Interpretations (Tafsir) Of The Qur’anic Context: A Discourse – Part One

By Dr Uzma Khatoon, New Age Islam 18 July 2023 Abstract The primacy of the Qur’an in the Muslim world has always been accepted. In modern period, renewed emphasis has been placed by the Muslim scholars on the Qur’an as a source of guidance. Due to this change and emphasis, it become a challenge to many facet of the accepted tradition, the theological, legal other spheres. In recent years, different approaches to the Qur'an and the Muslim exegetical works reflect a wide variety of methods, presuppositions, focuses of interests and substantive conclusions. The various interpretations of the Qur'an belong to different stages of the intellectual history of Islam, and reflect in themselves the development of Islamic thought. In this paper I intended to examine how to different interpreters tried to examine and rethinking of the context of the Qur’an. I will also try to examine very briefly different feminist approach in this regard. Introduction The science of Tafsir of the Qur’an seems to date back from beginning of Islam itself and thus wide range of books on Tafsir, with different approaches were produced to offer a good range of methods that are employed for exegesis of the Holy Qur’an. Ibn Abbas( d.68A.H./687A.D.) for instance, become renowned as an authority on the subject in a very early period of Islam. Since then numerous commentaries have been written on the Qur’an. The real value of this great mass of literature consisted in the fact that it reflects different trend and tendencies in the development of Islam. Qur’an is a book of guidance for the Muslim and for all human beings to enable them to live a noble life and enjoy eternal happiness in this world and hereafter. It has provided and will continue to provide the norms to which Muslim have been trying and will always try to estimate their belief and deeds in a right direction. Therefore, Muslim scholars ever engaging and made efforts to understand the divine message enshrined in the Qur’anic verses. Man’s intellect horizon widened with the influx of new ideas and cultural pattern are formed and reformed. When Islam crossed the boundaries of Arabia with in very short time and spread in land where the life was different and as the distance from time of the prophet increased, so the extreme need for the interpretation or explanation of the Qur’anic message in the new situations raised. Interpretation of the context of the Qur’an seeks to address a much wider audience not only the scholar, but the common people as well. The spread of education and the rise of political institution such as democracy have led to heightened awareness of the importance of the man in the street, which has in turn led to the use of an idiom comprehensible to the common people. The need to address to Muslim community in various parts of the world and the challenging that the modern religious thinker faces are both disheartening and thoughtful, have led to the writing of Tafsir work in modern approaches. The most important issue for Muslims is how a Muslim of the twenty-first century should relate to the Qur’an – the Holy Scripture of Muslims and the most important text on which Islam is based. Since the Qur’an, for Muslims, is the Word of God and remains the prime source of authority for Islam’s ethical and legal systems, Muslims make consistent efforts to relate it to their contemporary concerns and needs. In the process, many questions are asked that are as challenging as their answers. Such questioning should be considered an essential part of modern Islamic thought and an important positive contribution that may bear fruit in time. The fact that difficult questions are being asked now provides a strong basis for further work in this area. This paper explores first the development of the tafsir tradition and then the context in which rethinking of the interpretation of the ethico-legal content of the Qur’an is taking place today. A Brief Introduction of Traditional Interpretation Qur’an is the last book of Allah (S.W.T.) revealed upon his last messenger Muhammad (P.B.U.H.).The literal meaning of Quran is “to read again and again” and really Qur’an is the only book on the earth which is being recited continuously and again and again. Qur’an is the complete code of life and its teachings are accurate, absolute and in conformity with human nature. Its main concern is to guide the humanity to the right path that is why the Muslims provided much attention towards its teachings throughout the Islamic history. As a result many Qur’anic disciplines like Lughat al-Quran, A‘arab al-Quran, Ijaz al-Quran(name in English) etc. came into existence. In Islamic sciences, the science of Tafsir was first to emerge and the first Mufassir of Quran is almighty Allah (S.W.T.) Himself and the first means of Tafsir is the Quran as Allah (S.W.T.) says: “Nay more, it is for us to explain it (And make it clear).” The second Mufassir (interpreter) of Quran is the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) and the second means of Tafsir are the traditions of prophet as Allah (S.W.T.) says about the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) in Quran:- “And we have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; That thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent.” It is no surprise to discover that the science of Tafsir started during the life time of the Prophet (P.B.U.H). In fact one of the primary roles of the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) was to interpret the Qur’an. But during the Prophet’s (P.B.U.H.) period the Qur’anic explanations were memorized and not a single book on the subject was compiled during this period. After the demise of Prophet (S.A.W.), the companions (Sahaaba) played their role explaining and interpreting the Qur’an and the science of Tafsir took on a more systematic approach and the subject developed much. They included four Rashidun caliph (Khalifa) (632-660A.D.) (Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘Ali,) as well as Abdullah bin ‘Abbas in, Abdullah bin Mas‘ud in, Abai bin Ka‘b , Zaid bin Thabit , Abu Musa Ash‘ari and Abdullah bin Zubair. Among these ten Sahaba most of the exegetic sayings are from Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas . Thus it can be considered that the first true Mufassirin of Qur’an were actually the Sahaba. After the generation of the companions the students of the companions took over the responsibility of explaining the Quran. ‘Ikrama, Mujahid, ‘Ata , Hassan Basri, Sa‘id bin Jubair, Masruq, Dhuhak and Qatadah were considered authority on the Tafsir literature during this period. After the period of the successors, the stage of the actual compilation and writing of Tafsir began. The most important works were by the interpreters (Muhaddithin), who, as part of their works of Hadith also had sections on Tafsir. Therefore, during this stage the narrations of Tafsir were considered a branch of Hadith literature. The next stage in the history of Tafsir saw the separation of Tafsir literature from Hadith and the emergence of independent works solely on Tafasir were compiled. Some of the important Tafasir of this stage are: Tafsir-i-Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tafsir-i-ibn Abi Hatim, Tafsir-i-Imam Hakim, Tafsir of Ibn Haban etc. Amongst these Tafasir, Tafsir of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari namely “Jam’a al-Bayan Fi- Tafsir al-Quran” is considered the best one. It is a ruling of ‘Ulama that those people who are unaware of Arabic language should be facilitated to the Qur’anic message by its translation and explanation in their respective languages. They derive its justification from the Qur’anic verse: “We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people.” The Companions who engaged in exegesis had several sources for understanding and interpreting the Qur’an: parts of the Qur’anic text that explained other parts; information received from the Prophet, both oral and praxis; and their own understanding of what the Qur’anic text meant. They were also familiar with the language of the Qur’an, the overall social context of the revelation, the Prophet’s ways of thinking, and the norms, values and customs of the Arabs, all of which provided them with a unique basis for making sense of the Qur’anic text within the overall framework of the emerging ‘established practice’ of the Muslim community. The need for interpretation of the Qur’an increased with the second generation of Muslims, known as ‘Successors’ (Tabiun), who were a more heterogeneous group. They included children of the Companions brought up within the new religious (Islamic) environment, and Arabic-speaking and non-Arabic-speaking converts to Islam. Also, the wider the gap between their era and the time of the Prophet, the stronger the need to address questions of exegesis of the Qur’an. The earliest forms of Tafsir are represented by brief explanation of words or phrases in the Qur’an that were unclear and ambiguous, explanation of legal texts and Qur’anic narratives. The early developments of Tafsir continued into the third/ninth century, by the end of which exegetical works that covered the entire Qur’an were produced. By this time, Tafsir had become a fully established discipline. After this period, the body of work becomes extensive and varied and includes theological, legal, religio-political and mystical exegetical works. The third/ninth century saw the maturing of distinct schools, legal, theological or religio-political, within Islam. While we cannot speak about Sunni, Shi’ or Khariji Tafsir in the first/seventh century, we can certainly use those terms in the third/ninth century. Since then, all three groups continued to produce Tafsir works that project their legal, theological and religio-political views. In addition to these, Tafsir works that focused on law, theology or spirituality also emerged. The range of works in Tafsir is wide and the approaches are diverse. Despite the existence of a range of approaches to Tafsir, it is noticeable that Muslim exegetes, on the whole, did not consider the changing needs of Muslims in their interpretation of the ethico-legal material in the Qur’an, especially after the establishment of the disciplines of fiqh and tafsir. Much of the Tafsir tradition remained steadfastly literal and legal in relation to the interpretation of ethico-legal texts. A legalistic-literalistic approach was considered to be the least error-prone. Challenges To Traditionalist Exegesis Several Muslim scholars and thinkers attempted to put forward new ideas for the interpretation of the Qur’an and relate it’s to the needs of Muslims during twentieth century. These ideas 1were viewed with opposition by the traditionalist scholar, who often labelled such ideas as anti-Islam. These scholars who wanted to go beyond the traditionally accepted Tafsir methods remained relatively strong, including scholars such as Muhammad˛ Abduh, Mahmud Shaltut (d. 1963) and Muhammad al-Ghazali(d. 1996), even though their influence on the wider Muslim population remained somewhat limited. The traditionalist scholars regarded with particular opposition challenges, such as about Islam, its early history and its primary sources (the Qur’an and hadith) and as well as Sirah literature (biography of Prophet). The Western scholars of Islam, have studied and questioned, assumptions Muslims held about the authenticity and historical reliability of Hadith, such as Ignaz Goldziher (d. 1921) and Joseph Schacht (d. 1969). One of the sources of Islamic law was suddenly claimed to be baseless, therefore lacking the authority it had enjoyed for centuries. Such critical studies undertaken not only by non-Muslim Western scholars but also by Muslims influenced by those scholars came to be seen in traditionalist circles as threatening the very essence of Islam. More traditionalist scholars were not prepared to engage with such ideas. Instead, they summarily dismissed such studies as irrelevant, nonsensical or ‘Orientalist’. The critique of Islam by a number of Western scholars as above mentioned nevertheless provided an impetus towards a more critical outlook on the part of a significant number of twentieth-century Muslim intellectuals, who made a powerful argument for a re-examination of a range of assumptions in Islamic disciplines, including hadith, law, exegesis and even theology. Exegesis in Modern Period The first name on modern approaches in the exegesis of the Qur’an may be traced to Shah Waliullah of India (d. 1176/1762). In the course of Shah Waliullah’s life, a number of monarchs taken the throne in Delhi. As internal and external forces pressed on the Mughal Empire, its power declined. From within, the Mughals lost territory to the Sikhs and the Hindus. Externally, the Mughal rulers faced challenges from the King of Persia and the Afghan Rohillas. The Mughal Empire continued to decline and break up until it was replaced by a Western power in the form of the British Raj in the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As Baljon indicates, Shah Waliullah reacted to this altered circumstances for Muslims in India by initiating his reform movement. He discarded Taqlid (blind imitation of early scholars) and advocated ijtihad (independent judgement) and the application of fresh ideas in interpreting the Qur’an. In emphasizing a move away from the blind following of traditions, Shah Waliullah rejected some principle views related to the doctrines of exegesis (Usul al-Tafsir). An area of the Qur’an where he saw this as especially possible was Naskh (abrogation of one ruling by another). He said, for instance, that, if a Companion (Sahaaba) or a Successor (Tabiun) said that a certain verse was revealed on a certain occasion or following an incident, this did not always mean that the verse1was revealed as a result of that occasion. For him, the Companions and Successors were merely illustrating what the verse was saying. Though Shah Waliullah’s reformist ideas about interpretation are not radical from the perspective of the twenty-first century, they seemed so at the time. They became quite influential, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Perhaps one of the most drastic attempts to reinterpret the Qur’an in the modern period was by Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan of India (d. 1316/1898), who published a six-volume work on the Qur’an titled Tafsir al-Qur’an from 1879. Sayyid believed that Muslims needed to reassess their tradition, heritage and ways of thought in line with newly emerging, dynamic and all-too powerful knowledge, values and institutions. In his view, the gap between Western and Islamic modes of thought was widened, and Muslims who had been educated in the West or influenced by Western education were no longer able to comprehend the religious discourse of the Ulama of the time. This widening gap threatened the very relevance of Islam as a religion for many Muslims. In the Middle East, in particular in Egypt, contact with Western civilization was rudely brought about by Napoleon’s short-lived invasion (1798–1801). Debate emerged and continued on the relevance of certain institutions of Islam and the need for a degree of change. Advocates of reform and change faced fierce resistance from the Ulama. Scholars at influential traditionalist institutions, such as the Azhar seminary (later converted to a university) in Cairo, who suspected in the views of reformists a hidden ‘colonial’ agenda to undermine Islam. Despite this resistance, in the late nineteenth century, Muhammad˛ Abduh (d. 1323/1905) began to opine on the interpretation of the Qur’an and gave a series of lectures on interpretation and dictated a partial commentary, which was later published by his pupil Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1354/1935). This commentary, Tafsir al-Manar, though not as drastic as Sayyid’s works, was nevertheless new in its approach. Abduh criticized some of the approaches and techniques employed in traditional tafsir. He criticized the stress on philological and rhetorical features, saying that such an exercise is ‘dry and distances [one] from God and His Book’. Similarly, he was critical of the focus given to the legal content of the Qur’an by the jurists, saying that legal topics were the least-discussed themes. Abduh endeavoured, to relate his commentary to contemporary problems in the lives of Muslims, going beyond the grammatical, linguistic and legal approaches in his interpretation. He also opines, Qur’anic Tafsir should aim at clarifying the intended meaning – the underlying reasons in the legislation, belief system and rulings – in such a way as to attract people to the Qur’an. Abu’l Kalam Azad ( 1888-1958) a most influential Islamic thinker and journalist, highlight the spiritual, moral and social teaching of Islam and attempt to derive from the teaching of the Qur’an the general principle about the rise and fall of individual as well as of the various communities in the world. Azad never loses the opportunity to correlate them with the teaching of the Qur’an, and most of the time remains content with only pointing out the lessons conveyed by the text. Amin Ahsan Islahi (1906-97) the Indo-Pakistani thinker, in his Tafsir Tadabbur e-Qur’an, call for a systematic reading of the Qur’an according to the principle of Nazm (coherence). He starts from the premise that there are various different types of Muslim Qur’anic exegesis: traditionalist, theological, literary, philological, and juridical. If there is a single factor common to all these different approaches, it must be identified in atomization. By this, we mean the approach to the Qur’an verse by verse. ----- Dr. Uzma Khatoon is a PhD from Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University and taught there between 2017-18. 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