Tafsir
Tafsir refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a tafsir is a . A Quranic tafsir attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of God's will in Islam. The idea of the interpretation of the Quran first appears in the Quran itself, commenting on cases where it is clear and others where it is ambiguous.
Principally, a tafsir deals with the issues of linguistics, jurisprudence, and theology. In terms of perspective and approach, tafsir can be broadly divided into two main categories, namely tafsir bi-al-ma'thur, which is transmitted from the early days of Islam through the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions, and tafsir bi-al-ra'y, which is arrived through personal reflection or independent rational thinking.
There are different characteristics and traditions for each of the tafsirs representing respective schools and doctrines, such as Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, and Sufism. There are also general distinctions between classic tafsirs compiled by authoritative figures of Muslim scholarship during the formative ages of Islam, and modern tafsir which seeks to address a wider audience, including the common people.
Etymology
The word is derived from the three-letter Arabic verbal root of ف-س-ر F-S-R. In its literal meaning, the word refers to interpreting, explaining, expounding, or disclosing. In Islamic contexts, it is defined as understanding and uncovering God's will which has been conveyed by the Quranic text, by means of the Arabic language and one's own knowledge.Qualifications for the interpreter
An author of a tafsir is called a '. Mufassirs are required to master several disciplines such as linguistics, rhetoric, theology and jurisprudence before one can authoritatively interpret the Quran. In order for a commentary to be acceptable, the subjects that the commentator must first know in depth are listed as follows.File:Qur'anic initial letters en.PNG|right|frame|A tree diagram of the mysterious Qur'anic initial letters, labelled with the respective numbers of occurrences. To be read right to left.
History
The act of interpreting the Quran, and transmitting earlier interpretations, fell upon Muhammad's companions after his death, because of their being adept with the language of the Quran, its social context of the revelation, and Muhammad's way of thinking. At this stage, tafsir was selective and concise regarding its coverage, and only certain words, phrases and verses were explained.The origins of the written commentary literature on the Quran are later. Some traditions state that the earliest written tafsir was by Mujahid ibn Jabr, although this is unlikely and the tafsir that exist in his name were compiled and redacted in later centuries. The earliest commentary on the Quran that survives today was composed by Muqatil ibn Sulayman in the middle of the 8th century, back when the use of poetry, discussion of variants, and the use of the isnad was still rare in Islamic approaches to the Quran. In contrast to later commentaries, the bulk of Muqatil's commentary is made up of brief glosses on what the Quran says instead of offering detailed narratives. Some evidence suggests that Muqatil's commentary was the first one to explore the entire Quran.
By the time of the next generations ensuing the sahabah, scholars in the age of the successors started using a wide range of sources for tafsir. The whole of the Quran is interpreted, and narrations are separated from tafsir into separate books and literature. Grammatical explanations and historical data are preserved within these books; personal opinions are recorded, whether accepted or rejected. During this time, a whole range of schools of tafsir came into existence in different scholastic centers, including Mecca, Medina and Iraq. Iraqi schools of tafsir came to be known for an approach relied on personal judgment aside from the transmitted reports, and Jewish apocryphal reports were also widely employed. Notable compilers on this age including Sufyan al-Thawri.
Until this age, tafsir had been transmitted orally and had not been collected independently in a book, rather, they had been gathered by muhaddithun in their hadith books, under the topic of tafsir, along with other narrations of Muhammad. This indicates that tafsir, in its formative age, used to be a special domain within hadith. Widening of the scope of tafsir and emergence of mufassirun in the age of the successors lead to the development of an independent discipline of tafsir.
According to American scholar Samuel Ross, there are 2,700 Qur’an commentaries extant in manuscript form, and 300 commentaries have been published. Considering that around 96% of the Arabic-language manuscripts remain unstudied, Ross argues that "by extrapolation there may be thousands of additional commentaries still waiting to be discovered."
Methods
The methodology for the interpretation of the Quran in traditional commentaries can broadly be divided into two: commentary based on using received traditional sources about the context of a statement in the Quran, known as tafsīr bi'l-ma'thūr ), or commentaries based on independent reasoning, known as tafsīr bi'r-ra'y.Using traditional sources
The approach of commenting on the Quran using traditional sources is known as tafsir bi'l-ma'thur. A more specific strategy, tafsir bi'r-riwayah, connotes using another partof the Quran, or the sayings of Muhammad or his Companions specifically. Islamic scholars have widely adopted this method, and it has become the most common one in Quranic exegesis. Some important examples of tafsir bi'r-riwāyah are Jāmiʿ al-Bayān by al-Tabari and Tafseer al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓeem by ibn Kathir. The sources used for tafsir bi'r-riwāyah can be ordered by the rank of authority, as the Quran, hadiths, the reports by the sahabah and tabi'iun, classical Arabic literature, and Isra'iliyat.Criticism of non-riwaya method is mostly based on two grounds; for one, Muhammad has condemned those who interpret the Quran from their own point of view, and for two, most companions of Muhammad have refrained from presenting their own ideas.
Interpretation of the Quran employing other Quranic reference is very common because of the close interrelatedness of the verses of the Quran with one another. The Quranic verses explain and interpret one another, which leads many to believe that it has the highest level of authenticity. Many verses or words in the Quran are explained or further clarified in other verses of the Quran. One example of the hadith which extensively employs this source of method is Al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an by Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i. The authoritative source of method second to the Quran is Hadith, by using narratives of Muhammad to interpret the Quran. In this approach the most important external aids used are the collected oral traditions upon which Muslim scholars based Islamic history and law. Authority of this method is considered established by the statement made in the Quran that Muhammad is responsible for explanation and guidance. While some narratives are of revelation origin, others can be the result of reasonings made by Muhammad. One important aspect of these narratives is their origin. Narratives used for tafsir, and in general, must be of authentic origin. Narratives of such origin are considered requisite for tafsir.
Other source of the interpretation includes the accounts of Ṣaḥābah, companions of Muhammad, or tabi‘un, the generation after sahabah, and Tabi‘ al-Tabi‘in, the generation after tabi'un. Their authority is based on an account in hadith Sahih Bukhari, which accordingly, Muhammad said:
The best people are those living in my generation, then those coming after them, and then those coming after.File:Osmar Schindler David und Goliath.jpg|thumb|David and Goliath by Osmar Schindler, commentators transferred stories from Jewish history, mixed with legends, to Islamic culture, such as the details of the story of Jalut, briefly touched upon in verses 247-252 of Al-Baqara.
If nothing is found in the Quran or the Hadīth, the commentator has recourse to what the Ṣaḥābah reported about various verses. These are generally considered above personal opinion, because these people grew up with everyday interaction with Muhammad, and had often asked about the meanings of verses or circumstances of their revelation; and they were very knowledgeable in both Arabic literature and Islamic thought. Another non-scripture based source of the interpretation is classical Arabic literature. Classical Arabic poetry and the text of the Quran are two resources which can be used as foundational reference in ascertaining the meaning and signification of the remaining literal and figurative diction of the Quran and its style of expression. Using Arabic poetry for defining words is a long used practice, and very few scholars have not used this source. Less authoritative source of the interpretation is Isra'iliyat, which is the body of narratives originating from Judeo-Christian traditions, rather than from other well-accepted sources. The Isra'iliyat are mostly non-biblical explanatory stories and traditions giving extra information or interpretation about events or individuals recorded in the Hebrew scriptures. Scholars starting with the Sahabah have studied narrative accounts of other Abrahamic religions to further explain and clarify verses, especially parables, in the Quran. While some may be accurate, these narratives are not subject to hadith authenticity criteria, and are generally not favored for use.