On Saturday and Sunday, October 17–18, 2026, an academic symposium titled “Reinterpreting the Quran in the 21st Century” was held at the Gür-Kent Hotel in Ankara, organized by the Research Institute for Philosophical Foundations of Disciplines, with the participation of 45 scholars from both Turkey and abroad. The meeting addressed a wide range of topics, including the nature, meaning, interpretation of the Quran; the possibilities and limits for innovation in tafsir (exegesis); the ontology and epistemology of the Quranic text; and approaches to Holy Scriptures in the Quran. Discussions also covered the interpretation of Quranic verses concerning women, the historicity and historicality of revelation, its normative provisions, the importance of collaborative scholarly inquiry in interpretation, the challenges of excessive objectivism or subjectivism, and the concept of the Prophet’s ismet (infallibility/divine protection from sin). Furthermore, the meeting examined issues such as justice in the distribution of inheritance and provided a critical assessment of the views on the Quran held by various persons—including Abdolkarim Soroush, Javadi Amoli, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Fazlur Rahman, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, Youssef Al-Siddiq, Abdullah Saeed, Said Şimşek, Salih Akdemir, M. Öztürk, and M. Demirci—while also exploring the *i‘jaz* (inimitability) of the Quran, its use of metaphors, and the interpretation of verses pertaining to criminal law.
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