Qur’anic Stories: A Reading of the Vision and Method of Muhammad Abed Al-Jabiri

Abstract

Contemporary critical thought has approached the Qur’anic text and its stories as a corpus for reading and analysis, aiming to highlight its artistic and miraculous qualities or to study its formative structure. This approach seeks to keep pace with human intellectual and cultural development while exploring innovative perspectives on the text. Consequently, readings have branched out and diversified based on their cognitive and philosophical foundations and intended goals. Accordingly, Muhammad Abed Al-Jabiri’s interpretation of Qur’anic stories was investigated to uncover the intellectual framework that guided his theoretical perspectives, defined his methodological boundaries, and shaped the procedures employed with these stories. He intended to connect the formative and interpretive dimensions. Hence, a  descriptive-analytical method which falls within the cognitive domain associated with critiquing criticism was adopted.