Islamic Heritage and Contemporary Challenges

Islamic Heritage and Contemporary Challenges

A Critique of Abu Zayd’s Foundational Components in Quranic Revelation Studies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad Sadegh Ardalan 1
abadi Yuwono 2
Jamiu Amao Saliu 3
1 Corresponding Author, Department of Islamic Studies, University of Islamic Education, Qom, Iran. Email: m.sadeghardalan@gmail.com
2 PhD student in Quran and Orientalism, Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran. Email: abadielwono2022@gmail.com
3 Department of Qur’ān Exegesis, Higher Education Complex of Qur’ān and Hadith, Al-Mustafa International University, Nigeria. Email: salehamao@miu.ac.ir
10.48309/ihcc.2025.549399.1013
Abstract
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, a contemporary Egyptian thinker, proposed several significant yet controversial components concerning Quranic revelation. In his first approach, he interprets revelation as a linguistic relationship dependent on its elements—the message-giver and the message-receiver—whose constituent parts are God, the Prophet (pbuh), and the Holy Spirit. He regards the Qur’an as a textual and literary miracle, emphasizing the revelatory nature of its content rather than its verbal form. In his second approach, Abu Zayd conceives revelation as a text, the product of a linguistic interaction between God and His Messenger (pbuh). Finally, in his third approach, he views revelation as a set of discourses, each revealed within a particular spatio-temporal context, whose rulings, he claims, cannot be extended to other times and places—thus asserting the historicity of the Qur’an. In other words, Abu Zayd maintains that divine revelation emerged discursively within the framework of a relationship between divine command and human agency.
This paper critically re-examines the key components of Abu Zayd’s eclectic theory of Quranic revelation, assessing his evidence through a descriptive-analytical method and library-based research. The study concludes that Abu Zayd initially considered the Qur’an a text possessing literary i‘jāz (inimitability), which, upon being recited by the Prophet (pbuh), transformed into a human text. This claim leads to the neglect of the Prophet’s (pbuh) certain and direct knowledge during the reception of revelation—an assumption that stands in contradiction to divine wisdom
Keywords
Abu Zayd
Revelation
Hermeneutics
Religious Experience
Discourse
Textuality

Article Title Persian

نقد مؤلفه‌های بنیادین ابوزید پیرامون وحی‌پژوهی قرآنی

Authors Persian

محمدصادق اردلان 1
ابدی یونو 2
جامع آمائو صالح 3
1 نویسنده مسئول، دانشجوی دکتری مدرسی معارف اسلامی، گرایش قرآن و متون اسلامی، دانشگاه معارف اسلامی قم، قم،‌ ایران. رایانامه: m.sadeghardalan@gmail.com
2 دانشجوی دکتری قرآن و مستشرقان، جامعة المصطفی العالمیه، قم، ایران، رایانامه: abadielwono2022@gmail.com
3 گروه تفسیر قرآن، مجتمع آموزش عالی قرآن و حدیث، جامعه المصطفی العالمیه، نیجریه. ایمیل: salehamao@miu.ac.ir
Abstract Persian

ابوزید، متفکّر معاصر مصری، مؤلفه‌های چالشی شاخصی پیرامون وحی قرآنی مطرح نموده است. وی در رویکرد اوّل، وحی را نوعی رابطه زبانی وابسته به مؤلفه های وحی یعنی پیام دهنده و پیام گیرنده می داند که اجزای تشکیل دهنده آن، خداوند، پیامبر اکرم (ص) و روح القدس هستند. او قرآن را از سنخ متن و معجزه ادبی می‌داند و بر وحیانی بودن محتوا دون الفاظ تأکید دارد. ابوزید در رویکرد دوم خویش، وحی را متنی و ثمره رابطه زبانی خداوند و رسول اکرم (ص) می‌داند. در نهایت در رویکرد سوم، وحی را مجموعه گفتمان‌هایی قلمداد کرده است که نزول هر کدام از لحاظ مکانی و زمانی، در یک شرایط ویژه بوده و نمی‌توان احکام آنها را به سایر مکانها و زمانها تسرّی داد (تاریخمندی قرآن کریم). به بیان دیگر، ابوزید بر این باور است که وحی الهی به صورت گفتمانی در قالب رابطه بین امر خداوند و امر بشری به وجود آمده است. هدف این نوشتار، بازپژوهی نقادانه مولفه های نظریه التقاطی ابوزید درباره وحی قرآنی و نقد مستندات وی با روش توصیفی-تحلیلی و با مطالعه کتابخانه‌ای است. از یافته‌های پژوهش این است که ابوزید ابتدا قرآن کریم را متنی با اعجاز ادیبانه قلمداد نموده که بعد از قرائت رسول اکرم (ص)، به متن بشری مبدّل گشته است. این دیدگاه سبب می‌شود که علم یقینی رسول اکرم (ص) موقع تلقی وحی، نادیده گرفته شود و این با خکمت خداوند، در تضاد است.

Keywords Persian

ابوزید
وحی
رویکرد
تجربه دینی
گفتمان
متن
The Holy Quran
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