Abstract

This essay suggests that the traditional interpretive scholarship on the Qur'an is losing its relevance in the lives of many Muslims and that a new Qur'anic hermeneutic is replacing the traditional interpretive scholarship on the Qur'an. The new discourse on the Qur'an and its meaning has great potential and may help to reduce the size of the abyss between the Islamic world and the West that now exists. After describing the traditional interpretive scholarship on the Qur'an, including the differences in approach among Sunni and Shi'a interpreters, the essay considers the approach of recent scholars of Islam who favor the use of a modern, "post-Enlightenment" hermeneutic in interpreting the Qur'an. The essay argues that this new approach can be of much greater relevance and importance to contemporary Muslims. It concludes that modern universities, in the West as well as in the East, have a tremendous opportunity to assist in making this new hermeneutical approach accessible to scholars and other interested persons for the benefit of the Islamic world and all of humankind.