A Critical Study of Armstrong's View on Myth in the Qurʾān with an Emphasis on the Phenomenological Approach

Myth in the Quran is one of the topics that has been studied by western Qurʾānic scholars. The new studies of Western scholars have investigated this issue with different approaches and methods, sometimes with a contextual approach and sometimes with a phenomenological approach. In the meantime, Karen Armstrong, using the principles and characteristics of the phenomenological approach, has studied the myth in religions, especially in Islam and the Qurʾān. She considers all the events mentioned in the holy books of the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions to be myths, although there may be historical events behind them, but over centuries this historical event has become the source of religious inspiration and the center of religious spirituality. To transform and enter the lives and hearts of believing and worshiping generations, it must be recreated in the form of a myth along with actions and rituals. Karen Armstrong is a British author and commentator who has written many works in the field of Islam and the Quran. The comparative and phenomenological approach to religion is one of the main characteristics of her works. Like other mythologists, she introduces myth as an event that once happened in some way, but at the same time always happens. According to her, an event should be freed from the shackles of a certain period and enter the lives of contemporary worshipers, because otherwise it will remain a unique and unrepeatable event, or a strange historical event that does not connect with the lives of others. In other words, the key point of the view of this group of orientalists about the relationship between myth and historical event can be summarized in the following sentence: "As long as a historical event has not become a myth, it cannot become a source of religious inspiration." As the title and content of this research indicate, the subject matter pertains to Karen Armstrong's phenomenological approach to Quranic narratives and their relationship to the concept of myth. The research aims to not only compare her perspective with the methodological principles of phenomenology but also to critically evaluate it. Previous studies on this topic can be broadly divided into two categories: Western studies on myth in the Quran and Islamic studies that critique Western scholars' views on this issue. The research in the first category constitutes the primary sources for this research, along with other critical studies among the various critiques offered by Muslim scholars; the contextual approach employed by Western scholars has received particular attention. This approach has been extensively discussed by scholars such as Angelika Neuwirth in the Encyclopedia of the Quran. In response, several articles have been written critiquing and examining this perspective. But the analysis of Armstrong's point of view based on phenomenological approach is a subject that has been rarely discussed and this research can be considered one of the initial critical studies in this regard. In contrast to Western scholars, Muslim scholars and exegetes have primarily focused on the concept of "Asāṭīr al-Awwalīn" (اساطیر الاولین) when addressing the issue of myth in the Quran. They have sought to explain this concept within the Quranic framework. The majority of Muslim exegetes define Asāṭīr as the writings of the ancients about their own lives, including their history, speeches, stories, and events. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. ۱۲۰۹ CE) identifies this definition as the view held by the majority of exegetes. However, what is studied under the title of myth in the western Qurʾānic studies has other criteria and indicators that are determined by contextual and phenomenological approaches. Using library sources and descriptive-analytical method, this article aims to examine Armstrong's view of myth in the Quran by emphasizing the methodological principles of the phenomenological approach and evaluate it in the form of a case study. The principle of autonomy or independence, which expresses the uniqueness of the realm of the sacred and its experience, is one of the most important methodological principles of the phenomenological approach. Emphasizing this principle, Armstrong considers the language and realm of the Qurʾān to be different from the language and realm of experimental and social affairs, and this is where she finds her way to mythological or symbolic language. Relying on the comparative method, which is one of the methodological principles of the phenomenological approach, Armstrong compares Islam and Christianity and, in this way, pays attention to the character of Jesus and the mythological issues created by Paul. She tries to present a view similar to her own view of Christianity by presenting three introductions: The Prophet being the successor of Christ, the Qurʾān's non-opposition to myth and the moral function of the stories of the Qurʾān. In this way, the Quran, by presenting a mythological image of the Prophet of Islam and other prophets, tries to bring these characters out of the confinement of those times and places and repeat them for all ages. In addition to the criticisms that were expressed regarding the symbolic nature of the language of the Quran and the effectiveness of a belief in the lives of believers as a criterion of truth, Armstrong's comparison between the Prophet of Islam and the Jesus has been criticized.

Keywords:

Qurʾān , myth , Armstrong , Phenomenology , Idea of the Holy