Reactualizing Human Rights Values in the Qur’an and Hadith through Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics for Contemporary Muslim Societies

This study critically reinterprets human rights values embedded in the Qur’an and Hadith through the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur in contemporary Muslim societies. Departing from dominant compatibility-based and apologetic approaches, it reconstructs how human rights meanings are produced, negotiated, and transformed through the interpretation of Islamic texts. Using qualitative interpretive textual analysis, the study examines Qur’anic verses QS. Al-Mā’idah [5]: 32, QS. Al-Isrā’ [17]: 70, and QS. An-Nisā’ [4]: 135, alongside relevant hadiths and classical and contemporary exegetical traditions. Findings reveal a shift from context-bound legal and theological formulations toward broader ethical universality, encompassing the sanctity of life, human dignity, justice, equality, and the protection of fundamental rights. Through Gadamer’s fusion of horizons and Ricoeur’s concepts of distanciation and appropriation, the study explains how sacred texts can be critically reinterpreted in relation to contemporary moral concerns. Distanciation refers to the interpretive distance that allows texts to be examined beyond their original contexts, while appropriation involves readers’ engagement with and application of textual meanings to their present circumstances. Tensions remain between theological foundations and secular human rights frameworks. Rather than treating these tensions as irreconcilable contradictions, the study considers them productive spaces for critical engagement. It advances an integrative hermeneutic approach that positions Qur’anic and hadith texts as dialogical, context-responsive sources of ethical reasoning, contributing to a more critical and non-apologetic discourse on human rights in Islam