“The Understanding of the Qur’an” by Musa Jarullah Bigiev. Part 1

Abstract

This publication includes the introduction and the first part of a translation into Russian of the commentary to the sūra “The Opening One” (al-Fātiḥa) and the first five ayats of the sūra “the Cow” (al-Baqara) by the Russian Muslim theologian Musa Jarullah Bigiyev (1874–1949), written in Arabic and published in 1915 in Petrograd under the name “Fiqh al-Qurʼān” (The Understanding of the Qurʼān). The introduction to the translation briefly discusses the contribution of the theologian to Qurʼān studies, his scientific ties with renowned European and Russian Orientalists, as well as his methodology of interpretation. The first part of the translation covers the commentary to the first four (according to another numbering three) ayats of the sūra “The Opening One” (al-Fātiḥa), which reflects the position of M. Bigiev concerning the history of the Qurʼān, its grammar and vocabulary, the differences between the readings (qirāʼat), and his hermeneutic reasoning, which is a synthesis of reformist and mystical approaches.