The Qu'ran , God's final book of revelation to man represents the primary source of life of the principles which constitute of course about the way of life also known as Islaam.
Main passages of the Qu'ran contain : - Advices and guidance formed as laws, parables , stories and arguments. By nature , depth of understanding of Qu'ran's meanings ( comprehension ) vary from person to person depending on natural and difference of intelligence. During the time fo Sahaabah , variation already existed due to 7 dialects revelations sent to them. What we must know is that Allah placed generalities in the Qu'ran some of which He later explained , while others were only explained to the Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him). Allah had chosen him as its vehicle of Qu'ran understanding , it was thus Prophet's job to explain the Book to his followers by his actions as well as his statements. Allah clearly said in the Qu'ran : " We have revealed the Qu'ran to you ( O Muhammad) so that you may explain to people what has been revealed to them " (Soorah an Nahl (16:44) ) The Prophet ( alayhi salat wa salam ) didn't invent speech or talk under passion but by divine revelation. Consequently , the sahaabah all turned to the Prophet whenever possible during his lifetime for the tasfeer ( explanation , interpretation and understanding) of the Noble Qu'ran. To take an example , Ibn Mas'ood related that when the following verse was revealed of the companion became distressed , because the general linguistic meaning of thulm coevers any kind of wrong : " Those who believe and do not obscure their faith with transgression ( thulm ) , for them there is security and they are rightly guided " ( Soorah al An'aam) (6:32) The Prophet replied " It is not as you all think. It is no more than what Luqmaan said to his son ' Verily , shirk is the greatest form of thulm" ( Sahih Muslim vol.1 p.72 no.226) Thus the Prophet clarified for them that the meaning of thulm was not intented in the first verse , rather it was used to refer to shirk. From this , the Prophet explained the Qu'ran by the Qu'ran ( first step in the divinely ordained method of understanding and interpretation ) After the Prophet's death , the sahaabah turned to those who were more gifted in understanding of the Qu'ran and who have been able to spend more time with the Prophet. Let's learn some terms. Tafseer and Ta'weel By early generation , the both terms were considered synonyms but for some scholars they have a different meaning. Tafseer come from the arabic verb " Fassara" to explain or to expose. For Qu'ranic sciences , Tafseer is defined as a branch of knowledge by which Qu'ran is understood ( meaning explained and its point of law and wisdom derived ) (Derived = obtain something from a specified source) Whereas Ta'weel comes from the arabic verb " awwala " which literally means interpretation. Nevertheless , the word Ta'weel has differents meaning depending on its concept. 1. In the context of command , ta'weel means execution or implementation 2. For news or informations , Ta'weel refers to its occurence as in the verse : " Verily , We have brought them a book of knowledge and explained it in detail , a guide and a mercy for the Believers.Are they only waiting for the occurence ( ta'weelahu ) of what is in the Book?" ( Soorah al A'raaf (7):52-3 ) Allah ridicules those who do not accept revelation by asking them if they foolishly awaiting the occurence of the final hours and its signs ( Judgment , Paradise and Hellfire , when it will be too late) 3. To finish , in the context of recorded speech ta'weel refers to interpretation or explanation. Therefore , Scholars of Tafseer used the both words interchangeably ( which can be replaced ) They defined Ta'weel as a shifting of an expression from its obvious meaning ( interpretation of a passage by other than its original meaning) For example , scholars of this period under Mu'tazilee ( Rationalist) influence explained the word hand in the following verse " Allah's hand is above their hands " ( Soorah al Fat-h (48):10) They interpreted it as being Allah's help and support for the simple reason that Allah could not possibly have a hand as He doesn't look like His creation.( humankind) This Ta'weel was based on the false premise (= previous statement or proposition from which is inferred or follows as a conclusion) that the attribution of a hand to Allah automatically implied Him in human form. As I wrote in the previous chapter , Qu'ran writting and recitation forms have been preserved without any change for over 1400 years. Also didn't only preserved the Qu'ran but He also safeguarded its original meaning. If it wouldn't be guarded , deviant would have turned the Book into jumble of symbols , riddles leading to multiplicity of interpretation. Firstly , Sahaabah were taught to seek their understanding from the Qu'ran itself , secondly from explanation and application of Prophet and finally from their own intimate understanding of Qu'ran's language (reasoning) At the time , the new reverted to Islam would depend of the Book then turned to the Sahaabah to explain them ( what they learnt from the Prophet) This is why the Scholars stressed the great responsability of conveying the original meanings of the Qu'ran to the next generation of Muslims as they received them. To conclude this interesting article , the process of gathering and record of various narrations of Tafseer was made by the 3rd generation from the tabi'oon In the next article we will learn the conditions for making correct tafseer in sha Allah ! :D
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