Revisiting Mun’im Sirry’s Reading of Āli ʿImrān [3]:19 through Maqashidi Tafsir

Abstract

Q.S. Āli ʿImrān [3]:19, particularly the statement inna al-dīna ʿinda Allāhi al-Islām, has become an important subject in debates concerning religious truth, salvation, and the relationship between Islam and other religious traditions. Mun’im Sirry interprets al-Islām primarily in its universal sense of submission and surrender to God, thereby challenging rigid exclusivist interpretations of salvation. However, this universalization raises a methodological question concerning whether the meaning of al-Islām can be detached from its normative reference to the revealed religion brought by Prophet Muhammad. This study aims to reconstruct Sirry’s interpretation of Q.S. Āli ʿImrān [3]:19 and critically reassess it through a tafsir maqāṣidī approach. Employing qualitative library research with a critical-analytical method, the study examines Sirry’s Polemik Kitab Suci, Hamka’s Tafsir al-Azhar, and relevant Qur’anic and exegetical sources, particularly Ibn ʿĀshūr’s al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr, while applying Abdul Mustaqim’s methodological framework of tafsir maqāṣidī. The analysis focuses on Q.S. Āli ʿImrān [3]:18–20 to examine the linguistic, theological, contextual, and maqāṣidī dimensions of al-Islām. The study finds that Sirry’s interpretation contributes to challenging rigid exclusivist readings by emphasizing submission to God as the fundamental meaning of Islam. Nevertheless, Ibn ʿĀshūr’s maqāṣidī interpretation demonstrates that this universal meaning remains connected to Islam as the complete and normative divine guidance revealed through Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the maqāṣidī reassessment does not eliminate the theological normativity of Islam but distinguishes it from social hostility toward other religious communities. The study concludes that Q.S. Āli ʿImrān [3]:19 can be understood through an integrated framework of universal submission, tawḥīd, divine guidance, and normative religious completeness.