Considerations on the Approach of Contemporary Literary Interpretation

Exegetes have undertaken the interpretation of the Quran taking different approaches, hence emergence of various approaches in the field of interpretation.One of the exegetical approaches in contemporary times is the literary approach. It is one of the most methodological approaches in interpretation having fairly transparent features. The present article enumerates, studies, and criticizes the most significant features of this approach which are as follows: inefficiency of the running interpretation, deep investigation of all the verses concerning the issue and their interpretation chronologically, denying the synonymity of the words appearing to be synonyms, confining the signification of the verses to the context, and benefiting from psychology and sociology. The article considers the inefficiency of the running interpretation, restriction of the signification of the verses to the context, and denying the synonymity of certain words in the Quran as insufficient proof in this field. On the other hand, the proponents of this exegetical approach have not been capable of the deep investigation of all verses relevant to the issue, and arranging them in their chronological order, thus failing to do so in numerous cases. Besides, they have failed to show the semantic difference among certain Quranic words.