Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Intro to Quranic Sciences - by Sheikh Taha (pt 3) |
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| bhaloo |
| 02/25/01 at 12:55:23 |
| slm Alhumdullilah continuing where we last left off here is lecture #3. Lectures #1 and #2 can be found in this folder. Lecture Lecture 1 Meaning of Tafseer Tafseer of the Prophet Tafseer of the Sahaba Schools of Tafseer Homework Meaning of Tafseer The word Tafseer comes from the root fa sa ra. It means to break apart. It is the nature of people to pull things apart in an attempt to understand them. Conceptually it implies explanatory speech Tafseer of the Prophet If we go back to the time of the prophet, we try to find if the prophet had a Quranic Tafseer. In one way we can say that the Prophet did, through his actions. In another way, we can say that he did not have a Tafseer in the same style/manner as Ibn Kathir etc. Why did the Prophet not have a written Tafseer? The prophet did not leave a Tafseer. If you go to Bukhari, the book of Tafseer included no more than 150 verses or surahs that are narrated about. Some of them are not even from the prophet, but from the sahaba who gave some sort of interpretation. If the prophet had left his own Tafseer to the people, they would accept it only, and would not practice any tadabur or tafakur on the Quran. When Aisha (ra) asked if the prophet left a Tafseer, said, No, but a few verses he took their meaning from Gibreel. When Aisha was asked about his ethics, she said his ethics were nothing but the Quran. Understanding We have to try to understand the Quran to the best of our own abilities The Quran tells us: Did they leave the Quran without thinking? This tadabur(contemplation), tafakur (thinking), ta’akul, tazakur Allah used these 4 meanings when he asked the people to practice thinking about the Quran. These are the 4 levels of understanding the Quran Tadabur Do not stick only with the obvious meanings of the verses. Try to see what is beyond. Tadabur means you see the front and the back=- see beyond the appearance and the language. Through this one can understand the links between the universe and the Quran Ta’akul Trying to use your mind to get beyond the basic meaning, and trying to understand the background etc to establish some understanding Tafkur When you practice ta’Akul, and then you try and understand the logic and the reasoning. Tazakur If you are part of the people of the book, they had books before. These books will help remind of the teachings of Allah in the previous books, through the previous prophets. If someone from the people of the book hears the quran he must practice tazakur to remember the other books, he will discover the truth in the quran. If he becomes blind and neglects the quran, dislikes to think or practice tazakur, he will never get anything. Surah Isra 17:82. We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after loss. Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation If you come to the Quran with your own ideas, you will not be able to get anyting from the Quran. These people are trying to practice ijaz ul-ilmi (scientific miracles). These people are running behind the scientific theories. This will never serve Islam or the Quran. They try and support the Quran by science- but the Quran is higher than any science. If we stuffy the history of science, we’ll find many issues that were discovered to be wrong. When Niezthe announced the death of god and adopted science, no theory has been stable since then. Up to 30 years ago, science was considered the law, and there was no way of changing those “truths”. Now they talk about probability and uncertainty. This is because the methodology does not give 100% certainty, and there are gaps. Now some scientists want to look at myths. We as Muslims should base ourselves on the revelation, not on myths. The Christians avoid anything about the unseen because there is a conflict between science and religion. We do not have conflicts between science and religion If we have a knowledge source and try to use the same methodology repeatedly to get results from it, we find that we should find the same conclusion. If however the conclusion is different, using the same methodology each time, we know that the methodology is flawed, and is uncertain. Different source, same result Allah tells us: He who created the 2 kinds of waters and both allow fish 35:12. Nor are the two bodies of flowing water alike,- the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other, salt and bitter. Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh and tender, and ye extract ornaments to wear; and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the Bounty of Allah that ye may be grateful. Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation Same source, different result 1 water but you have lots of different types of other food that can be grown from there [13:4] 4. And in the earth are neighbouring tracts, and gardens of vines, and green crops (fields etc.), and date-palms, growing out two or three from a single stem root, or otherwise (one stem root for every palm ), watered with the same water, yet some of them We make more excellent than others to eat. Verily, in these things, there are Ayat (proofs, evidences, lessons, signs) for the people who understand. Who created this? Allah. It goes against science, however it is there! Tafseer of the Sahaba They did not find a lot of need to practice Tafseer. However, when the prophet left them, they started facing some questions. Through those questions, they found that they needed to ask the Qura (the people who were reading the Quran). There were 165 qura in the beginning. 70 were living on the suffa (small raised area behind the Prophet’s grave). This location was left for the people who would receive the Quran from the Prophet as soon as he got it. Anyone who was there would write down the verses and memorize them. And they would teach the others. Some people would only come for juma or a few times a week, and would go to the qura to find out what was revealed, and memorize it. They would then go back to teach the others. In this way, hundreds of people were memorizing the Quran and narrating it/ The prophet’s copy of the Quran was in the possession of house of Hafsa. This is because she was able to read and write herself, and she was mature enough to understand and protect the copy. There was a limited amount of knowledge transfer through the language by the Arabs. Like a child, a child can speak but if you ask what it means, she has a limited ability to explain her words, and it will be simple. She has a limited vocabulary and capacity. This was similar to the case of the Quran and the Arabs. The language is rich. The prophet asked-Do u know who is poor (mufliss)? He doesn’t have money and property. The prophet said no, he is the one who will have a lot of bad deeds against the people on the Day of Judgment. People will ask Allah to take their rights from him, and Allah will take their bad and put it on them, and take his rewards and give it to the victims, and at the end he will have nothing but bad deeds, and he will be thrown into jahannum. The peophet gave a new meaning to the word, a deeper meaning. e.g. Salat was used in the time of the prophet to mean dua. It did not imply prayer as we know it, but when the Quran used it, the new meaning was added Zakat- used to mean “increase something”, but here it is purification and developing by paying x amount to x people at x time. Iman was only tasdeeq. Allah gave us another meaning. This means that we should be aware of the diff in the language when humans use it and when Allah uses it. Allah did not ask us to practice tadabutr on any casual Arabic, but on His words. Allah communicates to us through language, and we have no other way of communicating with him. We must understand this, and the differences. The sahaba understood some verses very clearly however there were others regarding ahkam and worship, they needed help. E.g malik e yaum idden Deen in their language refers to something related to worship and its rewards. Which kind of reward, and for what? They needed help with the explanatory details. This was especially true of the people from other cultures Islam came to people in 2 phases. The first came to the ummiyeen (illiterate or those who did not receive a message before). Allah asked the children of isarel to coinvey the message but theyr refused. They said they did not care about the ummiyeen. Thus Allah gave them the teachings Himself. Start with your tribe, then invite people around u, then all nations The second phase is now, when we are correcting the previous messages of the people of the book who have changed what they got. Muslims are spreading all over the earth. The second phase of Islam is coming. Surah tauba Surah saff Surah al fath Allah sent his prophet with this religion to be the religion of all humans. We do not know when this will happen, however we are starting along this path. We need to reach them by the Quran, not through culture. When the Sahaba started going to different parts of the world, they were going to places where the language was not Arabic. They sometimes needed to practice Tafseer to explain things to the locals. There are 7 who were very famous Abdullah ibn Abbas Abu Bakr Umar Aisha Abdullah ibn Masud Zaid Ibn Thabit Ali Ibn Talib There were also some others who when asked would answer but they avoided giving the people the impression that their interpretation was the only correct one Ibn Masud (lived in Kufa)- had some 300 students When Ali was asked what the prophet left for you, we said he only left 2 things: understanding of the book of Allah, and some rulings (which he had written on a page which he kept in his sword) The main mufassir was Abdullah Ibn Abbas (died 68 AH). He lived for a long time after the Prophet. He was the nephew of Sawda, wife of the prophet. He tried to serve the prophet when he went to visit his aunt, and the prophet prayed for him. This dua helped him be a good interpreter of the Quran. He almost established a school of Tafseer. A number of people in Makkah and Taif were his students in Tafseer. Ibn Masuf and Ibn Abbas almost created a school. Umar ordered the collection of everything in 99 AH, Quran, Tafseer, hadith, athar (narrations of the sahaba). The main person who collected the Tafseer inherited from Ibn Abbas: Ibn u Jurayj. Ibn Jurayj wrote/collected a Tafseer in 130 AH. This was the first book of Tafseer that appeared, even though Tafseer existed way before then. The later Tafseer were more detailed and included athar from the sahaba (e.g. Tabari) Schools of Tafseer 1. School of Tafseer al mathoor (depends on narrations from priophet and sahab) i. Tabari (30 vol) ii. Ibn Kathir (summary of Tabari) iii. Suyuti 2. Tafseer al Aqli (depends on reason but does not neglect the language). i. Zamakshari (Al Kashaf- 5 vol, mutazili) ii. Al Baydawi, Al- Zamari 3. Tafseer al Ishari (by famous Sufis that certain verses in quran indicate towards something else, and they neglect the actual obvious meanings) i. Al-Arabi (futohaat al makkiya) The best Tafseer is the interpretation of the Quran by itself. Sometimes you do not understand a verse, however the explanation will be in some other verse. If Allah helps you and gives you this naymah to use your reason to understand the Quran, you will understand the Quran in a proper way and will get a lot of benefit 1. Tafseer al Ilmi i. Fakhruddin ar Razi Homework 1. Study what is Tafseer · Main Schools · Main mufassireen · Main students · First Tafseer in writing · Why the prophet didn’t leave a full Tafseer of the quran · Why did the people start looking for Tafseer 2. Differences of Tafseer and taweel, mufassir and muawwil 3. Look up books on mufassireen and their background. Quran is a solution, not a support It gives an answer when asked Example: regarding the accusation of adultery 24:11. Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that he earned, and to him who took on himself the lead among them, will be a penalty grievous. 24:12. Why did not the believers - men and women - when ye heard of the affair,- put the best construction on it in their own minds and say, "This (charge) is an obvious lie"? 24:13. Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not brought the witnesses, such men, in the sight of Allah, (stand forth) themselves as liars! 24:14. Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, in this world and the Hereafter, a grievous penalty would have seized you in that ye rushed glibly into this affair. 24:15. Behold, ye received it on your tongues, and said out of your mouths things of which ye had no knowledge; and ye thought it to be a light matter, while it was most serious in the sight of Allah. 24:16. And why did ye not, when ye heard it, say? - "It is not right of us to speak of this: Glory to Allah! this is a most serious slander!" 24:17. Allah doth admonish you, that ye may never repeat such (conduct), if ye are (true) Believers. 24:18. And Allah makes the Signs plain to you: for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom. 24:19. Those who love (to see) scandal published broadcast among the Believers, will have a grievous Penalty in this life and in the Hereafter: Allah knows, and ye know not. 24:20. Were it not for the grace and mercy of Allah on you, and that Allah is full of kindness and mercy, (ye would be ruined indeed). Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation A person asked the prophet what if he finds someone sleeping with his wife- then the verses of lian were revealed surah nur 6 24: 6. And for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and have (in support) no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth; 24: 7. And the fifth (oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on themselves if they tell a lie. 24: 8. But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) By Allah, that (her husband) is telling a lie; 24: 9. And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth. Yusuf Ali's Quran Translation |
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