قراءة بالمعنی کا نظریہ:گولڈزیہر اور نولڈیکے کے نظریات کا تجزیہ

The Concept of Qirāah bil-manā:An Analytical Study of Ignāz Goldziher and Theodor Nöldeke

Abstract

The article critically examines the claims advanced by nineteenth- and twentieth-century Orientalists such as Theodor Nöldeke, Ignaz Goldziher, and Régis Blachère, who argued that early Muslim communities prioritized the preservation of the Qurʾān’s meaning over its exact wording, thereby allowing synonymous substitutions within the qirāʾāt. The intellectual roots of this theory can be traced to certain Muʿtazilī thinkers, such as Wāṣil ibn ʿAṭāʾ and Ibn Muqassim, who were associated with the permissibility of qirāʾa bi-l-maʿnā (reading by meaning). Orientalists reinforced this notion by relying on anomalous, weak, and fabricated reports found in tafsīr literature and kutub al-maṣāḥif, presenting it as if it reflected the normative scholarly position of Muslims.

Drawing on classical sciences of qirāʾāt, the critical principles of isnād and rijāl, as well as manuscript and philological evidence, this study reassesses the Orientalist thesis. The findings reveal that such claims rest on a neglect of the structured and principled system governing qirāʾāt and on the elevation of weak and unfounded reports that were never considered part of the Qurʾān throughout the centuries. In contrast, the evidence demonstrates that the qirāʾāt were preserved through a highly rigorous system of transmission and audition (naql and samāʿ), not through arbitrary substitution of synonymous words.

The claim of Ignaz Goldziher and Theodor Nöldeke that Muslims permitted synonymous substitution in qirāʾāt is based on weak and fabricated reports. Classical evidence shows that qirāʾāt were preserved through a rigorous system of transmission, not arbitrary alteration. Thus, the thesis of qirāʾa bi-l-maʿnā as a normative practice collapses under critical scrutiny.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article, and that the data presented have not been fabricated or falsified.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant or financial support from public, commercial, or not-for profit funding agencies.

Participant Consent:  The authors confirm that Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and confidentiality was duly maintained.

Data Fabrication/Falsification Statement: The author(s) declare that no data have been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated in this study.

Copyright: Author(s) retains the Copyright of this article.