Orientalists and the Imams’ Hermeneutics in the Exegesis of the Qur’an A case Study of Robert Gleave’s view

Document Type : pajoohesh

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Robert Gleave, one of the contemporary orientalists, in his article “Early Shi'i Hermeneutics: Some Exegetical Techniques Attributed to the Shi'i Imams” has used an explanatory-descriptive approach to study the exegetical news which belong to the hermeneutic period of the absolute authority of Imam in the interpretation of the Qur’an. The outcomes of the fixation of this hermeneutics in the first three centuries of Shiite history include: failure to present Imam’s semantic justification, failure to refer to any specific exegetical theory, and preference for the provided meaning by Imam in case of conflict. In comparison with the principles of this hermeneutics, considering the presence of Imam, any other kind of hermeneutic theoryis useless. Moreover, believing in the infallibility of Imam does not leave place for the need of other exegetical theories which may lead to another special meaning. Gleave has reached these outcomes through analyzing the exegetical hadiths which are available in early Shiite hadith sources. Ha has made an effort to apply stylistic and textual analysis methods in order to explore exegetical techniques used in exegetical hadiths so that he could put the hypothesis of Shiite Imams’ having a hermeneutic theory to the test. His article comes to the conclusion that there are not enough evidences available to prove the integrity of the Shiite Imams’ Qur’anic hermeneutics. The author of this article is going to criticize and evaluate Robert Gleave’s point of views which are pointed out in his essay. The author’s approach is critical-analytic; therefore, he firstly writes Robert Gleave’s opinions and then criticizes them in three parts of content, form, and method.

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The Quarterly Journal Ayeneh-ye- Pazhoohesh
Volume 27, Issue 161 - Serial Number 161
November and December 2016
Pages 5-28

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