Modern interpretation of the Qur'an

Methods of interpretation of the Qur’an have continuously changed and developed over the course of Islamic history. Two of the many different trends are often referred to as the ‘textualist’ and ‘contextualist’ approaches. Today, the textualist approach remains the most widely adopted by Muslim interpreters of the Qur’an, particularly among traditionalists. In an attempt to understand the Qur’an’s meanings, which are often assumed to be fixed and unchanging over time, proponents of this approach engage primarily in linguistic analyses of sources such as the Qur’an and hadith. In the modern era, an alternative, contextualist approach has begun to gain greater prominence. While maintaining that the essential meanings of the Qur’an are unchanging, proponents of this approach argue that any interpretation must be informed by the social, cultural, and political context of the time of revelation. In contrast to textualist scholars, contextualists combine linguistic analysis with tradition and insights drawn from fields such as hermeneutics, literary theory, and the philosophy of language. Thus, in keeping with the history of continuously evolving Qur’anic exegesis, many modern contextualists are seeking to develop new ways of approaching the Qur’an.