Seeing God in Sufi Qurʾan Commentaries: Crossings between This World and the Otherworld by Pieter Coppens

Authors : Livnat HOLTZMAN

Pages : 297-306

Doi:10.12730/13091719.2021.122.229

View : 44 | Download : 9

Publication Date : 2021-12-31

Article Type : Other Papers

Abstract :First paragraph: From the inception of the Sufi movement, Sufis regarded the Qurʾān as a source of mystical knowledge. According to Sufi exegetes, the words of the Qurʾān are in fact allusions insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ishārah pl. ishārāt); which pertain to “divine truths” insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ḥaqāʾiq, sing. ḥaqīqah);. Accordingly, Sufi hermeneutics of the Qurʾān is called “the exegesis by allusion” insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(tafsīr bi-l-ishārah); or “the allusive exegesis” insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(tafsīr ishārī);. While undergoing personal mystical experiences, Sufis penetrated the exoteric insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ẓāhir); layer of the Qurʾānic text and reached its esoteric insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(bāṭin); layers, thus discerning the divine truths from the Qurʾān. Their insights which are recorded in the surviving Sufi tafsīr-works are accompanied by a personal and sometimes ecstatic tone which is quite rare in the “conventional” and traditional works of tafsīr.
Keywords : Tasawwuf, Sufi, Qur, Qurʾan Commentaries, God

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