Negotiating Locality in Qur'anic Exegesis: Hamka's Stylistic Strategies in Tafsir Al-Azhar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58518/alfurqan.v9i1.5003Keywords:
Local stylistics, Tafsir Al-Azhar, Hamka, Qur'anic exegesis, Indonesian IslamAbstract
The relationship between the universality of the Qur'an and the cultural diversity of Muslim societies has become a major concern in contemporary Qur'anic studies. While numerous studies have examined contextual interpretation, limited attention has been given to how locality is constructed through the stylistic organization of exegetical discourse. This study investigates how Hamka negotiates locality in Tafsir Al-Azhar by examining the stylistic strategies through which Qur'anic meanings are communicated within the Indonesian socio-cultural context. Employing qualitative library research, the study analyzes selected passages of Tafsir Al-Azhar using textual analysis integrated with stylistic and contextual approaches. The analysis focuses on linguistic choices, interreligious discourse, and socio-historical narratives that mediate the relationship between revelation and local realities. The findings reveal three interrelated dimensions of stylistic localization. First, lexical localization utilizes vernacular expressions from Indonesian regional languages to bridge Arabic Qur'anic concepts with local linguistic consciousness. Second, dialogical localization employs interreligious comparisons to explain Islamic monotheism within Indonesia's plural religious landscape. Third, historical localization incorporates Indonesia's collective historical experience, particularly colonial memory, to strengthen the ethical relevance of Qur'anic teachings. These findings demonstrate that locality functions not merely as the background of interpretation but as an internal stylistic mechanism that shapes exegetical discourse. This study proposes Local Stylistics of Qur'anic Exegesis as a new analytical framework, arguing that locality is constructed through lexical, dialogical, and historical mediation rather than simply reflecting socio-cultural context. The proposed framework contributes to contemporary Qur'anic studies by offering a transferable model for analyzing vernacular tafsīr traditions across diverse Muslim societies.
References
Asad, T. (1986). The idea of an anthropology of Islam. Occasional Papers Series. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University.
Azra, A. (2006). Indonesia, Islam, and democracy: Dynamics in a global context. Equinox Publishing.
Badawi, Z., & Mohammed, A. F. (2021). The relevance of Muhammad Abduh's thought in Indonesian tafsir: Analysis of Tafsir Al-Azhar. Millah: Journal of Religious Studies, 21(1), 113–148.
Baker, M. (2018). In other words: A coursebook on translation (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. University of Texas Press.
Bauer, K. (2022). The Qur'an and its readers worldwide: Contemporary perspectives on interpretation. Equinox Publishing.
Bauer, T. (2021). A culture of ambiguity: An alternative history of Islam. Columbia University Press.
Casanova, J. (1994). Public religions in the modern world. University of Chicago Press.
Clooney, F. X. (2010). Comparative theology: Deep learning across religious borders. Wiley-Blackwell.
Clooney, F. X. (2013). Comparative theology and inter-religious dialogue. In C. Cornille (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell companion to inter-religious dialogue (pp. 51–63). Wiley-Blackwell.
Cornille, C. (Ed.). (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell companion to inter-religious dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell.
Cornille, C. (2013). Conditions for inter-religious dialogue. In C. Cornille (Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell companion to inter-religious dialogue (pp. 20–33). Wiley-Blackwell.
Cornille, C. (2013). The im-possibility of interreligious dialogue. Crossroad.
Daneshgar, M. (2020). Studying the Qur'an in the Muslim academy. Oxford University Press.
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Polity Press.
Feener, R. M. (2013). Social engineering through Shari'a: Islamic law and state-directed da'wa in contemporary Aceh. University of Hawai'i Press.
Firdausiyah, U. W. (2021). Modernisasi penafsiran Al-Qur'an dalam Tafsir Al-Azhar karya Buya Hamka. Jurnal Ulunnuha, 10(1), 65–77.
Fitzgerald, T. (2000). The ideology of religious studies. Oxford University Press.
Gusmian, I. (2013). Khazanah tafsir Indonesia: Dari hermeneutika hingga ideologi (Edisi revisi). LKiS.
Hamka. (2015). Tafsir Al-Azhar. Gema Insani.
Hefner, R. W. (2000). Civil Islam: Muslims and democratization in Indonesia. Princeton University Press.
Hodgson, M. G. S. (1974). The venture of Islam: Conscience and history in a world civilization (Vol. 1). University of Chicago Press.
House, J. (2015). Translation quality assessment: Past and present. Routledge.
Jeffries, L., & McIntyre, D. (2010). Stylistics. Cambridge University Press.
Kadir, M. S. M. P., & Abd, K. A. (2024). Kajian metodologi Tafsir Al-Azhar karangan Buya Hamka. Journal of Islamic, Social, Economics and Development (JISED), 9(64), 250–265.
Keane, W. (2007). Christian moderns: Freedom and fetish in the mission encounter. University of California Press.
Kirin, A. (2020). Pandangan Hamka terhadap Pengkajian Ulum Al-Quran dalam Tafsir Al-Azhar. Journal of Advances in Humanities and Contemporary Studies (AHCS), 1(1).
Leech, G., & Short, M. (2007). Style in fiction: A linguistic introduction to English fictional prose (2nd ed.). Pearson Longman.
Martin, R. C. (Ed.). (2004). Approaches to Islam in religious studies. University of Arizona Press.
Menchik, J. (2016). Islam and democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without liberalism. Cambridge University Press.
Messick, B. M. (1993). The calligraphic state: Textual domination and history in a Muslim society. University of California Press.
Mohammad Khoiril Anwar, W., Dozan, W., & Maliki. (2022). Paradigma Tafsir Nusantara. UIN Mataram Press.
Muhammad, M., Mahmudi, Z., Hamdan, A., Alahmadi, F. M. S., & Rusdi, M. (2024). Jewish Antagonism as Portrayed by Hamka in the Book of Tafsir Al-Azhar. Jurnal Ilmiah Islam Futura, 24(02), 513-532.
Pink, J. (2010). Tradition and ideology in contemporary Sunnite Qur'ānic exegesis: Qur'ānic commentaries from the Arab world, Turkey and Indonesia and their interpretation of Q. 5:51. Die Welt des Islams, 50(1), 3–59.
Pink, J. (Ed.). (2019). Muslim Qur'anic interpretation today: Media, genealogies, and interpretive communities. Equinox Publishing.
Rahman, P. (2018). Hermeneutika Al-Qur'an Tafsir Al-Azhar (Analisi Hermeneutis Ayat-ayat Akidah dan Ibadah). Medina-Te : Jurnal Studi Islam, 14(2), 59–72.
Ricci, R. (2011). Islam translated: Literature, conversion, and the Arabic cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia. University of Chicago Press.
Ricoeur, P. (2004). Memory, history, forgetting. University of Chicago Press.
Riddell, P. G. (2001). Islam and the Malay-Indonesian world: Transmission and responses. Hurst & Company.
Saeed, A. (2006). Interpreting the Qur'an: Towards a contemporary approach. Routledge.
Saeed, A. (2013). Reading the Qur'an in the twenty-first century: A contextualist approach. Routledge.
Saleh, W. A. (2010). Preliminary remarks on the historiography of tafsīr in Arabic: A history of the book approach. Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 12(1–2), 6–40.
Saleh, W. A. (2019). The formation of the classical tafsir tradition. Brill.
Shah, M. (Ed.). (2013). The Oxford handbook of Qur'anic studies. Oxford University Press.
Simpson, P. (2004). Stylistics: A resource book for students. Routledge.
Wales, K. (2014). A dictionary of stylistics (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Al Furqan: Jurnal Ilmu Al Quran dan Tafsir
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
2.png)
