Decolonizing the Qur’ānic Other
Al-Sāmirī and the Epistemic Authority of Classical Qur’ānic Exegesis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v65i2.7365Keywords:
Decolonial Qur’anic hermeneutics, al-Sāmirī, intertextuality, identity and narrative politicsAbstract
This article examines the figure of al-Sāmirī in the Qur’ānic narrative of the Golden Calf by foregrounding the epistemic authority of classical tafsīr. In verses 20:85–97, the Qur’ān exonerates Prophet Aaron and identifies al-Sāmirī as the agent of deviation. This narrative shift has often been read in Western scholarship through the category of the “Samaritan error”. This article challenges that reading by arguing that the Sāmirī narrative operates within the Qur’ān’s own theological logic, especially its concern with prophetic infallibility and moral accountability. Through an examination of classical exegetical traditions, the article shows that the diversity of explanations regarding al-Sāmirī’s origins reflects hermeneutical flexibility. Classical tafsīr, therefore, should be approached as a tradition of knowledge with its own epistemic autonomy, not merely as historical material for confirming Western literary genealogies. While the name al-Sāmirī bears intertextual resonances with Israelite memory, Jewish-Samaritan polemic, and Late Antique religious debates, classical Muslim interpreters did not systematically turn this figure into a political weapon against living Samaritan communities. Ultimately, al-Sāmirī emerges as a theological figure through whom classical tafsīr negotiates prophetic authority, moral boundaries, and the legitimacy of Qur’ānic interpretation within Islamic intellectual history.
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