لطفا منتظر باشید ...
The Glorious Qur'an and Exegesis
(Tafsir)
Science of Qur'anic Commentary and
the Different Groups of Commentators
After the death of the Prophet a
group of his companions, including Ubayy ibn Ka'b, 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud,
Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansarl, Abu Sa'ld al-Khudrl, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr,
'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar, Anas, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Musa, and, above all, the famous
'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas, were occupied with the Science of Commentary. Just as
they had heard the Prophet explaining the meanings of the verses, they would
transmit it orally to other trustworthy persons.
The traditions specifically
concerned with the subject of Qur'anic verses number over two hundred and
forty; many were transmitted through weak chains of transmission and the texts
of some have been rejected as incorrect or forged. Sometimes the transmission
would include commentaries based on personal judgments rather than on a
narration of the actual sayings, hadiths, from the Prophet. The later Sunni
commentators considered this kind of commentary as part of the body of Sayings
of The Prophet, since the companions were learned in the science of Qur'anic
commentary. They argued that these companions had aquired their knowledge of
this science from the Prophet himself and that it was unlikely they would say
anything which they themselves had invented.
There is, however, no absolute
proof for their reasoning. A large proportion of these sayings, or traditions,
about the reasons and historical circumstances of the revelation of verses do
not possess an acceptable chain of narration. It should be noted that many of
the narrators like Ka'b al-Akhbar, were learned companions who had belonged to
the Jewish faith before accepting Islam. Moreover, it should not be overlooked
that Ibn 'Abbas usually expressed the meanings of verses in poetry. In one of
his narrations over two hundred questions of Nafi' ibn al-Azraq are replied to
in the form of poetry; al-Suyutl in his book, al-Itqan, related one hundred
and ninety of these questions. It is evident, therefore, that many of the
narrations made by the commentators amongst the companions cannot be counted
as actual narrations from the Prophet himself; therefore, such additional
material related by the companions must be rejected.
The second group of commentators
were the companions of the followers (tabi'un), who were the students of the
companions. Amongst them we find Mujahid, Sa'ld ibn Jubayr, 'Ikrimah and
Dahhak. Also from this group were Hasan al-Basri, 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah,, 'Ata'
ibn Abi Muslim, Abu al-'Aliyah, Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazl, Qatadah, 'Atiyah,
Zayd ibn Aslam, Ta'us al-Yamam." The third group were comprised of the
students of the second group, namely, Rabi' ibn Anas, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd
ibn Aslam, Abu Salih al-Kalbi and others.
The Tabi'un sometimes narrated the
commentary on a verse as a tradition of the Prophet or of the companions and,
sometimes, they explained its meaning without attributing a narrator to the
source, this they did especially when there was any doubt as to the identity
of the narrator. The later commentators treat these narrations as traditions
of the Prophet, but count them as mawquf in their science of the levels of
hadiths (that is as a tradition whose chain of narration does not reach back
to the Prophet) .
The fourth group comprised the
first compilers of commentaries, like Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah, Wah' ibn al-Jarrah,
Shuban al-Hajjaj and 'Abd ibn Humayd; others from this group include Ibn
Jarir al-Tabarl, the author of the famous Qur'anic Commentary. This group
recorded the sayings of the companions and the followers of the companions
with a chain of narrators in their works of commentary; they avoided
expressing personal opinions except, perhaps, Ibn Jarir al-Tabarl who
sometimes expressed his views by indicating his preference when discus- sing
two similar traditions. The basis of the work of later groups may be traced to
this group. The fifth group omitted the chain of narrators in their writings
and contented themselves with a simple relation of the text of the traditions.
Some scholars regard these commentators as the source of varying views in the
commentaries by connecting many traditions to a companion or a follower
without verifying their validity or mentioning their chain of
narration.
Consequently, confusion has arisen
allowing many false traditions to enter the body of traditions, thus
undermining the reputation of this section of hadith literature. Careful
examination of the chains of transmission of the traditions leaves one in
doubt as to the extent of the deceitful additions and false testimonies. Many
conflicting traditions can be traced to one companion or follower and many
traditions, which are complete fabrications, may be found amongst this body of
narrations. Thus reasons for the revelation of a particular verse, including
the abrogating and abrogated verses, do not seem to ac- cord with the actual
order of the verses.
No more than one or two of the
traditions are found to be acceptable when submitted to such an examination.
It is for this reason that Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who himself was born before
this generation of narrators, said, "Three things have no sound base: military
virtues, bloody battles and the traditions pertaining to Qur'anic commentary."
Imam al-Shafi' relates that only about one hundred traditions from Ibn 'Abbas
have been confirmed as valid. The sixth group consists of those commentators
who appeared after the growth and development of the various Islamic Sciences
and each undertook the study of Qur'anic commentary according to his
specialization: al-Zajjaj studied the subject from the grammatical point of
view; al-Wahidi and Abu Hayyan' investigated the verses by studying the
inflection of the verbs, the vowels and the diacritical points.
There is also commentary on the
rhetoric and eloquence of the verses by al-Zamakhsharii in his work entitled
al- Kashshaf. There is a theological discussion in the "Grand Commentary" of
Fakhr al-Dm al-Razi. The gnosis of Ibn al-'Arabi and 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashanl
treated in their commentaries. Other narrators, like al-Tha'lab, record the
history of transmission of the traditions. Some commentators, among them
al-Qurtubl, concentrate on aspects of fiqh (jurisprudence).
There also exists a number-of
commentaries composed of many of these sciences, such as Ruh al-Bayan by
Shaykh Isma'il Haqql, Ruh. al-ma'ani by Shihab al Din Mahmud al-Alusl
al-Baghdadl Chara'ib al-Qur'an by Nizam al-Din al-Nisaburi. This group
rendered a great service to the Science of Qur'anic commentary in that it
brought the Science out of a state of stagnation (characteristic of the fifth
group before it), and developed it into a Science of precise investigation and
theory.
However, if one were to examine
closely the precision of this group's research, one would see. that much of
its Qur'anic commentary imposes its theories onto the Qur'an rather than
allowing the content of the verses to speak for themselves.
* * *
The Methods Used by the Shi'ite
Cmmentators
and their Different
Groupings
All the groups mentioned above are
Sunni commentators. Their method, used in the earliest commentaries of this
period, was based on ijtihad, that is, the reports of the companions and the
followers of the companions were examined according to certain rules in order
to reach an acceptable understanding of the text. This resulted in varying
opinions amongst those making ijtihad and caused disorder, contradiction and,
even, fabrication to enter into the body of the traditions. The method
employed by the Shi'ite commentators, however, was different, with the result
that the patterning of the groups was also different.
The Shi'ite commentators in their
study of a verse of the Qur'an, viewed the explanation given by the Prophet as
proof of the meaning of the verse, they did not accept the saying of the
companions, or the followers, as indisputable proof that the tradition was
from the Prophet. The Shiite commentators only recognized as valid an unbroken
chain of narration from the Prophet and through members of his family.
Accordingly, in using and transmitting the verses concerning Qur'anic
commentary, they restricted themselves to the use of traditions transmitted by
the Prophet and by the Imams of the Prophet's family. This has given rise to
the following groups:
The first group comprises those who
have learned these traditions from the Prophet and from the Imams of the
Prophet's family, studying and recording them according to their own method
but not in any particular order. Among them we may mention such scholars as
Zararah, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Ma'ruf and Jarir who were companions of the
fifth and sixth Imams.
The second group comprises the
first compilers of the commentaries, like Furat ibn Ibrahim al-Kufi, Abu
Hamzah al-Thumali, Muhammad al-'Ayyashi, 'Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi and
al-Nu'mani who lived between the second and fourth centuries after HiUrah. The
method of this group was similar to that of the fourth Sunni group of
Commentators. Thus, they avoided any kind of ijtihad or passing of judgment.
We should remember that the Imams of the Prophet's family were living amongst
Muslims and available for questioning (on matters of commentary, for example)
for a period of almost three hundred years. Thus the first groups were not
divided chronologically but rather according to their relationship with the
Imams. There are very few who recorded the tradition without a chain of
transmission.
As an example, we should mention
one of the students of al-'Ayyashi who omitted to record the chains of
transmission. It was his work, instead of the original of al-'Ayyashi which
came into common use. The third group comprises masters of various sciences,
like al-Sharif al-Radl who provided a commentary concerned with Qur'anic
language and Shaykh al-Tusl who wrote a commentary and analysis on
metaphysical matters. Included, too, is Sadr al-DIn al-Shirazl's philosophic
work, al-Maybudi al-Kunabadl's gnostic commentary and 'Abd 'Ah al-Huwayzl's
commentary Nur al-thaqalayn.
Hashim al-Bahrani composed the
commentary al-Burhan' and al-Fayd al-Kashani compiled the work known as
al-Safi. There were others who brought together many different themes to their
commentaries, like Shaykh al-Tabarsi who in his Majma' al-bayan researches
different fields of language, grammar, Qur'an recitation, gnosis of death,
after-life and paradise, and knowledge of the traditions.
* * *
(Allamah Tabatabai, The Qur'an in Islam, p.
47-51)
