Islam and Literalism Literal Meaning and Interpretation in Islamic Legal Theory By Robert Gleave (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2013. 212 pages.)

Abstract

This book surveys the development of literal meaning and literalism in Islam
and Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) in particular. The term literal meaning
refers to the meaning that a text is believed to hold “in itself” by virtue of the
sound-meaning relationships of words that were “coined” (waḍ‘) at some point
in time. Although Muslim debates on how words were coined (see second
chapter) are quite interesting and at times entertaining, the origin of language
was secondary to the language’s actual existence. In other words, legal theorists
contended that the establishment of the “sound-meaning connection” was
more important than who established it and when.
Literalism, the other focus of the book, is the view that Islamic law privileges
literal meaning. As Gleave explains in his first chapter, literalism sees
literal meaning as having an “advantage” over allusion, metaphor (majāz),
and other kinds of meaning because it holds a “higher level of epistemological
security” (p. 1). Detecting the author’s intended meaning, although ideal, is
fraught with uncertainties for it involves discerning another person’s intentions.
In other words, for legal theorists, the literal can be established through
a strict science of language and more importantly functions as a “starting
point” for understanding texts which gives it a central role in hermeneutics.
Even if the literal meaning is shown not to be the author’s intended meaning,
it is nevertheless essential for controlling and understanding the linguistic and
semantic parameters of a word and the overall text in question.
Gleave makes it clear that his purpose is not to establish whether or not
there is such a thing as literal meaning but instead to demonstrate the importance
of its various concepts and the role they played for Muslim legal theorists
of all sects as understanding how a language system works is key to grasping
“God’s meaning when he addresses (khiṭāb) his servants” (p. 35). The first
two chapters are useful introductions to concepts of literal meaning in legal
theory. The third chapter, where the author traces one of the early concepts
and uses of literal meaning in Qur’anic exegesis, delineates its early historical
emergence in Islamic thought. This is significant for Islamic law and legal
theory as later Muslim legal hermeneutics had “imprints” of the debates that
took place in scriptural exegesis where literal meaning was often identified
(e.g., through establishing what a word “literally” meant by tracing its ...