Critical Rethinking of Mythological Vies to the Qur’anic Stories in the School of Neo-I’tizāl with Emphasis on the View of Khalfullāh

Abstract

Some neo-Mu'tazilite scholars, such as Khalfullāh, have rejected the historical truth of some of the Qur'anic stories and have taken a purely artistic and literary look at the story. Despite the different criticisms of Qur’anic scholars, this article, in order to properly reflect this view, based on library documentary sources and with a critical analytical method, has critically rethought the principles and arguments of Khalfullāh and analyzed examples of myths in Qur’anic stories. Influenced by the principles of the neo-I’tizāl school such as rationalism, scientism and secularism, and influenced by the views of Al-Manār writers on some stories of the Qur'an, Khalfullāh has believed in the mythology of some of the stories of the Qur'an. The principles of Khalfullāh include: the novelty of the mythological stories of the Qur'an in the literary life of Mecca, the firmness of their mythological belief and the non-rejection of this belief in the Qur'an. Some of the important reasons for Khalfullāh's mythology are: myth with literary logic, liberation from Israʼiliyyat in interpretive texts, different repetition of similar stories in the Qur'an, and avoidance of undocumented interpretations.