A Correct Approach to the Exegesis of the Qur’an

The Twentieth Century of the common era, corresponding to the fourteenth century of the Islamic calendar, started off with an awakening of the Eastern world, especially the Muslims. In this century, the magical spell of colonialism was, to an extent, broken. Countries that had been under colonization emerged as independent or at least partially independent countries. The Muslims and their intellectual leaders began to contemplate upon a series of fundamental issues, and the reasons for the subjection and backwardness of their societies was studied and thereby, they sought to find reasons for their abject state.

Amongst the issues that drew their greater attention was the propagation of the teachings, truths, and sciences of the Qur`an, since in the previous centuries, it was only the scholars who were benefiting from the truths of this Heavenly Book while the rest of the people were limited to the mere recitation of the scripture. The lay people expended all of their energy in the correct recitation of the Qur`an and in learning the rules of proper pronunciation, while the books of exegesis of the Qur`an written during those centuries were only of benefit to the scholars. Very rarely could it be seen that a scholar would sit down and write a commentary of the Qur`an which would be for the guidance of the common people in understanding the meaning of the Qur`an and very rarely could it be seen that they would hold classes in which the Qur`an would be expounded upon.

It can be said that pondering and thinking upon the verses of the Qur`an was something limited to the scholars, while the rest of the people were only to benefit from the recitation of the Qur`an!

In addition to this frame of thought being very detrimental which is something that the scholars found out later, this belief went directly against the clear verses of the Qur`an as the Qur`an has invited all of humanity to think and ponder deeply on its verses and to take it as their radiant lamp (giving off Divine Celestial light) and as the best guide and leader of the Allah-conscious (those with Taqwa).

The Qur`an introduces itself as a “Reminder” (تَذْكِرَةٌ ) and a way through which we can be informed (of previous nations, scriptures and events that have transpired). In addition, we see that those who refrain from hearing the Qur`an and pondering upon the meaning of its verses have been severely reprimanded, as the Noble Qur`an says:

{ فَمَا لَـــهُمْ عَنِ التَّذْكِرَةِ مُعْرِضِـينَ ٭ كَـأَنَّهُمْ حُمُرٌ مُّسْـتَـنْفِرَةٌ ٭ فَرَّتْ مِنْ قَسْوَرَةٍ }

“What is the matter with them that they evade the Reminder as if they were terrified donkeys fleeing from a lion?”[1]

The verses of the Qur`an which call upon those with consciousness of Allah (Taqwa), scholars, thinkers and intellectuals to listen and to contemplate upon the concepts presented in this Book are in such a great number that we shall refrain from quoting them or translating them or even giving their chapter and verse numbers (in this short treatise). Rather, we shall only present one such verse, suffice ourselves with it, and then go on to another discussion:

{ وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرَآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِنْ مُّدَّكِرٍ }

“And We have indeed made the Qur`an easy to understand for remembrance, then is there any that will receive admonition?”[2]

This verse and other such verses of the Qur`an tell us that understanding and making use of the Qur`an is not limited to a select or specific group of people!

In Summary: Sidelining the masses of people (from the Qur`an) and preventing them from benefiting from the verses of the Qur`an which was done in the previous centuries, is something that goes directly against the words of this Heavenly Book!

Due to the aforesaid, one of the greatest changes seen at the beginning of the fourteenth Islamic century is the opening up of the gatherings of the commentary of the Qur`an to everyone with the masses of people becoming acquainted with this Heavenly Book. In this regards, commentaries aimed at enlightening the general public have been written in the various Islamic countries (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran) and gatherings are held – all with the purpose of acquainting the people with the Qur`an.

At this point, it is necessary for us to exhibit the correct way and method of pursuing a commentary of the Qur`an so that those who have an ardent desire to understand the meanings and teachings of the Qur`an may be able to make the best use of this Book.

The commentary of the Qur`an, in the true meaning and way in which the commentator struggles to understand the meanings of the verses of the Qur`an – and not merely in which they simply follow those who have come before them in explaining the verses of the Qur`an, must be carried out through employing a series of rules, realizing various conditions, and following certain issues which will be alluded to in the following pages.

An Awareness of the Rules of Arabic Grammar

The first prerequisite in the exegesis of the Qur`an is that the commentator must have a complete knowledge of the rules of Arabic grammar so that under the shadow of this comprehensive knowledge, he is able to clearly differentiate the ‘the subject of a verb’ (ألفاعل) from the ‘the object of a verb’ (ألـمفعول); the ‘adverb’(ألظرف) from the ‘qualified verb’(ألمظروف); the ‘denotative of state’(ألحل) from the ‘subject of state’(ذو الحال ); and the ‘coupled’(ألـمعطوف) from the ‘antecedent’(ألـمعطوف عليه ).

However it is not only in understanding the Qur`an for which this sort of a key is needed. Rather, in order to benefit from a book in any language, a person must possess knowledge of the rules of grammar of that particular language. How many times has it been seen that without knowing the rules of Arabic grammar, many errors in the understanding of the meaning of a verse of the Qur`an take form.

This first condition is so clear that there is no need to go further in the discussion of this point.

However we should mention that being aware of the rules of Arabic grammar does not mean that a person must be a specialist in the rules of the sciences of: derivation, declension of words and syntax of sentences, since it is not necessary to be an expert in these fields to be a commentator of the Qur`an. Rather, it is sufficient that a person has a general understanding of these sciences, through which he would be able to understand and point out the various differences (in the words). Such a form of understanding (of the rules of Arabic grammar) can be attained by going through an entire course in the fields of the science of derivation (of the words) and the science of syntax of sentences.

An Awareness of the Meaning of the Words in the Qur`an

Knowledge of the meaning of the individual words of the Qur`an is one of the fundamental prerequisites for the commentary of the Qur`an, since understanding compounded word is only possible after comprehending its original components.

At this point, it is imperative to note that we must never rely upon the common meaning that we perceive of a word, which is in our minds, and explain the verse according to that interpretation. How often have we seen that with the passing of time, the meaning of a word completely changes and the common definition (of a particular word) which was well known during the time of the revelation may later undergo a change. Therefore, we must go forth and study the root meaning of the word and seek to acquire its original denotation, and only then can we proceed to explain a verse of the Qur`an.

For example the words “عصـــى” and “غــــــوى”, in the common understanding of today means ‘he sinned’ and ‘he deviated’, whereas the original meaning of these two words (during the time of revelation of the Qur`an) was different from the meanings that we commonly perceive today.

We observe a group of people who prove the fallibility of the prophets by the following verse:

{ وَ عَصَــــى آدَمُ رَبَّـهُ فَغَوَى }

Thus did Adam distance himself from his Lord, and perform an action which had no benefit to it.”[3]

They assume that the words “ عصـــى” and “ غــــــوى” mean the same today as they did during the time of the revelation. However if the original meaning of these two words was searched out, people would definitely see that they have different (original) meanings than what is in the minds of the people today, which have been derived from the original meaning of these two words. However, the original meaning of these two words was never associated with the technical meaning of sinning!

The best book available which is able to guide us in finding the original meaning of the words contained in the Qur`an is the work al-Maqayis, written by Ahmad b. Faris b. Zakariyya (d. 395 ah). This work has been printed in six volumes in Egypt and the author’s entire endeavor in compiling this work was to bring forth the original meaning of the words of the Qur`an and to make them available to us. Then he shows to us how the meanings of the words have changed with the passing of time and have appeared in the form of an independent meaning (with a loose affiliation to the original meaning), in addition to possessing its own original meaning.

Today, in the various Arabic dictionaries, we see that there are some words which have ten meanings to them and a person may actually think that a particular word has actually been formed to mean all ten things and actually has ten meanings to it! However, when a person refers to the work al-Maqayis, it would then be made clear to him that the word he is studying does not have more than one meaning associated with it and all other meanings are simply different facets of the original meaning, which, due to the passage f time, have been attributed to that word and taken as independent meanings.

In addition to the book al-Maqayis, the true commentator of the Qur`an must also refer to books such as, al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Qur`an, written by Abul Qasim Husayn b. Muhammad, popularly known as Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 502 ah) and the work, an-Nihayah fi Gharib al-Hadith wal Athar, written by Majd ad-Din Abul Saf’dat Mubarak b. Muhammad Jazri, better known as Ibne Athir (d. 606 ah) if he wants to be able to differentiate the various meanings of the words in the Qur`an.

This last book mentioned has been printed in Egypt in six volumes and even though this work looks at the words contained in the ahadith, however we are able to use this work in the commentary of the Qur`an as well.

In addition, the work Majma’ al-Bahrain, written by Turayhi al-Najafi (d. 1086 ah) is also a very beneficial work on the commentary of the words (contained in the Qur`an).