Analyzing the Contexts of the Formation of the Social Exegesis of the Qur'an with a Synchrony Approach

Abstract

Social exegesis is one of the emerging trends in the Quranic Commentary and one of the influential events in contemporary hermeneutics. It is clear that this new phenomenon, like any other intellectual and social phenomenon, did not appear suddenly and in a vacuum. This research seeks to answer the question that which factors were effective in forming the Social exegesis of the Quran. The innovation of the current research is to take the Synchrony Approach as one of the new and efficient research methods to find the answer to this question. The Synchrony Approach observes a historical phenomenon in a certain period of history in order to show, among other things, the contexts of its formation. The historical period related to this research is the interval of several decades between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The pondering of the developments of this period shows that social exegesis was formed due to the factors such as the inefficiency of traditional exegesis in responding to new requirements, the multifaceted attack on Islam and religious values, the influence of modern Muslim thinkers from the religious reform movement in Europe, the role of the Quran in the contemporary religious reform movement in the Islamic world, and the social personality of contemporary exegetes. This movement can be seen in the commentaries written after that era and even up to the present time.

Keywords

• quranic contemporary
• social exegesis
• historical view
• contemporary approach
• muslim reformers