This is for Follower. It may also be relevent to Thinker.
Article contains the subtitles:
- Tafsir of the Qur'an
- Schools of Tafseer
- Transmission of Tafseer
There is much more to this chapter but this is relevant to you.
Excerpts from the Book
Usul at-Tafsir (Lit. The Fundamental Principles of Qur’aanic Interpretation) by Dr Bilal Philips.
Chapter 2: Tafsir of the Qur'an
The Qur’aan, God’s final book of revelation to man, represents the primary source of the principles which constitute the way of life known as Islaam. The passages of the Qur’aan 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’aan’s meanings will vary from individual to individual due to natural differences in intelligence. This variation existed even among the sahaabah (companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)), in spite of the Qur’aan’s clarity of expression and its revelation in seven different dialects. Moreover, Allaah, the Most Wise, chose to place generalities in the Qur’aan, some of which He later explained in its other verses, while some he explained only to the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) knew and understood the Qur’aan completely because Allaah had chosen him as its vehicle and explained it all to him. Hence, Allaah said in one verse:
“Verily, collecting the Qur’aan (for you) and reciting it (to you) is My 21 responsibility, so when I read it to you, listen to it. Then it is upon Me to explain it.” 22
Therefore, it was the Prophet’s job to explain the Qur’aan to his followers by his actions, as well as his statements. Allaah stated this in the Qur’aan:
“I have revealed the Reminder (Qur’aan) to you (O Muhammad) so that you may explain to people what has been revealed to them.” 23
Consequently, the sahaabah all turned to the Prophet (pbuh) whenever possible during his lifetime for the tafseer (explanation, understanding, interpretation) of the Qur’aan. For example, Ibn Mas‘ood related that when the following verse was revealed:
“Those who believe and do not obscure their faith with transgression (thulm), for them there is security, and they are rightly guided,” 24
some of the companions became distressed, because the general linguistic meaning of
thulm covers any kind of wrong, major or minor, and none of them were free from error. However, when they approached the Prophet (pbuh) about it, he replied,
“
It is not as 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 thulm.’ 25 ” 26
Thus the Prophet (pbuh) clarified for them that the broader meaning of
thulm was not intended in the first verse; rather it was used to refer to
shirk.
In this incident, the Prophet (pbuh) explained the Qur’aan by the Qur’aan, demonstrating the first step in the divinely ordained method of understanding and interpretation of the Qur’aan 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 in understanding the Qur’aan and who had been able to spend more time with the Prophet (pbuh) for interpretation and explanation of the Qur’aan.
Among the sahaabah who became the most noted for their ability to make tafseer of the Qur’aan are the following: The four Righteous Caliphs, 27 the Prophet’s wife, ‘Aa’ishah bint Abee Bakr, Ibn Mas‘ood, Ibn ‘Abbaas, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, Zayd ibn Thaabit, Aboo Moosaa al-Ash‘aree, ‘Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr, Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Umar, Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullaah, and ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas.28 Within the space of twenty-five years after the Prophet’s death, the sahaabah carried Islaam to all corners of the known world, toppling in the process the great empires of Persia and Byzantine. Wherever the Muslim armies stopped their advance, some of the sahaabah would settle and begin teaching those who came into Islaam the recitation and interpretation of the Qur’aan. For this reason, the knowledge of tafseer spread throughout the Muslim realm, and centers of Qur’aanic learning sprung up everywhere. Among the people who gathered around the sahaabah were some outstanding individuals who remained their students and absorbed their knowledge. These students became known as taabi‘oon. Each sahaabee carried with him a portion of knowledge, some of which overlapped with that of others and some of which did not. Consequently, some of the students traveled to other Islaamic centers to study under other sahaabah, while others stayed with their teachers until their deaths.
Schools of Tafseer
The most notable centers of tafseer which evolved during this period were those of Makkah, Madeenah, and ‘Iraaq. In Makkah, the tafseer school of Ibn ‘Abbaas became the most prominent. ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Abbaas was considered to be the greatest tafseer scholar among the sahaabah. He reported that once the Prophet (pbuh) hugged him and prayed for him as follows,
“O Allaah, give him a deep understanding of the religion and make him skilled in interpretation.” 29
‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood, the great scholar among the sahaabah, was reported to have conferred on him the title, “
Tarjumaan al-Qur’aan, ”30 “Translator of the Qur’aan.” The most famous students of Ibn ‘Abbaas were Mujaahid ibn Jabr, ‘Ikrimah (the freed slave of Ibn ‘Abbaas), Sa‘eed ibn Jubayr, Taawoos ibn Keesaan al-Yamaanee, and ‘Ataa ibn Abee Rabaah.31
In Madeenah, the most noted school of tafseer was that of Ubayy ibn Ka‘b, who was considered by most of his contemporaries as the top reciter of the Qur’aan. Ubayy was also the first person chosen by the Prophet (pbuh) to record the revelation of the Qur’aan.32 The Prophet (pbuh) was reported to have said to him,
“Verily, Allaah, the Most Great and Glorious, has commanded me to recite to you, ‘
Lam yakunillatheena kafaroo.’ (Soorah al-Bayyinah).” When Ubayy asked if Allaah had mentioned him by name, the Prophet (pbuh) told him yes, and Ubayy cried.33 Ubayy’s most notable students were Zayd ibn Aslam, Aboo al ‘Aaliyah, and Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qura
thee.34
In ‘Iraaq, Ibn Mas‘ood headed the most prominent school of tafseer. ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood, the sixth person to enter Islaam,35 was among the top reciters of the Qur’aan. The Prophet (pbuh) himself praised his recitation saying,
“Whoever wishes to recite the Qur’aan in the tender manner in which it was revealed should recite it as Ibn Umm ‘Abd (Ibn Mas‘ood) does.” 36 As for his knowledge of tafseer, Ibn Mas‘ood said, “By the One besides Whom there is no other god, I know where and why every verse of Allaah’s book was revealed.” 37
Among the many students of Ibn Mas‘ood who later became scholars in their own right were al-Hasan al-Basree, ‘Alqamah ibn Qays, Masrooq, al-Aswad ibn Yazeed, and ‘Aamir ash-Sha‘bee.38
Transmission of Tafseer
During this period, tafseer was taught by narration. That is, the sahaabah who headed schools of tafseer would quote the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) which explained the meanings of verses, or explain the historical context in which the verses were revealed, or they would quote verses of pre-Islaamic poetry which explained the meaning of some words that were no longer in common use. After the era of the sahaabah, their students, the taabi‘oon, continued to teach by narration in much the same way that they had learned. However, some of them also began narrating along with their tafseers tales from Jewish and Christian sources to further explain certain passages of the Qur’aan.
It should be noted that some compilation of tafseer took place during the era of the taabi‘oon. The most noteworthy example is that of Mujaahid ibn Jabr (642-722 CE/40-103 AH), a student of Ibn ‘Abbaas. Mujaahid compiled the earliest known tafseer ; however, no copy of his work has reached us. The significance of Mujaahid’s tafseer can be appreciated from his following statement, “I read the whole Qur’aan to Ibn ‘Abbaas three times. During each reading, I stopped at the end of every verse and asked him about whom and why it was revealed.”39
Towards the end of the Umayyad dynasty,40 the systematic compilation of tafseer began. The scholars of hadeeth began compiling the sayings and actions of the Prophet (pbuh) in chapters according to their subject matter, and the chapter on tafseer was one of them. Some of these scholars paid special attention to the narration of tafseer attributed to the Prophet (pbuh), the sahaabah and the taabi‘oon. The foremost among them were Yazeed ibn Haaroon as-Salamee (d. 737 CE/118 AH), Shu‘bah ibn al-Hajjaaj (d. 777 CE/160 AH), Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah (d. 814 CE/198AH), ‘Abdur-Razzaaq ibn Hammaam (d. 827 CE/211 AH), and ‘Abd ibn Humayd (d. 864 CE/250 AH).41 However, no tafseer of the complete Qur’aan took place at this time.42
Near the end of the ninth century CE, the field of tafseer evolved into an independent Islaamic science. This generation of scholars was the first to compile tafseers of the Qur’aan according to the order of the written text. The earliest tafseer to reach us was authored by Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (839-923 CE/225-310 AH), who comes from this era. Other tafseers were written by Ibn Maajah (d. 886 CE/272 AH), Ibn Abee Haatim (d. 939 CE/327 AH), Ibn Hibbaan (d. 980 CE/369 AH), al-Haakim (d. 1014 CE/404 AH), and Ibn Mardawayh (d. 1020 CE/410 AH).43 All of these scholars were also famous for compilations of hadeeth, most of which have reached us intact. Occasionally, tafseers were attributed to scholars of the previous generation, known as atbaa‘ at-taabi‘een (the students of the taabi‘oon). These tafseers also mentioned the legal rulings deduced from the verses and the breakdown of grammatical constructions where necessary.
Although the next generation of scholars followed the same general format as their predecessors, many of them deleted the chains of narration from their tafseers, leaving only the names of the sahaabah or taabi‘oon and their interpretations; for example, Bahr al-’Uloom by Aboo al-Layth as-Samarqandee (d. 983 CE/372 AH). Great stress was placed on literary forms and grammatical constructions in many of these tafseers. The various forms of recitation, without their chains of narration, were also recorded and used as explanations of the text. However, they also included in their tafseers a vast number of anonymous statements and opinions without any mention of who made them. Consequently, many of these tafseers are confusing. Accurate accounts and interpretations were mixed with inaccurate ones without any distinction between them.
In addition, the door of tafseer according to personal opinion was opened. Works of tafseer soon began to reflect various trends of thought in Muslim society. By the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the major works of Greek philosophy and science that had been translated in the previous centuries began to have an effect on all of the various Islaamic fields of study. Philosophical schools of thought like that of the Mu‘tazilees (Rationalists) had evolved which boldly threatened pure Islaamic thought. Tafseers full of philosophical and scientific terminology, like al-Kash-shaaf of az-Zamakhsharee (1075-1144 CE/467-538 AH) or Mafaateeh al-Ghayb of Fakhrud-Deen ar-Raazee (1149-1210 CE/544-606 AH), and tafseers expressing the thoughts of various heretical sects also appeared during this period. For example, the Twelver Shee‘ah tafseer of Mullah Muhsin al-Kaash made the verses of the Qur’aan speak of twelve infallible imaams, the imaginary walaayah (governorship) of the Prophet’s son-in-law ‘Alee and the claimed apostasy of all of the Prophet’s companions except a handful; and the Soofee tafseer of Ibn al-‘Arabee (d. 1240 CE/638 AH) made Qur’aanic verses voice his pantheistic ideology of Allaah being all and all being Allaah.44
There was also a trend towards specialization among the Islaamic scholars, resulting from the evolution of Islaamic learning into a multiplicity of disciplines. Consequently, tafseers like those of al-Jassaas (917-980 CE/304-369 AH) and al- Qurtubee (d. 1273 CE/671 AH) concentrated on the deduction of fiqh (Islaamic law) from the Qur’aanic passages according to their respective math-habs (schools of fiqh). Likewise, ath-Tha‘labee, who specialized in tales of ancient history, authored al-Jawaahir al-Hisaan fee Tafseer al-Qur’aan, in which he gathered all of the narrations about the ancients, regardless of their authenticity.45
Tafseers of this era and subsequent generations contained a mixture of truth and falsehood, some valuable material and much that was worthless. Eventually, tafseer based on personal opinions completely superseded tafseer based on authentic narration. The authors of these tafseers stretched the meanings of the verses to affirm the thoughts and ideas of their respective sects or schools and rebut those of others. Thus, the primary role of tafseer, that of explaining religious instruction contained in the verses, was lost. The tafseer scholar Jalaalud-Deen as-Suyootee (d. 1505 CE/910 AH) noted the following:
I have seen approximately ten different opinions concerning the tafseer of the verse:
“Not the path of those on whom is [Your] anger nor those who have gone astray,”46
in spite of the fact that the Prophet (pbuh) and his companions (sahaabah) and their students (taabi‘oon) all related that the verse referred to none other than the Jews and the Christians. And (one of the early scholars) Ibn Abee Haatim said concerning this verse, “I know of no disagreement among the scholars of tafseer about it.”47.
Some of the scholars of this and later periods confined themselves to making abridgements of earlier works while others were satisfied to write footnotes for earlier works. It should also be noted that in spite of the deviation and stagnation which afflicted the field of tafseer, as well as all of the Islaamic sciences, there were a number of great scholars who held high the banner of pure Islaamic thought. Thus, it should not be surprising to find that the most highly acclaimed tafseer of all times was produced by a scholar of this time, Tafseer al-Qur’aan al- ‘Atheem by al-Haafith ibn Katheer (d. 1373 CE/774 AH).
In this century, a new form of tafseer has evolved in which the authors have tried to apply the passages of the Qur’aan to the needs of the twentieth century. For example, tafseers like Tafseer al-Manaar, started by Muhammad ‘Abduh (d. 1905 CE) and completed up to Soorah Yoosuf by his student Muhammad Rasheed Ridaa,48 or Fee Thilaal al-Qur’aan by Syed Qutb point out the Qur’aanic foundations for human society, legislation, and scientific theories.
Both these tafseers have their critics. ‘Abduh was interested in reforming Muslim societies to meet the challenge of the west, and he called for the abandonment of taqleed as the starting point for that reform. He stressed the need for approaching the Qur’aan fresh, unencumbered by past inter-pretations of it. Neither he nor Ridaa would look at anyone else’s tafseer until they had finished writing their own tafseers of a particular passage.49 In his zeal to accommodate scientific theories, ‘Abduh interpreted angels as being synonymous with natural forces, which led him to a symbolic interpretation of the story of Aadam and Iblees.50 His student denied that the Prophet (pbuh) performed any miracles other than conveying the Qur’aan. Both he and his student rejected a number of hadeeths reported by al-Bukhaaree and Muslim, claiming that they were weak.51 Ridaa was, however, more learned in hadeeth than ‘Abduh and relied on hadeeths more than him.52 Both of them gave their intellects great freedom to interpret as they saw fit.
Syed Qutb lived at a time when the Islaamic caliphate had just been abolished. The Islaamic world had been divided into small countries with legal systems that were the product of European colonialism. He felt a deep outrage at Islaamic societies’ abandonment of the Sharee‘ah in ruling their affairs. His interpretations of the meaning of tawheed focused on Allaah’s sole right to formulate the laws for the rule of human society. His stress of this point led to the neglect of other aspects of tawheed and of the dangers posed by forms of shirk other than shirk in legislation. He seems to have actually been confused about the difference between tawheed al-ulooheeyah and tawheed ar-ruboobeeyah.53 His critics also say that he laid the seeds for today’s modern takfeer movements with his blanket condemnation of contemporary Islaamic societies as having nothing to do with Islaam, and with his praise of revolutionary movements in Islaamic history.54 Despite these shortcomings, he presented a vigorous Islaamic critique of the flaws of secularism and the European civilization that spawned it at a time when most Muslims were apologetic about Islaam.
------------------------
Footnotes:
21 Literally, ‘Our.’ The ‘royal We’ is barely used in English, but it is a common feature of Arabic speech, used to indicate the importance of the speaker. It is my standard practice to translate this ‘We’ as ‘I,’ since the literal translation is a frequent cause of confusion for English speakers.
22 Soorah al-Qiyaamah (75):17-9.
23 Soorah an-Nahl (16):44.
24 Soorah al-An‘aam (6):82.
25 Soorah Luqmaan (31):13.
26 Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, p. 72, no. 226.
27 Aboo Bakr as-Siddeeq, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab, ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan, and ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib.
28 Al-Itqaan fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, vol. 2, p. 239.
29 Collected by Ahmad (al-Musnad, no. 2274). A version mentioning only the first half of the
Prophet’s supplication on his behalf is reported in Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, p. 106, no. 145, and Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, pp. 1320-1, no. 6055.
30 Collected by al-Haakim and by Ibn Sa‘d in at-Tabaqaat. See Siyar al-A‘laam an-Nubalaa’, vol. 3, p. 347.
31 Al-Itqaan fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, vol. 2, p. 242. It is interesting to note that all of these great scholars were former slaves.
32 According to al-Waaqidee. Quoted in Al-Isaabah fee Tamyeez as-Sahaabah. Perhaps he meant in Madeenah.
33 Collected by al-Bukhaaree (Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 5, p. 97, no. 154) and Muslim (SahihMuslim, vol. 4, p.1313, no. 6031).
34 Mabaahith fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, p.339.
35 Sifah as-Safwah, vol.1, p. 395.
36 Reported by ‘Umar, Ibn Mas‘ood and other sahaabah and collected by Ahmad, Ibn Maajah (vol. 1, p. 77, no. 138), al-Haakim and others. Authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheeh al-Jaami‘ as-Sagheer, vol. 2, p. 1034.
37 Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 1312, no. 6023.
38 Mabaahith fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, p. 339.
39 Collected by Ibn Nu‘aym in Hilyah al-Awliyaa’ and by Ibn ‘Asaakir. See Siyar al-A‘laam an-Nubalaa’, vol. 4, p. 450.
40 The Umayyads were overthrown in 132 AH (750 CE).
41 The most accessible hadeeth collection on tafseer for the English-speaking reader is volume six of Sahih Al-Bukhari.
42 Mabaahith fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, pp.340-1.
43 Ibid., p.341.
44 Muhammad ibn ‘Alee ibn Muhammad ibn al-‘Arabee was from Andalus (Spain), but he travelled extensively and died in ‘Iraaq. A prolific writer, he authored some 300 books, the most famous being al-Futoohaat al-Makkeeyah and Fusoos al-Hikam. He wrote nine different tafseers
of the Qur’aan, among them Tarjumaan al-Ashwaaq, for which he wrote a number of commentaries.
45 At-Tafseer wa al-Mufassiroon, vol. 1, pp. 145-8.
46 Soorah al-Faatihah (1):7.
47 Quoted in Mabaahith fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, p. 345.
48 Muhammad Rasheed (dtook notes from ‘Abduh’s tafseer lectures, then wrote them up in his own words, and published them with his approval in his magazine al-Manaar. ‘Abduh died after having completed from Soorah al-Faatihah until verse 126 of Soorah an-Nisaa’, then his student
continued until his own death in 1935. (Lamahaat fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, p. 321.)
49 Lamahaat fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, p. 322, and at-Tafseer wa al-Mufassiroon, vol. 2, 598-9.
50 Tafseer al-Manaar, vol. 1, p. 167, quoted in at-Tafseer wa al-Mufassiroon, vol. 2, p. 611.
51 At-Tafseer wa al-Mufassiroon, vol. 2, pp. 615-7, 628.
52 Lamahaat fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, pp. 321-2.
53 See Fee Thilaal al Qur’aan, vol. 4, pp. 1846 and 1852.
54 See Adwaa’un Islaameeyah ‘alaa ‘Aqeedah Syed Qutb wa Fikrih, pp. 43-5, 60-104.