Izutsu Toshihiko’s Semantic Method of Qur’anic Studies: Criticism and Legacy
https://doi.org/10.55105/2687-1440-2025-54-194-217
Abstract
Toshihiko Izutsu (1914–1993) was an eminent Japanese scholar of Islamic studies whose academic legacy in the field encompasses Qur’anic studies, philosophy, theology, Sufism, history, and cultural studies. The article traces his intellectual trajectory from studying Arabic to his emergence as a worldclass Islamicist. Its primary focus is the core of his scholarly contribution – his methodological innovations in Qur’anic semantics. Central to this examination is the original semantic method developed by Izutsu, grounded in the works of Western linguists (W. von Humboldt, B. L. Whorf, J. L. Weisgerber, E. Sapir). Professor Izutsu proposed novel perspectives for analyzing the Qur’an through the study and immersion into its “linguistic worldview” (Weltanschauung). The work provides a detailed analysis of Izutsu’s method as expounded in his seminal works God and Man in the Koran (1964) and Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an (1966, new edition 2002), encompassing the analysis of dynamic “semantic fields” within Qur’anic vocabulary (e.g., kufr, islām, īmān) in their pre-Islamic context and their evolution during the Revelation; the investigation of the historical transformation of key ethicо-religious terms’ meanings; and the study of the intrinsic connection between linguistic structures and the formation of the unique religious worldview of Qur’an. Criticism of Izutsu’s methodology is also presented, including positive critique from Abd al-Rahman Hilali and Samir Rashwani (University of Aleppo), alongside negative critique from Seyyed Hamidreza Mirazimi (School of Islam and Islamic Thought, University of Tehran), Afrasiyab Salehi, and Mohalad Naji Kamil (University of Thi-Qar, Iraq). The study concludes with examples of the contemporary application of Izutsu’s method to the analysis of the Qur’anic terms istiwā and saff.
About the Author
L. S. Kulieva
Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS
Россия
Россия
Kulieva Leyla Shahin kyzy, Research Assistant, Associate
12 Rozhdestvenka St., Moscow 107031
References
1. Al-Akoub, E. (2012). Izutsu’s Study of the Qur’an from an Arab Perspective. Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 14, 107–130.
2. Albayrak, I. (2012). The Reception of Toshihiko Izutsu’s Qur’anic Studies in the Muslim World: With Special Reference to Turkish Qur’anic Scholarship. Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 14 (1), 73–106.
3. Danilenko, V. P. (2009). Yazykovaya kartina mira v teorii L. Vaisgerbera [Linguistic Worldview in the Theory of Weisgerber L.]. Filologiya i chelovek, 1, 7–17. (In Russian).
4. Hirao, K. (2004). Izutsu Toshihiko bunko mokuroku wakansho yōsho no bu kō [Toshihiko Izutsu Library Catalog: Japanese, Chinese, and Western Books Sections]. Tokyo: Keio University Library. (In Japanese).
5. Inoue, T. (2024). Kindai Nippon niokeru Isura-Mu shinpi shugi e no manazashi [A Look at Islamic Mysticism in Contemporary Japan]. Tokyo: Mineruba. (In Japanese).
6. Izutsu, T. (1964). God and Man in the Koran. Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistics Studies.
7. Izutsu, T. (2002). Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an. Montreal: McGill University Press.
8. Izutsu, T. (1971). The Concept and Reality of Existence. Tokyo: Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies.
9. Izutsu, T. (1994). Creation and the Timeless Order of Things: Essays in Islamic Mystical Philosophy. Ashland: White Cloud Press.
10. Kamada, S. & Kobayashi, H. (2002). Islamic Studies – Toward the Depth of a Civilization. Orient, 56 (1), 45–67.
11. Kamil, M. N. (2025). A Review Study: Critique and Review of Izutsu’s Qur’anic Semantic Methodology. Manar Elsharq Journal for Literature and Language Studies, 3 (1), 36–42.
12. Krämer, H. M. (2014). Pan-Asianism’s religious undercurrents: The reception of Islam and translation of the Qurʾān in twentieth century Japan. The Journal of Asian Studies, 73 (3), 619–640.
13. Khalil, A. (2023). Remembering Toshihiko Izutsu: Linguist, Islamicist, Philosopher in the Islamic Thought and the Art of Translation. Brill. Islamic History and Civilization, 202, 528-550.
14. Krummel, J. W. M. (2019). Comparative Philosophy in Japan: Nakamura Hajime and Izutsu Toshihiko. The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Philosophy (pp. 543–562). NYC: Oxford University Press.
15. Kulieva, L. Sh. (2024). “Religiya pustyn’”: islam v Yaponii s XIX v. do nashikh dnei [“Desert Religion”. Islam in Japan From the 19th Century to the Present Day]. Yearbook Japan, 53, 243–264. (In Russian).
16. Miller, R. L. (1968). The Linguistic Relativity Principle and Humboldtian Ethnolinguistics: A History and Appraisal. The Hague: Mouton.
17. Mirazimi, S., Salehi, A. (2021). Quranic lexical semantics of Izutsu and ʻAllāmah ṭabātabāʼī: a comparative appraisal. Miscelánea de Estudios Árabes y Hebraicos Sección Árabe-Islam, 72, 117–131.
18. Muzaqqi, M. (2016). Semantic Approaches in Islamic Studies; The Review of Toshihiko Izutsu’s Thought. Pedagogik; Jurnal Pendidikan, 4, 45–53.
19. Nakamura, K. (2009). The Significance of Toshihiko Izutsu’s Legacy for Comparative Religion. Intellectual Discourse, 17 (2), 147–158.
20. Nishida, K, Kimura, F. (2023). In Her Words: A New Translation of the Quran Into Japanese (Interview). International Quarterly for Asian Studies (IQAS), 54 (4), 355–361.
21. Nugroho, K., Meliasani, R. A. (2025). The Meaning of Shaffa in the Qur’an: Semantic Analysis Based on Toshihiko Izutsu’s Thought. AL-AFKAR: Journal for Islamic Studies, 8, 845–864.
22. Nur, A. M. (2024). Al-Qur’an Semantic Study: The Word Istiwa’ Perspective of Toshihiko Izutsu. ARRUS Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 4 (5), 622–630.
23. Pamugari, A. (2021). Semantic Approach on Toshihiko Izutsu’s Translation of Surah Al-Alaq (96:1–19): Comparison of 3 Qur’an in Japanese Translation. IZUMI, 10 (2), 389–397.
24. Sapir, E. (1963) The Status of Linguistics as a Science. In Selected Writings of Edward Sapir in Language, Culture and Personality (pp. 160–167). Berkeley: University of California Press.
25. Sawai, M. (2010). Izutsu’s Hermeneutical Perspectives of the Qur’anic Interpretation. In Japanese Contribution of Islamic Studies: The Legacy of Toshihiko Izutsu Interpreted (pp. 99–110). Kuala Lumpur: IIUM Press.
26. Schlesinger, I. M. (1991). The Wax and Wane of Whorfian Views. In The Influence of Language on Culture and Thought: Essays in Honor of Joshua A. Fishman’s Sixty-Fifth Birthday (pp. 7–45). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
27. Wakamatsu, E. (2014). Toshihiko Izutsu and the Philosophy of Word: In Search of the Spiritual Orient. Tokyo: Keio University Press.
28. Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings. Ed. by John B. Carroll. Camdridge, MA: MIT Press.
Review
For citations:
Kulieva L.S. Izutsu Toshihiko’s Semantic Method of Qur’anic Studies: Criticism and Legacy. Yearbook Japan. 2025;54:194-217. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.55105/2687-1440-2025-54-194-217
Views:
139
JATS XML
Email this article 