KARACH: Dr Sajjad Rizvi, an associate professor of Islamic Intellectual History and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, England, delivered a lecture titled ‘The One and Many-Splendored Quran: Interpretation in the Islamic Learned Tradition’ at Habib University on Monday.

He said there has been a debate on how to interpret the Quranic text and the numerous commentaries and exegeses since the early period of Islamic history were a testimony to it. He said the exegesis by Imam Baqir was one of the earliest such works. He also mentioned the Quranic commentary written by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to highlight his point.

Dr Rizvi said some of the scholars had interpreted certain words and verses in one way and some used another technique to understand and interpret their meaning. He said there had been Hadith-based exegeses and also Quranic explanations based on the Quran itself.

Giving an example of different meanings of a word, he said he did not agree with the Quranic term Mutashabihat being commonly translated as ‘ambiguities’ and believed that it meant ‘similarities’ or ‘similitudes’ in certain verses.

Dr Rizvi said the meaning of a verse may have four aspects to it: exoteric, or apparent, esoteric, or real, hud, or limit, and matl, or the way how you interpret it. He said a particular word may take a new meaning with the changing times. And to understand that meaning one needed to seek guidance from a sage of the time. “And please don’t ask me for the sage’s address. I’m just a historian, dabbling in philosophy also.”

He said nobody thought that he or she was a bad person. “The Quran is a mirror and a bad person sees his own reflection in it,” he said. “If a man beats his wife, he does not think of the Quran when he acts so. But later on he looks for verses in it to justify his ill deed.”

He said whether a woman could drive a car, or what kind of a veil she should wear were issues of the contemporary world and should be resolved in their relevant milieus.

When a student asked a question about Iranian thinker Dr Ali Shariati and Egyptian scholar Sayyid Qutb’s commentaries of the Quran, he said both scholars had their own Shia and Sunni followings, respectively. “It depends on how you looked at them.”

He refused to answer a question about the importance of istikhara asked by a woman in the audience. “Although my grandfather never left his home without performing istikhara, I’m sorry, I’m not the right person to answer your question,” he said. “You should address this question to a relevant scholar.”

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2018