QUR’ANIC CONTEMPLATION (TADABBUR): THE INTELLECTUAL THOUGHT OF TAHA JABIR AL-ALWANI
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Abstract
This study examines the concept of Qur’anic contemplation (tadabbur) within the intellectual thought and civilizational project of Shaykh Taha Jabir al-Alwani. It argues that tadabbur, as articulated by al-Alwani, transcends conventional exegetical practice to become a comprehensive epistemological and methodological framework for engaging the Qur’an as a living, guiding text. Rejecting rigid definitional constraints, al-Alwani views tadabbur as an open, dynamic process rooted in the interaction between the absolute divine discourse and the relative human intellect, mediated by ethical, cognitive, and spiritual preparedness.
The paper highlights al-Alwani’s insistence on the sovereignty of the Qur’an as the ultimate reference after the closure of prophethood, and his call to integrate the reading of revelation with the reading of the cosmos in order to fulfill humanity’s role of stewardship and civilizational responsibility. Central to his approach is the affirmation of the Qur’an’s structural unity, universality of source, and global scope of address, alongside a focus on its higher objectives—monotheism, moral purification, and civilization-building.
Furthermore, the study explores how al-Alwani employs tadabbur as a tool for addressing contemporary intellectual, legislative, and moral crises, including issues of family disintegration, ethical decay, economic injustice, environmental degradation, and global conflict. By advocating methodological review, critical reassessment of inherited interpretive paradigms, and the application of Qur’anic universals to modern realities, al-Alwani presents tadabbur as a transformative civilizational project aimed at reconstructing human consciousness and restoring the Qur’an to its role as a comprehensive source of guidance, justice, and peace.
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References
Al-Tijani ʿAbd al-Qadir Hamid. A Journey into the Thought and Methodology of Taha Jabir al-Alwani. Herndon, VA: Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University, 2022. Taha al-Alwani Academy for Qurʾanic Studies. “Selected Works of Taha Jabir al-Alwani.” https://alwani.org/?p=3078.
His notable works in Qur’anic studies include: Ḥiwār Maʿa al-Qurʾān (A Dialogue with the Qur’an), al-Ḥākimiyyah wa al-Haymanah (Sovereignty and Hegemony), al-Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī wa Muṣannafātuh (Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and His Works), Tafsīr Sūrat al-Rūm (Commentary on Surah al-Rum),Tafsīr Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt (Commentary on Surah al-‘Ankabut), Azamāt al-Insāniyyah wa al-Ḥall al-Qurʾānī (The Crises of Humanity and the Qur’anic Solution), Tafsīr Sūrat al-Anʿām (Commentary on Surah al-An‘am), Lisān al-Qurʾān wa Mustaqbal al-Ummah al-Quṭb (The Language of the Qur’an and the Future of the Ummah: The Central Axis), Naḥwa Manhajiyyah Maʿrifiyyah Qurʾāniyyah (Toward a Qur’anic Epistemological Methodology), Naḥwa Mawqif Qurʾānī min Ishkāliyyat al-Muḥkam wa al-Mutashābih (Toward a Qur’anic Position on the Problem of the Clear and the Ambiguous), Afalā Yatadabbarūna al-Qurʾān (Do They Not Contemplate the Qur’an?), Maʿālim fī al-Manhaj al-Qurʾānī (Landmarks of the Qur’anic Methodology), Naḥwa al-Ijtihād wa al-Tajdīd (Thāniyan): min al-Taʿlīl al-Qurʾānī ilā al-Maqāṣid al-Qurʾāniyyah al-ʿUlyā al-Ḥākimah (Toward Ijtihad and Renewal (Part Two): From Qur’anic Reasoning to the Supreme Governing Qur’anic Objectives), Naḥwa Mawqif Qurʾānī min al-Naskh (Toward a Qur’anic Position on Abrogation), al-Waḥdah al-Bināʾiyyah li-l-Qurʾān al-Majīd (The Structural Unity of the Glorious Qur’an), al-Jamʿ bayna al-Qirāʾatayn: Qirāʾat al-Waḥy wa Qirāʾat al-Kawn (Combining the Two Readings: The Reading of Revelation and the Reading of the Universe), Azmat al-Insāniyyah wa Dawr al-Qurʾān fī al-Khalāṣ Minhā (The Crisis of Humanity and the Role of the Qur’an in Deliverance from It), Lā Ikrāha fī al-Dīn: Ishkāliyyat al-Riddah wa al-Murtaddīn min Ṣadr al-Islām ilā al-Yawm (There Is No Compulsion in Religion: The Problem of Apostasy and Apostates from the Early Islamic Period to the Present), al-Tawḥīd wa al-Tazkiyah wa al-ʿUmrān (Monotheism, Moral Purification, and Civilizational Development), Ḥākimiyyat al-Qurʾān (The Sovereignty of the Qur’an). Taha al-Alwani Academy for Qurʾanic Studies. “Selected Works of Taha Jabir al-Alwani.”
Al-Alwani, Taha Jabir. “Why the Islamization of Knowledge?” Islamization of Knowledge, 29. Vol. 1 No. 1 (1995) https://doi.org/10.35632/citj.v1i1.2235, Published 1995-06-01.
This idea was presented in the most systematic form in the Muslim world by Mawlana Hamid al-Din Farahi. (Farahi referred to thematic unity in the Qur’an as nazm or system. His principles in this regard may be seen in his works Dalāʾil al-Niẓām, al-Takmīl fī Uṣūl al-Taʾwīl, and his unfinished commentary Niẓām al-Qurʾān wa Tafsīr al-Furqān bi-l-Furqān. His student, Mawlana Amin Ahsan Islahi, further developed these principles and authored his well-known Urdu commentary Tadabbur-e-Qur’an.) Hamid al-Din Farahi, Muqaddimah Tafsīr Niẓām al-Qurʾān, trans. Amin Ahsan Islahi (Lahore: Faran Foundation, n.d.), 45.
In the Arab world, the contemplative approaches of Sayyid Qutb and Shaykh Saʿid Hawwa are also part of this methodological trend. Today, the Muslim world at large has increasingly turned toward this style of Qur’anic interpretation. In Iran, particularly the names of ʿAllamah Baqir al-Sadr and Shaykh Husayn al-Tabatabaʾi are noteworthy in this context. Dr. Taha Jabir traced the foundations of this approach among the classical scholars, especially ʿAbd al-Qahir al-Jurjani and Abu ʿAli al-Farisi.
Hamid al-Din Farahi, Muqaddimah Tafsīr Niẓām al-Qurʾān (Lahore: Faran Foundation, n.d.), 45.
Here it is also important to note that Dr. Taha Jabir distinguishes between the fixed and variable meanings of the Qur’anic text. From the latter perspective, he considers it necessary to undertake the preparation of a lexicon of the Qur’an’s reading of its meanings (qirāʾat mafāhīmih). In this aspect of his thought, one can discern the influence of modern principles of semantics in textual study, whose foundations are also found in the Islamic intellectual tradition, particularly in scholars such as al-Shatibi.
Ghulam Jilani Barq,, Do Qur’an . Lahore: Idarah Tuluʿ-e-Islam, n.d.10.
Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi, al-Fawz al-Kabīr fī Uṣūl al-Tafsīr, Karachi, baitul ilm, 2006]: 101.
Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Afalā Yatadabbarūna al-Qurʾān?! Maʿālim Manhajiyyah fī al-Tadabbur wa al-Tadbīr (Do They Not Contemplate the Qur’an?! Methodological Landmarks in Reflection and Governance) (Cairo: Dār al-Salām li-l-Ṭibāʿah wa-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ wa-l-Tarjamah, 2010), 20.
Ibid., 26.
Ibid
ibid
Ruqayyah Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Tadabbur al-Qurʾān bayna al-Naẓariyyah wa al-Taṭbīq (Reflecting on the Qur’an between Theory and Practice), 4th ed. (Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2008), 36–37.
Ibid
Ruqayyah Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Tadabbur al-Qurʾān bayna al-Naẓariyyah wa al-Taṭbīq (Reflecting on the Qur’an between Theory and Practice), 4th ed. (Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2008), 40–41, 44.
Ibid.,44
Al-Tijani ʿAbd al-Qadir Hamid, Qirāʾah fī Fikr Aʿlām al-Ummah: Riḥlah fī Manhajiyyat Taha Jabir al-Alwani (A Study of the Thought of the Nation’s Scholars: A Journey into the Methodology of Taha Jabir al-Alwani), 1st ed. (Herndon, VA: Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University, April 2022), 84.
Ibid 82
Ibid 87
Ibid.
Taha Jabir al-Alwani, “Min al-Taʿlīl ilā al-Maqāṣid al-Qurʾāniyyah al-Ḥākimah” (From Reasoning to the Supreme Governing Qur’anic Objectives), al-Maʿrifah al-Islāmiyyah 12, nos. 46–47 (Fall 2006–Winter 2007): 1.
Al-Tijani ʿAbd al-Qadir Hamid, Riḥlah fī Fikr wa Manhajiyyat Taha Jabir al-Alwani (A Journey into the Thought and Methodology of Taha Jabir al-Alwani) (Herndon, VA: Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University, 2022), 83, 87.
Ibid.,86
Ibid.,74
Ibid
Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Afalā Yatadabbarūna al-Qurʾān … Maʿālim Manhajiyyah fī al-Tadīr wa al-Tadbīr (Do They Not Contemplate the Qur’an … Methodological Landmarks in Reflection and Governance) (Cairo: Dār al-Salām li-l-Ṭibāʿah wa-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ wa-l-Tarjamah, 2010), 90.
Al-Tijani ʿAbd al-Qadir Hamid, Qirāʾah fī Fikr Aʿlām al-Ummah: Riḥlah fī Fikr wa Manhajiyyat Taha Jabir al-Alwani (A Study of the Thought of the Nation’s Scholars: A Journey into the Thought and Methodology of Taha Jabir al-Alwani) (Herndon, VA: Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Shenandoah University, 2022), 137–138.
Ibid
Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Afalā Yatadabbarūna al-Qurʾān … Maʿālim Manhajiyyah fī al-Tadīr wa al-Tadbīr (Do They Not Contemplate the Qur’an … Methodological Landmarks in Reflection and Governance) (Cairo: Dār al-Salām li-l-Ṭibāʿah wa-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ wa-l-Tarjamah, 2010), 93.
Ibid
Ibid. 106