Consensus, Authority, and the Interpretive Community in the Thought of Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin J. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Interpretive Community ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
The Past ◽  
Qur'anic Exegesis

Examination of al-Ṭabarī’s oeuvre as a whole reveals certain patterns that cut across fields. The following article addresses the concept of ḥujja, which is related to his understanding of consensus. It has been pointed out that al-Ṭabarī uses the term ḥujja (‘proof’) with two quite different meanings in his Qur'anic commentary, Jāmiʿ al-bayān. In one sense, ḥujja designates a proof such as a Qur'anic verse, a ḥadīth report, or an instance of consensus. In the second sense, ḥujja refers to particular people, scholars of the past whom al-Ṭabarī considers the most prominent authorities in a particular field. Al-Ṭabarī uses the term in a similar fashion in the extant sections of his legal work Ikhtilāf al-fuqahāʾ, and examination of the two works in combination reveals regularities in al-Ṭabarī’s understanding of hermeneutics across fields, including law, Qur'anic variants (qirāʾāt), and Qur'anic exegesis (tafsīr). His use of the term ḥujja implies that he conceived of the interpretive community in tafsīr and other fields as comprised of two tiers, a lower tier of all competent scholars and an upper tier—the ḥujja—of those scholars whose opinions were instrumental in shaping discourse in the field in question.

Abdul Halim Hasan and His Methodological Approach in Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim (Abdul Halim Hasan dan Metodologinya dalam Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim)

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-396
Author(s):  
Nadzrah Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Inductive Method ◽  
The Past ◽  
Malay Archipelago ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Academic Measures ◽  
Qur'anic Exegesis

Abstract Abdul Halim Hasan was a Malay exegetical writer of Indonesian origin. His work on Qur’anic exegesis or tafsir, transcended geographical boundaries and reached audiences around the Malay regions, especially Malaysia. The academic value of this particular tafsir is undeniably outstanding as an early twentieth century exegetical writing. This paper highlights Abdul Halim Hasan and his academic measures in the writing of Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim. Emphasis was given towards his biography and methodological contribution in tafsir. This qualitative study utilized deductive and inductive method to examine and discuss his tafsir as well as methodology. The result indicated that Abdul Halim Hasan implemented specific methodology in his tafsir, benefitting from his reference of the past scholars in this field. Keywords: Tafsir methodology, Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim, Abdul Halim Hasan, Tiga Serangkai, Indonesian exegesis, Malay Archipelago.   Abstrak Abdul Halim Hasan merupakan ulama tafsir Melayu yang berasal dari Indonesia. Pengaruh tafsirnya melangkaui sempadan ke seluruh Nusantara terutamanya Malaysia. Nilai akademik bagi karya tafsirnya ini tidak dapat disangkal lagi sebagai sebuah tafsir berpengaruh awal kurun ke dua puluh. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk melihat latarbelakang bagi pengarang tafsir ini, Haji Abdul Halim Hassan, dan karya akademiknya, Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim. Fokus utama akan diberikan terhadap biografi penulis sumbangannya dari sudut metodologi dalam penafsiran al-Quran. Kajian ini adalah suatu kajian kualitatif yang akan menggunapakai kaedah deduksi dan induksi, bagi menkaji dan menyususun metodologi yang dipraktik oleh beliau dalam penulisan tafsirnya. Kajian mendapati beliau menggunakan kaedah khusus didalam penafsirannya yang diambil dari kefahamannya keatas penulisan tafsir oleh ulama-ulama terdahulunya, Kata Kunci: Metodologi Tafsir, Tafsir Al-Quran Al-Karim, Abdul Halim Hasan, Tiga Serangkai, Ulama Tafsir Indonesian, Kepulauan Melayu Nusantara.  

Measure for Measure: Prophetic History, Qur'anic Exegesis, and Anti-Sunnī Polemic in a Fāṭimid Propaganda Work (BL Or. 8419)

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-57
Author(s):  
Michael Pregill
Keyword(s):  
British Library ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
The Past ◽  
Measure For Measure ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Qur'anic Exegesis

The acephalous British Library manuscript Or. 8419 is currently catalogued as a qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ or compilation of Islamic narratives about the prophets. However, an examination of its contents reveals that although it does focus on the various prophets – including Muḥammad himself – and their missions, the text is more accurately characterised as Ismāʿīlī taʾwīl, a commentary on Qur'anic passages that draws parallels between the struggles of the prophets of the past and the persecution of the Shīʿa in the present. The central argument of the text is that while the Shīʿī Imāms and their supporters continue the legacy of the prophets and their virtuous followers in the past, the majority of the Muslim community has gone astray just as the Jews and Christians did before them, especially in their denial of the claims of the ahl al-bayt. Various indications in the text suggest that it was produced as propaganda supporting the claims of the Fāṭimids at an early juncture in the dynasty's history, possibly during the reign of the first caliph-Imām, al-Mahdī.

Qur'anic Exegesis in Niger: A Songhay-Zarma Oral Commentary on Sūrat al-Baqara

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-205
Author(s):  
Moulaye Hassane
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Substantive Content ◽  
The Past ◽  
Qur'an Commentary ◽  
Qur'anic Exegesis ◽  
Friday Mosque ◽  
The City

The city of Saayi (Say), Niger has played an important role in the regional development of Islam from the early nineteenth century onwards. This paper traces its history and the biography of the founder, using the available written and oral sources, while also describing its role as a contemporary religious centre. The Qur'an is commented on in local languages both in the context of traditional advanced religious education and in Ramaḍān. The intellectual sources, language and ritual dimensions of enunciation of these oral commentaries are analysed, as are the ceremonies specific to Ramaḍān. Although Say was founded by Fulfulde-speaking scholars, reflecting the general cultural and social evolution of the city and its area, for the past 50 years, the Qur'an commentary in the Friday mosque has been given in Songhay-Zarma. While these commentaries are essentially based on recognised Arabic ones, their language makes some reference to the images and concepts of local Songhay-Zarma culture. The linguistic features and substantive content of Songhay-Zarma oral tafsīr are illustrated by two excerpts, each presenting several verses of Sūrat al-Baqara: one is drawn from a full tafsīr collected in Say in 1968, at the initiative of the well-known statesman and man of letters Boubou Hama; the other was collected in the Zarma country in 1905–6.

scholarly journals From one colonial language to another: Translating Natasha Kanapé Fontaine’s “Mes lames de tannage”

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianne Moyes
Keyword(s):  
French Language ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Indigenous Literature ◽  
Critical Thought ◽  
Interpretive Community ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Maternal Language ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
The Relationship

Signed and posted to the internet on July 6, 2012 in the months following the “Printemps érable” and leading up to Idle No More, “Mes lames de tannage” is one of Natasha Kanapé Fontaine’s most important slams. In analysing my English translation of this slam, published in Canadian Literature in 2016, this essay speaks to the relationship between Indigenous literatures and European languages. It participates in a conversation about what it means to translate French-language Indigenous literature from Quebec into English. Such translation enables Indigenous writers across North America to make links with each other and foster a broader interpretive community for their writing. Given the flow of Indigenous literature and critical thought from English into French over the past decades, thanks to publishing houses in France, the recent wave of translations from French into English and the sharing of French-language work mark a significant shift in the field. At the same time, the gesture of translating into English a writer who works primarily in French but is in the process of relearning her maternal language, Innu-aimun, brings to the fore all the pitfalls of moving from one colonial language to another. The challenge for translation is not to lose sight of Kanapé Fontaine’s relationship to French and especially, the way she lends it her voice. In the slam, French is a language of contestation but also of collaboration. Drawing on what she calls a “poetics of relation to the land,” Kanapé Fontaine works toward a respectful cohabitation of the territory. In this context, my strategies of including the French alongside the English and leaving words un-translated aim to disrupt the English version, expose the mediating work of the settler-translator and turn attention to Kanapé Fontaine’s mobilization of French for a writing of decolonization.

Observations of the continuum near the galactic centre

1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
F. J. Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Galactic Centre ◽  
The Past ◽  
Centre Region ◽  
The Continuum

A continuum survey of the galactic-centre region has been carried out at Parkes at 20 cm wavelength over the areal11= 355° to 5°,b11= -3° to +3° (Kerr and Sinclair 1966, 1967). This is a larger region than has been covered in such surveys in the past. The observations were done as declination scans.

The Origin of the Moon and its Relationship to the Origin of the Solar System

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Urey
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Origin Of The Moon

During the last 10 years, the writer has presented evidence indicating that the Moon was captured by the Earth and that the large collisions with its surface occurred within a surprisingly short period of time. These observations have been a continuous preoccupation during the past years and some explanation that seemed physically possible and reasonably probable has been sought.

On The Possibility of an Autonomous History of Modern Southeast Asia

1961 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. W. Small
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

It is generally accepted that history is an element of culture and the historian a member of society, thus, in Croce's aphorism, that the only true history is contemporary history. It follows from this that when there occur great changes in the contemporary scene, there must also be great changes in historiography, that the vision not merely of the present but also of the past must change.

Stellar Evolution

1962 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 137-143
Author(s):  
M. Schwarzschild
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Stellar Evolution ◽  
Space Craft ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Individual Stars ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evolution Of Galaxies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fast Flow

It is perhaps one of the most important characteristics of the past decade in astronomy that the evolution of some major classes of astronomical objects has become accessible to detailed research. The theory of the evolution of individual stars has developed into a substantial body of quantitative investigations. The evolution of galaxies, particularly of our own, has clearly become a subject for serious research. Even the history of the solar system, this close-by intriguing puzzle, may soon make the transition from being a subject of speculation to being a subject of detailed study in view of the fast flow of new data obtained with new techniques, including space-craft.

Novae in the Magellanic Clouds

1979 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 96-101
Author(s):  
J.A. Graham
Keyword(s):  
Large Magellanic Cloud ◽  
Magellanic Cloud ◽  
Magellanic Clouds ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spectroscopic Information ◽  
Objective Prism ◽  
The University ◽  
Small Cloud ◽  
Low Dispersion

During the past several years, a systematic search for novae in the Magellanic Clouds has been carried out at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The Curtis Schmidt telescope, on loan to CTIO from the University of Michigan is used to obtain plates every two weeks during the observing season. An objective prism is used on the telescope. This provides additional low-dispersion spectroscopic information when a nova is discovered. The plates cover an area of 5°x5°. One plate is sufficient to cover the Small Magellanic Cloud and four are taken of the Large Magellanic Cloud with an overlap so that the central bar is included on each plate. The methods used in the search have been described by Graham and Araya (1971). In the CTIO survey, 8 novae have been discovered in the Large Cloud but none in the Small Cloud. The survey was not carried out in 1974 or 1976. During 1974, one nova was discovered in the Small Cloud by MacConnell and Sanduleak (1974).

Immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in positively stained frozen sections

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-169
Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Staining ◽  
Frozen Sections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ultrathin Frozen Sections ◽  
Definition Of

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).

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