Recontextualizing Tafsīr Lughawī: Bridging Linguistic Depth and Contemporary Qur’anic Interpretation
Abstract
This study examines Tafsīr lughawī as one of the styles of Qur’anic interpretation that emphasizes a linguistic approach. This interpretive style emerged from an awareness of the importance of understanding the Qur’an through Arabic linguistic tools encompassing grammar, semantics, and rhetoric. The main purpose of this study is to comprehensively describe the definition, historical development, various types, characteristics, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of Tafsīr lughawī, along with the authenticity and significance of Tafsīr works that adopt the linguistic approach. This research employs a qualitative method using a library research approach, based on various classical and contemporary Tafsīr literatures. The findings show that Tafsīr lughawī significantly contributes to exploring the meanings of Qur’anic verses in depth through linguistic analysis. However, this approach also has limitations, particularly in the contextualization of social, historical, and maqāṣidī dimensions. Therefore, integration between Tafsīr lughawī and other approaches is essential to achieve a more complete and relevant understanding of the Qur’an in accordance with contemporary dynamics.
References
Abubakar, Rifa’i. Pengantar Metodologi Penelitian. SUKA-Press UIN Sunan Kalijaga, 2021. google
Aḥmad, Qāḍī Shihāb al-Dīn. Ḥāsyiyah Al-Shihāb ʿalā Tafsīr al-Baiḍāwī. Vol. 2. Dār al-Kitāb, 1997. google.
Akbar, Muchammad Fariz Maulana, and Muhammad Rijal Maulana. “Kajian Historisitas Tafsir Lughowi.” Jurnal Iman Dan Spiritualitas 2, no. 2 (2022): 2. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v2i2.18349.
Andalusī, Abū Ḥayyān al-. Baḥr Al-Muḥīṭ. Vol. 1. Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1993. google.
_____________________________. Baḥr Al-Muḥīṭ. Vol. 8. Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1993. google.
Anwar, Rosihon. “Lughawī Tafsīr Ḥāsyiyah Al-Ṣāwī: Kajian Kritis Atas Tafsīr al-Jalālayn.” Al-Bayan: Jurnal Studi Ilmu Al-Qur’an Dan Tafsir 5, no. 2 (2020). https://doi.org/10.15575/al-bayan.v5i2.10013.
Baiḍāwī, al-Baiḍāwī al-. Tafsīr Anwār Al-Tanzīl Wa Asrār al-Ta’wīl. Vol. 4. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah al-Kubrā, tth. google.
Ðahabī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Ittijāhāt al-Munḥarifah Fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm: Dawāfiʿuhā Wa Ḍaʿfuhā. Dār al-Iʿtiṣām, 1978. google.
Edi, Edi, and Maolidya Asri Siwi Fangesty. “Tafsir Lughawi: Historisitas Dan Perdebatannya.” Jurnal Iman Dan Spiritualitas 3, no. 4 (2023): 4. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v3i4.31248.
Erdy, Muhammad. “The Origins, Theories, and Linguistic Development of the Qur’an.” Jurnal Kajian Islam 2, no. 1 (2025): 13–22. https://doi.org/10.56566/jki.v2i1.300.
Fāris, Abū al-Ḥusain Aḥmad bin. Maqāyīs Al-Lughah. Vol. 4. Dār al-Fikr, tth. google.
Firdaus, Muhammad Ichwan, and Muhammad Miftah Surur. “Tafsir Lughawi: Sejarah, Batasan, Dan Polemik Penafsiran.” Jurnal Syntax Imperatif : Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Pendidikan 5, no. 6 (2025): 6. https://doi.org/10.36418/syntaximperatif.v5i6.566.
Imadudin, Ihsan, and Aini Qurotul Ain. “Kategorisasi Tafsir Dan Problematikanya Dalam Kajian Kontemporer.” Jurnal Iman Dan Spiritualitas 2, no. 3 (2022): 381–88. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v2i3.18692.
Isfahānῑ, Muhammad ‘Alῑ al-Riḍā’ῑ al-. Durūs Fῑ Al-Manāhij Wa al-Ittijāhāt al-Tafsῑriyah Li al-Qur’ān. Markaz al-Muṣṭafā, tth. google.
Juwaynī, Muṣṭafā al-Ṣāwī al-. Manāhij Fī Al-Tafsīr. Mansyā’ah al-Maʿārif, tth. google.
Khalil, Atif. Remembering Toshihiko Izutsu: Linguist, Islamicist, Philosopher. Brill, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004529038_027.
Laila, Rizka Nurul, Nailussyifa’ Ahmad Nasrulloh, and Noor Maulida Fauziyyah. “Kontribusi Al-Bahr Al-Muhith Pada Ilmu Tafsir.” Minaret Journal Of Religious Studies 2, no. 2 (2025): 2. https://jim.iainkudus.ac.id/index.php/MINARET/article/view/4123.
Lane, Andrew. A Traditional Mu’tazilite Qur’ān Commentary: The Kashshāf of Jār Allāh al-Zamakhsharī (d.538/1144). BRILL, 2005. google.
Mahdy, Widyanto Naufal. “Tafsir Lughawi Dalam Perspektif Sejarah.” Jurnal Iman Dan Spiritualitas 3, no. 4 (2023): 4. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v3i4.31327.
Mir, Mustansir. Coherence in the Qur’an. The Other Press, 2011. google.
Murni, Dewi. “Tafsir Dari Segi Coraknya Lughawi, Fiqhi Dan Ilmiy.” Syahadah: Jurnal Ilmu al-Qur’an Dan Keislaman 8, no. 1 (2020): 55–92. https://ejournal.fiaiunisi.ac.id/index.php/syahadah/article/view/267.
Mustafa*, Muhammad Faiz an ul, Dr Muhammad Raghib Hussain, and Dr Okan Dogan. “Exploring the Necessity, Types, and Conditions of Divine Revelation.” GUMAN 6, no. 3 (2023): 3. https://doi.org/10.63075/guman.v6i3.853.
Putriyani, Siti Nur Umdati, and Ira Nazhifatul Qalbah. “Menyingkap Polemik Historisitas Tafsir Corak Lughawi.” Jurnal Iman Dan Spiritualitas 3, no. 1 (2023): 1. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v3i1.21802.
Qurṭubī, Abī ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad bin Aḥmad al-Anṣārī al-. Al-Jāmiʿ Li-Aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Vol. 1. Dār Kutub al-ʿArab, 2003. google.
Rashwan, Hany. “Editor’s Introduction: Beyond Arabic in Premodern Islamic Worlds.” Postmedieval 15, no. 3 (2024): 605–30. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-024-00339-w.
Saleh, Walid A. “Preliminary Remarks on the Historiography of Tafsīr in Arabic: A History of the Book Approach.” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 12, nos. 1–2 (2010): 6–40. https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2010.0103.
Shihab, M. Quraish. Membumikan Al-Quran: Fungsi dan Peran Wahyu dalam Kehidupan Masyarakat. Mizan Pustaka, 2007. google.
Sulaimān, Musāʿid bin. Al-Tafsīr al-Lughawī Li al-Qur’ān al-Karīm. Dār Ibn al-Jawzī, tth. google.
Syurbasyi, Ahmad. Sejarah Perkembangan Tafsir Al-Qur’an al-Karim. Kalam Mulia, 1999. google.
Tamer, Georges. Qurʾānic Hermeneutics in the 19th and 20th Century. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2023. google.
Taufiq, Ahmad Kamil, and Deswanti Nabilah Putri. “Telaah Metodologis Kitab Tafsir Al-Bahr Al-Muhith Karya Abu Hayyan Al-Andalusy.” Definisi: Jurnal Agama dan Sosial Humaniora 2, no. 1 (2023): 1. https://doi.org/10.1557/djash.v2i1.29408.
Żahabī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Tafsīr Wa al-Mufassirūn. Muṣʿab bin ʿUmar al-Islāmiyyah, 2004. google.
Zamakhsyarī, al-Zamakhsyarī al-. Tafsīr Al-Kasysyāf ʿan Ḥaqā’iq al-Tanzīl Wa ʿUyūn al-Aqāwīl Fī Wujūh al-Ta’wīl. Vol. 6. Al-Maktabah al-ʿAbikān, 1998. google.
ʿAk, Khālid ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-. Uṣūl Al-Tafsīr Wa Qawāʿiduhū. Dār al-Nafā’is, 1982. google.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ishfi Mufhimatul Uliyah, Abd. Kholid

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.