Journal of Islamic Studies 23:1 (2012) pp. 85–129
BOOK REVIEWS Schools of Qur8:nic Exegesis: Genesis and Development By Hussein Abdul-Raof (Abi (Abing ngdo don: n: Ro Rout utle ledg dge, e, 20 2010 10), ), 27 276 6 pp. Price HB £70.00. EAN 978–0415449571. Midway through this book we are at last given, in the form of a list, a clear indication as to whom the author favours as exegetes, namely those he deems to belong to the mainstream of Islamic exegetical tradition. Mainstream exegesis, th
D o w n l o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / j i s . o x f o r d j o u r n a l s . o r g / a t U n i v e r s i t i M a l a y a o n A p r i l 1 9 , 2 0 1 2
86
book reviews
Moreover, it is not clear why al- E:kim is counted among exegetes here, unless one insists on understanding tafs; r the way Abdul-Raof does, i.e. as a narrative activity. As such, an author, who is mainly a muAaddith, is transformed into an exegete by the sheer fact that he has a tafs; r section in his A ad ; th collection. I do not discount the significance of these scholars on their own, or in the field of Aad ; th, and indeed in affecting the history of tafs; r, but to turn them into the mainstream of exegetical tradition in medieval Islam is historically unfounded. We should not be surprised at this warped assessment of the medieval exegetical tradition. Already the author has, with no hesitation, declared the Ash6ari exegetical tradition (which would include all the major Sunni medieval exegetical works, from al-Tha6lab; (d. 427/1035), al-W:Aid; (d. 468/1076), al-R:z; (d. 454/1062), to al-Bay @:w; (d. 685/1286), to name but the most prominent) to be sectarian and non-mainstream (p. ix). This book is certainly one of the most polemical of works to appear on tafs; r in English. Abdul-Raof strains to claim that his presentation is historical and academic. One would wish that it were. This is Ibn Taymiyya served to us without the benefit of being told that we are drinking from his cup! Ibn Taymiyya is (incredibly) not in the bibliography: he does make an appearance on p. 128, and there is an allusion to a work published in 1997, but no accompanying reference. But any follower of the hermeneutical debate in modern Islam will know where this Salafi paradigm originates. It is not clear why we have here a second degree citation of the theory of Ibn Taymiyya; is it because its success is such that even its proponents are not aware of the source? In any case, this is a thoroughly polemical view of the history of tafs; r arguing for the centrality of the Ibn Taymiyyan paradigm, summarized on pp. 157–62. What was a prescriptive method of tafs; r is here presented as the result of a deductive analysis of the methods of the formative period. The fact of the matter is that this is taken directly from the Muqaddima f ; U B
D o w n l o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / j i s . o x f o r d j o u r n a l s . o r g / a t U n i v e r s i t i M a l a y a o n A p r i l 1 9 , 2 0 1 2
book reviews
87
by pretending not to see how different it is from its own prescriptive understanding of ‘proper exegesis’; it now simply claims that the Ash 6ari exegetical deviations from the Ibn Taymiyyan hermeneutical paradigm are minor. In this sense, Arabic Salafi historiography has already left Abdul-Raof behind on this front. The Salafi movement, now seeing itself as the guardian of the tur :th, or Islamic heritage, has become more ecumenical in its taste. The recent publication of al-Bas;3 of al-W:Aid; in 25 volumes from Saudi Arabia is an indication that ideological differences are not preventing the Salafi movement from championing the bulwarks of the Ash 6ari exegetical school. In this sense, the Salafi movement is doing the bidding of the traditional scholastic tradition. And the ideological division of the exegetical tradition into tafsir bi-l-ma8 thur and tafs; r bi-l-ra8 y has lost its usefulness now. Abdul-Raof’s work is a reminder of the ideological use of those two terms.
Walid Saleh University of Toronoto E-mail:
[email protected] doi:10.1093/jis/etr051 Published online 8 July 2011
Memories of Muhammad. Why the Prophet Matters. By Omid Safi (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 310 pp., notes, index. Price PB $14.99. EAN 978–0061231353. This book provides a new approach, or a new combination of approaches, to the familiar story of the life of the Prophet. It combines the historical and the spiritual, giving, for example, the pre-Islamic background and relating several crucial episodes of the Prophet’s life, but also showing how these are interpreted in a spiritual way by Muslims, showing both the ‘historical Muhammad’ and the ‘Muhammad of grace’. In this way Omid Safi communicates to the reader the Muslims’ love for the Prophet as well as addressing and assessing the historical evidence for certain events. His first chapter, ‘The Muhammad Problem’, gives some cogent reasons for this joint approach. The split, seen graphically on the shelves of bookshops, is between books of piety praising the Prophet, and others claiming to present the ‘truth about Muhammad’ but actually undermining him. His aim is to counteract the hostile views of some non-Muslims, and at the same time to inspire a love for the Prophet or at least to give an understanding of the great love and reverence felt for him by Muslims. This he does very well, while relating the Prophet’s birth, family life, the isr:8 and mi6r: j, and his death, quoting A ad ;t h and also poets such as R
D o w n l o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / j i s . o x f o r d j o u r n a l s . o r g / a t U n i v e r s i t i M a l a y a o n A p r i l 1 9 , 2 0 1 2
