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Nelly Lahoud Nelly Lahoud Some Aspects of Islamic Allegory This paper explores the interplay between the literal sense of the Qur'ãn and the various allegorical interpretations ( ta'wî l ) of many of its verses. It draws on the esoteric and the exoteric interpretations the Scripture lends itself to. On the one hand, the Qur'ãn presents itself as having the right to adjudicate the intellectual realm, especially in relation to the legitimacy and the merit of ideas and values. On the other hand, the Qur'ãn , itself, provides its audience an escape from this intellectual monopoly by describing its message as containing exoteric ( z?âhir ) as well as esoteric ( bât?in ) meanings. It indicates explicitly that its message contains 'some verses clear to be understood [ muh?kamât ], they are the foundation of the book; and others are parabolical [ mutashâbihât ].' [1] Coupled with the complex subtleties of the Arabic language, this distinction has provided a modality for thinkers, be they jurists, theologians or philosophers, who wished to explore and defend ideas beyond those explicitly sanctioned by Scripture. To start with, it needs to be stressed that the study of ta'wî l in the Islamic tradition is a wide topic that has undergone different developments in the various intellectual disciplines. These disciplines include jurisprudence ( fiqh ), commentary ( tafsîr ), theology ( kalâm ) and philosophy ( falsafa ). [2] A distinct approach to ta'wî l is also developed in the mystical version of Islam, Sufism, especially by Ibn 'Arabî. This paper explores a limited aspect of ta'wî l . It argues that ta'wî l was not a mere intellectual device used by theologians, jurists and philosophers, but it was also a political tool that was used to justify the differences between the various rival schools of thought. It served to veil, when deemed undesirable, the restrictions that certain aspects of the Qur'ãn , if interpreted literally, would impose on their teachings. Of particular relevance to this discussion are the different approaches and applications of ta'wî l in the works of Ghazâ l î(1058-1111)&emdash;whose intention was to attack the philosophers and defend his orthodox ideas, which derived partly from the theological school of Ash'arism&emdash;, and those of Averroes (1126-1198)&emdash;whose goal was to defend philosophy and the pursuit of philosophical studies. The Arabic Language and Allegory: 'Allegory' refers to two interlinked and sometimes complementary literary procedures. One is about writing allegorically, the other is about interpreting allegorically. An explanation needs to be made about these two genres. Writing allegorically is to write in a manner which apparent meaning differs from the intended message of the author. Interpreting allegorically, or allegoresis , is the process of bringing out/speculating about the hidden message of an allegorical work. [3] The allegoresis genre, it needs to be added, can turn into an allegorical work (i.e., an allegoriser turning into an allegorist), which in turn gives rise to another interpretive tradition. Further, allegoresis is not limited to works intended to be interpreted allegorically. An allegoriser may treat as an allegoresis a work that is intended to be understood literally. One may do so for a number of reasons, either to enhance, add other dimensions to or even manipulate its message to suit a particular agenda. In other words, the allegoresis genre can be as much about constructing/inventing a new message of a given text as construing its intended meaning. A similar blurring can apply to the way in which a reader judges not only texts that fall under the allegorical and allegoresis genres, but also texts the meanings of which may be said to be apparent. That is to say, this complex distinction between allegory and allegoresis should not suggest that texts which may be said to fall outside these two genres are immune to the interpretative machinery. To use Solomon Simonson's words, what one reader may consider 'as an "interpretation," another will denounce as a "construction"; what one may regard as a "construction," another will disdain as a mere "interpretation".' [4] The allegoresis genre may then be discerned, in differing degrees, in various styles of writings, especially in works of exegesis, hermeneutics and commentaries. In some genres of writings, allegoresis is associated with the inception of logical intellectual trends within a tradition, [5] or what is known as a move from mythos (associated with myth) to logos (associated with reason), a reference to the development of certain intellectual disciplines in ancient Greece. This relates to a process of demythologising texts with a strong mythological foundation that are held to be authoritative sources of truth. Such a process is intended to give these texts a significance different from the sense that they literally convey. [6] For instance, the succession from Uranus to Cronos to Zeus, as described by Hesiod, when read in this way, turns into a description of a system of emanation from 'One' to 'Mind' to 'Soul', as Plotinus expounds it. [7] A myth then may be read as an allegory, even if the allegorical sense may not have been present in the minds of the transmitters of the myth. It would be simplistic to reduce such an allegorisation to an intellectual shift from myth to reason. Such a generalisation does not adequately take into account the complexities of the intellectual environment from which myth springs, nor does it fairly represent the limitations of the assumptions of a reason-based intellectual environment. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged that the re-formulation of existing literature to suit different intellectual environments indicates a certain level of sophistication on the part of the allegoriser. The various interpretations of religious scriptures exemplify the abundant and differing meanings that may be attributed to a single text source. The Hebrew Bible, for example, has undergone numerous expositions and renditions by numerous scholars since the time it was compiled. One may trace such exposition back to the people who were responsible for establishing the canon, which make up the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Those who established the canon themselves made certain interpretive statements by the choice of books that they included and those that they omitted. [8] Their choices gave rise to a tradition of commentaries, including the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmud s, out of which sprang a plethora of other interpretive traditions. [9] Within the broad parameters of allegoresis , the Arabic language has many literary devices that one can use to write and interpret allegorically. They include sharh? and tafsîr (interpretation, commentary), isti'âra (metaphor), tashbîh (simile), ramz and majâz (symbolism or figurative), ishâra (intimation or allusion), bayân and balâgha (eloquence or good style). [10] Further, ta'wî l in the Arabic context can refer to content/meaning ( ta'wî l al-ma'na ) and to grammar ( al-ta'wî l al-nah?awî ). The two may be used for different ends. The grammarians, for example, used ta'wî l al-ma'na to serve the ta'wî l al-nah?awî , when some qur'anic verses did not conform to what they considered to be the rules that govern grammar. [11] An understanding of the interplay between grammar and meaning is a necessary foundation for the appreciation of the various subtleties and nuances in the polemical discourses between the theologians and the philosophers, in this case, in the discourses of Ghazâ l î and Ibn Rushd. Also to be emphasised is the central importance the Qur'ãn occupies in relation to both the Arabic language and to Islamic thought. This point is of particular importance given the use by Ghazâ l î and Ibn Rushd of the Qur'ãn to justify their different positions. Their writings suggest that they both knew the Qur'ãn by heart, and it informed almost every sentence of their discourse. It is not an exaggeration to state that any discussion that seeks to address the development of Islamic thought needs to account for the central importance the Arabic language occupies in this field and the way in which the Qur'ãn features in the development of the Arabic language. On this aspect, the Arabic grammarian and literary historian Jirji Zaydan wrote that 'the Qur'ãn has an influence over the literatures of the Arabic language that no other religious text has in other languages.' [12] There is even more appreciation by scholars of the Qur'ãn 's literary style. A. H. Johns comments that the Qur'ãn is a 'mosaic of diverse styles' pointing to the impact the rhetoric of the book can have on listeners. [13] For Muslim scholars, the miracle of the Qur'ãn lies in the text itself, that is to say, in the i'jâz , or the inimitability of the discourse. The i'jâz of the Qur'ãn has a significant prominence equivalent, at least, to the reported miracles of Moses and the magic of Jesus. [14] Hence, the Arabic lexicon quotes an unnamed scholar who, writing in poetry, expresses the importance of mastering the Arabic language: Our duty to learn languages Is like that of memorising prayers For no religion is understood Except by the study of languages [15] Furthermore, the Qur'ãn , Muslims believe, was revealed to Muhammad in Arabic as being the articulate discourse of God ( kalâm Allâh ). [16] The sublime authority of this claim meant that the followers of the religion of Islam were bound to adopt the Arabic language of the Qur'ãn . The Qur'ãn was the first Arabic book to be read and most of the intellectual disciplines which appeared after the emergence of Islam, Zaydan notes, 'either sprang from the Qur'ãn or originated as ancillaries ( khidmat ) to it.' [17] Hence, the statement that 'the science of the Arabic language is the religion itself'(by Abu 'Amru b.
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