The Arab Modernists and the Quranic Text by Jilani Ben Touhami Meftah

There is no specialized scientific study that ever draws on the phenomenon of the modernists’ understanding of al‐Qur’an through a lengthy critical analysis within its historical and epistemic contexts except for few commentary writings. In order to accomplish such critical assessing work within the requirements of scientific research, this book has been divided into five chapters. The first chapter addresses the historical background of the phenomenon; that is surveying the political, economic and intellectual factors that were instrumental in the rise of the phenomenon of understanding the holy Qur’an from the modernist lens, particularly, during the last three decades, and certainly not before. The second chapter provides critical analytical insights on the Arab Modernists’ outlook towards the mechanisms of the conventional orthodox methodology in Islamic exegesis along with the modernists’ excuses to relinquish thereof. The third chapter focuses on presenting and evaluating the most important methodologies allegedly used by Arab modernists to apprehend the holy Qur’an. The fourth chapter was designed to lay out some modernist interpretations in respect to the theological and intellectual aspect. These interpretations were, thereupon, thoroughly examined so as to determine the extent of its consistency and origination. The fifth chapter deliberates over some modernist interpretations in regard to the legislative and jurisprudential issues. In the Conclusion, the writer summarizes the major points of his research and put them in a general framework so that readers can come up with a clear overview of the research