Issues of Interpreting the Koran and Hadith

Abstract

Tafsir, the classical science of interpretation and explanation of the Koran, was con-solidated in the tenth century. Tafsir accepted the Koran as the word of God revealed by divine inspiration (wahy) through Muhammad and divinely preserved. It is a mira-cle, inimitable and unique. As a divine theophany, each word is divine in and of itself, and therefore worthy of every human effort of study and contemplation. Tafsir pro-ceeded through the scripture verse by verse and sometimes word by word. A symbolic and allegorical form of interpretation (ta'wil) was also developed to explain the inner and concealed meanings of the text. The Koran is the criterion by which everything else is to be judged. The Koran is accepted as the primary revealed source of Islam and of Islamic law (sharia). Muhammad was believed to have been given the responsibility of interpreting the Koran, so his words and acts—his sunnah, as found in the collected traditions (hadith)—became the second revelatory source, expounding the Koran. The five traditional sources for commentary on the Koran are: 1. The Koran itself. The Koran was accepted as the very word of God. It is authorita-tive when it explains itself. The Koran is free of contradiction, and apparent in-consistencies in its message are inevitably resolved through closer study of the text. 2. Muhammad's explanations. Muhammad was sent to explain and clarify the Ko-ran. The accounts of Muhammad's teaching recorded in the hadith collections contain much tafsir on the Koran. 3. The reports of the Sahaba (companions) of Muhammad, who also interpreted and taught the Koran. Where a Koranic explanation is absent, and there is no authentic tradition from Muhammad, a consensus of the companions may be used in inter-preting a certain verse. 4. The reports of those who followed the companions, or the successors (tabi'un). These individuals were taught by the companions, so their insight is next in line. 5. Reason. A qualified scholar's personal reasoning, or ijtihad (deductive logic and personal evaluation of arguments), is the final method of understanding the Ko-ran; it exists in conjunction with the other four. In addition, there are five subjects of classical tafsir: 1. The text: ambiguity, variant readings, defective texts, and apparent contradictions in the text of the Koran. It provided detailed background information and com-mentary on the text rather than analysis of its inner essence. 2. Legal rulings extracted from the text. 3. Determining which suras and verses were Meccan and which came from the Medinan period. 4. Determining the causes of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) of the various passages. This is important for analogical reasoning, as the contexts must be similar. 5. Specifying the abrogated and abrogating verses (nasikh and mansukh). The principle is that chronologically later verses abrogate earlier verses that contradict them. However, there is much discussion about which verses were abrogated, the number varying according to different scholars. Some limit abrogation to verses with legal injunctions only. Abrogation is valid not only when the Koran abro-gates the Koran; according to some scholars, the Koran can also abrogate sunnah, sunnah can abrogate Koran, and sunnah can abrogate sunnah. The variety of these discussions allow for a certain spectrum for divergent thought. For instance, the verse, " Let there be no compulsion in religion " (Q 2:256) elicits six different views in Tafsir al-Qurtubi (d. 1273):