Limitation of context in the Qur'anic interpretation

As the historical context of a text gains more leverage in the theories of meaning and interpretation in the West during the modern period; so does the internal and external context of the Quran when judging the validity and authenticity of a Quranic interpretation.. According to these theories it is the "saying" that is the essence of the Quran. In oral texts the other half of the meaning is found in non-textual elements such as the psychological state of the speaker, the environment spoken in, the epistemic levels of the audience and their social and cultural states. By making use of all historical information, the nuzûl period should be reconstructed which in turn would help determine what the first interlocutors understood from the verses. Since the verses can have only a single interpretation, this should also be the meaning that expresses the will of Allah, which is what the first interlocutors understood from the verse. However in reality, this generally accepted modern theory of Quranic interpretation contradicts with the Muslims' general conceptualization of the Qur'an, the foundations of the classical method of interpretation and the various examples of implementation of this classical method. Because according to the understanding of Ahl as-Sunnah, the Quran is not a historical text. It contains several levels of meanings that cannot be consumed and which relates to every era. The Islamic sciences built based on this conceptualization, preserve all kinds of historical information that will help during the process of interpretation. In this sense the Quranic sciences of "esbâb-ı nüzûl" and "Mekkî-Medenî" are especially worth mentioning. However, while benefiting from the historical information provided by these sciences, the classical theory of interpretation does not consider them limiting factors when determining the meaning of the Qur'an. Instead what is taken into consideration is the generality of the word, not the particularity of the reason in the interpretation of the verses. Based on this approach, it can be said that out-of-context translation are used in all Islamic sciences, especially in Fiqh and Kalam. As a matter of fact, Quranic commentaries of thousands of volumes formed throughout the history of Islam is a manifestation of this understanding. On the other hand, there are many issues that have to be addressed before the modern theory of interpreations can be put into practice. First, because the historical data are insufficient in terms of quantity and quality, it is not possible to construct the nuzûl period in a certain manner that will make the context limiting. Therefore what is said about the nuzul period cannot go beyond speculation and thus cannot be binding due to its subjective and uncertain nature. Secondly, while it is extremely difficult to achieve an objective result even in any subject due to the nature of understanding and interpretation, to what extent is it possible to do this for the nuzûl period? It should also be noted that ambiguity and polysemywas supported by the Qur'an-Sunnah and used as an opportunity for the universality of the Qur'an in the classical period. In addition, contextualism built on modernist axioms, like all objectivist theories has an authoritarian character, and therefore ultimately provides the foundations for the idea of the historicity of the Qur'anic rulings. Briefly, in this thesis, it is argued that within the framework of certain principles and conditions, the particle and out of context interpretation of the Qur'an is legitimate and is even mandatory in terms of the universality of the Qur'an.