The Evaluation of Hawting’s Methodological Viewpoints within the Domain of the Literary Criticism of the Qur’ān

Nowadays, the precise and principled understanding of the orientalists’ viewpoints and their research methods in studying the Qur’ān as well as the scientific criticism of these viewpoints based on robust religious and intellectual principles are undeniable necessities. Literary criticism is a critical method that has been applied by the orientalists to the qur’ānic studies. One of the scholars that has used this method – of course via an intertextual approach – to study the qur’ānic verses is Gerald Hawting, the British Qur’ān researcher. Hawting’s literary criticisms against the Qur’ān are in three directions, namely the appearance of the Qur’ān in a sectarian atmosphere, the dialectical nature of the qur’ānic verses, and the temporal lateness of the Qur’ān compared to its audience. These three dimensions can be rejected based on the intellectual and narrative reasons, as follows. First, the mere connection of the Islamic world with the monotheistic religions that had appeared before it is not a reason for the effectiveness of those religions on the appearance of the Qur’ān. Moreover, unlike other sacred Scriptures, the Qur’ān does not have a human nature and its text involves various types of miraculous qualities such as eloquence, sublimity of meaning, and freedom from any disagreement in expression. All these wonders derive from its divine and non-human nature. The comparison of the dialectic nature of the Qur’ān and that of the Judo-Christian Bibles is false, as in the Qur’ān, that type of dialectics suggested by Hawting has not been used to address the audience.