The Problem of the Relevance of Time and Space to the Qurʾānic Text

Authors : Burhanettin TATAR

Pages : 9-18

Doi:10.12730/13091719.2011.21.25

View : 41 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2011-06-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In the classical ages of Islamic thought, the problem of the relevance of time and space to the Qurʾānic text was generally understood in terms of cosmology and ontology, which assumed a division between matter and intellect insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(soul);, earth and heaven, the symbolic and the rational, and the signifier insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(expression); and the signified insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(concept);. Most classical Muslim thinkers took time and space at the level of the signifier to be a kind of prison to be escaped and at the level of the signified as a moment and place of the self-presence of metaphysical truth. In our global age, constant changes in the semantics/creations of new times and spaces force us to view the problem of the relevance of time and space to the Qurʾānic text from a different per-spective. This paper attempts to first analyze the classi-cal formulations of the above problem, and then to briefly delineate a way of poetical thinking that tries to grasp time and space as a form of revelation of new opportunities insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(kairos); and potentialities, which interpreters can discov-er in front of the text as a realm of signifiers.
Keywords : Time and space, relevance, Qurʾānic text, Islamic theology, Islamic philosophy, Islamic Sufism, logoi, kairos

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