Pribumisasi Makna Al-Qur’an dalam Tafsir Vernakular: Analisis Hermeneutika Gadamer atas al-Ibrīz dan Raudatul ‘Irfān pada Horizon Jawa–Sunda

Abstract

This study aims to identify, describe, and compare strategies of indigenizing interpretation (pribumisasi) in two vernacular Qur’anic commentaries (tafsir) from the Indonesian archipelago, namely al-Ibrīz li Ma‘rifati Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azīz (Javanese horizon) and Raudatul ‘Irfān fi Ma‘rifat al-Qur’an (Sundanese horizon), with particular attention to how locality operates as a mechanism of understanding that mediates between the horizon of the text and the horizon of the reader. The research employs a qualitative-interpretive design grounded in textual analysis and hermeneutics, using documentation study and close reading of four units of analysis (J1: Q. an-Nūr [24]:27; J2: Q. al-Qaṣaṣ [28]:70; S1: Q. al-Baqarah [2]:217; S2: Q. al-‘Ankabūt [29]:41). Findings are analyzed through categorization across three comparable dimensions and operationalized through Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutical framework (the text–reader horizon relation, pre-understanding, tradition/authority, effective history, and the fusion of horizons). The results show that al-Ibrīz grounds meaning through the social-ethical diction kulo nuwun and the relational–hierarchical metaphor sowan, employing a dialogical-procedural pedagogical style, whereas Raudatul ‘Irfān foregrounds local calendrical diction (Hapit–Rayagung) and local fauna metaphors (lancah/ramat lancah), reinforced by descriptive elaborations of nature in an explanatory mode. In terms of implications, these findings underscore the need for follow-up actions in the domains of tafsir curricula (integrating Tafsir Nusantara as a hermeneutical case-study module), editorial standards (mandatory glossaries and paratexts for cultural terms), da‘wah/educational strategies (controlled use of local equivalents accompanied by explicit textual-meaning boundaries), and the digitalization of annotated editions to broaden cross-community access. The originality of this study lies in its comparison of two cultural horizons (Javanese–Sundanese) within a single analytical design using an equivalent-dimensional matrix, its deployment of Gadamer as an “analytical engine” to trace meaning-formation processes systematically through specific textual units, and its reading of indigenization as a communicative-interpretive strategy balanced by a critical reflection on the risks of dysfunction.