There have been different approaches to understanding the Qur’an throughout Islamic history. The various styles of exegesis (tafsir) that emerged over the centuries are a result of this diversity.
The first task of the science of tafsir is to consider the role of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the explanation of the Qur’an. God Almighty has entrusted the interpretation of the Qur’an primarily to His Messenger. As He says in the Qur’an:
“We have sent down to you the reminder, that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they may give thought.” (Qur’an, An-Nahl, 44)
The “reminder” (dhikr) sent down refers to the non-recited revelation (wahy ghayr matlu), which is the Sunnah. It was revealed to the Prophet for the purpose of explaining and interpreting the Qur’an. Based on this verse and many others that express the same meaning, Muslims have agreed to give primary importance to the explanations of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in Qur’anic exegesis.
God Almighty did not reveal His Book in the form of physical papers to be held by human hands, but instead, He sent it to the heart of the Messenger, chosen from among us, through the revelation. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not limit himself to just conveying the text of the Book; he also explained it and put it into practice through his words and actions. Thus, the Prophet’s main duties regarding the Qur’an were as follows:
1. Tebliğ (Conveying the Message)
2.Tebyin (Clarifying and Explaining)
3. Tatbik (Implementing)
His entire life was filled with these duties. The Qur’an uses the words belagh (to convey) and tebliğ (to communicate) to describe the task of delivering the revelation. For example, “O Messenger, deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, you have not conveyed His message.” (Qur’an, Al-Ma’idah, 67)
While the Qur’an frequently uses the word tebliğ regarding the delivery of its message, in the verse we previously mentioned (An-Nahl, 44), the word tebyin (to clarify or explain) is used in a manner that shows it involves more than just delivering the message — it encompasses making the meaning clear. On the other hand, another verse states: “O you who have believed, obey God and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to God and the Messenger.” (Qur’an, An-Nisa, 59) Referring to God means turning to His Book, while referring to the Messenger means consulting his words during his lifetime, and after his passing, turning to his Hadiths as a source of authority to clarify any issue. Towards the end of the era of the Sahabah (Companions), a few individuals began to claim that the Qur’an was the sole source of religious law. The companions of the Prophet strongly opposed this claim. Let us recount two incidents that illustrate this:
In a gathering attended by the respected Imran ibn Husayn (d. 672), a man said, “Do not speak of anything that is not found in the Qur’an.” Imran responded, “You are a foolish man! Did you find in the Book of God that the midday prayer (Zuhr) consists of four rak’ahs and that its recitation should not be loud?” He then went on to list other issues like prayer, almsgiving, and similar rulings, adding, “Did you find these explained in the Book of God? The Book of God left these matters unclear, and the Sunnah provided the interpretation.”
According to Ibn Mas’ud, one of the leading interpreters (mufassir) among the Companions, all the actions prescribed by the Sunnah are fundamentally about fulfilling the commands of the Qur’an. The 7th verse of Surah Al-Hashr assigns this function to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him ). The 119th verse of Surah An-Nisa forbids changing what God has created. However, we can only understand the intent and scope of this verse through the interpretation and practice of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him ).
One day, a woman from the Banu Asad tribe approached the respected Abdullah ibn Mas’ud and said, “O Abu Abdirrahman! I have heard that you curse those who get tattoos, those who remove facial hair, and those who separate their teeth for beauty.” Abdullah ibn Mas’ud responded, “Who am I to not curse what the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him )cursed, and what is mentioned in the Qur’an?” The woman replied, “I have read the entire Qur’an (the two covers of the Qur’an), but I have not found anything like this.” Ibn Mas’ud’s response was, “If you had read it properly, you would have found it. God Almighty says: ‘Take what the Messenger has given you, and refrain from what he has forbidden’ (Qur’an, Surah Al-Hashr, 7).”
In the last quarter of the second century of the Hijra, in Basra, a group of people began to doubt the authenticity of hadiths, leading them to neglect the Sunnah. Some of them accepted only mutawatir (mass-transmitted) hadiths while rejecting those transmitted through the ahad (single chain) route. Others rejected all hadiths altogether. Their doubts were unfounded. However, it should be noted that their objection was not to the Sunnah’s role in interpreting the Qur’an; their objection was to the authenticity of the narrations. Imam Shafi’i, in the chapter of Cimau’l-ilm in his work Al-Umm, narrates a debate with a spokesperson of this group and explains, with very convincing evidence, that the Sunnah is a source that explains the Qur’an and binds the Muslim community. According to Shafi’i, “Everything said by the imams is an explanation of the Sunnah. And all of the Sunnah is an explanation of the Qur’an.”
From the third century onward, no Muslim has rejected the place of the Sunnah in Islam—until the European colonial powers invaded Islamic countries in the 19th century and established colonial rule, during which this deviation emerged. The colonizers’ hatred for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him ), their prejudiced views against Islam, and their goal of weakening Muslim unity and civilization led them to incite divisions, encouraging discord and conflicts among Muslims so they could maintain control and continue plundering their wealth.
The orientalists trained by the colonizers, who claimed to be experts in Islamic studies, attempted to stir doubts against Islam. The colonial administration created an environment where these orientalists’ ideas could be propagated, giving them opportunities to influence some gullible, ignorant, or weak-minded Muslims, as well as those pursuing worldly benefits. These individuals, despite being influenced by non-Muslims, pretended to be Muslims. Although these claims were never accepted by Muslim societies, the fact that they resurfaced intermittently over the past two centuries is clear evidence that they were stirred by non-Muslims. For them, the goal was not necessarily to make these ideas dominant; they knew well that such contrary views would not settle among Muslims. But at least, by causing a fitnah (discord), they hoped to distract Muslims from vital issues, sow division among them, and weaken their unity. Finding a few gullible individuals to propagate these ideas is never a difficult task.
However, the key difference between these gullible Muslims and the orientalists who put forward these claims is that the orientalists did not believe that the Qur’an was sent by God, while these Muslims claim to believe in the Qur’an. This makes their position even more complicated. These claims are not issues that arose within the Islamic community, driven by its needs, but rather they were generated by non-believers who did not accept the Qur’an and Islam. Therefore, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to convince people to accept these deviations by claiming that they are part of the Qur’an, especially when they claim to believe in the Qur’an. In the past, some Muslims had neglected hadiths, claiming they were uncertain about their authenticity. But now, these individuals are challenging the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him ) divinely-given authority to explain the Qur’an. The orientalists, on the other hand, do not see the Qur’an as significant in the same way. For them, it does not matter whether something is in the Qur’an or not. This is why it is normal for them to reject or distort the truths found in the Qur’an and hadiths, or to treat them superficially. We see that Muslims who imitate them in this regard have also been influenced and their religious sensitivity has weakened.
These individuals, unlike the classical Islamic scholars who evaluate the Qur’an’s verses by taking the entire context into consideration, tend to take certain verses they believe can be interpreted according to their desires and analyze them in isolation. For instance, they cite the verse: “Should I seek a judge other than God while He has sent down to you the Book explained in detail?” (Al-An’am, 114). They claim that this verse means the Qur’an needs no explanation and that there is no authority other than God’s to issue judgments.
In response, we say: This verse was revealed to refute the disbelievers who denied the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). They were pursuing extraordinary signs, works resembling magic, and seeking approval of the Prophet’s prophethood from other authorities. God, by sending down the Qur’an, which clearly explains many truths and possesses the quality of a miracle, made it known that His endorsement of the Prophet’s prophethood was enough, and there was no need for other miracles or authorities.
The reason is that, in order to understand divine rulings, the evidence from other extraordinary events and miracles is not as clear, strong, and detailed as the miracle of the Qur’an. For example, the miracle of the splitting of the moon provides evidence of the Prophet’s prophethood, but this was only evident for a brief moment and to a limited number of people. However, the guidance and benefits of the Qur’an, due to its clarity, continuity, and reliance on divine speech, are not limited in the same way. This is why the verse emphasizes that, “God has sent you such a detailed book, and He has made His ruling clear and delivered it to you, so why would I now abandon God’s ruling and seek the judgment of anyone other than Him?” (This situation is also referenced in the previous verse, Al-An’am, 112).
This verse rejects the polytheists who proposed human judges or authorities instead of accepting God’s judgment. According to the cause of revelation, the polytheists had suggested to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), “Appoint a judge from among the Jewish rabbis or Christian bishops to judge between us regarding your situation.” This is the context in which these verses were revealed.
Therefore, the verse was primarily addressed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), informing him that his prophethood did not require validation from any other authorities, and that Allah’s testimony through the Qur’an was more than sufficient. It is meaningless to use this verse as evidence against the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) authority to explain the Qur’an through his hadiths. Such an interpretation would ignore the context and meaning of the verse.
Let’s assume, hypothetically, that this unusual interpretation was made, and the verse was understood to mean that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not have the authority to issue rulings. We would have no objection to this, as we also say that the ultimate source of rulings is God alone. However, we reject the denial of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) role in explaining the Qur’an. Instead, we place hadiths in their rightful place as a source of interpretation. In this regard, look at how Shah Waliullah al-Dihlawi beautifully expresses this point:
“Making something lawful or unlawful is an act of issuing a valid ruling in the realm of the unseen about whether a person will be held accountable for a particular action. This ruling is what constitutes the reason for accountability or lack thereof, and this is a characteristic of God’s attributes. When something is referred to as being lawful or unlawful according to the Messenger, it is because his words serve as evidence for God’s declaration of what is lawful or unlawful.”
As for the relationship to the mujtahids, it is either due to deriving meanings from the clear texts of the Lawgiver (Shari’), from narrations, or by inferring the intended meanings from his words.
Thus, the Muslim tradition, through the efforts of the mujtahids in evaluating the hadiths, and their knowledge in tafsir, hadith, usul al-fiqh, and fiqh, has never established any judge or source of judgment other than God. Rather, Muslims have acknowledged God as the sole source of judgment, and have sought to understand and apply His rulings through learning. Those who deviate from this approach are to be found among the Khawarij, some Orientalists, and their puppets. The Khawarij declared the respected Ali a disbeliever because he appointed a judge. They argued, “There is no judge except God.” In response, Ali gave his famous reply: “This is true and correct, but it is being used for an invalid purpose.” Ali said, “Indeed, there is no judge except God. But He has made His judgment clear in the Qur’an. The Qur’an itself is not the implementation of the ruling; it must be understood and applied by the people.”
Another claim is that the Qur’an is so detailed that it requires no further interpretation. The Qur’an has clearly distinguished between right and wrong, and it has stated many lawful and unlawful things. It has made many truths clear. In this sense, it is indeed detailed.
They also cite the Qur’an’s quality of being “mubin” (clear, manifest). “Mubin” means clear, obvious, or explanatory. The Qur’an explains many truths regarding God’s actions, names, and attributes, the afterlife, prophethood, the states of previous nations, human duties in this world, principles of good morals, and the rules and instructions God has given to humanity. Therefore, the Qur’an’s being “mubin” means:
1. The Qur’an’s miraculous nature, its coming from Allah, is evident and clear.
2. It provides knowledge about the world and the afterlife, the realms of dominion and the unseen, recounting many stories and providing admonitions.
3. It distinguishes truth from falsehood, good from evil, right from wrong, and beauty from ugliness.
4. The Qur’an’s language is clear, eloquent Arabic. Using the vast expressive capacity of the Arabic language, it conveys its intended message with the most precise means of expression in any language.
All of this clearly demonstrates the Qur’an’s quality of being “mubin.” However, just because the Qur’an is “mubin,” it does not mean that everything within it is so immediately clear and understandable to everyone at every level that no explanation is needed. The Qur’an was sent as a Book. A book contains many sciences, and a book without a teacher is not a valid means of teaching. A system of education that relies solely on a book while rejecting the teacher and the school cannot function. Therefore, God has not left His Book and message without a guide. In many verses, He has mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) teaches the Book and wisdom, explaining and interpreting it.
God has commanded complete obedience to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and has declared that obedience to the Prophet is obedience to God.. Disobeying the Prophet or failing to accept his rulings is a sign of disbelief. Let us provide the translations of a few of these verses:
“God has sent to the unlettered people a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His verses, purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom” (Al-Jumu’a, 2).
“Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah” (An-Nisa, 80).
“Take whatever the Messenger gives you, and refrain from whatever he forbids you” (Al-Hashr, 7).
“No, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], the judge of what they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full, willing] submission” (An-Nisa, 65).
“Say, ‘If you should love God, then follow me, and God will love you and forgive you your sins. And God is Forgiving and Merciful'” (Aal-e-Imran, 31).
Indeed, the Prophet’s teaching of the Book, his teaching of wisdom, that is, his Sunnah, and the necessity of obeying what he has conveyed in his hadiths—these are clearly stated in many verses, as clear as the sun.
In the Book, there are many things that the greatest teacher (peace be upon him), who teaches based on this Book, will teach, explain, and apply. For example, one of the most emphasized obligations in the Qur’an is salat (prayer). The command to pray is clear and definitive. However, how it should be performed has been entrusted to the greatest teacher to explain and teach. Without referring to his teachings, it is impossible to understand how to perform prayer from the Qur’an alone. Otherwise, anyone who interprets the Qur’an as being so clear and detailed that everyone, from the illiterate to the most advanced scholars in tafsir, fiqh, and kalam, would understand it the same way is not going to convince anyone. Especially to claim, “Because the Qur’an is a miracle and because it is clear, everyone can understand it, and it does not need interpretation,” is a fallacy. The person who makes such a claim is asserting that there are 19 miracles in the Qur’an. Why, then, have millions of scholars and hundreds of millions of Muslims, who read the Qur’an every day, not seen these miracles? How could someone who claims to have deduced the exact date of the apocalypse from the Qur’an make such a claim? Why, after over 1,400 years, has no one been able to see this date in the Qur’an? We are faced with a situation that is extremely difficult to comprehend. Someone making such a claim should actually be arguing that the Qur’an is so difficult to interpret. They should say, “The interpretation is so difficult that, look, hundreds of millions of people, scholars, have read it and not seen it, but I was able to deduce it.” Even if this claim was invalid, we could not object to their right to make it.
However, a person who denies the very verses that every reader of the Qur’an clearly understands and then comes up with such conclusions is someone devoid of reason. In fact, they should not be taken seriously. However, since some people might take these claims seriously, or because there is a real fascination with odd ideas, I thought it necessary to write about this and present it to the public. Guidance comes from God.
Prof. Dr. Suat YILDIRIM, October-November-December 1996, Issue: 34, Year: 9