Interpreting the Qur’an through the science of logic: Ibn ʿArafah al-Warġammī (d. 803/1401) on the dynamics of tafsīr and manṭiq

Abstract

One profound yet relatively understudied contribution to tafsīr (Qur’an commentary) is that of Ibn ʿArafah al-Warġammī (d. 803/1401), a leading Mālikī scholar of eighth/fourteenth-century Ḥafṣid Tunisia. Although no separate commentary by Ibn ʿArafah has come down to us, his commentary on the Qur’an is accessible through the lecture notes that were compiled by his students. This article will examine one significant aspect of Ibn ʿArafah’s Qur’anic discourse that is barely acknowledged—his understanding of the relationship between the Qur’an and logic, and his use of logic in Qur’anic interpretation. It suggests that Ibn ʿArafah conceived of logic as embedded in the fabric of the Qur’an and felt a sense of urgency in using logic as an instrument for tafsīr. It also shows that the application of logic to Qur’anic interpretation is dominant in Ibn ʿArafah’s commentary to an extent that is not found in earlier works of tafsīr. Through identifying the different ways in which he intertwined the science of logic with tafsīr, this article will highlight Ibn ʿArafah’s role in the logical hermeneutics of the Qur’an and expand our understanding of how logic was used as an instrument for other sciences—in particular, for the interpretation of the Qur’an.