فصلنامه سراج منیر
پیاپی 7 (تابستان 1391)

Hermeneutics as the science of understanding and interpretation of scriptures has been practiced by scholars and intellectuals since the time of Socrates and Plato,and even earlier,as is sometimes argued.In Greek writings,there exist many books and treatises in the field written by a number of thinkers including Plato and Aristotle.In the Biblical context, hermeneutics was employed in the interpretation of the Testaments by Christian theologians from Augustine of Hippo(the 5thcentury) to Schleiermacher (the 18th century). Much effort was devoted to the field by Schleiermacher, followed by further great steps afterwards, and by the time of Wilhelm Dilthey, hermeneutics was employed in understanding intentions of the speaker. However, as a result of the French Revolution and with the advent of Dechristianisation, many great linguists and philosophers including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michel Foucault, Umberto Eco, and more recently Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer used hermeneutics for understanding the text itself, suggesting that hermeneutics and the interpretive methodology help the reader to understand the text regardless of the speaker/author.This paper seeks to explore various periods of the history of hermeneutics from early times up to the late 20th century.Moreover, it examines the changes in scholars’ viewpoints regarding arbitrariness of the language as was discussed in semiology, as well as the study of language as a phenomenon, which led to language being regarded as a branch of phenomenology. Finally,it deals with longitudinal and latitudinal (metatextual and intertextual) interpretations upon which a special interpretation of the Qur’an is then suggested, arguing that interpretation of the verses of the Qur’an has no congruity with Macherian or Heideggerian hermeneutic interpretations and is of a totally different kind.

Divine trials and tribulations are among definite and inclusive Divine traditions, which have been subject to the human being's serious concerns throughout history and thus created different attitudes as to their philosophy of existence and nature. In Islamic kalam, the issue has been addressed in discussions of Divine Wisdom, Divine Knowledge, Divine Justice, Singleness in Creation, and Unity of the Divine Essence, and adequately resolved by Muslim scholars. However, since the everyday life of people, including the youth, is faced with Divine trials, they often ask if God has created the universe in the most perfect form, with total firmness and stability, and to the best interest of human beings, then how the existence of trials, often bringing about hardship and inconveniences, is not contrary to the Divine intentions. Moreover, if God has complete present knowledge of all the phenomena in the universe as well as all the human beings’ deeds, thoughts and feelings, then where do the free will and the trials fit? Considering the positive nurturing effect of trials when adequately explained, this study employs an analytical and interpretational methodology and makes use of the quranic verses and the Islamic narrations to analyse the relationship between Divine Knowledge and Wisdom and Divine trials by taking a new viewpoint. It explains the positive nurturing effects of trials, including pereparing grounds for improving capacities, encouraging the human beings’ fine internal quality, taking lessons, atonement for wrongdoings, etc., in order to show that there is no incongruity among a priori Divine Knowledge and His absolute benevolence and Divine trials.

One of the teachings of Prophets is how to encounter and treat other people, particularly followers of faiths. Posing the question of how to encounter people of other faiths, this paper addresses the issue by conducting a comparative examination of the Qur’an and the Testaments. The Qur’an, inclusively dealing with all aspects of human life as it does, approaches the issue carefully, always seeking to establish equilibrium. Encounters with followers of other faiths in Islam is thus with gentleness and with goodwill and guidance, allowing them to live in the society along with other strata of people, provided that they pay tribute and that they do not practice hostility. If they do practice hostility and act against Islam and Muslims, they should be confronted.

Words used in the Holy Qur’an are mainly the ones which were common among Arabs of the Time of Ignorance (‘jāhilīyah’) as were used in tribes and certain poetic circles. Similar to many others, the word ‘hikmah’ (‘wisdom’) was influenced by the Qur’an’s cosmological system and was used in new semantic domains. While retaining its core meaning, it gained new senses as it was collocated with certain words and occurred in verses which had certain concords and discords with other verses and, technically, went through semantic expansions or reductions. Moreover, as it was used in various Islamic fields in its new senses it fostered new systems of understanding. In other words, through semantic changes, the word ‘hikmah’ gained new senses in different Islamic fields including ethics, philosophy and theology, with its own usage in each.

Hijra (lit. immigration) enjoys a special status in Islam and has in several verses of the Qur’an been regarded as a way for promoting the religion and escaping domination of tyrants and oppressors. When persecution of Muslims overwhelmingly rose in Mecca, the Prophet took up the way suggested in the Qur’an, using hijra as a tactic to extend the scope of his efforts and spread his message to Medina. Thus, having spent about thirteen years in Mecca getting his message across to people of Quraysh, the Prophet finally resolved that he had to spread it to people other than the Quraysh if he were to reinforce it. About the same time, the people of the city of Yathrib, who had found in the Prophet and in his message qualities which responded to their needs, invited him to their city, changing its name to ‘Madinah al-Nabi’ (lit. the city of the Prophet). The Prophet’s immigration from Mecca to Medina, the hijra, was the dawn of a new age of development in the religion and an age of the Muslims’ social, political and cultural growth.

Regarding the fact that many of the verses in the Holy Quran have been expressed in the form of condensation, the transfer of its very sense is an important issue in translations. This paper examines two old (Sourabadi and Meybodi) and six contemporary (Ayati, Elahi Qomshei, Ansari, Saffarzadeh, Fouladvand & Makarem Shirazi) Persian translations of the Holy Quran and assesses the way in which the translators have transfered the concept of the quranic condensation. In doing so, firstly, some of the quranic condensations are given and then they are compared with the Persian condensations. Finally, this paper tries to evaluate the way in which the quranic condensations have been translated by these translators.

The speech is one of God’s gifts bestowed upon human beings by which God has made him superior to other beings. This gift can be seen most eminently in the hands of poets and rhetoricians. Because we can preserve the values of each society through art, poetry, among others, has an outstanding place. Now, when poets use the religious teachings in their works, it helps their poems to endure much longer. For this reason, such poets as Mowlavi, Hafiz, Sa’di and Shahriar have used the quranic verses and religious sayings of the Infallibles to enrich their poetry. This paper investigates the influence of Imam Ali's speech upon Shahriar's poetry. Ths is done either directly through quoting Imam Ali's exact words or indirectly through allusions. This influence has its roots in the indescribable love of Shahriar towards Imam Ali (peace be upon him) and his beliefs in him. Shahriar has reached from a virtual love to a true love and it is Imam Ali through whom Shahriar connects himself to God. In this paper, we compare and contrast those of Shahriar’s poetry mostly taken from the Commander of Expression, Imam Ali, with Imam Ali's speech in Nahj al-Balaghah.