Textual Authority and Modern Urdū Exegetical Interpretations A Case Study of Q.4:34
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Keywords
subcontinental tafsīr, al-qawwāmūn, nushūz, wife-beating
Abstract
As a result of modernity and the emergence of gender studies, Islamic texts that discuss women and their status in Islam’s broader world-view have been revisited and re-interpreted. Traditional modes of interpretations and cosmologies have been questioned and re-interpretations have been attempted. Modern subcontinental tafsīr literature has also experienced the impact of modernity, which in turn has led to the production of exegetical trends of a diverse and competing nature. Against this backdrop, this article takes up Q.4:34 as a case study because it is one of the most contested of these texts. The article critically evaluates some of the most significant and impactful Urdū exegetical trends in the literature of the modern subcontinent and analyze their methods and conclusions in relation to Q.4:34. This analysis provides us with a greater appreciate of the dynamics of textual authority, text reception and exegetes’ role in the process of meaning making. The article deliberates upon an important yet unexplored modern subcontinent exegetical trends, and attempts to fill the gap in context of Q.4:34.
References
1 The translation is taken from The Noble Qurʾān, co-authored by Muḥammad Muḥsin
Khān and Muḥammad Taqī al-Dīn al-Ḥilālī, published by Maktaba Darussalam, 1996.
The parentheses have not been included.
2 Mawlānā Abū al-Kalām Āzād, Tarjumān al-Qur̕ ān, (Islāmī Academy: Pakistan, n.d.).
3 For more on Āzād’s work see I.H. Douglas, Abdul Kalam Azad: An Intellectual and
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4 Āzād, Tarjumān, vol. 1, p. 410.
5 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 351.
6 Hāfiz ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm (Cairo: Dar al-Ḥadīth, 2011) pp. 205-
207. The works of Walid Saleh, and Younis Mirza should be approached for more
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7 Āzād, Tarjumān, vol. 1, p. 410.
8 Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rashīd Riḍā. Tafsīr al-Manār, (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub
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9 Āzād, Al-Hilāl, no.1, July 1912, (Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, 2010).
10 Hadia Mubarak, Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern
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11 Jalāl al-Dīn al-ʿUmrī was JIH President from 2007 till 2019.
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14 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 82.
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16 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 447.
17 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 448.
18 Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 448-449. Shafīʿ writes that this excellence of men over women is in
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19 Shafīʿ, Maʿārif, vol. 2, p. 449.
20 Ibid., vol. 2, p. 450.
21 Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 451-452.
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39 Ibid., p. 350.
40 Ibid., p. 350.
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46 Iṣlāḥī, Tadabbur, vol. 2, p. 291.
47 Iṣlāḥī translates the word as sarparast/patron.
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62 Shafīʿ, Maʿārif, vol. 2, p. 452.
63 Shafīʿ, Maʿārif, vol. 2, pp. 626-636.
64 Iṣlāḥī, Taddabur, vol. 2, pp. 397-399.
65 Shafīʿ, Maʿārif, vol. 2, p. 451.
66 Mawdūdī and Iṣlāḥī are not strict in their adherence to the Ḥanafī School. A study
exploring how these two writers challenge canonical authorities would be revealing.
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