This lecture took place on the 22nd of February 2007, in the Faculty of Law, Alexandria University.
The lecture was introduced by H.E. Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman of Al-Furqan, and was attended by hundreds of Alexandria University’s faculties and students, in addition to a large number of students and researchers interested in the presented topic.
In his approach, Dr. Hassan Jabir took a critical stand from traditional methodologies in Qur’anic exegesis (manahij al-tafsīr), in which he criticised their partil approaches. He mentioned the thematic interpretation school (madrasat al-tafsīr al-mawdu’i) as a step towards a universal and holistic approach to the Qur’an, albeit in need of development, in his view.
Then, Dr. Jabir presented a holistic approach to Islam in general and the Qur’an specifically, in which the hindering influences of partial methodologies are overcome. He suggested a novel methodology for reading the Qur’an today, in which the higher and universal principles of the Qur’an are put back in their central position in Islamic law and thought, thus, enabling the Qur’an to interact with the ever-changing realities of human societies.