to Rit as one awho fas deal with Quieanic naz cxtensvely™ Farah and Islabit {Hai a-Din a-Faaht was an Indian Musi scholarofthe Quin An autor of many book in Arabi, hit pincipal contuton to Quranic sis coms nhs theory of Quranic egm. Fath thnlata sereof princes conceming Quranic napand wrote commentary on number of Quranic tal His den, Arts Absan Ii, who ater moved to Pakitan, alo made dhe Quin the focs of his work. He developed Frais exegetical principles tnd applied chem tothe entire Quran, prodicing 4 nlne-volume uranic commentay,Tadabbuns Qari Unto Tid, 5a, a0 Ii Tbr Qari, 9 wh (oe: iin ouninn, 200 a»Fariht is he frst Queanic exegete to have offered a detailed theoretical argument in support of the view that the Quen is ‘marked by thematic and structural nezm. He quotes Jala al-Din alSuyfiff (1445-1505) to che eect dat very few exegetes have dealt with this subject because ofits subsle, and, therefore, challenging narute-” Farhi offers his own interpretation ofthe exegete’ general indiference to naz in the Qur'an, He says that the exepetes dl roangnize the existence of haem in some parts of the Qur'an bt, filing to discover nazi in all of the Qur'an, and reluctant, theiefore, to declare thatthe Quiran possesses nazm in some parts bout not in others, and, chus, wishing co hold a consistent view about the Qur'an, thought it expedient to deny the existence of ‘uaz in the Que‘an altogether. Farah also see significance in the fact thatthe compilatory order of the Qur'an is different from its revelatory onder: Mullarnmad used ¢o arrange the Quianie verses and chapters in an ord vey lferent fom that in which chey were revealed 10 him, and this new order asthe reports indicate, was {governed by consideracons af nazm. Af all asks Fatah, if we were to assume that the Qui'an is devoid of nam, then ehe Queanic striture against poets (Q 26:225), namely, a-fam zara annahum fi ‘uli wadin yahomana, “Have you not seen tat they roam abot in every valley” would apply to the Quran, oo, for this roaming, about—suyuman—is obviously socalled by the Qui'én because fe lacks direction, purpose, or plan (halé Wayman ful sadn lla ‘yanayana fi Lqasli min hay maagsidin vented) Furahi then discusses che notion of nazon within a sina and razm between snths. Key to finding nazm within a snd is the concept afta, or cental idea. Every surah of the Qur'an revolves around an ‘om, anl all dhe verses of a stnuh ave organically linked to it, zepreventing, in light ofthat tim, a systematic unfolding of the contents of that sina from its beginning (ois end. Farah ser Nizam al-Querin contains an exegesis of fourteen relatively shoot Tamil aon ah, Dai of Nm, Ra a di Bo See, va nar Poh ad DF omy 205), 4 i Comes as he sinc: | (Patina), 91 (Dhariya), 66 (Tarim, 75 (Qésamah). 77 (Murali), 80 (Abase), 91 (Shams, 95 (Tin), 103 (An), 105 (FH), 108 (Kawehar), 109 (Kafiran), 111 (Labab), and 112 (las) We will ake a brief look at Farahis ueatment of srah 51. Accoring to Fatt, the sa tad is affirmation of the ineingont of recompense in delete ait aaa) the aad of the preceding rah, 50 (Qj, being aration of remreton (ithaca ba) Ths ‘ad develope inthe seven sions io sich aah vids the sma ess nama fees tds 15-19, 20-23, 24-37, 38-46, 47-51, and 32-60, The fst section draws actenton tothe fie tht such phenomena of nate as winds and mins ar times beni and at times harm, As sch, hey Pot to and may be elled analogues of, reward and punishment in the sheriff section ceferring vo punishment, with the nea scion speaking of reward, in the rear The thd sexon Support the rewardand punishment thes by eting a evidence, natural phenomena and human fife. The sith section connects the important heme of the hereafter wih ewo rhe fundamen themes in the Quran, namely monotheism and poopheey. The concluding seston ofes solace othe Prophet teling hi a his ‘opponents wl safer the consoqnos of thei dibefic As ean be seen thesia aad a8 tated by Fata, kits the whole nr inc a unig ad ise deveoped quite logical addres inthe lst section, the atl station obtxning in Roca in which the stn was eed." As mentioned above, Isihi applies, with additions and modifications, Faahis methodology t0 the whole of the Qui'in, producing a complete Quranic tghir. He kdentifies the tomid of ‘ach sab, usually in quite precise terms. In addition, he establishes, Within the received version of the Quan, what he calls sira-paie. Hemaintanstha, asa cul, theirs exist in pais, srahs 2and 3,4 and 5, 6 and 7, and 8 and 9, for example, each forming a pair whose member sarafs have complementary ‘amd. Furthermote—and, again, within the received sequence af the Queani srhe—she 114 > fn a. rin 19 Manse Mi Coen he Qo Un om 39-4 %sab of the Quan exist a6 sever groups (as opposed to Farhi hine groups), each group comprising one or more Mecean and “Meeitnan stnahs, with each type forming solid bloc—the Meccan preceding the Meinan—and cach sarah in a group possessing an “amid that deals with one aspect ofthe group's master ‘ama The leey notion in Islas scheme, as in Farhi, is that of the amd of a sina and, in another study, {hope to demonstrate, with reference to the longest stnah of the Qur'an, Bagana how Isla presents, it lighe of shat srs ema, a strong ease for organic unity in the Quranic sina, While the subject of Quranic naz neods co be discussed in much greater details before ie will yield more definitive results, it is not dificult to see that, within the compass ofthis paper and on. the basis of prima facie evienee, che Paraht-Islat view of Quranic uaz is more rigorous and systematie than any other authors view ‘F Qui'anie zm Conclusions 1, Inchispaper, Lhaveconfined my discussion of Qu'anie naz to works of tir, but eeatments of nazy inthe Que’ Found in extra-exegetical works aswell. A number of writ ‘on bulaghah, suchas Ab Sulayman Hamd ibn Mua i1-Khaffabi(319-388/931-998), Abd Bake Mubammad ibn alTayyi al -Bagillan’ (3384039501013), and Abo Baker ‘Als a-Quhir ibn ‘Abd al-Raman a-Jugant (47/1078), have also dealt with the subject, but their understanding of raz in the Quan unsally does not go beyond the notion ‘of ideal relationship berween words and meatings." 2. Historically, there has been a difference of opinion om the Jasue of the presence of nag in the Que'an. According to the majority view, reported by Zarkashi nag isnot past of the “design” of the Que’, since the Qur'an, revealed i installments over a peri of eweney odl yeas, and its ver occasioned by a variety of factors and dealing with a varery of injunctions, coud not be expected to possess nazm in ny significant degree (1:37). According to the minority view, the Que'én i possessed. of nazm, significant in a limited sense" Ous review ofthe efi of selected waiters has shown that those who believe tha the Que'an possesses rcen have understood Quranic nazm to have taken one of more of the following forms: nazm as continuity, naz as context, and mezm as coherence. If we divide taftr works into two categories, traditional and modem, defining, eoughly,taditional works as chose produced fiom cxtly Islamic times ro the end of the hineteenth century and madern works as those thar have come into existence since the beginning of the twentieth tenaury, we wil clay see thatthe idea of Quranic nazm has a notable presence in a few of the traditional works, but does noc necesaily register steady linear progres i the overall history of Queanic exegesis. We will also notice that the notion of sinah as a unity becomes increasingly importne in the wenteth century, until ie becomes a distinctive feature of modem Quranic exegesis. Not ‘nly has the idea of Quranic mem made notable gains inowentieth-cearury Qui'anic exegetical thought, iis likely to hecome 2 fundamental premise for stady of the Qur'an in the future. A number of Quanie exegets and scholaes in vations parts of the Muslim world have approached the Quan with this premise of nazm ia. mind. A few names ate “zat Darwazah, author of Al-Tafte al Hadith, Sayyid Quiby author of #3 Zila! al-Quran, Asheaf ‘Ali Thanavi, author of the Und Bayan al-Qurn, Abi LATA Mawdad, tsuthor of Zifbim a-Qurin, and Muhammad Husayn al Tabatabai, author of ALMUzin ff Taftral-Qurian.® What wwe have called above the minority view is Hkely evencully to become the majority view, making modern cafirdifferent Tr ear Tara ee Mid Mi, The sno mh ceniry Slope thettle Icing GR Hagan Malar Shoe pas Pai 7 tetra Landon nd New ss Rog, 199), 21-204 26 uALR YOUU NUN DICH fiom eaditional eftrin a fanlamenal respec, Whether this shift in Quianic exegetical though will row to become, or will coneibe along with other changes tothe creation of, sor of paradigm shift in Quranic exegesis wil depend on hha the idea is developed, and with what resales. We saw that Rat rejects a eereain abl al-uzal on the grounds that icundermines Qufanic nam, ani would not be wrong, to say that chere i certain lace of affinity herwcen Quanie dutzms and sabab al-wuzal. Nleady in modern tpi, there is much less reliance on sabab af-nuai a6 a determivant of ‘excess, ancl this tren is likely to grow in the ft “The interest taken by madern exegetes in Quranic nazm can be termed parcofa general interest taken by Muslim soars «oly in comingto terms with the Quran afresh, This general incerest is largely duc to the pavticula sociocultural sting, ‘oF the Muslim world in mover times, Alter centutics of stagnation and decadence, on the one hatsd, and che long, andl sill continuing, struggle both against the neocolonial domination of Muslim lands and agains the sel-doubting, ‘obsequious Maslim mindser engendered under colonialism, fn the other hand, che Muslims are going through a period of soul-searching under the ewin impact of Western thought and calause and Muslim reformist chought. & significant feature of this soul-searching is scrutiny and evaluation of the traditional intlletval andl spiritual heritage of Mims, and, in this project of critical assessment, the Qui’an, the fone’ constant and jereducible source of knowledge and Inspiration for Musi, is playing an increasingly impottant role as judge and arbiter of meaning. Conscious that the traditional vays of interpreting the Quran come laden with hiseorial baggage of various kinds, many modern Muslim scholats in modern times attach diminished importance « several traditionally important exegetical sources and have chosen o focus on the Quranic text isl, studying i with a view o Finding answers and solutions to questions and sacs of today. In doing 50, they tend to aecord primacy co the Queanie tex itself over the tiditional epertire of sources and devices for understanding that text. Viewed! aginst this stan Caos he Qin changed backdrop, a nazm-basel approach to the Quran, ‘vith Its prospects of a more meaningfal interpretation of ‘the Quran, would seem to carry great appeal for Muslim cxegstes