The Dark Side of Alquran Hermeneutics: Criticism of the Hermeneutics of the Alquran Mohammed Arkoun

Abstract

The birth of modern thought in Islam, especially in the study of the Qur'an, was a critique of interpretation in the classical and middle ages, the interpretation at that time, according to him, was only coloured by the use of repeated history, political interests, etc., so that it was unable to produce the meaning of the text according to the needs of the times. Departing from this background, contemporary interpreters provide alternatives to reading the Qur'an that is scientific with the hermeneutic method, one of which is Mohammed Arkoun. This paper will describe Arkoun's thoughts on the hermeneutics of the Qur'an, which has attracted much controversy among Muslims and criticizes his thoughts. This type of qualitative research (library research) uses a descriptive-analytic approach. The study results show that Arkoun's hermeneutics has many shortcomings and aspects that must be abandoned. On a practical level, Arkoun's hermeneutics can only be used at the mahaulal Qur'an level, not at the ma fi Qur'an. Lahirnya pemikiran modern dalam Islam khususnya dalam kajian Alquran merupakan kritik atas penafsiran di masa klasik dan pertengahan, penafsiran pada masa tesebut menurutnya hanya diwarnai dengan penggunaan riwayat yang diulang-ulang, kepentingan politik dsb, sehingga tidak mampu memproduksi makna teks sesuai kebutuhan zaman. Berangkat dari latar belakang ini para penafsir kontemporer memberikan alternatif lain dalam pembacaan Alquran yang bersifat ilmiah dengan metode hermeneutika, salah satunya Mohammed Arkoun. Tulisan ini akan memaparkan pemikiran Arkoun tentang hermeneutika Alquran yang banyak menuai kontroversi dikalangan umat Islam, sekaligus melakukan kritik terhadap pemikirannya. Menggunakan jenis penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan deskriftif-analisis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa hermeneutika Arkoun mempunyai banyak kekurangan serta sisi yang harus ditinggalkan, dalam tataran praktisnya hermeneutika Arkoun hanya bisa digunakan pada tataran ma haulal Qur’an bukan pada ma fi Qur’an.