Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah (Arabic: محمد أحمد خلف الله, 1916-1991) was an Egyptian Islamic modernist thinker and writer.[1][2]

In 1947, Cairo University refused his doctoral dissertation presented to the Department of Arabic entitled The Narrative Art in the Holy Qur'an (al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim), as he suggested that holy texts are allegoric and that they should not be seen as something fixed, but as a moral direction.[3] As a pupil of Amin al-Khuli, he stated that one can study the Qur'an from a literary point of view.[4] Indeed, the aim of Muhammad is to convince people. So he uses all rhetorical ways at his disposal, which includes metaphors, biblical and pre-islamic narratives. In Khalafallah's opinion, historical truth is not the main goal, but rather the religious and ethic sense conveyed by these stories.[5] Khalafallah has been accused to treat the Speech of God as if it was a human product. Yet, he does not question the authenticity of the revelation.[6] He takes up a traditional theme, that of the inimitability (iʿjaz) of the Qur'an - the first title of his thesis was Min asrar al-iʿjaz, (“On the Secrets of the Qurʾan’s inimitability").[7] He was fired from his teaching position and transferred to the Ministry of Culture.[3]

Afterwards, he started a thesis on a non-religious subject and received his doctorate in 1952. He ended his career at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.[3][1]

His doctoral thesis has finally been published in 1954.[8] His master's thesis, al-Jadal fī l-Qurʾān (“Polemic in the Qurʾān”) has been published with the title Muhammad wa l-quwâ l-mudadda ("Muhammad and the opposition forces"), Cairo, 1973.[9][10]

He wrote Mafāhīm Qurʼānīyah ( "Quranic concepts"), published in arabic in 1984,[11] al-Qur'ân-wa mushkilat hayâti-nâ l-mu'âsira ("The Qur'an and our contemporary problems") and al-Qur'ân wa l-dawla ("The Qur'an and the State"). But these works are less innovative than his doctoral thesis.[12]

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 عمارة, محمد (1 January 2011). أشهر مناظرات القرن العشرين. الجزء الأول، مصر بين الدولة المدنية والدينية (in Arabic). Al Manhal. ISBN 9796500078472.
  2. ↑ Khalafallah, Muhammad Ahmad, Oxford Islamic Studies On-line, citing The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (page visited on 30 January 2015).
  3. 1 2 3 Zeid, Nasr Hamid Abou; Zayd, Nasr Hamid Abu; Zayd, Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū; Zaid, Nasr Abu; Nelson, Esther R. (2004). Voice of an Exile: Reflections on Islam. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-98250-8.
  4. ↑ Benzine, Rachid (2008). Les nouveaux penseurs de l'islam (in French). Albin Michel. p. 163. ISBN 978-2-226-17858-9.
  5. ↑ Chartier, Marc (1974). "Exégèse coranique" (PDF). Comprendre n° 99 (in French). Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  6. ↑ Chartier, Marc, p. 3.
  7. ↑ Reynolds, Gabriel Said (10 July 2017). "Psychological Readings of the Qurʾan". International Qur'anic Studies Association. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  8. ↑ Chebel, Malek (5 February 2013). Changer l'islam: Dictionnaire des réformateurs musulmans des origines à nos jours (in French). Albin Michel. p. 109. ISBN 978-2-226-28620-8.
  9. ↑ Chartier, Marc, p. 7.
  10. ↑ Shepard, William, "Khalafallāh, Muḥammad Aḥmad", Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Brill, retrieved 25 November 2022
  11. ↑ "مفاهيم قرآنية | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  12. ↑ Chartier, Marc, p. 8.

al-Fann al-qasasi fi al-Qurʾan al-karim on archive.org (in arabic).

See also


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