Mårtensson/Divine Covenant, 6. The Disciplines and ‘the Scientific Qurʾān’

In Chapter 6, I turn to the Islamic disciplines themselves, selecting linguistics, Prophetic tradition (ḥadīth), political science (siyāsa) and administration (tadbīr), history (taʾrīkh), exegesis (tafsīr), jurisprudence (fiqh), and systematic theology (kalām). In the first part of the chapter, the aim is to show how the topics and concepts related to constitution and social contract are treated within each discipline, with examples from the early and medieval period. The analysis thus tests al-Suyūṭī’s assertion, exploring whether each discipline has corresponding method-related concepts in the Qurʾān, and whether the scholars refer Qurʾānic concepts to topics related to constitution and social contract. In the second part of the chapter, I focus on two scholars from the period 1600–1700, showing how they employ Qurʾānic concepts to develop their critiques of current discourses within the schools of philosophy, theology, and law. They serve here as bridges, connecting the medieval and modern periods.