FRAMEWORKS OF THE METHODOLOGY OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM OF RELIGIONS ACCORDING TO ORIENTALISTS IN STUDYING THE HOLY QUR’AN (CRITICAL STUDY)

Abstract

The main research problem arises in the question whether it is appropriate to apply the method of historical criticism with its orientalist vision to the Holy Qur’an. To address this problem, the research aims to clarify the frameworks covered by the approach of historical criticism of religions according to Orientalists, and to test the suitability of their application to the Holy Qur’an. It consists of three sections, preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion and recommendations. This is to place the narrations in their natural historical contexts, without prejudging and misleading as orientalists do. The research concluded with results. First, the approach of Western historical criticism is not suitable for applying it to the Holy Qur’an and equating it with studying the Old and New Testaments because of its historical fallacies, and its incorrect premises in assuming that the Qur’an has a date of revelation and a date of writing. Second, the disorder in its methodology, which is based on speculation, presuppositions, and selectivity from texts, and relying in inference on one witness out of thousands of evidences that contradict it, and the weakness of most orientalists in the Arabic language. An approach like this cannot be measured and its results can be confident. Third, the Great Qur’an is preserved in its original form that Muslims read in the Qur’an today, with its frequent oral evidence of intonation and readings, and the chains of transmission and authorizations connected to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and its written evidence from early manuscripts and Islamic inscriptions. And the sciences that preserved it, such as the sciences of drawing, counting verses, and recording, and the methods of investigation and documentation developed by Muslims under the pillars of trustworthiness and accuracy for narrators and the authenticity of the narration.