Part 2: The Quran-only Approach

Throughout my Christian life, I often heard that the Bible needs to be interpreted with the Bible. This is another way to say that only God’s Word as found in the biblical text is authoritative, captured in the protestant concept of sola scriptura, or Scripture alone. Seeing scripture as the ultimate authority for the Christian walk with God challenged the approach of Catholic interpretation, which draws upon both tradition and ecclesiastical authority for understanding the Bible.

It might be surprising for Christians to learn that a parallel issue has been pervasive in the interpretation of the Quran. From the 7th century onwards, several groups of Muslims have arisen to challenge the idea of interpreting the text of the Quran through the life of Muhammad. These Quran-only movements persist today and are part of the diversity of approaches to understanding Muslim life and the interpretation of Islam’s holy book.

The near-consensus among academic and traditional religious scholars of Islam is to interpret the context of the Quran through the life of the Prophet Muhammad. A.J. Droge, in his translation and commentary of the Quran (The Quran: A New Annotated Translation, 2013), attempts to throw light on an approach that interprets God’s word by God’s word. Islam, too, has dealt with its sola scriptura moments. Droge challenges that use of the biography of Muhammad to understand the Quran’s often-times complex text and meaning, arguing that the Quran nowhere asks for such an interpretation. In fact, the Quran only uses the name Muhammad four times, and without the biography of Muhammad, it’s not even clear whether Muhammad was the one whom the angel Gabriel dictated the Quran.

To make matters more complex …

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