Communities of Interpretation:
The Case of the Qur’an

Emran El-Badawi
Abstract

This article discusses “Communities of the Qur’an,” a conference,
public talk, and forthcoming book that will examine the Qur’an’s
“communities of interpretation.” They are represented by ten world-
renowned academics and leaders from the Sunni, Shi‘i, and Ahmadi
communities; reformist LGBT, feminist, African American, and
Qur’an-only groups; as well as non-Muslims like the Bahais. In this
brief paper, I discuss their nature, engagements with the Qur’an as
a text or an experience, and the challenges they face in the twenty-
first century.

One Scripture, Many Communities
Many years ago I became interested in learning more about different ap-
proaches to reading and understanding the Qur’an. How do the various groups
of Muslims understand it, and how does this understanding shape their com-
munity? With approximately 1.6 billion adherents, the global Muslim com-
munity (ummah) is anything but monolithic. But is it a single community at
all? Finding the whole discourse on “sectarianism,” “ancient hatreds,” and the
Sunni-Shia conflict superficial, too political and fundamentally lacking, I
looked for a deeper, more systematic and critical theory to explain its diverse
and even fractured nature.

My exploration, which took me through classical exegesis and modern
hermeneutics, soon became fixated upon literary theory. I took an interest in
reception and reader response criticism, especially the idea that a text – in this
case the Qur’an – only has meaning when interpreted by the community to
which it was sent and informed by its cultural assumptions. This idea resonates
with the famous tradition ascribed to Ali b. Abi Talib (d. 40/661), who informed
the Khawarij that “as for this Qur’an, it is but writing between two covers and
it does not speak, but it is men who speak through it.”1 Since each community
interprets the Qur’an differently, it has, in the words of the renowned American
literary scholar Stanley Fish, several “communities of interpretation.”2

El-Badawi: Communities of Interpretation: The Case of the Qur’an 145

Emran El-Badawi is an associate professor and program director of Middle Eastern Studies
at the University of Houston, Houston, TX.



The “Communities of the Qur’an” project refers to intellectual inquiry as
well as religious dialogue. At its heart, it asks “What is the dialectical rela-
tionship between the Qur’an and its communities of interpretation?” “How is
the relationship between community and scripture mediated?” and “Can a bet-
ter understanding of each community’s reception, hermeneutics, and cultural
assumptions bring about a better understanding of the Qur’an for the twenty-
first century?” This project also seeks to revive the “ethics of disagreement”
(adab al-ikhtilāf) found in classical Islam. The Qur’an interpreters, jurists,
and theologians of medieval Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba serve as examples
of peaceful coexistence and tolerance in the face of vehement disagreement.
On numerous occasions, the historical record shows that Muslims from dif-
ferent legal schools or denominations, as well as Christians, Jews, Zoroastri-
ans, and others, agreed to disagree.3

Recent literature on “Islamic communities of interpretation” is both ample
as well as thoughtful.4 A certain measure of feminist discourse and theological
reform, both of which are essential, is taken for granted within such commu-
nities. However, the advantage of framing the dialectic relationship, as I have,
between a community and a scripture accommodates even greater diversity.
Similarly, authors have been exploring the limits of the ethics of disagreement
for decades, but only within the traditional forms of Islam.5 To express this
point differently, this project encapsulates groups typically outside the pale of
traditional (or neo-traditional) Islam. Among many others, these include:

• The Baha’is: A distinct nineteenth-century offshoot of Islam from Iran
• The Ahmadis: A twentieth-century Islamic sect from South Asia that was

excommunicated by the World Muslim League in 1974.
• African American groups: The Nation of Islam, The Five-Percent Nation,

The Moorish Science Temple, and other groups considered beyond the
pale of “mainstream Islam.” 

• LGBT groups, including those who have recently established “gay
mosques,” which are altogether rejected by mainstream Muslims.

Why should a project like the “Communities of the Qur’an” cast such a
wide net? In short, the various crises of the twenty-first century demand it.
The challenges of today’s political climate are greater than those of our pred-
ecessors. The religious, social, and cultural diversity of the imagined global
Muslim community, as well as the richness of the people’s traditions in the
greater Middle East, are under threat by extremist fundamentalism. It is the
Muslims themselves who have paid the greatest price for the intolerance, vi-
olence, and “sectarianism” undertaken in the name of Islam. 

146 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:4



The discourse surrounding the “war on terror” and Islamophobia, which
have spread in the wake of 9/11, and the Arab uprisings of 2011 have only
polarized members on both sides of the debate. As a result, the Qur’an, Islam’s
sacred scripture and an integral part of world literature, has been subjected to
misuse and misunderstanding. More than ever before, leaders from within and
without the imagined global Muslim community have the opportunity to pro-
tect the diversity of Islamic civilization and promote religious tolerance as
well as peaceful coexistence, broadly speaking.

On the Nature of Community
On March 10-11, 2016, the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement
of Religious Tolerance hosted the “Communities of the Qur’an” conference,
which was addressed by (in order of presentation) Ingrid Mattson (London and
Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies, Huron University College), Saj-
jad Rizvi (associate professor, Islamic intellectual history, University of Exeter),
Ali Asani (professor, Indo-Muslim and Islamic religion and cultures, Harvard
University), Ahmed Subhy Mansour (president, International Qur’anic Center),
Amina Wadud (professor emeritus and visiting scholar, Starr King School for
the Ministry), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Advocate of the Supreme Court, Pakistan),
Todd Lawson (professor emeritus, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, Uni-
versity of Toronto), and Aminah Beverly McCloud (professor, religious studies,
DePaul University). Also featured were three panel chairs: Hina Azam (asso-
ciate professor, Middle Eastern studies, University of Texas), David Cook (as-
sociate professor, religious studies, Rice University), and Emran El-Badawi
(program director and associate professor, Middle Eastern studies, University
of Houston). Paula Sanders (director, Boniuk Institute; professor, Rice Univer-
sity) opened the event with welcoming remarks, and philanthropist Milton Bo-
niuk closed it with parting words. The papers presented therein are currently
being turned into a book.

In addition to the eight conference papers, two additional chapters will dis-
cuss the Sufi and the LGBT reception of the Qur’an, respectively. To give the
reader a sample of what to expect, short summaries of the initial eight chapters,
as well as the contributors’ names and tentative chapter titles, are given below.

• Ingrid Mattson, “How the Qur’an Shapes the Sunni Community.”

Debate, dialogue, discussion and explanation – the Sunni community is,
above all else, a discursive space that can be initiated at any point with a word
of the Qur’an … The recognition of a core set of diverse, equally authentic
interpretive methods and schools within Sunni Islam is an (aspirationally

El-Badawi: Communities of Interpretation: The Case of the Qur’an 147



irenic) solution to the rejection of the imamate on the one hand, and the need
to establish parameters of orthodoxy – or the appearance thereof – on the
other. The embrace of an ethical pluralism that does not descend into rela-
tivism or anarchism is ideally the result of the Sunni approach to the Qur’an.

• Sajjad Rizvi, “The Speaking Qur’an and the Praise of the Imam: The
Memory and Practice of the Qur’an in the Shi‘i Ithna‘ashari Tradition.”

It is commonplace to hear Shi‘i believers hold that the Qur’an is a long poem
in praise of the family of the Prophet and the Imams in particular. In one
sense, this is an expression of the famous narration of the “two weighty
things” (al-thaqalyn) popular in Shi‘i sources for an early period; in another
it complements another early hadith corpus on traditions on how the inti-
macy of the Qur’an and the Imam is such that the former is silent unless the
latter makes it enunciate for believers. Both the scripture of the Qur’an and
the person of the Imam are acts of the self-revelation of God.

• Ali Asani, “Ismaili Engagements with the Qur’an: The Ismaili Khojas of
South Asia.”

These verses portray the Imam as the locus of knowledge and divine au-
thority and reinforce the authoritative nature of the living Imam’s pronounce-
ments and guidance. The Imam’s pronouncements, called farmāns, are
regarded by the community as the ta‘līm (instruction) and ta’wīl (esoteric
interpretation) of the Qur’an as opposed to tafsir (commentary). In his public
addresses, the current Ismaili Imam, Prince Karim Aga Khan, speaks to the
challenges of interpreting the faith of Islam in the contemporary world, par-
ticularly with respect to diversity, the inseparability of faith and world, and
the interplay of faith and intellect.

• Ahmed Subhy Mansour, “Why the Qur’anists Are the Solution.”

In our belief, the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) is the first Qur’anist, as he was
ordered to uphold the holy Qur’an alone (Q. 43:43). We also believe in the
holy Qur’an as the only hadith: (Q. 45:6; Q. 7:185; and Q. 77:50). We un-
derstand the Qur’an according to its unique Arabic terminology, in order to
disentangle the true, abandoned Islam and its great values of peace, toler-
ance, freedom and justice … Instead of the so-called Shari‘ah law, we want
to convince the Muslim world to accept the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights as Islamic laws, according to the real core of Islam.

• Amina Wadud, “Men in Charge?: Qur’an and Gender as a Category of
Thought.”

148 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:4



The most distinguishing feature of Islamic feminism is a construction of Is-
lamic knowledge based on a dynamic interaction with the Qur’an as it relates
cultural attitudes, personal praxis and public policy. Indeed, this initiative –
led by Muslim women on behalf of their own perceptions and experiences
of Islam, – invloves an active relationship with the Qur’an as a tool for
women’s full agency, spirituality, inter-relationships and empowerment.
How do Muslim reformists wrestle equality out of the Qur’an? While there
are ample examples of Qur’anic privilege to men and the male gaze, this
presentation will focus on the methodologies used to advocate for gender
neutrality as fundamental to the Qur’an. It will discuss how Islamic femi-
nism relates to text and context to achieve gender reform today.

• Mujeeb Ur Rahman, “The Qur’an and the Ahmadiyya Community.”

The Qur’an speaks of a living God, who guides humans through continued
revelation. The Qur’an is the living word of God just as the universe is His
living act, both unfolding their verities according to the needs of time. The
Qur’an has no conflict with science, nor with rationality ... The Qur’an
teaches freedom of conscience and rejects all forms of compulsion. Ah-
madiyya tradition rejects the prevailing concept of armed jihad, which is a
negation of Qur’anic teachings.

• Todd Lawson, “The Baha’i Reception of the Qur’an.”

According to the Baha’i teachings, the Qur’an is a sacred and absolutely au-
thentic repository of the word of God. The earliest major works (considered
revelation), whether from the Babi phase or the later Baha’i phase are, in fact,
works of Qur'anic exegesis. The Qur’an is the central focus of contemplation
and explication by both the Bab and Baha’u’llah. In addition, each author fre-
quently comments on various sacred traditions (Hadith) ... Perhaps it is more
accurate to ask how the Baha’i faith embodies and spreads these Qur’anic
verities to what might be thought otherwise rather unlikely quarters, instills
great love for Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (whom Baha’u’llah refers
to as the “Seal of the Prophets”) and identifies as an independent religion. 

• Aminah Beverly McCloud, “African-American Communities of the
Qur’an.”

Approaches to the Quran across the African-American community are
widely varied. During the first decades of the 20th century, the earliest com-
munities to engage Islam, depended upon The Holy Qur’an as translated by
Maulana Muhammad Ali of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam (India). It
has been reported that many early Muslims kept both a Qur’an and a Bible

El-Badawi: Communities of Interpretation: The Case of the Qur’an 149



in the home for reading and study ... The Qur’an began to be read by many
in fragments with emphasis on marriage, duties, etc rather than as a coherent
text. Though many of the Muslims of this generation were college-educated,
Muslims from outside America asserted the Qur’an as a text that could not
be read by ordinary people who had not mastered Arabic. This debate con-
tinues, as does the alienation from the text.

Despite the diversity found within these communities, there is a dis-
cernible divide between communities of text vs. communities of experience.
The former includes traditional forms of religion (in this case Islam and Ba-
haism) founded upon deep, patriarchal, and literary engagement with the
Qur’anic text, whereas the latter represents a non-textual, culturally informed
re-imagination of what the Qur’an is and how it shapes a community. These
communities include, for example, African-American communities, the Kho-
jas of South Asia, and LBGT communities whose relationship with the Qur’an
is imbued by customs or sub-cultures beyond the text itself.

On the Nature of the Qur’an
It would be fair to say that communities of the Qur’an disagree on what its
very nature is. This diversity is both rich as well as complicated. A number of
provocative ideas came to light during both the panel and round table discus-
sions. Most striking was how some communities consider the Qur’an a foun-
dational text, but one that is dissolved into the fabric of salvation history. To
say this differently, the Qur’an, the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible, and
the Avesta simply belong humanity. In this vein, Lawson evokes the writings
of Baha’ullah (d. 1892). While Bahai writings pay homage to the Arabic
Qur’an and Muhammad the prophet, as it does other ancient religious texts
and figures, it fashions out of their model a new scripture altogether.6 To put
it plainly, it seems in this case that the Qur’an has been both accepted as well
as abrogated.

Similarly, when speaking through the lens of Islamic feminism Wadud
posits that the Qur’anic text, namely, its patriarchal language and ancient cul-
tural background, represent a kind of transition in human salvation history. In
other words, there will come a time when the adherents of the Qur’an will no
longer have recourse to the text, but rather to its universal, egalitarian message
to humanity.7

These views are in stark contrast to the unique, static, and eternal nature
of the Qur’an that is central to the Sunni tradition, despite its diversity and
numbers. As Mattson suggests, the authenticity of the textual tradition (espe-

150 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:4



cially the Qur’an and Hadith) is central to orthodoxy, and thus any criticism
of or departure from it is highly suspect at best, or heresy at worst.8 The Imami
Shi‘i position demonstrated by Rizvi represents a sort of compromise between
the text’s eternal nature and the unfolding of salvation history in human terms.
This is, namely, the doctrine of the Imam, of which there are two primordial,
co-equal, and co-eternal manifestations: the silent Imam (i.e., the Qur’an) and
the speaking Imam (i.e., the progeny of Ali and Fatima).

This brief survey on the nature of the Qur’an does not do justice to its
complexity, nor does it afford it the nuance it deserves. However, it does un-
derscore the fact that these communities have never agreed upon a question
as basic as “What is the Qur’an?” Among historians, however, it is not unusual
that such communities – mainly Muslim – inherently disagree about its nature,
much like how the various Christian denominations continue to disagree
sharply among themselves over the nature of Christ. As such, the failure of
consensus has been repeated through Christological controversies and Islamic
civil wars. This is a sobering fact.

On Faith and Extremism
This event was more than a conference, for it included a two-day moderated
discussion “Between Faith and Extremism,” one hosted by the World Affairs
Council of Greater Houston and the other one by “The Other Side,” a Hous-
ton-area TV program. This portion of the project explored the misuse of reli-
gion, especially through violence, and focused primarily – but not exclusively
– on Islam and Judaism. Rabbi Reuven Firestone and Imam Feisal Abdul
Rauf, two seasoned interfaith speakers and esteemed leaders of their respective
communities, expressed their views on a number of pressing issues, such as
religious law, holy war, the challenge of the so-called Islamic State, and the
ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On this latter question, Firestone argued
that “holy war” had died out in Judaism until the rise of the state of Israel in
1948, a development that continues to contribute irrevocably to this ongoing
conflict.9

In the spirit of diversity and tolerance central to this project, Abdul Rauf
equated “democratic values” (especially human rights) with “objectives
(maqāṣid) of Shariah.”10 An increasing number of Islamic leaders worldwide
are taking up this position – not without some debate, of course – and in the
case of Malaysia the government is making it law. Since modern nation-states
are the seat of legitimacy, both secular as well as Islamic, groups like ISIS are
a “rogue anomaly … far from Islamic.”11 The expertise of both Firestone and

El-Badawi: Communities of Interpretation: The Case of the Qur’an 151



Abdul Rauf afforded some much-need sobriety to otherwise politicized, mis-
understood, hot-button issues.

Community and Diversity in the Twenty-First Century
This article began with reference to an important Shi‘i tradition ascribed to
Imam Ali and now concludes with reference to an equally famous Sunni legal
tradition ascribed to Prophet Muhammad: “Indeed God will not make my
community (ummah) agree (inf. I jama‘ah; inf. IV ijmā‘) upon error.”12 The
idea of a single, global community founded upon consensus is incredibly em-
powering. It is, however, also incredibly dangerous.

Like the speaking Imam, the consensus of the community has existed in
Sunni legal and exegetical thought for over a millennium. Wahhabism, a brand
of Sunni fundamentalism that could only eke out an existence in the desert,
was given limitless political, economic, and military power on the world stage
with the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932 and the subsequent exploitation of
its oil resources. Similarly, by founding the Islamic Republic in 1979, the top
Imami Shi‘i mujtahids (ayatollahs) assumed the powers of a modern nation-
state under the newly crafted “governance of the jurist” (velayet-i-faqih). The
9/11 attacks in 2001, the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the so-called Arab
Spring of 2011 have caused the global Muslim community(ies) to be subjected
to unprecedented warfare, sectarianism, and Islamophobia. 

In particular, much of the Arab world has descended into civil war, reli-
gious sectarianism, and political unrest. While the reasons for these phenom-
ena are complex, the idea of consensus has always been fundamentally
political. This has been demonstrated throughout history, from the days of the
first “ecumenical council” held in 325 under the auspices of the Byzantine
emperor Constantine (d. 337) to the “year of consensus” (‘ām al-jamā‘ah;
661), which is a pious reconstruction of Caliph Mu‘awiyah’s (d. 60/680)
founding of the Umayyad dynasty, to the founding of the Organization of Is-
lamic Cooperation (OIC; 1969). All of these efforts have attempted to cen-
tralize the political power that has pushed for consensus building. All of them
were undertaken with ample reason ... and with ample bloodshed.

Diversity, on the other hand, refers to the practice of smaller local com-
munities, villages, groups, and sub-cultures. It is the natural order of things,
which is why the classical Islamic ethics of disagreement and the universal
declaration on human rights are central. It is little surprise, therefore, that vir-
tually all communities of the Qur’an participate in a concomitant discourse
between classical Islam and human rights. The Qur’an’s communities of in-

152 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 33:4



terpretation represent the diversity, tolerance, and typically apolitical concerns
of smaller local groups, not the grandiose, political brutality of a centralized
government – religious or secular. This project teaches us much about the nu-
ances of localized Muslim and non-Muslim reception of the Islamic scripture,
which is worthy in and of itself. However, it also teaches us that the global Is-
lamic community is caught between the push of diversity and the pull of con-
sensus. Its members do not even agree on the reception of the Qur’an – a text
that they all share. History teaches us that true consensus is impossible. My
hope is that co-existence is not.

Endnotes

1. Among Sunni variants, see the Shi‘i version by Muhammad b. Babawayh al-
Qummi (al-Shaykh al-Saduq), Risālāt al-I‘tiqādāt, trans Asaf Fyzee, A Shiite
Creed (London: Oxford University Press, 1942), 77.

2. Cf. Stanley Fish, Is There a Text in This Class?: The Authority of Interpretive
Communities (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1982),
esp. 171-73.

3. Inter-religious debates and disputations within classical Islamic civilization were
common and typify this tolerance. For example, see “The Disputation between
a monk of Bet Hale and an Arab notable,” in Christian-Muslim Relations: A
Bibliographical History, vol. 1 (600-1500), ed. David Thomas et al. (Leiden:
Brill, 2009), 268-73.

4. See Farhad Daftary, “Diversity in Islam: Communities of Interpretation,” in The
Muslim Almanac, ed. A Nanji (Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1996), 161-73.

5. Cf. the work of Taha al-Alwani, esp. Adab al-Ikhtilāf fī al-Islām, trans. The
Ethics of Disagreement in Islam (London and Washington, DC: International
Institute of Islamic Thought, 1993).

6. Cf. Baha’ullah, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude) (Wilmette, IL: US-Bahai
Publishing Trust, 1989), 213.

7. See, in passing, Amina Wadud, “Interview,” Frontline/WGBH Educational
Foundation, March, 2002.

8. Cf. Ingrid Mattson, The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim
Life (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2013), 16-18.

9. Reuven Firestone, Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial
Idea (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 107.

10. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Defining Islamic Statehood: Measuring and Indexing
Contemporary Muslim States (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), 116, 145-49.

11. Ibid., 268.
12. Muhammad ibn Isa al-Tirmidhi, Al-Jāmi‘ al-Kabī, ed. Bashshar Ma‘ruf (Beirut:

Dar al-Gharb al-Islami,1996), 40 4:2167. 

El-Badawi: Communities of Interpretation: The Case of the Qur’an 153