The Study of the trends of “Tafheem ul Quran” and “Tadabbur e Quran”: With reference to univocity of the Qur'anic verses

Abstract

                    The Holy Quran is the last message of Allah Almighty for humanity which transcends time and serves as complete code of life in every era. Its depth and comprehensiveness remained a sole source of Divine guidance for human intellect and wisdom in each era. It has been perpetual marvel of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) theologically as well as a great masterpiece of eloquence in Arabic Language. Many intellectuals and interpreters in every era, have performed myriad interpretive services to reveal the true message of Quran in terms of principals of interpretation, their knowledge, aesthetics, environment and nature. In this regard, there have been two distinct schools of thought pertaining to the conceptual understanding of Quranic words and patterns:

1. Every word and verse of Quran has univocity which means it is not subject to more than one connotative interpretation.
2. All words and verses of Holy Quran do not have univocity. Few words and verses have polyvocity which means that they are subject to more than one connotative interpretation.

This research study has analyzed comprehension and understanding of the concept of univocity and polyvocity with examples from the Holy Quran and their effects on Quranic verdicts with reference to jurisprudence. It has also studied two significant Tafseer books of subcontinent- “Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abul A'la Maududi, 1979” and “Tadabbur-e-Quran by Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi, 1997” with reference to their trends about univocity and arguments /principles in favour of adopting their trends. This article will introduce a new dimension to comparative studies in interpretive literature.

Keywords: Univocity,  Polyvocity, interpretation, Tafheem-ul-Quran, Tadabbur-e-Quran