The literary trend in interpreting of the Holy Qur’an in the modern age (Amin Al-Khouly and Bint Al-Shati as an example)

Abstract

The literary study of the Holy Qur’an is an ancient rooted study in Islamic interpretive history, that began with the first beginnings of scientific attempts to understand and interpret the Holy Qur’an in the early Islamic ages, and has continued without interruption to our days. However, the matter of emerging an independent interpretive, literary trend that adopts a special vision and methodology, seeking to achieve special purposes, is the new matter, which has matured and completed its own special features in the modern age. Actually, this research comes to try to introduce the concept of literary interpretation of the Holy Qur’an, what is meant by the literary trend in interpreting the Holy Qur’an, what are its historical roots, and what is the modern intellectual and historical context that led to its emergence in the modern age?  This paper will also give special attention to the two pioneers of this trend, Amin Al-Khouly (d. 1966 AD) and Aisha Abdul Rahman (Bint Al-Shati) (d. 1998 AD), and will give a concise clarification to their general literary approach to the Holy Qur’an. This research will be conducted by using the descriptive method that relies on surveying the writings of Al-Khouly and Bint Al-Shati related to the literary approach, and attempting to analyze them to determine the elements of their method, and determine the scientific and methodological contribution of both of them to establishing the literary trend of interpretation in the modern age.