ABDÜLHAMÎD EL-FERÂHÎ VE EMİN AHSEN EL-ISLÂHÎ’NİN GELİŞTİRDİKLERİ KUR’AN TEFSİRİ METODOLOJİSİ

Abd al-Hamîd al-Farâhî and his pupil Amîn Ahsan al-Islâhî are two significant figures concerning Qur’anic studies in the Indian subcontinent. Although Farâhi did not write any complete commentary on the Qur’an, Islâhî, who followed and developed his mentor’s principles of interpretation, did write a complete commentary which is called Tadabbur-i Qur’an. This article tries to describe and analyse their methodology in the interpretation of the Qur’an and discusses the their general approaches to the Qur’anic surahs. Although there are differences between these two exegetes, it must be said that the methodology they developed is very original. Both treated the Qur’anic surahs as a coherent unit, therefore they grouped them into different subsections. They found a specific theme in each section and subsection. Nonetheless, there is a one major theme in each surah and surah groups which they called amûd. More interestingly, they saw in the Qur’anic surahs not only thematic but also structural unity. Despite the originality of their approach, it is important to note that there are some problems which wait to be solved.