Revisiting The Principles And Conditions Of Ta wīl According To Qāḍī Nu mān
Author(s):
Abstract:
Qāḍī Numān, a well-known Islmaīlī jurisprudent (faqīh), introduced a different approach to the problem of interpretation (tawīl) from other Ismaīlī scholars. In contrast with the dominant Ismaīlī view that is too liberal with interior interpretations and sometimes leads to mistakes, Qāḍī Numān commits himself with tawīl with an eye to the explicit meanings of texts. With this moderate approach to tawīl, he tries to be immune from errors of other Ismaīlī scholars. He takes the apparent meanings of the Quran to be silent and a miracle of the Prophet (s) and the interior (bāṭin) meanings of the Quran (tawīl) to be a miracle of the Shiite Imams (a). He takes tawīl to be a discipline that is verifiable in terms of Quranic verses and some rules and principles. Although he made some implausible tawīls or interpretations, we can extract some rules and conditions for tawīl from his views: considering both the apparent and the interior or hidden meanings, conceptual relation between tawīl and reasoning, the effect of purity or piety on the accuracy of tawīl, its leading to Imam (a)s knowledge, and the role of faith in the accuracy of tawīl. Despite the advantages of Qāḍī Numāns approach to tawīl, there are serious problems with it that I shall deal with in this paper.
Keywords:
Language:
Persian
Published:
Journal of Philosophy & Theology, Volume:20 Issue: 3, 2015
Page:
133
https://magiran.com/p1550737