Qurʾanic Textuality and the Potential of Aesthetic ( Jamālī ) Interpretation

Abstract

Qurʾanic Textuality and the Potential of Aesthetic (Jamālī) Interpretation Omaima Abou-Bakr (bio) At the other end of the spectrum from the extra-qurʾanic material and women's lived reality is qurʾanic textuality. Much in alignment with Hadia Mubarak's approach to studying the Qurʾan on its own terms, internal logic, and moral world, and with Amira Abou Taleb's overarching paradigm of iḥsān, as described in this roundtable and in her writing more broadly, I put forth a particular hermeneutical "textual" method that draws upon the approaches and interpretive tools of literary criticism and aesthetic theory. Applications on the qurʾanic text would mean analyzing features of textual beauty and harmony—especially in the form of elements of unity, coherence, symmetry, sequence, structural patterns, repetitions, echoes, correspondences, binaries, and counterparts—as a gateway to uncovering deeper ethical and spiritual meanings. The beautiful textual form embodies, illustrates, and conveys an ethical message, and a reader experiences an apprehension of "harmony-in-the-text" as a means and guide to the inner layers of thought. In other words, the process seeks a synthesis of aesthetic sense, emotive response, and reflection (tadabbur)—with a focus on gender ethics. This method of examining language, rhetorical devices, structure, and style has both classical and modern roots. Classical concepts like iʾjāz (the Qurʾan's inimitability), such as in Kitāb Ḍalāʾil al-Iʾjāz (Proofs of Inimitability) and Asrār al-Balagha fī ʿIlm al-Bayān (Secrets of Rhetoric in the Science of Eloquence) by ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī' (d. 471 H/1078 CE), Nazm al-Qurʾān (Structural Organization of the Qurʾan) by al-Jāḥiẓ (160–256 H/776–869 CE), and Sufi symbolic interpretation (al-tafsīr al-ishārī), dealt with diverse textual facets, though rarely leading to holistic considerations, such as making clear links with ethical meanings and gender justice. Modern developments and special interest in coherence-focused exegesis begin with Hamīdudīn Farāhī (1836–1930) and Amīn Iṣlāḥī (1904–97), and contemporary scholarship's revivification of this trend includes the literary school of Amīn al-Khulī (1895–1966) and Āʾisha Abd [End Page 87] al-Raḥmān (1913–98) in Egypt, initiating her work of exegesis that focuses on stylistic features of eloquence and psychological effect entitled al-Tafsīr al-Bayānī lil-Qurʾān al-Karīm (1962). More scholarship centering coherence and unity followed, including the studies of Mustansir Mir (b. 1949) on the "sura as a unity," al-Waḥda al-Bināʾiyya li-l-Qurʾān al-Majīd (Structural Unity of the Glorious Qurʾan, 2006), by Taha Jabir Alalwani (1935–2016), and Salwa El-Awa's Textual Relations in the Qurʾan (2006). Currently, this scholarly movement of holistic approaches in qurʾanic studies is led and applied by Nevin Reda.1 Building on this tradition, I seek more applications of this kind of hermeneutics through what is termed in literary theory as "close reading" to identify textual structures and designs that can lead to uncovering a "subtext" of themes not explicitly stated yet embodied, implied, and part of a more holistic meaning.2 The aesthetic (jamālī) philosophy behind this endeavor is that harmonious forms embody and reflect harmonious values, and a reader is able to appreciate and contemplate this manifest aspect of the divine text—like following an intricate, colorful, symmetrically proportionate tapestry that appeals to our sense of the perfect and the beautiful. An encounter with a beautiful object—in this case, divine scripture—opens the soul to the apprehension of higher spiritual meanings. The Sufis have previously employed the classical Arabic saying al-majāz qantarāt al-ḥaqīqa (the figurative/metaphorical is a bridge to reality) in their literature on symbolism, signs (ishārāt), and poetics.3 The orientation can thus be considered a significant inspiration to this hermeneutical pursuit. Muḥyīddīn Ibn ʿArabī (560–638 H/1165–1240 CE), in his treatise Kitāb al-Jalāl wa-l-Jamāl (Book of Majesty and Beauty) composed in 602...