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Methods of Tafseer

The Al-Quraan is the last book of Divine Revelation sent to man and Allah has promised to protect it from any distortion or loss. Allah said in the Quraan,

Verily, We have revealed the Reminder (Al-Quraan) and verily We will preserve it [Al-Quraan 15:9].

Its written and recited forms have been preserved without even the slightest change for over fourteen hundred years. This can not be said about the Gospel (Injeel) of Prophet Jesus (alaihi salaam) not the books of the Old Testament attributed to earlier prophets (alaihimus salaam). However, Allahs protection of the Al-Quraan did not stop there; He also safeguarded the original meaning. If the protection of the Al-Quraans 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 would have been lost. Allah preserved the meaning of the Al-Quraan by explaining some of its generalities within the Al-Quraan itself and by entrusting the Tafseer of the remainder to His final messenger, Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

The Sahaabah (companions), radiallahu anhum, were taught to seek their understanding of the Al-Quraan first from the Al-Quraan itself then from the explanations and applications of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and from their own intimate understanding of the language of Al-Quraan. After the Prophets death (alaihi salaat wa salaam), those who entered Islam as new converts depended first on the Al-Quraan to explain itself then they depended on the Sahaabah (radiallahu anhum) to explain the Al-Quraan to them. The Sahaabah (radiallahu anhum) would inform their students among the Taabeoon of the circumstances in which the verses were revealed, the interpretation given by the Prophets (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) statements and his actions. Finally they would explain the meanings of some words which may not have been familiar or which may have had a different meaning to Arabs outside of the Arabian Peninsula.

With the passing of era of the Sahaabah (radiallahu anhum), the scholars among the Taabeoon shouldered the grave responsibility of conveying the original meanings of the Al-Quraan to the next generation of Muslims exactly as they had received it. And, it was this next generation, which began the process of gathering and recording the various narration of Tafseer from the Taabeoon.

From the above mentioned methodology of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and his companions and of the early generations of Muslim scholars which followed them, the following points have been deduced by scholars as
being the correct steps for making correct Tafseer of the Al-Quraan.

1. Tafseer of Al-Quraan by Al-Quraan:

There are many places in the Al-Quraan where questions are asked and subsequently answered in order to catch the mind of the reader and to increase the impact of the 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 Al-Quraan by Al-Quraan. is, Allah chose to clarify what He intended by revealing other explanatory verses. For example, Allah asks,

By at-Taariq (the Knocker or night approacher). And what will make you understand what at-Taariq is? [Al-Quraan 86 1-2].

He then answers His question in the next verse,

It is the piercing star (Venus). [al-Quraan 86:3].

Allah also states in the Al-Quraan,

Beasts which are herded have been made Halaal (allowable) for you except those which will be read to you. [Al-Quraan 5:1].

Shortly afterwards, He explains, The dead animal, blood, pork, animals sacrificed for other than Allah, animals strangled to death, killed by a blow or by falling from a height, killed by goring or partially eaten by wild animals are forbidden to you. [Al-Quraan 5:3].

Another example can be seen in the verse in which Allah describes Himself saying,

No vision can grasp Him. [Al-Quraan 6:103].

This verse implies that Allah will not be seen in either this world or the next. However, Allah later describes the believers in the next life as,

Gazing at their Lord. [Al-Quraan 75:23]

and disbelievers as,

Verily, they will be veiled from their Lord on that day. [Al-Quraan 83:15].

Hence, before any explanation or interpretation may be sought, the Al-Quraan must be relied upon to explain itself, for Allah knows best what He intended.

2. Tafseer of Al-Quraan by As-Sunnah:

On many occasions, the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) added further clarification to various verses of the Al-Quraan. Allah had entrusted the job of explaining the Al-Quraan to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). This trust was expressed in the Al-Quraan in no uncertain terms,

Verily, We have revealed the Reminder (Al-Quraan) to you (O Muhammad) so you may explain to the people what has been revealed to them. [Al-Quraan 16:44].

And We have only revealed the book to you (O Muhammad) in order that you clarify for them the things about which they differ. [Al-Quraan 16:64].

The Sahaabah (radiallahu anhum) understood this clearly and always turned to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) for clarification whenever they were in doubt about the meaning of any of the Al-Quraanic passages. In fact, most of the fine details of Salaah, Zakaah, Sawm, Hajj and inheritance laws etc. were explained either by the Prophets (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) statements or practical demonstrations and applications (the Sunnah). Thus, the Prophets explanations of the Al-Quraanic passages are referred to as the Tafseer of the Al-Quraan by the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

For example, in Soorah Al-Faatihah, the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) explained al Maghdoobi alayhim (Those on whom is Allahs anger) are the Christians. On one occasion, he recited the verse, Prepare for the whatever forces you are able to, [Al-Quraan 8:60] and he then said Verily force is spear throwing. Reported by Muslim. In another narration, he explained the verse Verily, We have given you al Kawthar referred to a river in paradise which Allah has given him. [Reported by Al Bukhaari]. Because the Sunnah was based on guidance from Allah, it represents the second part of Allahs promise to explain the Al-Quraan.

Verily, We will explain it [Al-Quraan 75:19]

Consequently no other human interpretation can be given precedence over of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

3. Tafseer of Al-Quraan by Aathaar

Whenever the Sahaabah could not find the Tafseer of a passage in the Al-Quraan itself or in 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 Al-Quraan was revealed. Consequently, one of the greatest commentators of Al-Quraan, Ibn Katheer, wrote in the preface of his Tafseer, If we are unable to find a suitable Tafseer in Al-Quraan or in the
Sunnah, we go to the opinions of the Sahaabah. For verily, they knew Al-Quraan better than anyone else due to their knowledge of the circumstances of its revelation, their complete and accurate understanding of it and their righteous deed. These explanations of the Sahaabah are known as the Tafseer by Aathaar (The sayings of the Sahaabah)

For example, when Ibn Abbas was questioned about the verse, and tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity and only reveal from their adornment which (normally) appears, 24:31 he replied, It refers to the face and hands. On another occasion after reciting 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.

The Sahaabah also provided information about the circumstances under which the verses were revealed which further clarified their meanings. However, the Tafseer transmitted from the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the Sahaabah did not cover all of the verses of Al-Quraan. The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) explained only what was unclear to the Sahaabah. But with each succeeding generation, more areas became unclear due to the evolution of the language. Hence, the Taabeoon had to make further explanations after the passing of the Sahaabahs era. These explanations are considered a part of Tafseer by Aathaar and should be given precedence over personal opinions. If they differed, none of their opinions need be given preference over the others unless its supported by the language. During the era of the Taabeoon many Christians and Jews became Muslims. As a result, some of the Taabeoon narrated tales from Jewish and Christian sources in their explanations of Al-Quraan. Such narration became known as Israeeleeyaat. In later generations the books of Tafseer became filled with such narrations many of which could not be traced to any reliable source.

4. Tafseer of Al-Quraan by Language

With the passage of time, words took on new meanings 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 Al-Quraanic verses according to their literaland logical meanings. Consequently, this period witnessed the appearance of dictionaries like Mukhtaar as-Sihaah written specifically to deal with Al-Quraanic Arabic vocabulary and philology. In cases where words had more than one meaning, this step created differences of opinion, which could only be solved by finding some support in the Sunnah. For example the word, Lams literally mens to touch but figuratively it means sexual intercourse, thus Muslim scholars were of two basic opinions concerning the following verse, or you touch (laamastum) women and can not find water, then make tayammum (ritual purification with dust) [Al-Quraan 4:43].

Imams Ash-Shafee and Malik held it meant the touch of the hand, though each Imam added certain stipulations to it. On the other hand, Imam Abu Hanifah ruled that it meant sexual intercourse. However, the Prophets wives (radiallahu anhum) reported that on some occasions he kissed them before performing Salaah, which indicates that touching was not intended by this verse.

These four methods come under the general title of Tafseer bir-Riwayah or Tafseer bil-Mathoor (Tafseer based on narration) and as such leave little room for argument. Although the fourth step is often times based on narration from earlier generations, at other times it can be highly opinionated and controversial. For example, Yusuf Ali openly translates the Burooj used in the 85th Surah as the Zodiacal signs, while Pickthall translates it as
Mansions of Stars, but says in his introduction to the Soorah, It is applied to the signs of the zodiac. Thus, according to them, Allah is making an oath by the zodiacal signs. Some English-speaking Muslims have taken this to be an indirect support of astrology. However, Burooj originally only meant star configuration and it was not until later times it was used to refer to the imaginary figures of zodiac which pagan Babylonians and Greeks superimposed on them. In fact, astrology has been forbidden by the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in no
uncertain terms as it falls under the general prohibition on visiting fortune-tellers about which the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said, Whoever visits a fortune teller and believes in what he says has disbelieved in what I have brought (meaning Islam) Reported by Abu Dawood.

From IslamicAwakening.com