ABSTRACT
Parallel texts are those texts that are related to the key messages of a particular Qur’anic text to be interpreted, that exist elsewhere in the Qur’an or in the hadith. While the text being interpreted may appear to communicate a particular message in isolation, when taken together with other similar texts, the interpretation may indicate a significantly different message or messages. Thus a fundamental principle of the contextualist approach to Qur’anic interpretation is to examine not only the verse or verses, which are the direct object of our interpretation, but to consider all of the Qur’anic texts and hadith that are possibly related to these particular verses.
