Comparative Studies of Quran

Comparative Studies of Quran

An Analysis of the Alleged Influence of ‘Culture of the Time’ on the Qur'an from the Perspective of Qur’anic Exegetes, with Emphasis on the Concept of the Seven Heavens

Document Type : Original

Authors
Mahdeah Iarahmady 1
seyed karim khobbin khoshnazar 2
شیرمحمد علی‌پور عبدلی 3
1 PhD Candidate, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Qur'anic Exegesis and Sciences, University of Holy Qur'anic Sciences and Education, Malayer, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.
10.22034/csq.2024.398906.1297
Abstract
The allegation that the Qur'an has been influenced by individuals and the culture of its time dates back to the period of its revelation. Certain verses of the Qur'an explicitly state that the Messenger of God was accused of producing the Qur'an through interactions with specific individuals rather than receiving it as divine and heavenly revelation. On the one hand, the Qur'an's claim to be the literal word of God, and on the other hand, its use of cultural elements of the time in many verses, as well as the propagation of this allegation by intellectual circles attempting to undermine the Qur'an’s value, all underscore the need for a thorough explanation and analysis of the issue of the Qur'an’s possible influence by the culture of its era. The main focus of this study is to examine the views and interpretations of the Qur’anic exegetes from both Sunni and Shiite traditions on this allegation. In addition to the two dominant perspectives—one affirming and the other completely denying any influence of the ‘culture of the time’ on the Qur'an—there is a third view that argues the Qur'an filtered the culture of its time. According to this view, the Qur'an endorsed and reinforced elements compatible with divine teachings, while rejecting or gradually reforming those aspects that were not aligned with religious principles.
Some of the key findings of this study include: (1) The claim that the Qur'an was influenced by ‘culture of its time’ is not supported by any rational or scriptural evidence from Sunni exegetes; (2) The argument that the seven heavens correspond to the Ptolemaic cosmological model is invalid, as the Qur'an does not include the eighth and ninth spheres of the Ptolemaic system as part of the heavens. This research employs a library-based data collection method and, using a descriptive-analytical approach within the framework of an intra-religious perspective, critiques and analyzes the opinions of certain Qur'anic exegetes regarding the Qur'an's supposed influence by the ‘culture of its time’.
Keywords
Culture of the Time
Alleged Influence
Authority of Qur'anic Exoteric Meanings
Seven Heavens
Sunni and Shiite Exegetes

Subjects

Qurʾān Karīm
Ālūsī, Maḥmūd (1415 AH): "Rūḥ al-Maʿānī", Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah.
Āshūrī, Dārīūsh (1375 SH): "Taʿārīf hā wa Mafhūm-i Farhang", Tehran: Markaz-i Asnād-i Farhangī-yi Āsyā.
Azartash, Azarnoosh (1374 SH): "Tārīkh Farhang ʿArabī", Tehran: Payam Noor University.
Faḍlullāh, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1424 AH): "Min Wahy al-Qurʾān", Beirut: Intishārāt Dār al-Malāk.
Fakhr Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar (1371 SH): "Tafsīr Kabīr", Tehran: Asāṭīr.
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad Ṭāhir (1420 AH): "Taḥrīr al-Maʿnā al-Sadīd wa Tanwīr al-ʿAql al-Jadīd min Tafsīr al-Kitāb al-Majīd", Beirut: Mūʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī.
Ibn Manẓūr (1413 AH): "Lisān al-ʿArab", Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Īyāzī, Muḥammad (1380 SH): "Qurʾān va Farhang-i Zamāneh", Tehran: Kitāb-i Mubīn.
Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbdullāh (1379 SH): "Tafsīr-i Tasnīm", Qom: Isrāʾ.
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir (1373 SH): "Tafsīr Nemūneh", Tehran: Intishārāt Nāṣir Khusraw.
Mirzāʾī, NajafʿAlī (1376 SH): "Farhang-i Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Muʿāṣir", Qom: Dār al-Naṣhr al-Iʿtisām.
Mughniyyah, Muḥammad Jawād (1424 AH): "Al-Kāshif", Tehran: Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmī.
Muṣṭafawī, Ḥasan (1416 AH): "Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm", Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Pīrūzamand, ʿAlīrezā; Ṣādiqī, Shīdeh (1386 SH): "Chīstī Farhang wa Chigūnagī-yi Taghyīrāt-i Ān", Proceedings of the First National Conference on Cultural Engineering, Tehran: Secretariat of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.
Rafīʿpoor, Farāmarz (1378 SH): "Ānātūmī-yi Jāmiʿeh", Tehran: Sāḥāmī Publishing Company.
Raẓā'ī Isfahānī, M. (1393 SH): "Manṭiq-i Tafsīr-i Qurʾān", Qom: Mustafa International Translation and Publishing Center 
Ṣādiqī Tehrānī, Muḥammad (1365 SH): "Al-Furqān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bil-Qurʾān", Qom: Farhang-i Islāmī.
Sayyāḥ, Aḥmad (N.D): "Farhang-i Bozorg-i Jāmiʿ-i Nowin", Tehran: Kitābfurūshī-yi Islām.
Sayyid ibn Quṭb (1412 AH): "Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān", Beirut: Dār al-Shurūq.
Ṭabarsī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan (1372 AH): "Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān", Tehran: Nasir Khosrow.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1412 AH): "Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān", Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt Islāmī-i Jāmiʿat Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawzah-i ʿIlmīyah-i Qum.
Ṭayyib, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn (1378 AH): "Aṭyab al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān", Tehran: Intishārāt Islāmī.
Wathūqī, Manṣūr; Nīk Khalq, ʿAlī Akbar (1388 SH): "Mabānī-yi Jāmeʿah Shanāsī", Tehran: Bihīnah.
Zamani, Muḥammad Ḥasan (1389 SH): "Mustashriqān wa Qurʾān", Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb.
Comparative Studies of Quran
Volume 9, Issue 1 - Serial Number 17
September 2024
Pages 78-99

  • Receive Date 24 May 2023
  • Revise Date 07 June 2024
  • Accept Date 03 August 2024
  • Publish Date 22 August 2024