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      Relationality and the Gadamerian “Horizontverschmelzung”: Khaled Abou El Fadl

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            Abstract

            While the notion of philosophical hermeneutics and its impact on discourses of Islamic law and ethics have been a continuous feature of comparative and religious study in the recent past, this has tended to take the form of theoretical and largely textual hermeneutical readings. This article aims to examine the instances of the occurrence of one particular aspect of the philosophical hermeneutical canon, the Gadamerian notion of horizontverschmelzung, within the work of the contemporary Islamic legal thinker, Khaled Abou El Fadl. In doing so, the article focuses on the way in which the notion of horizontverschmelzung is used by Khaled Abou El Fadl both explicitly, in his textual work, and implicitly, in the performance of his broader methodological project. This dual dynamic is made apparent in his work that aims to engage with debates that are internal to the Muslim community, such as those over the process of the interpretation of the Shari'a, and those that involve the Muslim community's relationship with the West, such as those to do with representation and identity. This dynamic is a vital consideration for the further understanding of contemporary forms of philosophical hermeneutics in the islamicate context and the legal and social work of Khaled Abou El Fadl.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.2307/j50009694
            reorient
            ReOrient
            Pluto Journals
            2055-5601
            2055-561X
            1 October 2020
            : 6
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/reorient.6.issue-1 )
            : 47-64
            Affiliations
            University of Wales Trinity St David a.slater@ 123456uwtsd.acuk
            Article
            reorient.6.1.0047
            10.13169/reorient.6.1.0047
            69981bcb-bbe4-4ad8-a100-5af2da1b82b0
            © 2020 Pluto Journals

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Literary studies,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Philosophy
            philosophical hermeneutics,Horizontverschmelzung,Islamic law,Khaled Abou El Fadl,relation,identity,Islamic ethics,beauty

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