On October 17–18, 2026, an international symposium titled “Reinterpreting the Qur’an in the 21st Century” was hosted by the Research Institute for the Philosophical Foundations of Disciplines at the Gürkent Hotel in Ankara. The event brought together 45 scholars from Turkey and abroad.
The symposium addressed a broad range of themes. On the one hand, it explored the nature of revelation, its meaning, and the interpretation of the Quranic text; on the other hand, it examined the possibilities and limits of innovation in tafsir (Quranic exegesis), as well as the ontology and epistemology of the Quran. Scholars also investigated Quranic approaches to holy scriptures and the interpretation of verses concerning women, while debating the historicality of divine revelation and its normative provisions.
Further topics included the importance of collaborative scholarly interpretation of the text, the challenges posed by extreme objectivism and subjectivism, the concept of prophetic immunity (‘ismah), and the principles of justice in inheritance distribution. In addition, participants critically evaluated the works of authors such as Abdolkarim Soroush, Javadi Amoli, Hossein Nasr, Fazlur Rahman, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, Youssef Al-Siddiq, Abdullah Saeed, Said Şimşek, Salih Akdemir, Mustafa Öztürk, and Muhsin Demirci, while also examining the Quran’s miraculous inimitability (i‘jaz), metaphorical language, and verses pertaining to criminal law.
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