Problematic Issues in the Revelation of the Qur’anic Text between the Islamic Perspective and Contemporary Debate: An Analytical and Critical Study

Abstract

This study presents an analytical and critical examination of the problematic issues surrounding the revelation of the Qur’anic text in terms of its concept, stages, and interpretation, through a review of both traditional and modern Islamic views, as well as Western Orientalist criticism. The study focuses on analyzing the distinction between nuzūl and tanzīl, between instantaneous and gradual revelation, and between the unseen dimension of revelation and modern historical and textual approaches. It also discusses the most prominent Orientalist hypotheses in this field, such as the theory of the gradual composition of the text, environmental influences, and the historicity of revelation, while offering rational and textual responses to them. The study concludes that the Islamic perspective possesses a coherent interpretive framework that integrates sanctity and gradualism, as well as revelation and lived reality, in contrast to what is proposed by some Western readings.