Relationship between the interpretation of Quran and the classical Hermeneutics

Introduction:

In this lesson, relationship between the interpretation of Quran and the and neoclassical hermeneutics is analyzed and this issue is more explained.

Relationship between the interpretation of Quran and the classical and neoclassical Hermeneutics:

To investigate relationship between the interpretation of Quran and the classical (modern) and neoclassical hermeneutics, we should study the basics of each of one.

The principles of the interpretation of Quran:

The principles of the interpretation of Quran which have been previously mentioned are reviewed briefly in order to remind and to compare them with the matters of this lesson.
1. An interpreter tries to discover the meaning of a text and meaning is the serious purpose of an author. The holy scriptures are divine messages for human and the purpose of an interpreter is to understand the main message of text.
2. Achieving the meaning of text (the purpose of a speaker and an author) is possible by taking a reasonable and rational approach to understanding text which rests upon the authority of appearances of words. The implication of words is subject to terms and the rational principles of conversations and mutual understanding that each speaker and audience in any languages speaks and understands regarding them.
3. There are various interpretive approaches to understanding and interpreting Quran such as the way of interpretation of Quran to Quran, narrative, rational, scientific, referential and Ijtehad interpretations. These methods are complementary and the complete interpretation of Quran requires the use of all these methods.
4. Sometimes an interpreter reaches a certain comprehension of text such as the comprehension of Nosus and sometimes he reaches the conjectural comprehension of text such as the comprehension of the appearance and sometimes he or she makes a mistake while comprehending the text.
5. There are criteria for recognizing interpreters' faults: the rules of logic, the rational rules of conversations (the principles of Fiqh) and interpretative rules; some of them have been expressed by religious leaders such as the rule of interpretation to verdict and some of them have been developed by scientists. Whenever the understanding and interpretation of text are in accordance with the above rules, it is valid. Therefore, relativism in the understanding of text is meaningless because the correct and incorrect comprehension is distinguishable.
6. The time interval of interpreter's era with the advent of text is not a serious obstacle to achieve the purpose and main meaning of the text of Quran because:
First: some evidences are available to us through Hadith, history and the status of revelation and we can understand the meaning of original words to a great extent.
Second: the emergence of Quranic words is considered as a document and if it is concluded according to the evidence of our time, it is valid.
7. An interpreter of Quran has no prejudice interpreting Quran's text because the imposition of personal opinions and prejudice in interpretation is to make text be interpreted subjectively which is forbidden and makes interpretation invalid. An interpreter must avoid these prejudices as far as possible although it is not entirely possible.
8. The interpreters of Quran have various trends, styles, religions and schools in the interpretation of Quran. The basic existence of these trends is acceptable and different trends reflect the interests and the scientific expertise of interpreters in jurisprudence, theosophy and social interpretation. But if it leads to the imposition of verbal and juridical ideas of religions, groups and individuals, it is not permissible because it is a subjective interpretation.
9. Text of Quran is the word of God and the prophet had no role in determining its content; in fact, God had repeatedly threatened that if even one word decreases or increases, he would be punished.

The foundations and the characteristics of classical (modern) and neoclassical hermeneutics:

Perception in Gadamer's hermeneutics includes features such as susceptibility from history, tradition and reader's subjective prejudices. It is also conversational and is based on questions and answers; in other words, the logic of this conversational method is the logic of questions and answers. In Gadamer's hermeneutics, no understanding is free from prejudice. Of course, he differentiates between correct prejudice and incorrect prejudice, the former causes understanding and the latter is the source of misunderstanding, although he does not provide any clear criteria for recognizing these two. Due to the fact that the prejudice and pre-understanding are not always under the reader's control, therefore, it is not possible to distinguish between them and to separate the right presupposition from the wrong one. He says "struggle for emancipating ourselves from our own imaginations in interpretation is not only impossible, but it is also meaningless and absurd. Interpretation exactly means to bring forward our ideas in a game to the extent that the meaning of a text can really become clear for us. "
He also emphasizes that perception is permanently affected by reader's point of view of meaning and hermeneutic situation and because the horizon of meaning is affected by the history; as a consequence, perception is always historical.
Another reason of the historical aspect of understanding is that the horizon of understanding is something fluid and dynamic and it is always evolving. Therefore, since human always lives in tradition and is influenced by it and his understanding of all aspects is affected by history and tradition, he can not come out of the tradition and looks at it like a subject and object and he can not have an objective perception from it without historical influences. The basis of Gadamer's idea is that perception is an event which is influenced by history and tradition (a collection of the interpretation and understanding of the ancients) in all of its forms. The hermeneutic situation of every perception and interpretation is accumulated of presuppositions that he deals with the topic that is searched and these presuppositions arise from the history and tradition in which he lives. The true meaning of "situation" is that we can never stand outside it and therefore, we are not able to gain an objective perception of it. We always find ourselves in a situation which a spotlight dominates on it and never ends.
On the other hand, perception is an applied approach; perception of a text is formed according to the situation, interests, expectations and current conditions of a reader. This approach requires a new perception proportionate to the new situation of the reader. Due to the bilateral involvement of interpreter's mind and the text itself in organizing perception, Gadamer applies the term "fusion of horizons» (snoziroh fo noisuf).
Here is a summary of the most important teachings of classical and neo-classical hermeneutics:
1. Objectivism: the possibility of objective perception of text (the actual intention of author is available).
2. Emphasis on discovering author's intention while interpreting text;
3. The possibility of misperception and the need of avoiding it;
4. The need of avoiding interpreter's presuppositions as much as possible;
5. Applying systematic rules while interpreting text including general rules of language (systematic perception and interpretation of text);
6. The necessity of paying attention to author's time and its cultural influences is considered as a part of the action of an interpreter, the psychological interpretation of the mind of an author, the reproduction of logic, orientations and the cultural data of an author.
7. Possibility of going beyond historical obstacles while understanding stories.
Before examining relationship between the interpretation of Quran and classical and neoclassical hermeneutics, some points should be mentioned:
1. The origin of hermeneutics is western world; the West part of the earth has special Holy Scriptures which are different from the Holy Scripture of Islam (Quran). The main difference is that no one claims that the available Holy Scriptures are words of God; in other words, expressions, sentences and terms are not divine because the holy book has been written by different authors, especially new era whose each writing has a separate author.
However, in the West, due to unreasonable stories available in Holy Books and lack of rational justification, some scientists want to solve this problem in a different and specific way.
2. The philosophical Context of western hermeneutics is different from the philosophical context of the interpretation and the sciences of Quran in Muslims. This difference is more marked in the hermeneutics of Heidegger and Gadamer.
3. Hermeneutics interpreters believe that "the interpreter" and "commentator" should perceive spiritual, mental, social situations and finally all aspects of the internal world of author in order to understand his words carefully. It is clear that such an understanding of religious texts such as Quran and the true understanding of divine messages and Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) is not possible for anybody. Hermeneutics interpreters may be aware of his surroundings, but they can never perceive the specific world of the prophet (PBUH) as it was in its reality and its specific position.
4. Most of the interpreters of hermeneutics try to introduce the emergence of Protestant in Christianity as a consequence of the actions of the interpretation of hermeneutics interpretation in holy book and consider it as a turning point in the history of their interpretation of Christian Religion. The holy book itself has been written and collected by Christian Apostles and it is like other historical or literary books which can be interpreted by hermeneutics, but about the holy Quran, such an imagination is not true.
Relationship between the interpretation of Quran and classical and neoclassical Hermeneutics:
It seems that the principles and characteristics of classical and neoclassical hermeneutics in the West is consistent with the principles and features of Quranic interpretation among many Muslims.
However, the difference is also noteworthy such as the possibility of the understanding the text; about the interpretation of Quran, the possibility of understanding and interpretation is proved by multiple reasons. About the emphasis on decoding author's intention, the most important purpose of the interpretation of Quran is to perceive and also to state divine purposes.
The prophet Muhammad and Ahle Beit (PBUT) have repeatedly warned about the risk of misperception in the interpretation of Quran.
Hence, an interpreter of Quran should put the unnecessary presuppositions away as much as possible and should not impose his personal opinions, philosophical, theological and scientific beliefs on Quran.
The ways of the interpretation of Quran have been referred about the necessity of the systematic understanding and the interpretation of Quran and Hadiths such as the interpretation of Quran to Quran (Ale Umran / 7) and narrative interpretation (Nahl / 44). The way of the interpreters of Quran has been in this way throughout centuries and tens books have been written about the methods, the tendencies and the rules of Quran interpret rules and, it is emphasized in the introduction of the interpretations of Quran.
Passing beyond the historical obstacles of the understanding of Quran, we can gain understanding that is same as the understanding of the persons in the time of the prophet from the appearance of verses with the help of Hadiths, historical and lexical documents. If purpose from the time and the culture of the time of author is emphasis on using the documents of place and time, this matter has been paid attention since many years ago in the interpretations of Quran and the books '' Asbab Al-Nozul'' and using them in interpretations prove this matter and Basically, this is considered as one of the principles of interpretation of the Qur'an. But if purpose from it is the psychological interpretation of the Quran is based on the reproduction of the mind of author, this matter may be right in some historical artifacts and the authors of the holy book. But is not true about Quran because it already became clear that Quran was the word of God, and the structure and the content of the product was not the production of the mind of the prophet.
Notification: relationship between hermeneutics and interpretation (Ta'vil) can be investigated. However, if the meaning of "Ta'vil" is the same as interpretation as meaning, it is consistent with past issues and if the purpose of interpretation is in contrast with the appearance or the inner of Quran, as it was referred during the text, this matter is related to the way of the interpretation of wisdom and references and is considered as a subset of interpretation as a general meaning.