Session 4 Notes
Qur’anic Sciences (Ulum al-Qur’an)
As we shall see in the classifications below, the Qur’an has been interpreted from various perspectives by scholars. It might appear as though each commentator has adopted their own unique approach; however, one must not forget that the linguistic structure of the Qur’an allows for readings that address new questions. Indeed, we observe that when commentators turn to the Qur’an seeking answers to the needs of their respective eras, they are able to find them. Many of the narratives found in the Qur’an appear to be framed around events that took place during the period of its revelation. Furthermore, even when recounting the stories of past prophets and their people, the linguistic structure and rhetorical nuances employed are capable of addressing a wide range of needs. In this regard, experts on the Qur’an reach a consensus: the language of the Qur’an is miraculous. Drawing upon this miraculous language, commentators in every age have undertaken fresh readings of the Qur’an to meet the needs of their times. And we see that they have succeeded in doing so. In our studies of the Qur’an in these series of Lessons we will follow their path and try to understand the Qur’an as the source of guidance, answering the needs of our era.
We will get some idea from the rough historical timeline shown below regarding the scholarly work that was done in studying the Qur’an. This gives us some background of the Qur’anic science development based on the approach taken by Muslim scholars. By getting some understanding, we can determine what is important for us right now. We can also make sense of what the general tradition in the Muslim world is currently.
A rough timeline of Tafsir Approaches – 1
Rivayah Foundations: (1st – 3rd c AH, 7th -9th CE)
Qur’an explained through the Qur’an, Hadith, Companions (sahaba), and Successors (tabi’un) —> Culmination: al-Tabari (d. 310 AH (9th – 10th CE)
Linguistic & Grammatical Expansion: (3rd-5th c AH, 9th-11th c CE)
Nawh, sarf, gharib, i’rab enter tafsir systematically, founded by Al-Farra (d. 822 CE) and culmination: Al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143 CE)
Structural Balaghah: (5th c AH, 11th c CE)
Meaning understood through structure (nazm) —-> first discovered by Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH) and systematized by al-Jurjani (d. 471 AH), culminated by Sakkaki (d. 1229 CE) and then perfected by Jalal al-Din al-Qazwini (d. 1338 CE)
Classical Synthetic Tafsir: (6th – 8th c. AH, 12th -14th c. CE)
Rivayah, language, kalam, fiqh, balaghah integrated —-> al-Razi, al Qurtubi, al-Baydawi
19th Century Commentator al-Alusi (d. 1854 CE) followed the classical tafsir narrations by rejecting rationalist interpretations; he combined the two opposing tendencies, Salafi and Sufi-Ishari tradition in his well-known tafsir “Ruhu’l-Ma’ani.”
The very early work came from al-Tabari whose foundation was to explain the Qur’an using the Qur’an, hadith narrations, statements of the companions and their successors. Al-Tabari died in 310 hijri (AH) which is around the 10th century leaving behind all his volumes of written work. We should appreciate his dedication for the work he has done, although none of us is going to read those huge volumes of books. However, we will get the idea of how his work developed further as the Muslim community exposed itself to other cultures where many nations joined the community. They started asking questions and wanted to go deeper in their engagement with the Qur’an. A tradition developed to study the Qur’an from the linguistic perspective, and then the grammar details were established during that period. They needed these sciences because people were asking for it, and had unaccustomed questions which they were hoping to get answers from the Qur’an.
Someone may ask why these sciences were not started during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? During the time of prophet Muhammad (pbuh), his companions did not have these questions because they were witnessing the Prophet as the teacher living the message in his life. They were living with the revelation of God and their lives were the commentary of the Qur’an for them. Thus, they did not have the need for those sciences.
As Islam was embraced by other civilizations, new cultures joined the Muslim community, they were looking for careful analysis of the Qur’an to get deeper meanings to respond to the needs of their circumstances. They had to do systematic studies which conformed to the linguistic and grammatical rules of the Qur’an. These serious deep studies happened until the 12th Century CE.
Why the need for these deeper studies? Let’s take the example of medicine, if there was no illness, would there be any need for the science of medicine to develop a cure? There would be no need as they have not yet encountered that disease. If they go somewhere else and find a disease they have no cure for, they would further study sciences and develop medicine for it. In the same way, the companions of the prophet (pbuh) were following the life of the prophet and living with the revelation. For example, in the Qur’an there are sections which talk about the battle of “Badr” and the prophet’s companions were present there. They were living every aspect of that experience alongside the prophet Muhammad(pbuh). The language of the Qur’an literally addressed their reality of life and guided them. That is why some Salafi tradition followers claim that we have to follow the Companions’ (Sahaba) way of taking the Qur’an as their guidance; they benefitted from the literal meaning of the verses. That is correct, there was no need for them to study the linguistic or grammatical structure of the words. However, as the Muslim community expanded all over the world, they encountered different cultures. Similar to the discovery of the disease that led to the improvement of the science of medicine, the questions and problems of other cultures led to further studies and the development of the Qur’anic sciences. If there is no question, no one would feel the need to find an answer. This development of sciences was necessary. Otherwise, had those layers of meaning which is miraculously structured to be examined and understood in strict accordance with the grammatical nature of the Quranic language itself, would not have been read and uncovered, we would have just buried the Qur’an in the depth of history.
The next major study along with this was “balaghah” to understand the relationship between words, between verses of the Qur’an which contained implied meanings. Certain scholars were specialized in looking into the different meanings which lie there. This brought great excitement among the scholars who then started looking into “Nazm”, the order of words, questioning why one word came before the other or after the others and many details. This study was further systematized by “Jurjani,” who was the first specialized scholar looking into the “Balaghah” aspect of the Qur’an. It culminated in the work of “Sakkaki”. Further meanings started to appear and scholars took the helm from there to develop this further.
The classical scholarship then faced a stagnation by repeating, narrating the works of previous scholars with nothing much new being added. This was the period of classical synthetic tafsir which meant combining many of the earlier works. The best works came from Razi who was making comments on the previous tafsirs and adding valuable rational interpretations without rationalizing the inferred meaning of the verses. This led to the development of the Qur’anic sciences in the Muslim world.
There was another tradition alongside, parallel to the tafsir tradition above. Another trend, namely the “sufi” trend started by trying to understand the Quran from its applicability in one’s practical life and spiritual life. How can one feel the message of the verses? How can one digest the verse in our feelings? Below is the rough timeline of this parallel approach:
A Rough Timeline of Tafsir Approaches – 2
Sufi (Ishari, indicative meanings) tafsir: Initiated by Ja’far al-Sadiq (d. 765 CE) and Sahl al-Tustari (d. 896 CE). Developed by Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 1072 CE) and Ibn Arabi (d. 1240 CE) and his commentator Abd al-Razzak al-Qashani (d. 1329 CE). Culminated by Ismail Hakki Bursevi (d. 1725 CE)
Stabilization & Commentary Culture: 9th – 12th c. AH (15th – 18th c CE)
Sharh, hashiya, consolidation of earlier traditions
Modern Revivalist Tafsir: 13th – 15th c. AH (19th -21st c. CE)
Social, ethical, civilizational, and belief based on evidence
—-> Muhammad ‘Abduh, Rashid Rida (al-Manar), Mawdudi, Muhammad Iqbal, Sayyid Qutb, Ibn Ashur, Said Nursi
This tradition started developing from the 9th Century CE to being substantially developed by the 14th Century CE. They avoided reading the Qur’an literally but did not ignore the grammatical structure of the Qur’an. One has to keep Arabic grammar rules to be able to make any comment on the Qur’an. The Sufi tradition was looking at the meaning that would touch one’s feelings and emotional side. This led to this tradition being called experiential reading alongside the mainstream tradition. There were a great number of scholars who worked on this where each wrote an unbelievable number of commentaries on the Qur’an, volumes of books which would be impossible for us to read from start to finish. We must appreciate how they dedicated their lives to studying the Qur’an.
Once again, the stabilization and commentary culture ran from 15th to 18 th c. CE. There was not much new original study, new understanding developed with a very few exceptions like Nursi and, partially, Al-Manar. The scholars were commenting on other’s work. For example, they would say that Zamakshari explained this verse in this particular way. Another scholar may comment on some work of scholar Qadi Baydavi. This was a period of settling down with the previous works. The arguments between scholars was: “who made the best commentary on the Qur’an”. Generally speaking this argument still continues today.
Someone may say that this was a loss because nothing new was developed. Time wise, this would be considered a loss. For example, if someone goes through high school and after the age of 20 is still going to high school, that person would be losing a lot of time. However, these scholars were trying to address the problems of their time and worked on it, so it is not a simple case to put them down.
The Muslim world came under colonizations with the dominating European physical power that gave rise to the modern revivalist scholars. The Muslims felt humiliated and wanted to start something new for their lifeline, new blood. These revivalist moments started looking into what the Muslim society needed and how to challenge other cultures being imposed on them. For example, in some colonies in North Africa, rather than Arabic language, French language was being imposed on the people by force. The Arabic language was prohibited, the schools were closed, and the scholars were being persecuted, if not killed. The Muslim community needed motivation and energy which encouraged the need for support from the Qur’an. They wanted to study the Qur’an deeply to challenge the traditional European philosophy that was born out of Hellenistic culture. The objective was to reread the Qur’an carefully to find out the answers to the challenge they were facing in their times. They were seeking solutions to their political impasses. They needed solutions to social matters, ethical matters, belief matters in civilization based on evidence.
The social matters were mostly in the work of Sayyid Qutb, the political and administrative side was dealt with by Mawdudi in some of his works. Ibn Ashur wanted to combine all these different aspects. He benefited tremendously from the works of Zamakshari and Razi and wanted to use that work to answer the problems of this age. Interestingly, he called his tafsir as “al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir” which means “Liberty, Enlightenment”. These were the popular slogans of European civilization as well. Now, Ibn Ashur wanted to respond to the Europeans that if you want liberty and freedom then here is the Qur’an which speaks to you and teaches one how to liberate themselves without falling into materialist worldview which leads you into nonexistence. If you really want to be enlightened in your personal and social life, then pay attention to the teachings of the Qur’an. His aim was to address the problems of this self-centered age from the Qur’an.
The work of Rashid Rida, Al-Manar challenged the scientific discoveries, which were being interpreted in a naturalistic, materialistic way. The author aimed at reinterpreting those scientific discoveries in the universe by giving the Qur’anic interpretation to those events.
The author Said Nursi is unfortunately not well known in the Muslim world. He is known to a limited number of great scholars of our time, but the general public is not aware of his work. He propagates the reading of the Qur’an alongside the creation of the universe to establish one’s fundamental belief system. He introduces the fact that the Qur’an interprets the existence of the universe in a way that makes materialist and naturalist interpretation to be logically baseless and meaningless. His aim was to read the Qur’an along with the evidence witnessed in the universe. This approach is still not that popular among the Muslim tradition.
The scholar Allamah Tabatabai from the Shia school wrote volumes of al-Mizan which was great work as well but not as powerful as the work of Ibn Ashur and Said Nursi in the Sunni side of the Muslim population. There are other great scholars from both sides of Shia and Sunni. This is not a comparative study but for us to get the general picture of the historical development in the study of the Qur’an from the Sunni perspective. Every scholar wrote their work addressing the problems of their time and place. All of them are valuable in their place and time. Depending on what one is looking for, they can study the Qur’an with the help of these scholars.
When we study the Qur’an seriously, we know that it cannot be compared to anything else. We must always keep the engagement with the Qur’an and try to get the answers to the questions that bother us in our time. Every parent wants to send their child to be educated in the best schools, they don’t want the child to stay ignorant. We respect the teachers we encounter in primary education but we move on to the next level to learn more. We have no right to disrespect the primary education teachers or put them down. Thanks to the work of previous scholars, we learnt from them and now we move on to further education. We benefit from the scholars of our time and continue learning. We must continue to educate ourselves. The more we benefit from the Qur’an the more we develop ourselves.
A Summary of tafsir tradition
- 1-3 AH (7th – 9th c. CE): Rivayah foundations
- 3-5 AH (9th-11th c. CE): Language & grammar
- 5 AH (11th c. CE): Structural balaghah (Jurjani)
- 6-8 AH(12th – 14th c. CE): Ishari tafsir (parallel)
- 9-12 AH (15th – 18th c. CE): Stabilization
- 13+ AH (19th – 21st c. CE): Revivalist & updated readings
Above is the summary of the Qur’anic commentary timeline. We are in the age of revivalist and updated readings. When one is reading a narration from Tabari for instance, they will identify it as belonging to the first category where his commentary and explanation was according to the conditions of his own time.Tabari was great for his time and we benefit from him, but we need to move on to satisfy the questions and problems of our time. This explanation cannot be a valuable answer to today’s problems where belief in God is being challenged with no substantial evidence but through imposition of misinterpretation of the scientific discoveries. We are in the age of naturalism and materialism and need explanations from the Revivalist and updated commentaries addressing the topics of this age.