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A STUDY of BINT AL-SHATI>'S EXEGESIS

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A STUDY of BINT AL-SHATI>'S EXEGESIS A STUDY OF BINT AL-SHATI>'S EXEGESIS • • by Muhammad. AmÎn , A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulrdment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Islamic Studies Institute of Islamic Studies McGilI University Montreal ( May, 1992 11 DEDICATION to my parents, my wife and my childrell. l ______________________________ 111 (A)ishah (Abd al-Rahman. (Bint al-Shâti). IV ABSTRACT Author: Muhammad Amin. Title: A Study of Bint al-Sh~~i)'s ~xeqeBiB. Department: Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal, Quchee, Canada. Degree: Milster of Arts. Besi~es providing a biographical sketch of gj Il L al­ Shati), this thesis analyzes her ifltellectual growLh illld provides the necessary information about her' wor'kn relating to Qur) anic studies. The study al~1o surv0y!~ il l KhUlI's method of Qur)anie exegesis and Bint al-ShJti) 'n attempts ta apply it ta her own works. Our analyn is foeuses on her works on Qur)anic studies such as ~l~}~fpLr al-BayanI li al-Qur'an al-Karim, ~agal fi 91-Ins~Q and a]­ l(iaz al-BayanI li al-Qur'an wa_ Masa)il Ibn al--~~ré~g,. 'l'he distinguishing features of her philological and 1_hclna t j c approach are discussed and the main resul ts obléd ncd by the practieal application of this mcthod are shawn La bring refreshing insights into the meaning of the Qur)~n. --l v ~ , RESUME ( Auteur: Muhammad Amin. Titre: Une ~tuàe de l'exégèse de Bint al-Shati). Depëfrtemcnt: Institut des 'tudes islamiques, , ,./ ,,, Un~vers~te McGill, Montreal, Quebec, C, .nada. Dipl'brne: Maîtrise es Arts En plus de fournir une esquisse biographique de Bint al-Shati) , cette thèse analyse son evo, 1 utlon. intellectuelle et fournit de l'information sur ses oeuvres traitant d'~tudes qur'âniques. De nième, cette ètude brosse ",.... , ( Ull t ab) eiiU de ] a mcthode d' exegese qur) anique ut.ilisee par .;1 , al-Khûli et les efforts developpes par Bint al-Sha~i) pour ... ./ l'appliquer a son oeuvre. Notre analyse est centree sur ses oeuvres à'~tudes qur'aniques tels al-Tafsir al-Bayani 1.1:. al-Qur'an al-Karim, Magal fi al-Insan et al-I(jaz al- li Les caraclèristiques spécifiques de son approche philologique et t hematlque;'· sont d'.;Ilscutees, e t 1 es prlnclpaux., resu., 1 tats ;' / , obtenus par l'application de cette methode revêlent un ~ ., .1 apport renouvele pour la penetration du sens qur'anique. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT LV , , RESUME . V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii TABLE OF TRANSLITERATION ix INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: Bint al-Shüti)'s Background, Carecr and Works .'. b A. Bint al-Shüti) . s background . h B. Bint al-Shüti) . s Interest in Qur)ünic expgcDjn. 1 /. C. Bint al-Shüti) . s Career . 1 3 D. Bint al-Shüti)'s Works . 1 tl CHAPTER TWO: Bint~ al-Shati)' s Method . '.~ ~ A . Am î n al - Kh ü 1 i . s !1il n a hi j 1'a j d icl . .. ~ ~ 4 B. Bint al-Shüti)' s Attemps ta implement al-Khlll i . f; method . : . .. i4 CHAPTER THREE: Bint al-Sha~i)'s Exegesis 4/ A. Oaths in the Qur)an . 4~ B. Passive Voice and Passive Forms V[I and VIII, and Metonymie Predication . ~6 C. Rhymed Verses in the Qur)ün . 59 D. Particles and Mysterious Letters 64 E. Meanings . ·/6 F. Synonyme . 84 G. Scientific Interpretation 81 CONCLUSION . BIBLIOGRAPHY 94 Vil ( Acknowledgments l would llke to express my gratitude to the Faculty of Jolamlc Law (Shari)ah), State Institute for Islamic stuclles of Al: t.asari, Banj armasin, Indonesia for allowing me 1.0 t.ake a two-year leave of absence to study at the In~tiLute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. My academic pursuits here have exposed me to new insights into the study of Islam, and especially the study of the [ would like also to express my deep gratitude to my thesis supervisor Dr. Issa J. Boullata for his willingness to underlake the arduous task of guiding me in my research ( inlo Hint al-Shâti) 's ideas with respect to Qur)anic exegcsis. Tt was Dr. Boullata's stimulating graduate seminar that awakened in me an interest in pursuing a study on Qur)anic exegesis. l am very grateful to him for his patience, acute observations and valuable criticism which have resulted in improvements in my thesis. Due to his encouragement and endless efforts 1 the final product of this thesis bears no resemblance to its earlier drafts. Many people, whether directly or indi.rectly, have been very helpful in facilitating the completion of this t lwsis. The list is endless, but l would especially like t 0 thilnk the staff of the Canadian Bureau for l nt (>rn<lt iOl1,l1 Education, especially i ts proj ect Manager (. Cynth ia Talla, a~l weIl as the staff of the McGill Indonesia vii i IAIN Development project, p,lrticul,lrly il:. nin'l'loI' nI'. Charles J. Adams, its former Din'clol' Dl'. \)on,\l(l l'. Li ttle, i ts Co-ordina tor Dr. Rebecca B. l\ Lkl'l1 1 .1l1d Dl'!;. Zaini Muchtarorn, Mi\, of the Indon('~;i .1n Min i nt t'y nt religious Affairs. My appreciation alno qOCF; 1 () t hl' nt ,\ 1 1 of Islarnic Studies Library, especially Ms. Sill Wil F('I(\h i.lll and Mr. Adam Gacek, Head Librarian, for their inv,\lu.\blp help in providing the necessary rcseil l'ch llId ter i i\ 1 n. Finally, my thanks go to my colleagues and frll)IHhl, especially Steve Millier, Floyd Mackay and Dr. I\bdin Chande for reading and edi ting the fir:;t ùra t 1 of 1 hi n study, and ta Roxanne Marcotte for trans] dl i nq 1 \)(' abstract of this thesis into French. My everlasting gratitude goes ta rny pa retl b:, Illy W i t (', Dra. Rabia tul Aslamiyah and my chi1 Jren for LI\(· i r' encouragement and support during my period of study. TllLs thesis i5 dedicated to them as an expression of my appreciation for their devotion, patience and in fj Il i te forbearance. ix TABLE OF TRANSLITERATTON \ i1. c.-J = b. L!.:...) - t. 0:/ = th. j. h. kh. d. (]h. r. z. s. sh. s. d. t. z. gh. f. l' C-!J q. k. J 1. m. u n. w. h. ;. = ~ • • 1 long: a, i, ü. ta' marbutah: ah, in idâfah at INTRODUCTION Exegesis of the Qur)5.n is one of the Il\O~:;t imporli\l1l religious sciences for Muslims. Throughout the COti t'De' ot their history, Muslims have shown a keen Lntcrc~:;l i Il studying the Qur) an and wri ting conunentaries on l L. S Lnc(' Muslim commentators have tended ta represent the dominant intellectual and socio-cultural trends ot their times, th0 history of the exegesi~ of the Qur) 5.n has truly becoll\p ,\ mirror of the intellectual history of Muslims. In the history of exegesis, the philological approilch is one of the methods applied in interpretinq the Qur) itn. The development of philology and lexicography gave ri ~3C t () certain developments in tafsir, since the time of tlw T5.bi(ün. Sorne scholars had made philology and lexicography their field of study. The words and phrases in t.he Qur) an and their structure became of particular importance to the understanding of the text. Old Arabian poetry and classical usage were brought into this study; thcy wcrc cited to support the explanation of selected passages. Leading in this field was Abü <Ubaydah (d. 824 A.D.), a philologist in Küfah, who had taken as his field of studies everything that had to deal with the history and culture of the Arabs; he collected and put togcther cultural and linguistic items of the same or simllar kind. He composed several philological works on the Qur)ân and 2 ha(H Lh. IU:J i ir::>t work on the Qur) an, Maj a~ a1-Qur) an, 1 is . - sai d to have been the first known work on tafsir. 2 This work consists of brief notes on the meaning of se1ected words and phrases in the order of sürahs. Among Abu <Ubaydah' s contemporaries who were also engaged in this aspect of j:afsir were Qu~rub (d. 821 A. D. ), a1-Farra) (d. 822 A.D.), a1-Kisa)i (d. 805 A.D.), Ibn Habib (d. 786 A.D.), al-Mufa~~al al-~abbi (d. 786 A.D.) and Khalaf al­ Nù~wI (d. 796 A.D.), each of whom wrote a work entitled 0L~ni éll-Qur) an. 3 Tt is said that it was al-Raghib who first endeavoured to compile il Qur)anic dictionary to explain the meaning of t-he words and thel:r places of occurrence in the text of the Qur) ;in. He also tried to shed light on the rclationship between words by focusing on one entry in the various instances in which it is found therein. He focused therefore on the semantic aspect of the Qur)an. The Iater emergence of the scientific revolution of the 19th century in the West and its subsequent implantation 1 Abü (Ubaydah, Majaz al-Qur)an: (aradah bi-usülih wa <.<})lag (?-layh Muhammad Fu)ad Sazgrri-(Mi~r:' Khanji, 19~4-1962), 2 vols: 2 Il.A.R. Gibb, "Abü (Ubayda." The Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960), vol. 1, p. 158. 3 Ahmad AmIn, Duh~ .?l-Islam (Cairo: Lajnat a1-Ta)lIf wa al-'l'arjamah wa 'a1-Nashr, 1952), vol.
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