Al-BayĀn – Journal of Qur ʾ Ān and

ḤadĪth Studies 16 (2018) 1-21

brill.com/jqhs

Reading Tafsīr Tarbawī (Qurʾānic Educational

Interpretation) of Abuddin Nata from the
Perspective of Paul Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics
Mohammed Rosidin
State Islamic Institute Jember (IAIN Jember)
mohammed.rosidin@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper analyzes Abuddin Nata’s book of tafsīr tarbawī (Qurʾānic educational inter-
pretation) entitled Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan (“Interpretation of Educational Verses”)
on the basis of Paul Ricoeur’s ideas of hermeneutics. It does so through its main pos-
tulation of distanciation and appropriation through the dialectics of understanding
or comprehension (verstehen) and explanation (erklären), using two primary stages:
from naïve understanding to explanation through guessing; and from explanation to
comprehension (deep understanding) through contextualization. This paper claims
that the still contested methodology of tafsīr tarbawī is reflected in the dominance of
the author’s subjectivity vis-à-vis the objectivity of the text. Such a claim is based on
its minimal distanciation using the original verbal meanings of the Qurʾān, while the
appropriation is dominated by the author’s own horizon. The implication is that Tafsīr
Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan does not reflect the correct degree of fusion between the text-
horizon and the author’s horizon as Paul Ricoeur suggested should be the case.

Keywords

tafsīr tarbawī (Qurʾānic educational interpretation) – hermeneutics – Abuddin Nata –

Paul Ricoeur – perspective

*  Date of Submission: 12/01/2017; Date of Acceptance: 10/12/2017.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/22321969-12340056

2 Rosidin

1 Introduction

There is an apparent paradox between the claims of the Qurʾān as the “holy
book” of education1 and the lack of literature and research on tafsīr tarbawī
(Qurʾānic educational interpretation),2 i.e. academic attempts to examine and
develop theories and practices of Islamic education based on the Qurʾān.3
Consequently, tafsīr tarbawī has not yet been widely acknowledged as a
genre of tafsīr as it does not currently have any fully-developed methodology
or approach such as are found in other tafsīr genres.4 As such, tafsīr tarbawī
is interpreted from a perspective that is based on methodologies developed
for and found in various literary works that are in some way related to tafsīr
tarbawī.5 This is all the more ironic since tafsīr tarbawī as a subject has existed
for decades.6
There is a very limited number of academic research papers examining
works of tafsīr tarbawī. The only one I could find was Mahyuddin Barni’s 2015
work Kurikulum dan Pembelajaran Tafsīr Tarbawī di Fakultas Tarbiyah dan
Keguruan IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin.7 This examines aspects of tafsīr tarbawī,
such as subjects that should be taught and pedagogy. Some lecturers have sub-
sequently sought to develop tafsīr tarbawī by first referring to Barni’s work and
its ideas and then developing the material further by adding references from
various tafsīr books, including those found in al-maktaba al-šāmila software.
While Barni’s study focused on practical aspects through reference to learning
practices of tafsīr tarbawī, this study will focus on theoretical aspects by high-
lighting literature related to tafsīr tarbawī.

1  Ahmad Izzan dan Saehudin, Tafsīr Pendidikan, Banten, Pustaka Aufa Media, 2012, p. 1.
2  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-ayat Pendidikan, Jakarta, Rajawali Pers, 2002, pp. v-vi.
3  Ahmad Munir, Tafsīr Tarbawī, Yogyakarta, Teras, 2007, pp. 8-9.
4  Ibid., p. 3.
5  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan; Ahmad Munir, Tafsīr Tarbawī, Yogyakarta, Teras,
2007; Nurwadjah Ahmad, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, Bandung, Marja, 2007; Rohimin, Tafsīr
Tarbawī, Yogyakarta, Nusa Media, 2008; Ahmad Izzan dan Saehudin, Tafsīr Pendidikan,
Banten, Pustaka Aufa Media, 2012; Nanang Gojali, Tafsīr dan Ḥadīs tentang Pendidikan,
Bandung, Pustaka Setia, 2013; Kadar M. Yusuf, Tafsīr Tarbawī, Jakarta, Amzah, 2013; Akhmad
Alim, Tafsīr Pendidikan Islam, Jakarta, AMP Press, 2014; Abuddin Nata, Pendidikan dalam
Perspektif al-Qurʾān, Jakarta, Kencana, 2016;
6  Nurwadjah Ahmad, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, p. 7.
7  Mahyuddin Barni, Kurikulum dan Pembelajaran Tafsīr Tarbawī di Fakultas Tarbiyah dan
Keguruan IAIN Antasari Banjarmasin, 2015, p. 50, http://idr.iain-antasari.ac.id/5138/5/Bab
%20IV%20Pembahasan%20Penelitian%20Fakultas%20Tarbiyah.pdf. (accessed November
22, 2016).

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 3

The tafsīr tarbawī work that is the focus of this study is the book Tafsīr Ayat-
Ayat Pendidikan, an influential work by Abuddin Nata that was published by
Rajawali Pers in Jakarta in 2002. The reason that this book has been selected
as the focus of this study is that it was one of the earliest pieces of writing
published on the subject and because its author’s research has consistently
focused on Islamic education, as the following brief biography demonstrates.
Abuddin Nata was born in Bogor on August 2, 1954. In 1982, he gained a
bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teaching Training at Syarif
Hidayatullah State Islamic University, in Jakarta. From the same university,
he earned a master’s degree in Islamic education in 1994 and a doctorate in
Islamic education in 1997. In the academic year 1999-2000, Nata took a post-
doctoral program in Islamic Studies at McGill University (Montreal, Canada).
Finally, he was declared a professor of Islamic Studies in 2004, and since then
he has written around 50 works in the fields of Islamic studies and education.8
Nata’s writings have been the subject of numerous pieces of scientific re-
search by, for example, ʿUbaidillah (2013) and Asmadi Amiruddin (2015).9
However, such research has taken the form of general overall reviews of his
thoughts rather than focusing on one specific text. As such, this article will
go some way to filling that gap by focusing on one of Nata’s works, Tafsīr Ayat-
Ayat Pendidikan, which was published as reference book on tafsīr tarbawī.
It includes fifteen chapters arranged on the basis of the syllabus used at the
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teaching Training of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University.10 On the basis of an extensive search, I found that the author used
212 Qurʾānic verses in his analysis, while the method of interpretation follows
that of tafsīr al-mawḍūʿī as developed by ʿAbd al-Ḥayyī al-Farmāwī. This meth-
od begins by identifying the Qurʾānic verses that are relevant to the topic under
discussion, analyzes the various tafsīr studies (ʿulūm al-tafsīr), and then draws
conclusions that are relevant to Islamic education. The reference sources used
as the basis for his interpretations are: Tafsīr Ibn Kaṯīr, Tafsīr al-Marāġī, Tafsīr fī
ẓilāl al-Qurʾān (Sayyid Quṭb), Tafsīr al-Manār (Muḥammad ʿAbduh), Mufradāt
alfāẓ al-Qurʾān (al-Aṣfahānī), and the Qurʾān translation published by the
Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

8  Abuddin Nata, Pendidikan dalam Perspektif al-Qurʾān, pp. 307-9.

9  ʿUbaidillah, Pendidikan Islam Humanis: Telaah Pemikiran Pendidikan Abuddin Nata, UG
diss., Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta, 2013; Asmadi Amiruddin, Peran
Pendidikan Agama Islam untuk Mewujudkan Akhlak yang Ideal: Studi atas Pemikiran
Abuddin Nata, UG diss., Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta, 2015.
10  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, pp. v-x.

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4 Rosidin

Tafsīr tarbawī literature is a relevant subject for hermeneutical study be-

cause, according to Hirsch, as quoted by Palmer, hermeneutics can and should
serve as a foundational and preliminary discipline for all literary interpreta-
tion. As all literature is stamped with a human touch, any piece of literature
requires an appropriate “method” or “theory” that will permit the deciphering
of the human imprint on the work, tafsīr tarbawī in the perspective of Paul
Ricoeur

its “meaning”. This process of “deciphering”, or “understanding the mean-

ing of”, the text is the focus of hermeneutics. Thus, hermeneutics is the
study of understanding, and especially of understanding texts.11

The use of Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics in this paper is based on the fact that
they are a relevant analytical tool to study the Qurʾān. Another useful tool
is the article by Maryam Musharraf entitled “A Study on the Sufi Interpretation
of Qurʾān and the Theory of Hermeneutic”, which discusses various unique-
ly subjective methods for interpreting the Qurʾān that are used by Sufis and
which are compatible with many facets of modern hermeneutics. The liber-
alizing instruments of language is a common feature of the great masters of
old, such as al-Ḥallağ and al-Tirmiḏī, etc., and of prominent figures of modern
times, like Ricoeur and Husserl.12 Similarly, Werner G. Jeanrond’s Subjectivity
and Objectivity in Theological Hermeneutics employs Ricoeur’s hermeneutics
to support his argument that the hermeneutics of love would allow us to take
seriously both subjectivity and objectivity in the process of interpretation and
encourage us to no longer consider pluralism of interpretation as a threat to
faith, truth, and religious community.13
The characteristics of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics are in line with his character
as a philosopher, especially his “passion for mediation”. He mediates philo-
sophical debates like a good referee controls a game. His unique method of
non-synthetic mediation testifies to the uniqueness of his philosophical spirit.
He respects the plurality of voices while honoring the original philosophical

11  Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics, Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1969, pp. 4-8.
12  Maryam Musharraf, “A Study on the Sufi Interpretation of Qurʾān and the Theory of
Hermeneutic”, al-Bayān 11/1 (2013), p. 33.
13  Werner G. Jeanrond, “Subjectivity and Objectivity in Theological Hermeneutics: The
Potential of Love for Interfaith Encounter”, al-Bayān 11/2 (2013), p. 91.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 5

impetus to find unity, reason, and clarity.14 Ricoeur successfully developed his
own particular brand of philosophical hermeneutics and, although he himself
never gave it a name, Richard Kearney has called it dialogical or diacritical
hermeneutics.15
Ricoeur was born in Valence, in France, in 1913, and died aged 92 on May
20, 2005. He was one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century.
He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Strasbourg, Paris, and
published more than 30 major works during his lifetime.16 He first became in-
terested in philosophy during his final year of high school (1929-30), and con-
tinued his studies at the University of Rennes (1931-33), before gaining an M.A.
in philosophy. In 1940, during the Second World War, Ricoeur was imprisoned
for five years in eastern Germany, during which time he read the works of the
German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) for the first time and trans-
lated Husserl’s most famous book, Ideas (first published in 1913), into French. In
1950, Ricoeur was awarded a Ph.D. on the basis of his translation of Husserl and
in recognition of the first part of Ricoeur’s own Philosophy of the Will. In 1960,
the second part of his Philosophy of the Will was published, in two parts: Fallible
Man and The Symbolism of Evil. By this point, Ricoeur was the best-known phi-
losopher in France and internationally acclaimed.17 Yet, while exploring many
aspects of philosophy, Ricoeur is most celebrated for his theory of hermeneu-
tics. In the 1960s, Ricoeur saw hermeneutics merely as a method for inter-
preting symbols, yet subsequently he refined hermeneutics into a theory for
interpreting discourse as a whole. Essentially, hermeneutics becomes a theory
of text, one which takes texts as its starting point but ultimately comes to see
the whole world as textual, insofar as human existence is expressed through
discourse.18 On this basis, Ricoeur’s hermeneutics are more deeply considered
than those of others, because they use a “regressive analysis of meaning”, an
attempt to dig under the surface of the apparent meaning to the more funda-
mental ones. In so doing, Ricoeur has a favorite term, namely “detour”, which

14  David M. Kaplan, Ricoeur’s Critical Theory, New York, State University of New York Press,
2003, p. 1.
15  Paul Ricoeur, On Translation, translated by Eileen Brennan, New York: Routledge, 2006,
pp. viii-ix.
16  Ibid., p. viii.
17  Karl Simms, Paul Ricoeur, London, Routledge, 2003, pp. 2-3.
18  Ibid., p. 31.

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6 Rosidin

means “to attain by an indirect route some desired end”.19 Therefore, Ricoeur’s
basic definition of hermeneutics is the “art of deciphering indirect meaning”.20
In other words, many routes and layers of meaning must be gone through in
order to attain a deeper understanding, as seen in the discussion of Ricoeur’s
theory of interpretation.

2 Ricoeur’s Interpretation Theory

Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation relies on the fundamental distinction be-

tween language as langue and as parole that was first proposed by Ferdinand
de Saussure. Langue is the code on the basis of which a particular speaker pro-
duces parole as a particular message. The essential difference is that a message
is intentional, because it is meant by someone, while the code is anonymous
and unintended. Ricoeur’s substitution of the term “discourse” for that of pa-
role is intended to legitimate the distinction between semiotics and semantics
as two sciences that correspond to the two kinds of unit characteristic of lan-
guage, the sign and the sentence. Based on this distinction, Ricoeur states that
discourse is the event of language.21
If all discourse is actualized as an event, it is understood as meaning. The
dialectic of event and meaning has been developed as an inner dialectic of the
meaning of discourse; as such, to mean is what the speaker does. But it is also
what the sentence does. The meaning of the utterance is the “objective” side
of this meaning, while the utterer’s meaning is the “subjective” side of it. The
“objective” side of the discourse may itself be taken in two different ways: it
may mean the “what” of discourse or the “about what” of discourse. The “what”
of discourse is its “sense”, the “about what” is its “reference”. This distinction
between sense and reference was introduced by Gottlob Frege. It is a distinc-
tion that can be directly connected with the distinction between semiotics and
semantics. It is only at the sentence level that it is possible to distinguish be-
tween what is said and about what it is said.22
Writing is the fullest manifestation of discourse. The problem of writing is
that the discourse is fixed in some exterior bearer, such as paper, which is other

19  Paul Ricoeur, Lectures on Ideology and Utopia, New York, Columbia University Press, 1986,
pp. x-xiii.
20  Paul Ricoeur, On Translation, p. x.
21  Paul Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning, Texas, The
Texas Christian University Press, 1976, pp. 2-9.
22  Ibid., pp. 19-20.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 7

than the human voice. The human disappears. Because the event appears and
disappears, there is a problem of fixation, of inscription. What is fixed is dis-
course, not language as langue.23 In such circumstances, Ricoeur defines the
text as every utterance or set of utterances that are fixed by writing.24
In a written discourse, the author’s intention and the meaning of the text
cease to be identical. The dissociation of the verbal meaning of the text and
the mental intention of the author gives the concept of inscription its signifi-
cance. Inscription becomes synonymous with the semantic autonomy of the
text, which itself results from the disconnect between the mental intention of
the author and the verbal meaning of the text, i.e. of what the author meant
and what the text means. Hermeneutics begins where dialogue ends.25
The problem of writing becomes a hermeneutical one when referred to its
opposite pole, i.e. reading,26 because there is no communication between the
acts of writing and reading: the reader is absent from the writing of the text,
the writer is absent from its reading.27 Then a new dialectic emerges, that of
distanciation and appropriation. Appropriation is the counterpart of semantic
autonomy, which detached the text from its writer. To appropriate is to make
“one’s own” what was “alien”. Distanciation is the dynamic counterpart of our
need, our interest, and our effort to overcome cultural estrangement. Writing
and reading take place in this cultural struggle. Reading is the pharmakon, the
“remedy” by which the meaning of the text is “rescued” from the estrangement
of distanciation and put in a new proximity, one which suppresses and pre-
serves the cultural distance and includes the otherness within the own-ness.28
This proximity reflects the dynamic relationship between distanciation and
closeness that is constantly in motion: drawing near, feeling close.29
According to Ricoeur, the dialectic of event and meaning generates a correla-
tive dialectic in reading between understanding or comprehension (verstehen)
and explanation (erklären). The polarity between understanding and explana-
tion during the process of reading must not be treated in dualistic terms but as
a complex and highly-mediated dialectic. Then the term interpretation may be

23  Ibid., pp. 25-27.

24  Paul Ricoeur, What is Text?, p. 135, https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb1/prof/PHI/003/
Bilddateien/Text_6.pdf (accessed December 2, 2016).
25  Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory, pp. 29-32.
26  Ibid., p. 43.
27  Ricoeur, What is Text?, p. 136.
28  Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory, p. 43.
29  Ricoeur, Memory, History, Forgetting, translated by Kathleen Blamey and David Pellauer,
Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2004, p. 131.

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8 Rosidin

applied, not to a particular case of understanding but to the whole process of

understanding and explanation. The dialectic verstehen and erklären was first
described as a move from understanding to explaining and then as a move from
explanation to comprehension. The first time, understanding will be a naïve
grasping of the meaning of the text as a whole. The second time, comprehen-
sion will be a sophisticated mode of understanding, supported by explanatory
procedures. In the beginning, understanding is a guess, while, by the end, the
concept of appropriation (self-understanding) has been fulfilled. In this way,
the text will appear as mediating between the two stages of understanding.30
As such, the first act of understanding is, essentially, a guess. The neces-
sity of guessing the meaning of a text may be related to the type of semantic
autonomy. With writing, the verbal meaning of the text no longer coincides
with the author’s meaning or intention. Therefore, we have to guess the mean-
ing of the text, because the author’s intention is beyond our reach. In order to
construe the meaning as the verbal meaning of the text, a guess must be made.
There are no rules for making good guesses, but there are methods for vali-
dating the guesses that are made. The transition from guessing to explaining
is made by investigating the specific object of the guess. There are three ob-
jects of guessing that will lead to understanding. First, to construe the verbal
meaning of a text is to construe it as a whole. Secondly, to construe a text is to
construe it as an individual. Third, literary texts involve potential horizons of
meaning, which may be actualized in different ways.31
As regards the validation procedures by which we test our guesses, Ricoeur
agrees with E.D. Hirsch that they are closer to a logic of probability than to a
logic of empirical verification. So, validation is not verification. And since a
text is a quasi-individual, the validation of an interpretation that is applied
to it may be said to provide a scientific knowledge of the text. This is the bal-
ance between the genius of guessing and the scientific character of validation,
which constitutes a modern presentation of the dialectic between verstehen
and erklären.32
Placed against the background of the dialectic between verstehen and erk-
lären, the concept of distanciation is epistemologically developed. The text
becomes the necessary mediator between writer and reader. The existential
concept of appropriation is also enriched by the dialectic between verstehen
and erklären. To “make one’s own” what was previously “foreign” remains the
ultimate aim of all hermeneutics. According to Ricoeur, the link between

30  Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory, pp. 71-75.

31  Ibid., pp. 75-78.
32  Ibid., pp. 78-79.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 9

disclosure and appropriation is the cornerstone of a hermeneutic that could

both overcome the shortcomings of historicism and remain faithful to the orig-
inal intention of hermeneutics as developed by Schleiermacher. The process of
distanciation, of atemporalization, to which Ricoeur connected the erklärung
phase, is the fundamental precondition for enlarging the horizon of the text. In
this sense, appropriation has nothing to do with any kind of person-to-person
appeal. It is instead related to what Hans Georg Gadamer has called a fusion
of horizons: the world horizon of the reader is fused with the world horizon of
the writer, while the ideality of the text is the mediating link in this process of
horizon-fusing.33 What is communicated, in the final analysis, is beyond the
sense of a work, the world it projects, and what constitutes its horizon. Thus,
the readers receive it according to their own receptive capacity, which itself is
defined by a situation that is both limited and open to the world’s horizon(s).34

3 Reading Abuddin Nata’s Tafsīr Tarbawī from the Perspective of

Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics

Abuddin Nata’s Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan belongs to discourse (parole) be-

cause it contains a “message” that is “intentional”. The message is the material
that is related to the relevance of the Qurʾān to education, found in the book’s
fifteen chapters,35 while the book is intentional because it was written by
Nata for a specific purpose, for pragmatic interest as a reference book, at the
very least.36
As a discourse, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan has two poles of meaning. The
subjective meaning is that which is meant by the author while the objective
meaning is that which is meant by the text. Subsequently, the objective mean-
ing is divided into “sense” and “reference”. First, “sense” is related to “what” is
said by the Qurʾān on the basis of the original meaning in the horizon of the
text, referring to lexical meanings and asbāb al-nuzūl (i.e. the contexts and
occasions of the revelation of the Qurʾān). Secondly, “reference” is related to
“about what” is said by the Qurʾānic text, based on the meaning in the con-
text of the world-horizon of the author who interprets the Qurʾān from the

33  Ibid., pp. 91-93.

34  Paul Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, Vol. 1, translated by Kathleen McLaughlin and David
Pellauer, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1984, p. 77.
35  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, p. 270.
36  Ibid., pp. v-vi.

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10 Rosidin

perspective of education. These two categories of meaning are the main target
of understanding.
As a written discourse, the text has an inscription or autonomy; this indicates
that there is a disconnect between what the author (Abuddin Nata) meant
when writing it and what the text (Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan) means. Then a
new dialectic emerges, that of distanciation and appropriation. Distanciation
represents the verbal meaning of the text, which is objective, while appro-
priation represents the mental intention of the author, which is subjective.
Furthermore, the dialectic of distanciation and appropriation is applied to the
dialectic of understanding and explanation through two basic movements:
from naïve understanding to explanation through guesswork, and from expla-
nation to comprehension (deep understanding) via contextualization.

3.1 From Understanding to Explanation

In the first of these, Nata understands the verbal meaning of the text of the
Qurʾān through three forms of guessing. In “first guessing”, the author inter-
prets the verbal meaning of the text as a whole. In so doing, the author groups
the verses of the Qurʾān that have similar ideas into a major theme that covers
all the verses of the Qurʾān as a unified whole. For example, he groups Q 58, 11;
Q 9, 122; and Q 39, 9 into the major theme of science or knowledge (ʿilm) be-
cause the three verses contain terms relevant to that subject: respectively ūtū
al-ʿilm, li-yatafaqqahū, and yaʿlamūn.37
In addition, the author interprets the verbal meaning of the text by defining
the key terms lexically, based on four resource categories. First, linguists, both
Indonesian and Arabic. For example, by citing Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia
(“The Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language”) by Poerwadarminta to
define the term disiplin (“discipline”) and Muʿğam Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān by
al-Aṣfahānī to define the term qara‌ʾa (“reading”). Secondly, experts in Qurʾān
interpretation (mufassir), both in tafsīr books and Qurʾānic studies. For exam-
ple, he cites Tafsīr al-Marāġī to define the term ʿadil (“justice”) and Wawasan
al-Qurʾān by Quraish Shihab to define qawm (“people”). Thirdly, experts in
Islamic studies, both classical and modern. For example, he cites Ibn Ḫaldūn
(1332-1406) and Murtaḍā Muṭahharī (1919-79) to define the term umma (“com-
munity”). Fourth are other relevant experts. For example, he cites Izutsu and
Goleman to define the terms ʿaql (“mind”), meaning “intelligence” or “skill”.38
The focus of the author on presenting lexical definitions of key terms is in line
with Ricoeur’s view that the definition is “the vital center of any dictionary of

37  Ibid., pp. 151-66.

38  Ibid., pp. 248-51; 43-49; 252-53; 235; 233; 137-38.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 11

a language” because the definition is meant to cover all possible meanings of

the word defined, thereby clarifying and explicating it. The significance of the
definition makes the dictionary an “immense network representative of the
semantic relations in the lexicon of our language”.39
There are three criticisms that should be addressed to Nata in the context
of the text’s verbal meaning. First, he only uses one feature of meaning, i.e. the
lexical, despite the fact that the verbal meaning of the Qurʾānic text can be ex-
plored further through other linguistic means, such as stylistics,40 semiotics,41
and semantics.42 Secondly, the author often uses secondary sources instead of
primary ones. For example, he cites the Ensiklopedi al-Qurʾān (“Encyclopedia of
the Qurʾān”) for a definition of the term ʿilm from the Muʿğam Maqāyis al-Luġa
and Lisān al-ʿArab instead of directly quoting those primary sources. Thirdly,
the author sometimes fails to mention the references cited, for example in the
definition of al-raḥmān and al-raḥīm.43 As such, there is a lack of distancia-
tion by the author on the Qurʾānic text because he rarely uses references that
gives the original meanings of the verbal meanings of the text. The most obvi-
ous indicator is the fact that the author did not cite any ancient Arabic poetry,
something which is usually a fundamental aspect of Qurʾānic exegesis.
“Second guessing” refers to the individualization of the text; in this case, the
author interprets the text of the Qurʾān from just one perspective, the educa-
tional (tarbawī). The educational content of the Qurʾān is based on a consider-
ation of the following factors. First, the existence of terms in the Qurʾānic text
that clearly relate to the theme of education, such as Q 31,13-19, which explicitly
mentions educational interaction between Luqmān and his son. Secondly, the
existence of terms in the Qurʾān that are implicitly related to the theme of
education, such as Q 9, 122, which contains the term li-yatafaqqahū fī al-dīn,
a statement regarded by the author as implying an obligation to deepen reli-
gious (Islamic) knowledge. The third is the phenomenon of education in the
community that is relevant to the Qurʾān, such as Q 58, 11, which is linked to the
fact that many scholars use this verse to motivate people to learn. Finally, the
author assumes that a particular verse can be applied to the topic of education.
For example, before interpreting Q 96, 1-19, the author had already mentioned

39  Paul Ricoeur, The Course of Recognition, translated by David Pellauer, Cambridge, Harvard
University Press, 2005, pp. 10-11.
40  Syihabuddin Qalyubi, Stilistika al-Qurʾan, Yogyakarta, LKiS, 2009.
41  Ali Imron, Semiotika al-Qurʾan, Yogyakarta, Teras, 2011.
42  Toshihiko Izutsu, Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qurʾān, Montreal, McGill-Queen’s Press,
2002.
43  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-ayat Pendidikan, p. 155; 14-27.

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12 Rosidin

that it was related to the issue of education since it includes goals, curricula,
methods, educators, facilities, and methods of evaluation, and how they could
be implemented within Indonesia.44
Through the individualization of the text, the advantages of a thematic
interpretative method (tafsīr al-mawḍūʿī) can be seen most clearly. According
to Nata, the advantages of tafsīr al-mawḍūʿī are that it is objective, actual,
and responsive. It is considered objective because, through this method,
the Qurʾān can speak according to the Qurʾān itself; it is considered actual
since the Qurʾān comes alive in the community; and it is considered responsive
as the Qurʾān speaks directly about the problems faced by the community.45
His opinion is in line with that of Quraish Shihab, who states that the advan-
tage of tafsīr al-mawḍūʿī is that the exegete can speak directly about the prob-
lems encountered by people, and so ʿAlī’s statement Istanṭiq al-Qurʾān (“Let the
Qurʾān speak”) can be realized.46
In addition to reflecting the objective aspect, the individualization of the
text in Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan also reflects the subjectivity of the author.
First, the author’s background as an expert in Islamic education has implica-
tions for the selection of an educational perspective in interpreting the Qurʾān.
Secondly, his professional background as a lecturer in the Syarif Hidayatullah
State Islamic University has implications for the book’s content, as it is based
on the course syllabus for tafsīr tarbawī. Thirdly, the author’s sociological back-
ground as an Indonesian has implications for the discussion themes as these
are based on social conditions in Indonesia, such as that of interreligious har-
mony in that country.47
“Third guessing” involves potential horizons of meaning. In this case, Nata
involves the potential horizons of meaning of key terms through various defi-
nitions. For example, when he interprets the term ʿaql, he cites its definition
in Lisān al-ʿArab as “restrain and suppress lust”, then Izutsu’s statement that
the term ʿaql was used in the sense of “practical intelligence” in the age of ig-
norance (ğāhiliyya), and then that in modern psychology it refers to “problem-
solving skills”. Then Nata expanded the term’s potential horizon of meaning
by citing Bloom’s opinion that the cognitive and affective domain are closely
related to the function of mind. On another occasion, the author interprets the
term ʿalaq by citing numerous Qurʾān exegetes, such as al-Aṣfahānī, who de-
fines ʿalaq as frozen blood (al-damm al-ğāmid), and al-Marāġī, who defines it

44  Ibid., pp. 4-5.

45  Ibid., pp. 201-4; pp. 158-59; p. 155; p. 38.
46  M. Quraish Shihab, Wawasan al-Qurʾān, Bandung, Mizan, 2014, p. xiv.
47  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, p. 229.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 13

as the process by which a man is turned into the most noble of creatures from a
clot of blood.48 As such, it is clear that Nata only uses the literal meaning of the
text, rather than expanding it to include the figurative meaning as well. This is
because the potential horizon of meaning of the Qurʾān is very broad, since in
Qurʾānic exegesis there is al-wuğūh wa al-naẓāʾir; al-wuğūh means a term with
many meanings (polysemy) and al-naẓāʾir means many terms with the same
meaning (synonyms).49
These three forms of guessing by Nata show that his subjective pole is more
dominant than the objective pole of the Qurʾān, because of his lack of distan-
ciation. As such, his understanding is naïve, as defined by Ricoeur’s theory of
interpretation.
To overcome this, Nata could include three types of meaning: lexical, gram-
matical, and rhetorical. According to Bohas, we must distinguish between two
uses of the term “meaning” in the context of the Arabic grammatical tradi-
tion. First, it denotes the lexical meaning, which is connected with the radi-
cals (root-letters). Secondly, it can denote the syntactic meaning that is related
to a categorical meaning, i.e. what case is, in grammar, called the qualifier-
component. Meanwhile, al-Ğurğānī proposed combining grammar with the
sciences of bayān and maʿānī to provide a rhetorical meaning.50 In other words,
the Qurʾānic text includes both semantic meanings that deal with content and
truth condition (literal meaning) and pragmatic meanings that deal with the
use of language (the speaker’s meaning).51
In accordance with Ricoeur’s theory of interpretation, the author’s guesses
must be validated by explanations. As such, the author uses five disciplines to
explain the text of the Qurʾān. The first of these is ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (“Qurʾānic
studies”), seen when he refers to al-Wāḥidī’s book Asbāb al-nuzūl in order to
explain the occasion of the revelation of Q 58, 11, something which suggests
the Companions of the Prophet Muḥammad were highly motivation to learn.52
The second is books of Qurʾānic exegesis. The author uses five such books:
al-Qurʾān dan Tafsīrnya (Qurʾānic Translation), published by the Ministry of
Religious Affairs Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia; Tafsīr Ibn Kaṯīr;

48  Ibid., pp. 136-38; pp. 44-45.

49  Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, Vol. 2, Riyāḍ, Wizāra Šuʾūn al-Islāmiyya
wa al-Awqāf wa al-Daʻwa wa al-Iršād, n.d., p. 121.
50  Kees Versteegh, Grammar and Rhetoric: Ğurğānī on the Verbs of Admiration, Jerusalem
Studies in Arabic and Islam 15 (1992), pp. 116-18.
51  François Recanati, Pragmatics and Semantics, in https://msu.edu/course/lin/837/
Recanati_prag&sem.pdf (cited December 1, 2017).
52  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, pp. 151-52.

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14 Rosidin

Tafsīr al-Manār by Muḥammad ʿAbduh; Tafsīr al-Marāġī; and Tafsīr fī ẓilāl al-
Qurʾān by Sayyid Quṭb. In addition, the author uses books of thematic tafsīr,
such as Wawasan al-Qurʾān and Membumikan al-Qurʾān by Quraish Shihab, as
well as Major Themes of the Qurʾān by Fazlur Rahman.53
The third is Islamic education, a subject on which Nata cites many experts,
both classic – like Ibn Ğamāʿa (1241-1333)54 – and modern – such as ʿAbdallah
Nāṣiḥ ʿUlwān (1928-87).55 This discipline is intended to show the education-
al values embodied
​​ in the Qurʾān, either explicitly or implicitly, or to make
Islamic education the basis from which the text of the Qurʾān can be explained.
For example, based on the opinion of Aḥmad Fuʾad al-Aḥwanī in al-Tarbiyya
al-Islāmiyya and of Hasan Langgulung in Asas-Asas Pendidikan Islam, Nata ar-
gues that Q 23, 12-14 can be used as the basis to formulate the objectives, mate-
rials, and methods of Islamic education.56
The fourth discipline is Islamic thought, especially when it is relevant to
the theme under discussion. For example, he cites Bucaille in relation to the
compatibility of the Qurʾān with modern science; he cites ḥadīṯ narrated by
Ahmad when detailing the role of Islamic scholars as heirs to prophets; he cites
Harun Nasution in relation to Islamic theology; Islamic jurists in relation to the
status of the Basmala in Islamic law; al-Ġazālī in relation to the morals of the
Prophet; ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Ḫallāf in relation to the meaning of iğtihād; Osman
Bakar in relation to the position of the Qurʾān within the context of episte-
mology; Nurcholish Madjid in relation to Islamic history; and Alwi Shihab and
Kuntowijoyo in relation to social themes from an Islamic perspective.57 Thus,
the types of Islamic thought that the author uses to reinforce his explanations
consist of various Islamic studies, ranging from Qurʾānic, ḥadīṯ, theology, mys-
ticism, law, jurisprudence, philosophy, history, and sociology.
Fifth are supporting disciplines. For example, he cites Theo Huijbers regard-
ing comparative studies of religions, Mohammad Hatta on the origin of the
universe according to Western philosophy, Daniel Goleman and Benjamin
Bloom on Emotional Quotient (EQ) and the taxonomy of educational objec-
tives, and Soekarno on the role of teenagers.58
Broadly speaking, these five disciplines can be placed into two categories.
First are the disciplines that directly related to tafsīr tarbawī, i.e. Qurʾānic

53  Ibid., pp. 271-75.

54  Ibid., pp. 44-45.
55  Ibid., pp. 167-68.
56  Ibid., pp. 45-47.
57  Ibid., p. 56; p. 92; pp. 161-62; pp. 20-21; p. 88; p. 135; pp. 75-76; pp. 160-61; pp. 212-13.
58  Ibid., pp. 56-57; p. 101; p. 138; p. 192.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 15

studies, tafsīr and Islamic education, while the second are those that are only
indirectly related to tafsīr tarbawī, such as Islamic thought and supporting
disciplines. Both categories are used by Nata to validate his previous guesses
through explanations. Despite this, the explanations put forward by the au-
thor still have not reached the argumentative validation criteria as it contains
a number of weak points.
First is a comparative lack of use of asbāb al-nuzūl. He is selective in cit-
ing asbāb al-nuzūl, meaning that not all verses of the Qurʾān that have asbāb
al-nuzūl are mentioned. For example, he does not explain asbāb al-nuzūl as
it relates to Q 9, 112 despite the fact that this verse has it.59 Asbāb al-nuzūl
should support the distanciation of the text via an understanding of the his-
torical context of particular Qurʾānic verses. Therefore, this failure to use asbāb
al-nuzūl indicates a neglect of the verbal meaning of the text since asbāb al-
nuzūl helps in understanding the original meaning of the Qurʾān. Moreover,
the scholars agree that knowing asbāb al-nuzūl is the best way to understand
the Qurʾān. Even al-Wāḥidī emphasized that “it is impossible to know how to
interpret a verse [of the Qurʾān] without knowing its basis and explaining its
asbāb al-nuzūl”.60
Secondly, having Tafsīr al-Marāġī as the primary reference work reduces the
distanciation of the text. As a modern exegesis, Tafsīr al-Marāġī only rarely
examines the meaning of the Qurʾān on the basis of ancient Arabic poetry, as
is commonly seen in classical tafsīr. For example, Tafsīr al-Marāġī interprets
the terms ahl in Q 66, 6 as a family consisting of a wife, children, servants, and
slaves, without any explanation on where a reference to such an interpreta-
tion can be found.61 Tafsīr al-Marāġī was used the primary reference point for
Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan because the author considers it to be using a moral
approach62 and it would be relevant for an educational interpretation (tafsīr
tarbawī).
The third problem is the inconsistency of explanation. If seen as a com-
plete work, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan is a comprehensive exegesis since Nata

59  Ibid., pp. 158-59. Al-Wāḥidī stated that this verse is related to the disgrace of the hyp-
ocrites who did not go to ğihād (holy war), then that the believers swore to always go
to a ğihād led by the Prophet (ġazwa) or someone other than him (sariyya). When the
Prophet ordered to go for sariyya, all the believers went for ğihād and left the Prophet
alone in Medina. Then this verse was revealed. Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Wāḥidī,
Asbāb al-nuzūl, Beirut, ʿĀlam al-kutub, n.d., p. 199.
60  Mannāʿ al-Qaṭṭān, Mabāḥiṯ fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, Cairo, Maktaba Wahba, 2000, p. 76.
61  Abuddin Nata, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan, p. 198.
62  Ibid., p. 3.

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16 Rosidin

employs five methods of Qurʾānic interpretation: 1) Tarğama (translations);63

2) Tafsīr Iğmālī (global exegesis);64 3) Tafsīr Tafṣīlī (detailed exegesis);65 4) Tafsīr
Muqārin (comparative exegesis);66 and 5) Tafsīr ʿAmalī (practical exegesis).67
However, he did not apply this model in every theme, but it was scattered
across in various themes, meaning there is an inconsistency of explanation.
Moreover, in one verse the explanation may be wide and deep but in another it
could be very limited. For example, Q 96, 1-5 is described in seven pages, while
Q 96, 6-13 in just half a page.68
In order to reduce the polarity of subjectivity in his explanations, the author
could employ twelve kinds of procedural device that, according to Wansbrough,
are used in Islamic exegetical literature. These are: a) variant reading(s) of the
text (variae lectiones;) b) poetic loci probantes (Classical Arabic); c) lexical ex-
planation; d) grammatical explanations; e) rhetorical explanation; f) periph-
rasis (mağāz); g) analogy; h) abrogation (nāsiḫ-mansūḫ); i) circumstances of
revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl); j) identification (taʿyīn); k) Prophetic tradition;
and l) anecdotes.69

3.2 From Explanation to Comprehension

In the second movement, the author goes from explanation to comprehension.
This is the last stage of interpretation, and is aimed at actualizing the mean-
ing of the text for readers today. At this stage, an appropriation that reflects
the fusion between the text-horizon and the author’s horizon occurs through
contextualization.

63  For example, in translating the verse “udʿu ilā sabīli rabbika bi al-ḥikma wa al-mawʿiẓa al-
ḥasana” as “Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching”. Ibid.,
p. 171.
64  For example, the purpose of the verse “udʿu ilā sabīli rabbika bi al-ḥikma wa al-mawʿiẓa
al-ḥasana” is rendered as “invite all your people O messengers, in order they implement
the prescribed Šharīʿa law based on the revealed revelation, using instruction and advice
in the revealed holy books”. Ibid., p. 171.
65  For example, the author cites the analysis of Fazlur Rahman on the significance of the
Hereafter in the Qurʾān. Ibid., pp. 125-26.
66  For example, the author compares the opinions of al-Marāġī and Ibn Kaṯīr about the in-
terpretation of Q 4, 115. Ibid., pp. 86-87.
67  For example, the author cites the opinion of Quraish Shihab on Q 62, 2 that “purifying”
(yuzakkīhim) is identical with educating, while “teaching” (yuʿallimuhum) is identical
with imparting metaphysical and physical knowledge to students. Ibid., p. 91.
68  Ibid., pp. 43-50.
69  John Wansbrough, Qurʾānic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation, New
York: Prometheus Books, 2004, p. 121.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 17

Nata’s appropriation in Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan takes three forms. First,

the author explores the reconciliation related to differences of opinion sur-
rounding the interpretation of the Qurʾān. For example, he explains the meaning
of the term maʿrūf by citing the opinions of al-Marāġī, ʿAbduh, al-Mawdūdī
and ʿAwda, then proposes his own opinion about its meaning.70 Secondly,
he relates the Qurʾānic text to the context of education, such as by relating
the verse of daʿwa to education, both in terms of similarities and differenc-
es, regarding materials, objectives, and methods.71 Thirdly, Nata presents the
practical implications of the Qurʾān for Islamic education. For example, after
explaining the position of the mind (ʿaql) in Islam, the author demonstrates
the practical implications for Islamic education, i.e. the curriculum of Islamic
education must contain subjects that seek to foster the mind so students can
solve various problems.72
There are some positive dimensions of contextualization by Nata where
they come from appropriation as a form of comprehension and thereby the
meanings are expanded. First, the author expands the potential horizons of
meaning of the Qurʾān by his reconciliation. For example, his definition of the
term ma‌ʾrūf, based on his reconciliation, is “everything [that] is formed of the
sayings, deeds, thoughts, etc., considered good according to the Šarīʿa and
the mind (ʿaql)”.73 Secondly, Nata presents the contemporary meaning of the
Qurʾān. For example, he interprets the term al-qalam in Q 96, 4 in a way that ac-
commodates various pieces of education-related equipment, such as cameras,
recording devices, computers, video compact disc.74 Thirdly, he proposes the
practical application of the text of the Qurʾān in the context of Islamic educa-
tion. For example, the practical application of Q 23, 71 is that Islamic education
should prohibit any kind of actions that can stimulate lust, such as wearing
minidresses, gambling, drinking, taking drugs, promiscuity, and so on.75
On the other hand, there are some negative aspects of contextualization
by the author. Yet my fundamental criticism is that the author’s contextual-
ization does not fuse the text-horizon and the author’s horizon to a sensible
degree, as suggested by Paul Ricoeur. This criticism is based on the following
three factors. First, in the context of expanding potential horizons of meaning
of the Qurʾān by reconciliation, Nata rarely cites opinions from the primary

70  Ibid., pp. 177-78.

71  Ibid., pp. 186-89.
72  Ibid., p. 148.
73  Ibid., pp. 177-79.
74  Ibid., p. 49.
75  Ibid., p. 148.

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18 Rosidin

references that contain original meanings as verbal meanings of the Qurʾān.

Instead, he often cites opinions from secondary sources, i.e. modern tafsīr
books. For example, he explains the term maʿrūf by citing opinions of cit-
ing opinions of al-Marāġī, ʿAbduh, al-Mawdūdī, and ʿAwda, all of whom are
modern experts. The author only cites al-Aṣfahānī as a classical expert who
presents the original meaning of the term maʿrūf.76 Secondly, in the context
of presenting the contemporary meaning of the Qurʾān, the author’s horizon
is far too dominant, and sometimes even ignores the verbal meaning of the
text. For example, Nata interprets the term al-nār in Q 66, 6 not only as hell-
fire in the Hereafter but also as various problems and disasters in this world.77
Such a contemporary interpretation is clearly contrary to the verbal meaning
of the text of the Qurʾān as presented by al-Aṣfahānī, i.e. hellfire alone.78 Nor
is the meaning of the term al-nār as presented by Nata found in other books
of classical tafsīr, such as those by al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kaṯīr and al-Māwardī. Third,
in the context of the practical meaning of the Qurʾān in terms of how it affects
the lives of Muslims, Nata’s horizon is clearly apparent, as almost every quote
from the Qurʾān is directed towards its implementation in Islamic education.
For example, he directs the command to do justice (ʿadl) in Q 16, 90 and Q 4, 58
in the context of developing a curriculum that must be balanced as regards the
percentage given to cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains,79 despite
the fact that such meanings are not found in the books of classical tafsīr, such
as those of al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kaṯīr, and al-Māwardī.
To strike a balance between the author’s horizon and the text-horizon in the
context of appropriation, an author can apply Ward’s theory of three arguments
that are integral to the content of the Qurʾān and so inseparable from its struc-
ture. These are: a) Logical arguments, in the form of categorical, conditional,
and disjunctive syllogism; b) Rhetorical arguments, in the form of compari-
son (similarity, analogy, parables, degree) and contrast (difference, inequality,
opposition); and c) Legal arguments, in the form of rule-based reasoning, a
branch of legal logic and the logic of commands (to analyze the uniformity,
predictability, and justification of divine laws). These are known as Qurʾānic
rules (aḥkām al-Qurʾān).80 Through the application of Ward’s arguments, an

76  Ibid., pp. 177-78.

77  Ibid., p. 200.
78  Al-Rāġib al-Aṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt fī ġarīb al-Qurʾān, n.p., Maktaba Nizār Muṣṭafā al-Bāz,
n.d., pp. 658-59.
79  Ibid., pp. 260-61.
80  Rosalind Ward Gwynne, Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʾān: God’s
Arguments, New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004, pp. 203-6.

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Tafsīr Tarbawī in the Perspective of Paul Ricoeur 19

understanding of the meaning of the Qurʾān is more accessible to scholars and

students on an academic level while retaining the revelation’s applicability to
Muslim traditions and beliefs, both on the societal and individual levels.81

4 Closing Remarks

This paper has suggested that the unsettled methodology of tafsīr tarbawī is
reflected in the domination of the subjectivity by the author (Abuddin Nata)
towards the objectivity of the text (Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan). Such a claim
is based on the minimal distanciation used in the original verbal meanings
of the text while the appropriation is dominated by the author’s horizon.
As such, Tafsīr Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan does not reflect the fusion between the
text horizon and the author’s horizon in a proportional degree, as suggested
by Paul Ricoeur. This research showed the subjectivity of the author’s inter-
pretation which is reminiscent of the chronic problem of Islamic studies in
general, as stated by Roger Garaodi and quoted by Jasser Auda: “This was a ‘di-
saster’, in which the limits between the words of God and the words of humans
were erased”.82
As an alternative solution to subjectivity domination of the author in Tafsīr
Ayat-Ayat Pendidikan by Abuddin Nata in particular and Tafsīr Tarbawī litera-
ture in general, three recommendations are proposed. First, understanding the
verbal meaning of the Qurʾān through guessing by involving both lexical and
grammatical meanings (Bohas), as well as rhetorical meaning (al-Ğurğānī), so
that the verbal meaning of the Qurʾān is understood both semantically and
pragmatically. Secondly, the author’s guesses must be validated by explanatory
procedures that utilize at least some of the twelve procedural devices used
in Islamic exegetical literature (Wansbrough). Third, a comprehension of the
Qurʾān in the context of appropriation by making use of three arguments that
are integral to the content of the Qurʾān: logical, rhetorical, and legal argu-
ments (Ward).

81  Fritch, Cory; Dillard, Daniel C.; and Marchman, Kendall, “Book Reviews”, Intermountain
West Journal of Religious Studies 3, no. 1 (2011). http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/imwjour
nal/vol3/iss1/6 (accessed December 1, 2017).
82  Jasser Auda, Maqaṣid al-Sharīʿah as Philosophy of Islamic Law: A Systems Approach,
London: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2007, p. 194.

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20 Rosidin

Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the program of International Dissemination for

Scholarly Works (IDISCHOW) 2016, Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic
of Indonesia, coordinated by Mr. Anis and Mr. Wildan

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