The Tafseer of the Qur'an

First Published in Bangsamoro.com

This is an abridged version of the introduction to Dr. Bilal Philip's book entitled "Usool at Tafseer".

The Qur'an, God's final book of revelation to man, represent the primary source of the principles which constitute the way of life known as Islam. The passages of the Qur'an contain advice and guidance in the form of laws, parables, stories, and arguments for those who choose to believe in God and the Day of Judgment. Hence, a believer's success and happiness in this life and the next largely depend on his understanding, internalization, and application of the concepts contained in the book. However, the depth of comprehension of the Qur'an's meanings will vary from individual to individual due to natural differences in intelligence.This variation existed even amongst the Sahaabah , in spite of the Qur'an's clarity of expression and its revelation in the seven different dialects.

Moreover, Allah, the Most Wise, chose to place generalities in the Qur'an, some of which He later explained in its other verses, while he explain only to the Prophet, peace be upon him. The Prophet, peace be upon him, knew and understood the Qur'an completely because Allah had chosen him as its vehicle and explained it all to him.Hence, Allah said in one verse:

"Verily, collecting the Qur'an (for you) and reciting it (to you) is My responsibility, so when I read it to you, listen to it. Then it is upon Me to explain it." Soorah al-Qiyaamah (75):17-19. [Soorah = Chapter]

Therefore, it was the Prophet's job to explain the Qur'an to his followers by his actions, as well as his statements. Allah stated in the Qur'an:"I have revealed the Reminder (Qur'an) to you (O Muhammad) so that you may explain to people what has been revealed to them." Soorah an-Nahl (16):44.Consequently, the Sahaabah all turned to the Prophet, peace be upon him, whenever possible during his lifetime for the tafseer of the Qur'an.

For example, Ibn Mas'ood (a companion/a Sahaabi {pl. Sahaaba} related that when the following verse was revealed:

"Those who believe and do not obscure their faith with transgression (Dhulm), for them there is security, and they are rightly guided," Soorah al-An'aam (6):82.

…some of the companions became distressed, because the general linguistic meaning of Dhulm covers any kind of wrong, major or minor, and none of them were free from error. However, when they approached the Prophet, peace be upon him, about it, he replied,"It is not what you all think. It is no more than what Luqmaan said to his son,

'Verily, shirk (associating partners with God) is the greatest form of Dhulm. Soorah Luqman [(31): 13].

In this incident, the Prophet, peace be upon him, explained the Qur'an by the Qur'an, demonstrating the first step in the divinely ordained method of understanding and interpretation of the Qur'an that was established for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. After the Prophet's death, the Sahaabah turned to those among themselves who were more gifted with understanding the Qur'an and who had been able to spend more time with Prophet peace be upon him for interpretation and explanation of the Qur'an.The Method of TafseerThe Qur'an is the last book of divine revelation sent to man, and Allah has promised to protect it from any distortion or loss. He said in the Qur'an:

"Verily, I have revealed the Reminder (Qur'an) and verily I will preserved it." 15:9

Its written and recited forms have been preserved without even the slightest change for over fourteen hundred years. This cannot be said about the Gospel of Jesus peace be upon him, nor the books of the Old Testament attributed to earlier prophets, nor any other scriptures revealed by Allah. However, Allah's protection of the Qur'an did not stop there; He also safeguarded the original meaning. If the protection of the Qur'an's meaning had not taken place, deviants would have turned the Book of Allah into a jumble of symbols, riddles and codes open to a multiplicity of interpretations, and its original meaning of the Qur'an by explaining some of its generalities within the Qur'an itself and by entrusting the tafseer of the remainder to His messenger, Muhammad ibn Abdillah, peace be upon him, (570 -632 CE).

The Sahaabah were taught to seek their understanding of the Qur'an first from the Qur'an itself, then from the explanations and applications of the Prophet peace be upon him and their own intimate understanding of the language of the Qur'an. After the Prophet's death, those who entered Islam as new converts depended first upon the Qur'an to explain itself, then they depended upon the Sahaabah to explain the Qur'an to them.

The Sahaabah would inform their students among the taabi'oon of the circumstances in which the verses were revealed, the interpretation given by the Prophet's statement and his actions, and finally they would explain the meanings of some words which may have not been familiar or which may have had a different meaning to Arabs outside of Arabian peninsula. With the passing of the era of the Sahaabah, the scholars among the taabi'oon shouldered the grave responsibility of conveying the original meanings of the Qur'an to the next generation of Muslims exactly as they had received them. It was the third generation after the Prophet peace be upon him which began the process of gathering and recording the various narrations of tafseer from the taabi'oon.

From the above-mentioned methodology of the Prophet peace be upon him and his companions and that of the early generations of Muslims Scholars which followed them, the following steps have been deduced by orthodox scholars as being necessary conditions for making correct tafseer of the Qur'an:

1. Tafseer of Qur'an by Qur'an

There are many verses in the Qur'an where questions are asked in order to catch the mind of the reader and subsequently answered to increase the impact of concept in question. In other places, general statements are made and then later explained in order to vary the modes of presentation and encourage readers and listeners to reflect more. This self-explanatory process is referred to as tafseer of the Qur'an by the Qur'an. Allah chose to clarify what he intended by revealing other explanatory verses.

For example, Allah asks,"By the heaven, and by at-Taariq (the Knocker or Night Approacher) - and what will make you understand what at-Taariq is?"He then answers His question in the next verse:"It is a piercing star." 86:1-3

Therefore, before seeking an explanation or interpretation elsewhere, the Qur'an must be relied upon to explain itself, for Allah knows best what He intended.

2. Tafseer of the Qur'an by the Sunnah

On many occasions, the Prophet peace be upon him, added further clarification to various verses of the Qur'an. Allah had entrusted the job of explaining the Qur'an to the Prophet peace be upon him. This trust was expressed in the Qur'an in no uncertain terms,"I have revealed the reminder (Qur'an) to you (O Muhammad) so that you may explain to the people what has been revealed to them."

16:44"I have only revealed the Book to you (O Muhammad) in order that you clarify for them the things which they differ."

16:64The Sahaabah understood this clearly and always turned to the Prophet peace be upon him for clarification whenever they were in doubt about the meaning of any Qur'anic passages. In fact, most of the fine details of Salaah (prayer), Zakaah (poor-due/alms), sawm (fasting), hajj, inheritance laws, etc. were explained either by the Prophet's statements or practical demonstrations and application (This is the meaning of the Sunnah). Thus, the Prophet's explanations of the Qur'anic passages are referred to as the tafseer of the Qur'an by the Sunnah.

For example, on one occasion he recited the verse:"Prepare for them whatever force you are able to." 8:60

He then said,"Verily force is shooting."Because Sunnah was based on guidance from Allah, it represents the second part of God's promise to explain the Qur'an.

3. Tafseer of the Qur'an by Aathar

Whenever the Sahaabah could not find tafseer of a passage of the Qur'an itself or in the Sunnah, they would use their own reasoning based on their knowledge of the contexts of the verses and the intricacies of the Arabic language in which the Qur'an was revealed. Consequently, Ibn Katheer, one of the greatest commentators of the Qur'an, wrote in the preface of his tafseer, "If we were unable to find a suitable tafseer in the Qur'an or in the Sunnah, we go opinions of the Sahaabah. For verily, they knew the Qur’an better than anyone else due to their knowledge of the circumstances of the revelation, their complete and accurate understanding of it, and their righteous deeds.".

These explanations of the Sahaabah are known as tafseer by Aathar (the sayings of the Sahaabah). For example after Ibn Abbas (a Sahaabi [pl. Sahaabah]) recited the verse,"And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, is a kaafir (disbeliever)." 5:44

Ibn Abbas said, "it is a form of Kufr (disbelief) less than real Kufr. However, the tafseer transmitted from the Prophet peace be upon him and the Sahaabah did not cover all the verses of the Qur’an.The Prophet peace be upon him explained only what was unclear to the Sahaabah, and they, in turn explained what was unclear to the taabi'oon. But with each succeeding generation, more areas became unclear due to the evolution of language.

Hence, the taabi'oon had to make further explanation after the passing of the Sahaabah's era. These explanations are considered a part of tafseer by Aathar and should be given precedence over personal opinions where there is unanimity among them. Where they differed, none of their opinions is given preference over the others unless it is supported by language.

4 Tafseer of the Qur'an by language

With the passage of time, words took on new meaning and old meanings became lost, foreign words entered into the language, and vast sections of vocabulary fell into disuse. This natural process necessitated the explanation of some of the Qur'anic words according to their literal and grammatical meanings.In cases where words had more than one meaning, this step created difference of opinion and this could only be solved by finding some support form the Sunnah.

The four above-mentioned methods come under the general title of tafseer bir-riwaayah or tafseer bil-ma'thoor (tafseer based on narration) and, as such, leave little room for argument.Although the fourth step is oftentimes based on narrations from earlier generations, at other times it can be highly opinionated and controversial.

For example, Yusuf Ali translates the word "burooj" used in 85th Soorah as "the Zodiacal signs." While Pickthall translates it as "Mansions of the Stars," but says in his introductions to the Soorah that it "is applied to the signs of zodiac." Thus according to them, Allah is making oath by the zodiacal signs. Some English-speaking Muslims have taken this to be indirect support for astrology. However, "burooj" originally only meant "star configuration," and it was not until later times that it was used to the imaginary figures of the zodiac that pagan Babylonians and Greeks superimposed on them. Astrology has been forbidden by the Prophet peace be upon him in no uncertain terms, as it falls under the general category on visiting fortunetellers. The Prophet peace be upon him said,"Whoever…visits a fortuneteller [and believes in what he says] has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad .

5. Tafseer of Qur'an by Opinion

Opinions based on careful study of the first four steps can be considered valid as long as do not contradict any of those steps. Likewise, the applications of obvious meanings of the Qur'an to existing situations and the formation of conclusions based on their similarities are also allowed, as long as such interpretations do not clash with authentic classical explanations. But free interpretations based on philosophical, scientific, or sectarian ideas is totally forbidden. The Prophet peace be upon him was reported to have said:"Opinion-based argument about the Qur’an is Kufr." He repeated it three times, then said, "What you know of it, act upon; and what you ignorant of, refer it to one who knowsThus the only acceptable tafseer is that which adheres to the following sequence; tafseer of Qur'an by the Qur'an, then by the Sunnah, then by the saying of the Sahaabah, then by language, and finally by opinion, as long as it is based on the preceding four methods and does not contradict any of them.

1. Tafseer = Interpretation/Understanding/Explanation
2. (companions of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)
3. This hadeeth can be found in Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, p.72, no.226.
4. (Sahih Muslim, vol. 3, p. 1060, no. 4711).
5. [Collected by al-Haakim, vol. 2, p. 313].6 . [Collected by at-Tirmidhee and Ibn Maajah. Authenticated by al-Albaanee in Shaeeh-Sunan Abee Daawood, vol. 2, p. 739, no. 3304].7. [Collected by Ahmad. Authenticated by al-Albaanee in Silsilah Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah, vol. 4. Pp. 26-28.