No Meaning in the QuranA QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies ISSN (Onlin.
: 2828-2779 Received: 15-01-2024.
Revised: 15-02-2024 Accepted: 26-10-2025.
Published: 27-10-2025 DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
23917/qist.
No Meaning in the Quran: SukidiAos Thought Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri1.
Ahmad Bayu Setiawan2 Abstract Where do the meanings lie? This is one of the most intriguing questions in QurAoAnic studies both in the West and the East.
Some scholars say that the meaning of the QurAoAn is inherently located in the scripture.
Then.
Indonesian Salafism came up with the slogan AuBack to the QurAoAnAy.
However, some scholars challenged that notion and said that no meaning in the scripture, because meanings are located in the tradition, mufassr.
Sukidi Mulyadi proposed the notion of AuBack to the traditionAy, instead of to the QurAoAn, because no meaning in the QurAoAn.
This article will elaborate the SukidiAos notion, elucidate his arguments, examine the context and implications of his claims, and then compare with the views of some related scholars, such as MunAoim Sirry and Sahiron Syamsuddin.
This work will use the application of qualitative content analysis.
With this approach, this article will provide valuable insights into the complexities of QurAoAnic exegesis.
By doing so, the study not only clarifies SukidiAos contribution but also highlights the broader intellectual dynamics of meaning-making in QurAoAnic exegesis.
This article demonstrates the novelty of revisiting SukidiAos thesis in dialogue with contemporary Indonesian scholarship, thereby offering significant insights into the evolving contestations of authority and interpretation in QurAoAnic studies.
Keywords: Sukidi.
Locus of Meaning.
QurAoAn.
Exegesis.
University of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh.
Scotland.
Email: y.
yanuri@sms.
University of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh.
Scotland.
Email: a.
setiawan@sms.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan Introduction One of the key moments in the modern Islamic world is the Islamic reform Within its central feature is the notion to get back or return to the purity of Islamic scripture and tradition .
, the Quran and Hadit.
The notions of Islamic reform (IlA.
and renewal (Tajd.
are often defined as an attempt to return the faith, its scripture, doctrines, and understanding to the original state and scrutinise any deviant additions .
However, the adagio of Aoback to the Quran and hadithAo found itself difficult to implement in the modern era.
Nadirsyah Hosen, analysing the term in the Indonesian context, supports this claim by questioning how the return to the sixth-seventh century Arabian lifestyle might cooperate with the twentieth-century problems .
The main objection is that the reform movement originally coined by Abd al-Wahhab focuses on relying on the translation of the Quran and hadith without understanding the context of those texts and the Arabian milieu of the sixthseventh century .
Afterwards, the Islamic reform movement shifted toward the effort to establish contextual studies on the early period of Islam.
One of the prominent fields of study is the interpretation or the tafsir of the Quran.
Current discussions about the interpretation of the QurAoAn are complex and often controversial .
Many scholars debate regarding the locus of the The hermeneutics debate is even more complex.
Burge stated that the meaning is located within the scripture but influenced by the interpretation and understanding of the reader.
However, the process of exegesis entails analysing the words and context of the QurAoAn to derive meaning .
Every single scholar has their own notion regarding this issue.
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, an Egyptian scholar, argues that the scripture itself consists of no fixed meaning but is gradually given meaning through human interpretation.
For him, the Quran changed from its very first moment during the revelation.
The Quran that arrived to us is a human text (Na insA.
and no longer a divine text (Na ilA.
The Quran illuminate no meaning but invites the reader to interpret based on their context.
Thus, the meaning is deeply rooted in the linguistic, historical and cultural context of the interpreter.
Abu Zayd rejected the finality of Quranic meaning and introduced the plurality of interpretation .
Sukidi Mulyadi is a new scholar in Indonesia who graduated from Harvard University.
In the aforementioned debates.
Sukidi jeopardizes the scholarly understanding by problematizing the meaning of the QurAoAn.
Muslims are encouraged to return to the QurAoAn and hadith, what if the QurAoAn in itself has no meaning at all? He came up with the notion that no meaning in the scripture.
Meaning is located in the tradition.
Islamic exegetes throughout history have produced meaning in the QurAoAn.
As he said.
AuTradition is the reservoir of meaning.
Ay The central problem this paper addresses is the tension QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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No Meaning in the QuranA between the slogan AoBack to the QurAoAnAo and SukidiAos radical claim that the QurAoAn itself has no inherent meaning.
This study therefore seeks to answer the following research question: Where does the meaning of the QurAoAn lieAiis it inherently found in the text itself, or in the tradition of interpretationAiand how does SukidiAos radical thought that Authere is no meaning in the QurAoAnAy contribute to the contemporary intellectual debate on the locus of meaning? In this research.
I want to review SukidiAos thoughts and give large pieces of evidence that he After that.
I want to compare his thoughts with many scholars and exegetes and examine his evidence.
Sukidi is the first Indonesian to receive a PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University.
He received two master's degrees, namely from Ohio University .
and Harvard Divinity School.
Harvard University .
received his bachelor's degree from UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
He is known as the son of a peasant in remote Sragen.
Central Java.
Since studying at UIN, he has been very active in writing in various national media, particularly Kompas.
His name was already known as a young intellectual at that time.
Not long afterward he suddenly disappeared.
Not many people know the news.
Apparently, for almost 20 years, he immersed himself in America until he succeeded in obtaining a doctorate from one of the best universities in the world .
After returning from America, he shocked the Indonesian public.
called for a new style of Islamic reform.
He said that previous Islamic reforms, spearheaded by Nurcholis Madjid.
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, and others called for a return to the QurAoAn (Kembali kepada Alqura.
In fact, according to him, there is no meaning in the QurAoAn.
We cannot return to the QurAoAn because the QurAoAn cannot speak by itself.
What must be done to implement the second Islamic reform project is to return to tradition.
The tradition in this case is a tradition of interpretation from the era of the Companions until now.
Sukidi believes that the early community of interpreters was the most authoritative party in producing the meaning of the QurAoAn.
Until now, he continues to write, mainly in Suara Muhammadiyah Magazine, about interpretations of the QurAoAn.
His thesis surpasses what Abu Zayd argues: that the meaning of the QurAoAn produced by various interpreters is not only different but also contradictory.
The dissertation he wrote at Harvard was about the gradual meaning of the QurAoAn.
The title is The Gradual QurAoAn: Views of Early Muslim Commentators.
In writing his dissertation, he was directly supervised by William A.
Graham.
that dissertation, he took three cases.
The first case is a polemic regarding the interpretation of the QurAoAn 17:106 in words "qur'Anan farraqnAhu" or "qur'Anan faraqnAhu".
The first reading means Aua Qur'An that We have divided into piecesAy, while the second reading means Aua Qur'An that We made clearAy.
The second case QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan is Qur'An 25:32, which responds to the request of non-believers to reveal the QurAoAn at one time.
Meanwhile, the third case is Qur'An 53:1-18, which shows a gradual revelation experience.
Method This research uses a qualitative approach and content analysis to reveal Sukidi's thoughts regarding the locus of meaning in the Qur'An.
Qualitative research is used to understand Sukidi's main argument.
Meanwhile, the object of this research will focus on three of Sukidi's articles in Suara Muhammadiyah Magazine, the last three editions in 2023, namely the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th editions.
It is also necessary to compare Sukidi's thoughts with other scholars from both the West and the East.
The research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Sukidi's thought and answer key questions about the locus of meaning in the Quran and contribute to our understanding of the complexity of tafsir studies.
The analysis will be conducted by identifying concepts and arguments in SukidiAos writings.
These arguments will then be compared with perspectives from other scholars to highlight points of convergence and Result and Discussion Studies on Quranic meanings The study of the Quranic meanings is abundant.
Barbara Stowasser .
focused on the journey of Western academiaAos endeavour in defining the Quran and its meaning .
Although Western Quranic scholarship has been advanced with the linguistic approach and historicist erudition, the concept of scripture remains a problem.
Western scholarship in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries studied the seventh-century Arabian context to make sense of the emergence of the Quran and its meaning.
They focused on digging out the source of MuhammadAos idea, which was Jewish and Christian teachings.
It was common in Western scholarship to make sense of Islam by comparing it with Jews and Christianity.
Scholars such as Richard Simon .
8Ae1.
argued that Islam was a mixture of Jews and Christianity.
However.
He did not imply that Islam was a forgery but focused instead on how and why the same customs and beliefs existed across religious boundaries .
,p.
Western scholarship in its search for Quranic meanings is historicist.
The meaning of the Quran lies in its historicity and its origin back to the seventh century of the Arabian Peninsula.
Other scholars focus on the meaning of the term Quran and the concept of Arthur Jeffery .
, still under the influence of the Western historicist QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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No Meaning in the QuranA approach, proposed the concept of Quranic scripture by emphasising the effort of the Prophet Muhammad in shaping and utilising the existing material of Jews and Christians to build scripture for his nascent community .
Jeffery approaches the QurAn primarily as a scripture, analysing it through the lens of religious-political consciousness.
In his view, the QurAn functioned as a foundational instrument for constructing the collective religious identity of the early Muslim community.
The meaning of the QurAn emerges not merely from its textual form, but from its role as scriptureAiguiding and regulating the life of the community.
To explain how the QurAn became meaningful.
Jeffery argues that the Prophet Muuammad actively propagated the divine origin of the QurAn as revelation and asserted its role in correcting the distortions found in earlier sacred scriptures.
For Jeffery, the significance of the QurAn is also reinforced by the perceived contradictions within previous heavenly books, which the QurAn came to rectify.
Jeffery concludes that the meaningfulness of the QurAn as scripture culminates in the Muslim belief in its inimitability .
and divine origin.
Furthermore, the QurAn retains its significance due to its enduring role as a source of guidance and mercy for believers, despite historical criticism and intellectual challenges.
Ultimately, the QurAn is meaningful because it shapes the religious and social life of Muslims across time.
William A.
Graham .
, in his article, questioned the earliest meaning of the Quran .
Filling the previous gap of the scripture concept problem, which was lacking in Western academia.
Graham proposes that for the early Muslim community, the concept of scripture in the Quran was primarily focused on the act of oral recitation.
It is the active recitorial participation in what is socalled scriptural reality that the Quran was meaningful for the early Muslim God wants His servants to hear and recite in their worship.
The Quran, as a scripture, thus gives its meaning through the acts of commitment and recitation at every opportunity.
The existing scholarship on the meanings of the Quran mainly focuses on the meaning of AoQuranicAo terms, the historicist approach, and the discourse of This paper will contribute to this scholarship by presenting a conceptual study of a particular scholarAos thoughts on the meaning of the Quran through the Quranic exegesis discourse framework, highlighting the exegesis debates regarding the meaning of the Quran.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan The Locus of Meaning Is there an inherent meaning in the QS.
Al-Najm .
: 1? Sukidi asked in the opening of his article in the Suara Muhammadiyah Magazine, 22 nd edition AuNo!Ay he answered firmly, his own question.
The majority of QurAoanic commentators interpreted the opening of An Najm Aewa al-najm idhA hawAAe with "by the stars, when they set, when they disappear".
This is a widely accepted meaning, over a long period, and in many parts of the world.
This meaning undergoes a canonisation process so that it can be accepted as a single truth.
On the other hand.
MuqAtil b.
SulaymAn .
, as a mufassir who was neglected by the great mufassir who came after him.
Al-abar, proposed a meaning that was different from the widely accepted orthodox interpretation.
Tafsr MuqAtil b.
SulaymAn he wrote:
Allah swears by the QurAoAn by saying: wa al-najm idhA hawA, meaning .
he descent of the QurAoA.
from heaven to Muhammad Aemay God bless him and give him peaceAe, as God says: No! I swear by the gradual revelation of the QurAoAn (Al-Waqiah .
When the QurAoAn came down, it was revealed in stages: three or four verses, or something similar, and one or two surahs.
Therefore.
Allah swears by the QurAoAn by saying: None of your companions is astray, namely Muhammad, nor is he mistaken.
also didn't tell any lies.
He did not recite this QurAoAn of his own free will.
In his interpretation.
MuqAtil interprets the first verse of Surah An Najm as AuGod swearing by the gradual revelation of the QurAoAnAy.
This, according to Sukidi, has an aspect of novelty that is not commonly found in the orthodox tradition of interpreting the QurAoAn.
MuqAtil is the producer of a new meaning, "God swears by the QurAoAn ", and at the same time provides the context for the revelation of the QurAoAn that occurs in a particular polemic, namely Muuammad's conversation with the unbelievers in Mecca .
As comparison, the early Shiite commentary of this verse, which belongs to Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi .
-920 CE), offered a different meaning.
For him, an-najm means the Prophet Muhammad and idzA hawA refers to the state of the Prophet, who travels through the air during his miraculous journey .
iAora.
The first verse of al-Najm refutes any doubt regarding the event of the spiritual journey of the Prophet to the highest sky .
, p.
In the next edition (Suara Muhammadiyah 23rd 2.
Sukidi wrote the polemic of QS.
An-Najm .
: 11, mA kadhaba al-fuAoAdu mA raAoA.
There are two main interpretations in this verse, namely.
Muhammad PBUH saw Gabriel and Muhammad PBUH saw Allah.
The first interpretation is represented by Ab Muuammad 'Abd Al-aqq b.
'Aiyya .
541/1.
in Tafsr Ibn 'Aiyya: alMuuarrir al-Wajz f Tafsr al-KitAb al-'Aee.
Ibn Aiyya wrote: AuAbd Allah b.
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No Meaning in the QuranA Mas'd.
QatAda b.
Di'Ama, and the majority of scholars argued that the object of the Prophet Muhammad's vision .
l-mar') was Gabriel.
Muhammad saw Gabriel on two different occasions.
Once on earth and once in the sky near sidrat almuntahA on the night of mi'rAj.
Ay Ab al-QAsim Maumd ibn Umar alZamakhshar in his commentary al-KasysyAf, interpret this verse that the prophet was not lying while seeing the shape of Gabriel .
, p.
Meanwhile.
Abd AllAh b.
'AbbAs, a companion who was most familiar with tafsir and was specifically prayed for by the Prophet to be clever in terms of tafsir, gave the interpretation in this verse that Muhammad PBUH saw AllAh.
mentioned three things.
First.
Muuammad PBUH saw Allah.
Second, he saw Allah with his heart.
Third, he saw Allah with his heart twice.
The ability to see God was a special ability given to the chosen Prophet, in contrast to the two previous prophets: IbrAhm and Msa .
AoAli Ibn IbrAhim al-Qummi, in his commentary, propose a very different meaning regarding the verse.
This verse mainly discusses the imamate of Ali, which was given as wahy .
from God to the Prophet Muhammad and that the Prophet did not lie about this revelation that he witnessed himself .
, p.
Sukidi proposed another opinion about Aoseeing GodAo.
In the 2023, 24 th edition of Suara Muhammadiyah Magazine, he wrote that, different from Ibn AoAbbAs, numerous commentators argued that Muhammad PBUH saw God by his They were Anas b.
MAlik .
Al-asan al-Bar .
, and AoIkrima Al-Barbar Al-Bar .
This notion was written by Ab Muuammad Al-usayn b.
MasAod Al-Baghaw .
516/1.
in his book.
MaAoAlim al-Tanzl.
The same comment also came from MuqAtil b.
SulaymAn al-Balkh.
As additional data.
I want to take several examples written by Sukidi in his dissertation at Harvard University.
He wrote about polemics in QS.
IsraAo .
:106, where there are two main models of interpretation in Islam.
The first group read the verse with faraqnAhu, which means "a Qur'An that We made clear/plain".
Meanwhile, the second group reads with farraqnAhu, which means "a Qur'An that We have divided into parts/pieces".
Al-abar, as one of the greatest interpreters of Islam, classified two groups of interpreters with a majority and a minority.
What he calls the majority are interpreters who read with the first reading, faraqnAhu, whose meaning is close to "And a Qur'An that We made certain .
ukamnAh.
, detailed .
aalnAh.
, and clear .
ayyanAh.
Al-abar considers the first interpretation to be the correct interpretation while the second is the wrong interpretation because it cites three early interpretive authorities who he considers preferring the first model of interpretation, namely Ubayy b.
Ka'b .
, 'AbdallAh b.
AoAbbAs .
and al-asan al-Bar.
Therefore, according to Tabari, the second interpretation is invalid.
This was denied by Sukidi, who believed that actually Ibn 'Abbas and Ubayy b.
Ka'b can be included in both groups of interpreters, while al-asan al- QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan Bar mentions the first interpretation in his tafsir, but aims to convey the meaning according to the second interpretation.
As Sukidi wrote:
AuThis exegetical report proves that al-asan al-Bar preferred to read the first form of the verb, faraqnAhu, as having the meaning of the second form, namely as indicating a gradual, piecemeal revelation of the QurAoAn over eighteen years.
Ay.
Apart from the three major interpreters above, there are also other early interpreters who fall into the category that Tabari calls 'minorities', including Sa'id b.
Jubayr.
Ab RajAAo al-AoUArid.
QatAda b.
DiAoAma.
IsmAAol al-Sudd, alasan b.
DinAr.
MuqAtil b.
SulaymAn.
AoAbd al-RaumAn b.
Zayd b.
Aslam, and YauyA b.
Salam.
Meanwhile, medieval commentators who took the same position included Ab al-Layth Nar b.
Muuammad al-Samarqand .
Ab alasan AoAl b.
Aumad al-WAhid .
486/1.
Ab al-QAsim Maumd b.
AoUmar al-Zamakhshar .
538/1.
Ab Muuammad AoAbd al-aqq b.
AoAiyya alAndals .
541/1.
Ab AoAl al-Fasl b.
al-asan al-abris .
548/1.
Fakhr al-Dn Muuammad b.
AoUmar al-RAz .
606/1.
Table 1.
Classification from Al-abar Interpreter al-asan al-Bar 'AbdallAh b.
AoAbbAs Ubayy b.
Ka'b Interpreter al-asan al-Bar 'AbdallAh b.
AoAbbAs Ubayy b.
Ka'b First reading .
araqnAh.
Oo Oo Oo Second reading .
arraqnAh.
Table 2.
Classification from Sukidi First reading .
araqnAh.
Oo Oo Second reading .
arraqnAh.
Oo Oo Oo Where is the locus of meaning? According to Sukidi, the answer is clear.
No meaning in the scripture of QurAoAn because the locus of meaning is located in the exegesis tradition.
Tradition is the reservoir of meaning.
Interpreters .
hl altaAowl.
ahl al-tafs.
, throughout the centuries, have been producing the meaning of the QurAoAn.
The differences, and contradictions, of the meanings is the clear proof that there is no inherent meaning in the scripture.
What plays a central role is not divine revelation, but rather a community of interpreters.
they produce a diversity and contradiction of meaning.
without the role of interpreter, the QurAoAn will forever remain a silent holy book.
Sukidi criticized Islamic reform in Indonesia which called for a return to the QurAoAn.
According to him, returning to the QurAoAn will only end in futility because God does not reveal the meaning in the text of the QurAoAn and the text also does not carry the original meaning desired by God in the process of In An-Najm .
: 11, mA kadhaba al-fu'Adu mA ra'A, for example.
God QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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No Meaning in the QuranA does not provide clear information about who Muhammad saw, whether Allah or Jibril, and with what he saw, whether with eyes or heart.
There is no inherent explanation in the verse.
Referring directly to the QurAoAn does not lead Muslims to clear answers to these two critical questions, because the locus of meaning is not in the QurAoAn, but is in the collective memory of the interpreters of the QurAoAn.
So, the meaning of the QurAoAn is not divinely given, but a humanly constructed Scholarly Debate This issue, certainly, has been debated at length by recent scholars.
The debate about the locus of meaning of the QurAoAn is a sensitive debate and has farreaching implications.
One of the implications is about the sacredness of the QurAoAn.
Needless to say, the QurAoAn is the holy book of more than a billion Muslims throughout the world.
Questioning the sacredness of the QurAoAn means questioning the sacredness of a book that is a guide for Muslims around the Therefore, this debate is interesting and at the same time breaks down the existing status quo in the study of the QurAoAn, especially those carried out by scholars in the Eastern tradition.
Mun'im Sirry, a traditional boarding school student from Madura who is now one of the great QurAoAnic scholars in America, also contributed ideas on this According to him, the location of meaning can be assumed to be in the text, behind the text, or in front of the text.
The meaning in the text .
ext-centered approac.
is when an interpreter attempts to understand the meaning that already exists in the QurAoAn.
The implication is in the interpretation of the interpretation of the QurAoAn with the QurAoAn .
afsr al-QurAoAn bi al- QurAoA.
Meaning can also be found behind the text, namely in the author .
uthorcentered approac.
In this case.
God is considered to have a specific purpose, so that the meaning is not in the text, but in the author's mind.
AsbAb al-nuzl and the life history of the Prophet can be used as sources in this approach, but are not the only things that can describe the meaning of the QurAoAn.
Meanwhile, the last approach means assuming that the location of meaning is in front of the text or the reader .
eader-centered approac.
This approach has implications for the understanding that there is no text without a writer, however, without readers, the text would have no meaning.
So, instead of believing in one particular locus of meaning.
Mun'im Sirry affirms three locus of meaning at once .
Furthermore.
Sirry represents a revisionist scholar who believes that Muslim sources, such as srah and tafsr, cannot be used to reveal the context of early Islam and the revelation of the Qur'An.
Revisionists present a different perspective, arguing that it is problematic to depend solely on conventional sources to recreate early Islamic history.
In fact, we have relatively few written QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan records from the first century of Islam except the Qur'An itself.
A lack of trustworthy contemporary sources is a major issue since the key principle of critical historians is to avoid using materials that are not from the time period of the event they are studying.
Making reference to subsequent Muslim literature explicitly violates this fundamental tenet of the historical-critical method.
Therefore, it makes sense that a large number of modern critical historians have chosen to recreate early Islamic history using non-Muslim extra-Islamic sources, with a focus on histories published closer to the time when Islam first appeared on the global scene such as Biblical literature .
According to this group, the main requirement that must be adhered to by historical writers is to use sources that are contemporaneous with the events they record.
Srah and tafsr literature clearly does not meet this qualification because it was written in a later era.
Muslim sources also often present contradictory information and are often filled with dogmatic biases.
In short, traditional sources are not reliable enough to use to understand the historical context of early Islam and the original meaning of the Qur'An.
To reveal the original meaning of the Qur'An, a scholar should dialogue the Qur'An with the literature that came before it, namely Biblical literature and its exegesis, not with what came after it, namely QurAoanic exegesis, because The Qur'An responds or dialogues with texts that came before it.
Sirry calls this approach revisionist, the antithesis of traditionalist.
Traditionalists, on the one hand, believe that the historical writings of Muslim academics from the classical period can be utilized as a means of reconstructing the history of Islam's formation.
Very few Muslims want to publicly disagree with this viewpoint, which is supported by the majority of Muslim intellectuals, particularly those who reside in the Islamic world.
On the other hand, revisionist academics present a different perspective, arguing that it is challenging to depend solely on conventional sources to recreate early Islamic history.
However, it is incorrect to see the distinction between revisionist and traditionalist as a serious debate.
According to Sirry, the two different techniques have created numerous valuable and important methods to assess the available materials .
In this debate.
Sahiron Syamsuddin came up with the idea of Ma'na-CumMaghza.
In this theory, an interpreter must look for the initial meaning, text, or objective meaning that is understood by the first listener.
After that, the person must contextualize with the world around him.
The ma'na-cum-maghza approach is an exegetical method where one attempts to understand the historical meaning .
a'n.
of a text .
he Qur'A.
as it was originally understood by its audience and to develop its significance .
for the current This technique is similar to the methodical substance of other It's known as the "double movement" approach of Fazlur Rahman.
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No Meaning in the QuranA Abdullah Saeed outlines his "contextualist approach" in his books Interpreting the Qur'an .
and Reading the Quran in the 21st Century .
Nevertheless, it appears that Saeed's contextualist method and Rahman's double movement are limited to the interpretation of Qur'anic legal texts.
However, the ma'na-cummaghza method is meant to be applicable to the entirety of the Qur'an.
This method is predicated on the idea that all texts, including the Qur'anic text, have historical significance that is unique to its environment for the first This is a result of Muhammad receiving the Qur'An in culturally specific Because of this, it is crucial for an interpreter to consider both the text's historical context and the text itself in order to fully get the text's original It is important to analyze the language of the Qur'An in the context of 7th and 1st-century Arabic.
This method is predicated on the idea that all languages have both synchronic and diachronic elements.
The diachronic language component is one that varies periodically, whereas the synchronic component is the one that is constant.
Someone must be aware of how a term, idiom, phrase, and structure develop in order to against misinterpretations of a For instance, the Arabic term ikhlas, which shows the process of purifying something, is subject to change.
The term has a pre-Islamic meaning that describes a secular process of purifying something.
This word can be found in both religious and secular contexts in the Qur'An.
Its meaning is identical to that of tawhid .
he unity of Go.
in the Qur'anic context, where it refers to a monotheistic belief and deed.
The fact that the sra whose verses discuss monotheism is known as sra al-ikhlas provides evidence in favor of this Muslim scholars therefore describe the phrase as the act of directing all good deeds solely toward obtaining God's grace.
It indicates that, while maintaining its fundamental meaning, it has connotations that are pre-Qur'anic and post-Qur'anic .
The next interesting debate, apart from discussing the locus of meaning in the Qur'An, is how Sukidi pays great respect to the early interpreters.
He has at least three reasons.
First, the early tradition of Islamic interpretation is the most important phase in the formation of the meanings of the QurAoAn, which are not single and monolithic, but multivocal and contradictory.
The diverse interpretations within this early tradition opened up creative space for different readings of the QurAoAn and interpretations of its meaning.
Interestingly, the early tafsir books not only record the history of interpretation from the early commentators but also record the traditions originating from memorisers of the QurAoAn .
eciters of the QurAoA.
Second, the early Islamic exegetical tradition formed a community of interpreters spread throughout the Islamic world, so that the interpreters not only carried the text of the QurAoAn in memory but also responded to challenges in various places, with constantly changing situations.
This also makes each QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
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Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri & Ahmad Bayu Setiawan interpreter's interpretation more diverse.
Third, the early Islamic interpretive tradition marked the formation of a new intellectual class after the death of the Prophet Muuammad.
This new class was filled by ulama who were at the forefront of reading the QurAoAn creatively and producing various meanings of the text, without any psychological obstacles due to the Islamic orthodoxy framework that had not yet been formed at that time.
In this pre-orthodoxy phase, various interpretations of the QurAoAn were open, flexible, and relaxed.
Contradictory and sharp differences in interpretation freely and fluidly occur .
Meanwhile, some scholars, for example.
Patricia Crone, are very firm in deconstructing the authority of early scholars.
Rather than confirming what the exegetes remembered.
Crone stated that the exegetical literature indicates what they chose to believe.
The exegetes were no more knowledgeable than we are about the meaning of this sra.
Instead of providing their memory of what Muuammad intended to convey when he spoke these passages, they are providing a lot of speculations based just on the verses themselves.
They did not know the original meaning of those words .
Conclusion Sukidi's thinking, as manifested in the concept of "Back to Tradition," highlights the importance of tradition in forming interpretive models for the contemporary world.
In tradition, meaning lives, develops, and dialogues with each other.
This existing meaning lives without fear of the boundaries of orthodoxy, which has recently become stronger.
This thinking emphasises the importance of understanding and absorbing Islamic intellectual heritage as a means of understanding the meaning of the Qur'an in depth.
In this context, understanding the "locus of meaning" is the key to exploring and appreciating the complexity of meaning in the Islamic tradition.
Sukidi's thoughts invite Muslims to develop insight and awareness of the diversity of interpretations in Islamic history, while understanding that meaning does not lie in sacred texts, but in intellectual dialogue and continuous tradition.
in-depth and ongoing dialogue in understanding the meaning of Islam, as well as offering valuable contributions to the development of contemporary Islamic thought.
To take everything into account, this study reveals that Sukidi's thinking contributes to expanding the discourse on interpretation by emphasizing tradition as the reservoir of meaning.
This study's contribution lies in its effort to highlight the shift in the locus of meaning from text to tradition, while simultaneously opening up a space for discussion about the plurality of interpretations in Islam.
Further studies could be directed at exploring Sukidi's thoughts in other works, or at broader comparisons with Muslim and non- QiST: Journal of Quran and Tafseer Studies.
Vol.
No.
3, 2025
No Meaning in the QuranA Muslim scholars to enrich understanding of the dynamics of Qur'anic interpretation in the modern era.
Author Contributions Yusuf Rohmat Yanuri: Conceptualisation.
Methodology.
Writing Ae review & editing.
Supervision.
Project administration.
Ahmad Bayu Setiawan:
Methodology.
Literature review.
Writing Ae review & editing.
Investigation.
Acknowledgement The author would like to extend sincere appreciation to the editor and anonymous reviewers of the journal for their insightful comments, critical observations, and valuable suggestions regarding the article entitled No Meaning in the Quran: SukidiAos Thought.
Their constructive feedback has been instrumental in refining the arguments, strengthening the methodological framework, and enhancing the overall academic quality of this work.
The author also acknowledges their professional dedication, intellectual engagement, and scholarly guidance throughout the editorial and peer-review process, which have contributed significantly to improving both the clarity and depth of the final version of this article.
Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Funding This research did not receive any financial support.
Bibliography