Interpreting the Qur'ān with the Bible (Tafsīr al-Qur'ān bi-l-Kitāb): reading the Arabic bible in the tafsīrs of Ibn Barraǧān and al-Biqāʻī
In: Biblia arabica volume 7
In: Middle East and Islamic studies e-books online
In: Collection 2021
"In Interpreting the Qur'ān with the Bible, R. Michael McCoy III brings together two lesser known yet accomplished commentators on the Qur'ān and the Bible: the muʻtabir Abū al-Ḥakam ʻAbd al-Salām b. al-Išbīlī (d. 536/1141), referred to as Ibn Barraǧān, and qāri' al-qurrā' Ibrāhīm b. ʻUmar b. Ḥasan al-Biqāʻī (d. 885/1480). In this comparative study, comprised of manuscript analysis and theological exegesis, a robust hermeneutic emerges that shows how Ibn Barraǧān's method of naẓm al-Qur'ān and al-Biqāʻī's theory of ʻilm munāsabāt al-Qur'ān motivates their reading and interpretation of the Arabic Bible. The similarities in their quranic hermeneutics and approach to the biblical text are astounding as each author crossed established boundaries and pushed the acceptable limits of handling the Bible in their day"--