Mustafa Abu Rayyan – 01 Introduction Tafseer Surah alBaqarah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning the Quran and its context is emphasized, as it is a deeper dive into the verses and topics that come from his teachings. The use of the language of the Quran for understanding the message of Islam is emphasized, and the importance of reading the Quran and following proper methodology for understanding it is emphasized. The use of the title "will" in the title of the book of Islam is emphasized, and the importance of understanding the concept of love and sexuality is emphasized. The use of the Quran and the Sun parable in various industries and the importance of reading it for personal development is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
I start by praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and sending blessings and salutations upon our beloved
messaged and Mohammed
my brothers and sisters today
is our first session,
where we will be learning
and discussing
the tafsir
of Surat Al Baqarah.
But today inshallahta'ala
I'm going to give a brief introduction
to what tafsir is so that we can
have a better understanding
of the sciences behind the study of the
Quran
and what tafsir
really is.
So,
before I start talking about tafsir itself it's
important to remind myself and all of you
the importance of seeking knowledge in general.
We know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when
he told us about Adam in Surat Al
Baqarah,
he tells us that he gave virtue,
to Adam over even the angels and he
gave him superiority over them and Allah establishes
that
through knowledge. When Allah
says
So it is through knowledge that we gain
superiority,
it's through knowledge that we gain value.
But not just any knowledge,
the most virtuous knowledge that one can study
and try to learn more about
is the religion of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It is far greater and trumps any other
field of knowledge.
It is the learning and the study of
the Quran
and the Hadith
of the revelation that came from Allah Almighty.
And we know this because Allah mentions in
the Quran,
about the virtue of those who study the
deen and of the scholars of the deen
and those who study. Allah says,
Those who truly have fear of Allah
are
the those who have knowledge. They know who
Allah is. They know what Allah wants them
to do. They have spent time learning
these great ayaats and the hadith of the
prophet
It is only through that knowledge that you
will be able to gain the kind of
and
mentioned in this verse.
You also find in when
Allah
was instructing
our messenger
to make to him
what to say. And Allah said to him,
say, oh, Muhammad, oh, Allah, increase me in
knowledge.
Clearly, the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam when he's
supplicating to Allah to increase his knowledge, he
is talking about his knowledge regarding Allah,
regarding the deen of Allah, regarding what Allah
wants us to do, the halal, the haram,
the right from the wrong, etcetera.
So this is something that we have to
appreciate.
Now, anyone, if you ask them what is
the most important field of studies, they would
tell you different things. But as Muslims, we
should always our answer should be the study
of the deen.
And this is something that sadly is not
reflected in our communities,
enough.
You will find sometimes
that the one who is studying
law or medicine or any other field of
studies that is important
seen in a higher light or a greater
light or a higher
regard than the one who studies the deen
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is, of
course, not the case.
Is the regarding Allah Almighty, which is the
Quran and the Sunnah. It is the most
honorable thing that one can learn.
Now another thing that we have to discuss
is, of course,
why is it that as Muslims we tend
to relegate the study of the deen to
a certain few, the scholars, the experts?
No. This deen is for the people.
This book, the Quran, is for everyone.
It is it is a guidance to all
of mankind.
It is not something that is specifically
for a few to read in their small.
So you as a Muslim
should have an aspiration,
I want to learn the Quran. Why? Because
it is the message that came to you
from Allah.
It came to you and I. It is
a message from our creator.
And
this message that came from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is filled with instructions,
things that we should do, things we ought
not to do,
how we should live our life, what kind
of manners we should have, the halal and
the haram, stories from the past that we
can reflect upon and ponder over. These these
are all messages
that are coming from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to you. So
if you are an individual
that,
either don't know how to read the Quran,
which is a problem that you must rectify,
or you are someone that knows how to
read the Quran, but you don't understand a
letter from the Quran. And this is also
another problem you must rectify, and this is
where the knowledge of tafsir comes in.
The knowledge of tafsir comes in. So I
ask Allah
to bless this,
these lessons and this gathering and to make
sure those that benefit from the statements that
come from our creator, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So
it's very important that you actually know the
message that came from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And interestingly enough, a lot of
people might confuse tafsir with translation and this
is incorrect.
A translation of the Quran and there are
many good translations and great works that have
been done and it's been translated in many
different languages.
Translation,
word for word translation. This is absolutely not
tafsir.
Tafsir is something completely different. So if you're
reading a translation of the Quran,
that's a good step.
But there are so much more,
there is so much more to the study
of the Quran than just reading the translation
because
although it's a good step to take,
the study of the Quran is very different
because you're actually doing a deep dive on
these verses, these and these passages.
What do they mean? What was the context
behind it? What was the reason of revelation?
What did the prophet say about them? Is
the this is this verse a general verse?
And if so, did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
specify more information elsewhere? What did the companions
say about this? What did the the students
of the companions say about this? There is
so much more,
to the Quran than just the translation.
Now my brothers and sisters,
as Muslims today that are not Arabs especially,
we are and even a lot of the
Arabs today because they don't even,
the language of the Quran,
that Allah spoke,
and the language of the Quran
isn't necessarily the regular language that is spoken
today
in many of the Arab countries. It has
changed over time. The that they speak is
not necessarily the fusha of the Quran. Right?
So even they struggle Even they struggle in
the sign of the Quran because it's not
the the language over time has changed, and
this is something that we can all appreciate.
For example, the English language today, if you
hopped into a time machine and you were
sent back, a couple of 100 years ago,
then perhaps the usage of language that you
are using now or the English that we're
speaking now would not be the same. So
the same thing, with
the the Arabic, the Arabic that's spoken today
in Egypt or in
North Africa or even in the Middle East
today is not necessarily a correct reflection. Meaning
what? If you have a person today listening
to the Quran, he'll get a lot of
it because he's an Arab, but he will
miss a lot as well because he's not
speaking the original Arab language. We're talking about
the Arabs.
Now if you go to someone that does
not know Arabic at all
in any way shape or form, which is
most people's cases today, when they're hearing the
Quran,
they are not getting the message
and this is the problem.
This is the problem and this is something
that we must rectify
by studying the Quran. The translations were a
good step, but now we also need people
need to study the tafsir. People also need
to study the Arabic language so that they
can appreciate this beautiful message that came from
Allah.
So,
that was just a general introduction.
And,
I mean, I don't have to emphasize how
important it is to study the tafsir of
the Quran.
Like we mentioned, if you wanna know how
valuable something is or how valuable or how,
highly esteemed a certain field of studies is,
look at what it is researching and studying
and analyzing.
We when we're learning to see our research
and analyzing and discussing the speech of Allah
Almighty,
and there's no other speech, no other written
document that is more greater than the book
of Allah Almighty.
So studying it is clearly
the greatest form of studying, and there is
so much reward in doing this as well.
So,
make effort into at least if you're not
if you don't know the translation of the
Quran, pick it up and read it. It's
a good step, but also attend tafsir classes,
and we need many more of of of
those.
So what is
is to
clarify and to explain. That's what linguistically it
means. And whenever we are trying to understand
the term and we want to open up
and really understand what a term means,
especially in the Islamic sciences, what we do
is we look at it from a linguistic
perspective first. Now and then we look at
it from a religious perspective or from a
technical,
as a technical term. Let me give you
an example before I mentioned tafsir.
The word salat,
every single Muslim knows what salah is. Salah
is to pray. Right? Now, the salah that
will come to your mind when I mention
salah
is the 5 daily prayers,
but
linguistically that's not what it means. Linguistically salah
means dua and it's still used in that
way in the Quran sometimes and in the
sunnah as well. But most of the time
in the Quran and sunnah, salah will be
the prayer that we know.
So you have the linguistic meaning, and then
you have the actual
or the meaning. The is very similar to
that for you have a linguistic meaning of
just to clarify something to
explain. But then you also have the technical
term. What does tafsir mean within the context
when you are studying the Quran?
Now, the scholars have given it different definitions
and,
you have short definition and longer definitions.
So some scholars said, it's
It is a knowledge
that explains
the meaning of Allah's speech. It's very simple.
It is a knowledge that explains the meaning
of Allah's speech.
Other scholars, they made it a bit more,
longer. For example, a the Tunisian Mufassir,
Bahib Nasur, and his
he mentions,
He says, tafsir is a science
that studies and analyzes
the meaning behind the Quran
but also deduces from it benefits.
Right? Moral benefits,
benefits,
extracts from it
rulings. Right? So it is not just explaining
the but also
So this can be done in a summarized
way. So this is why you have tafsir
books that are about 1 volume or 2
volumes.
It can be expanded in great detail, which
is why you have some tafsirs that are
30 volumes along.
So in other words, tafsir is the study
of the meanings behind the Quran and trying
to extract benefits from them.
How is tafsir studied?
To understand how tafsir is studied, and this
is a very important point. In fact, the
main point of my talk today which is
introduction inshallah wa ta'ala and next week we'll
start talking about why I chose to see
Surah Surah Al Baqarah and what will be
our mythology reading it and studying it. But
right now the main thing that I want
to share with you guys was
how was the meanings of the Quran studied
and what is the right methodology
of tafsir studies in general.
And
this is something that a lot of people
don't know and it's very important that you
know for two reasons. 1, so that if
you're ever studying tafsir, you know, okay. So
this is how it's done. This is our
methodology, our
of understanding the book of Allah.
And this is not something that I'm making
up here or another sheikh made up. This
is what we have gotten from, the prophet
and the companions and those that came after
him. There was a way that they studied
the Quran and understood the Quran. And when
I say study the Quran, I'm not talking
about the study of its recitation right now.
I'm talking about the study of its meaning.
And number 2, it's important because nowadays, you
have a lot of people
that think that you can just open the,
learn a little bit of Arabic, and then
just think about it and ponder over and
just
do it yourself.
Right? We have this DIY culture now, and
you wanna do it yourself. So open the
and you just talk about it. And this
brings about so much error, so many mistakes,
so many innovations,
which is why we have to follow a
proper methodology.
And, hopefully, by the end of this talk,
you will appreciate
how
much
time and how much
detail was put into
the tafsir studies.
So
how is how do we do tafsir? How
do you do tafsir? What is the way
that we do tafsir? Meaning, in other words,
you have a verse,
How do you extract meaning from it? How
do you understand it?
The first step,
brothers and sisters, is what is known as
the Quran.
It is to use the Quran
to explain the Quran.
It is you have one verse
state stating one thing and then you will
have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say it, in
elsewhere in more detail or explain it. So
you use the Quran to explain the Quran.
In other words, the first source
of our understanding of the Quran is Allah
himself, the speech of
Allah.
Perhaps if I give examples, it will be
more clear to you. In Surat al Fatiha,
the first verse that you come across is
what?
All praise belongs to Allah, the lord of
the Alamin.
Alamin. It's usually translated as the lord of
the worlds. Right?
The word,
what does it mean?
Right? All praise belongs to Allah the word
of.
Allah
when Firaun
and Musa
were talking to each other,
Musa said that he was sent by
the lord of Al Amin. Says,
who what is this? And then
Musa says the the the
lord of the is the lord of the
heavens and the earth and everything in between.
So the heavens and the earth and everything
in between is what? That is al Amin.
So from there, the scholar said, this is
what,
this this word means. So it was we
wanted to ex understand
this term.
We used it. How do you understand it?
We read another verse, another aya,
and explaining that.
And who is the lord, of of the
worlds?
The and the Arab and that which is
in between, the heavens and the earth and
everything that is in between.
Right? This is
known as
Let me give you another example.
To a degree that they were not supposed
to or whatever the case is. So you
wanna find out what a wily is. So
Allah says, Indeed, those who are the of
Allah, right, there there is no they have
no fear and and and they will have
no. So now you wanna know, okay. So
who gets to be a?
Allah in the following verses, they are
They are those who have faith, iman, and
taqwa.
So when I say a willi
is the one that has faith and taqwa,
this is using the Quran to explain the
Quran. And there are many examples of this.
And while we are doing the tafsir of
Surat Al Baqarah, we will come across examples
of this inshallah. So what is our first
source of doing tafsir? So we're talking about
the methodology of doing explaining the Quran. The
first is you use one verse to explain
another verse. Use one verse to
explain
another
verse.
The other one is
to explain the Quran using the sunnah of
the prophet
Right? And this is another source, another way
of doing tafsir. So you want to find
out what a verse means,
see if there's another verse explaining it. If
there isn't,
then look for a statement from the prophet
explaining that, and there are many of them.
And in fact, most of the you'll come
across
is from this nature.
So for example, the prophet
he,
he read the verse or the Surat
was revealed upon
him.
O Muhammad we have given you Al Qathar.
We have given you Al Qathar.
Now,
the word Al Qathar linguistically comes from Al
Qathar is something that is of abundance. We
have given you something something that is,
great and is abundant.
So if anyone was reading that, they would
think the prophet was given a lot. But
the prophet said
is
It is a river that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has promised me and we know the
river of.
We came to the conclusion of
tafsir
of this verse was explained through the sunnah
and there are many examples of this as
well.
Another one would be for example,
when Allah subhanahu wa'l the ayah in Suratuh
and Those who have iman, Allah said, and
they do not
mix their iman with injustice
then they will be saved and they will
have
they will and
they will be guided.
So, the Sahaba when they read this, they
were like, okay. So
those who have iman
and they do not,
mix their faith with any injustice.
And then they were like, okay, but who
can qualify this? We all do some sort
of injustice.
So they became worried. They were like, well,
if you're only gonna get guidance and security
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if you don't
commit any injustice,
Is there anyone among us that doesn't do?
So they became very worried. They became very
worried and they went to the prophet
and the prophet
said,
here is referring. So you see they're directly
asking the prophet
to explain a verse in the Quran. So
the prophet said, the injustice that is referred
in this verse
means
have you not read in Suratul Luqman what
Luqman said to his son?
Shirk is a great injustice.
So the in this ayah is referring to
shirk. Those who have faith and do not
commit any shirk, they will be guided and
will have safety and security.
So it is not general injustice but it
is shirkah that's being referred to here. The
companions,
they have a miss they misunderstood a verse.
They went to the prophet. The prophet explained
it. And then we know from this hadith,
which is a hadith, what this verse means.
So this is known as the Surah Quran.
These 2 combined,
the one which Tafsir Quran
and Tafsir
explain the Quran, to make tafsir
with the that which has been revealed, that
which has been narrated, the Quran and the
sun of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And this is the best form of tafsir.
This is the best form of tafsir. We
have a third step, brothers and sisters, and
this is again I'm talking about the methodology
of how you do tafsir. So now that
I mentioned 2, if you ever attend a
tafsir class and you never hear the person
teaching this class, for example, saying, well, this
ayah is referring to this hadith or the
prophet said this or this ayah. Allah explains
it elsewhere. And if you don't see somebody
that you all you hear is my opinion
is and I think and what what I
think it is. Just a person expressing his
own opinion. This is not tafsir.
Tafsir
should be done in this methodology. Use the
Quran to explain the Quran. Use the sunnah
of the prophet to explain the Quran.
And this is why Allah says the Quran,
well, And, oh, Muhammad, we have given you
the Quran so that you clarify for them
what has been revealed to them. Now this,
of course, is referring to the prophet explaining
and teaching
the meanings and the
behind the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So that's number 2. Number 1 was using
the Quran to explain the Quran. Number 2
was using the sunnah to explain the Quran,
Bayib.
Now we have also using the statements
of the companions, the sahaba.
Right? So
why would we use the statements of the
companions
to,
do tafsir of the Quran?
We would use them for the following three
reasons. 1,
they are the people whom Allah has chosen
to be the companions of our prophet
the most virtuous of his,
the most knowledgeable, and the best.
The best generation is my generation, prophet said,
and then those who come after and then
those who come after. So they are the
best generation, the most knowledgeable generation.
They understood
when these verses were being revealed, the context
they were being revealed in. They were there
when they were being revealed. They learned from
the prophet himself
and also their understanding and comprehension of the
Arabic language is second to none because they
were there when it all started.
As time went by,
what happened was the Islamic Umma, they expanded
into different areas and different countries which is
why was known as al Ujima came into
the land, meaning the clear and pure Arabic
that is mentioned in the Quran, the Sunnah
started becoming diluted. The the people when they
went and they came near a country such
as,
if if when they went further into Asia
or they came close to Europe, the language
that the people were speaking
didn't it changed,
which is natural. Different dialects appeared, different wordings
appeared. So
who had the most pure Arabic on the
Arabic?
The the Sahaba.
Who who were there for the context,
the Sahaba, who did the Quran descend upon,
the Sahaba, who learned directly from the prophet,
The Sahaba. So their tafsir
takes precedence over anyone else after Allah and
his messenger. So
and were all the companions on equal,
footing with regards to their knowledge of the
Quran? No. You had the most knowledgeable of
the companions such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman,
and Ali. You have some companions that were
specifically
good in
in in the tasir, and you some there's
companions like Abdullah ibn Mas'ud and Abdullah ibn
Abbas and Ubayi makab.
So we use their statements
whenever we can find them to explain the
Quran
as well. Now,
let me give you an example of that.
For example,
in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the
Quran,
so I'm gonna stay read this verse and
and then we'll we'll use what a companion
said about this to understand what does it
mean when a companion gives tafsir.
So,
Allah
was speaking about,
the the times when one can perform dry
ablution. Dry ablution is
is when you don't have water and you
still need to purify yourself to pray,
then and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was
talking about this and Allah says, if you
are sick
so if you are ill or traveling
or you come from the which means that
you relieved yourself,
or
if you have touched
a woman, if you have touched a woman.
Now, touching a woman, so from there one
could assume, okay, so,
when you come from when you relieve yourself
and go to the toilet, then your odor
breaks and when you touch a woman.
But then so,
Abbas,
who is among the greatest,
mufasirs, those who explain the meaning of the
Quran from amongst the companions,
he said this is referring to
It's referring to intimate relations. It's not referring
to regular touching. So we have saying this
is referring to
not regular touching. So from here, we understand
what this verse means because said it means
this,
So
the also what you have to appreciate
is that
the companions, when they give verdicts on the
Quran and they explain it,
they would
be narrating Musa'at time from the prophet himself
or providing context because they were there.
Abdulai ibn Maslud said a profound statement. He's
a companion of the prophet
he said, there is no ayah in the
Quran
except that I know why it came down
and the context that it came down and
what it means.
So this is Adarai was.
So this shows you that they really knew
what they were talking about. They were the
students of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So
there are
and Abdu'laihi wasallam. So there are and Abdu'laihi
wasallam. He just said that statement. He said
about Abdu'laihi wasallam.
So the the the of the Quran, the
explainer of the Quran or the is, this
is a term given to Abdu Abbas, and
it was given to him by Abdullai ibn
Mas'ud. Again, you
have which the prophet himself said, learn the
Quran from Ubay. So you have these great
companions.
You will find sometimes that the companions, if
they needed to find something, they will ask
each other as well, and one of them
would say, well, I heard the prophet say
this. So
when you take the tafsir of the Sahaba,
you will never go wrong.
You will never go wrong. They are the
most virtuous and the most knowledgeable among the
ummah, payib.
Now, if I use an example of these
three companions I mentioned, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud,
Abdullah ibn Abbas, the cousin of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and Ubayhi al Nukab,
they
established
institutions
whereby they would teach the Quran to the
next generation. Who are who? The Tabi'un.
Right? Those who met the companions but sadly
did not meet who? The prophet himself, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. So Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
was in Kufa, the city in Iraq. He
was in Kufa, and there he established a
madrassa where he would teach the Quran.
Abdullah ibn Abbas was situated
in Makkah and in Madina, and they produced
students that will sit with them and take
the tafsir of the Quran from them.
So where we look at this, we have
Allah almighty.
He's, explaining the Quran through through the Quran.
We have the prophet through the sunnah. Now
we have the companions,
who are the students of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam and the tabiyan.
So there is a chain of narration here.
There is a there is a system, a
methodology here, a way.
No one is making it up.
So they established these,
they started teaching the tafsir,
and
the companions, the Tabirun, would go to them
to specifically learn the Quran. And among the
greatest students of the of them was the
student of Abu Abbas, the tabik that is
known as Mujahid Abu Jabbar. Mujahid Abu Jabbar
is, generally speaking, known as the the among
the tabikin, the one who knew tafsir the
most. And this is because
he sat under Abdullah ibn Abbas
and read upon him the whole Quran
and every single ayah he would ask him
about it. He
said,
He said, I
read the Quran upon,
Abbaas
three times.
Every time in the would stop him at
with at every verse and ask him what
it means.
Right? So this is,
the way they learned the Quran.
So this is why as Sfia Anath Thawri
would say in his along the salah, he
would say,
if any tafsir comes from you, from Mujahid,
the state of Abbas, has enough.
Which is why you will find sometimes, if
you open any of the classic tafsir books,
you will find Mujahid said this, this, this.
Mujahid said this, this, this, this. Who's Mujahid?
Mujahid is the student of 'Abdu'lai ibn Abbas
who,
is among the greatest
of the companions.
So but with regards to the Tabi'un, there's
a very important principle here that we need,
and that is that because there were so
many there were so many of the Tabi'un
that especially what were were,
engaged in the tafsir, you have
companies, I mean, not companies to have your
own like, you have Ikram, Aqaa,
you have,
Al Hasan al Basri, Masrook.
You have, many, many of them. Many of
them. Bahaq, Ibim Zahim.
Many of these tabi'een,
sometimes what will happen is they will disagree
on a point.
Bahaq will say this, it means this, and,
Abu Jahid will say, no, it means this.
Now, there is a way of dealing with
whenever
these,
great giants of of
ill disagree on something, there's a methodology of
how you deal with them. Sometimes
it it it's not directly contradictory,
meaning both can be true at the same
time.
Both can be true at the same time.
The task case is perfectly fine. And sometimes
you have to, once you see that this
this study has said this and this study
has said that, then you look at the
evidence that they used
and maybe one of them used a hadith
that is perhaps weak or maybe,
the chain of variation here is they will
use
a method whereby they would say, no. This
opinion is stronger than this.
But if all
the agree on something, this becomes.
The and others have said, or
if they narrate most of the if they
narrate something and they say so, all of
these
students. Students, and for example, students
and and they all are saying the same
thing regarding a verse, then you take the
opinion. You take the opinion.
So let's go back. He said the first
madr source is the Quran itself, using the
Quran to explain the Quran, the sunnah of
the prophet, the statements of the companions,
the statements of the, especially if they all
agree.
Then you have using the luha itself, the
Arabic language. The Quran was revealed
Quran and Arabian.
So
there is a large portion of the Quran
that is easy to understand what it means
because it is in Arabic language. It's not
all puzzles that you have to figure out.
So using the regular
Arabic language to understand the Quran is also
a a right way to use. And there
are many examples of this that the Arabic
language itself is used to to understand
the Quran.
For example, one would be when Allah says,
Whoever wants, let him believe and whoever wants,
let him disbelieve.
And one might come and say, well, there
you go. Allah said, if you want to
believe, you can't believe. If you don't want
to believe, you don't have to believe.
So why are you guys telling us you
have to be Muslim? We have to be
a believer. Allah is literally giving us a
choice right here.
Now, we know from the Arabic language that
there are of
speaking ways, of conveying language, and and and
making points.
So it's that this is not a
but this
that anyone can leave Islam or anyone can
can be
you have a choice in the matter. No.
It is tahadeer,
And this aslu, this way, is used in
the Arabic language.
Right? So even if there's no clear hadith
that says, this ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, whoever wants can be a disbeliever,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
it means here that
it is a warning. If you want, you
can be a disbeliever, but you will have
to face the consequences.
There's perhaps no hadith that says that, but
you can understand that from the siyyah of
the luwah, the language.
So that's another source. So it is the
Quran, the sunnah, the statements of the companions,
the Tabirun, especially when they agree, and the
Arabic language. There's another one that they mentioned
which is
and this is a tasir based upon opinion,
based upon opinion.
Now this is this is a very, very
gray area, which one has to be very
careful. The scholars say
or with regards to I mean, when you
use opinion, it usually has a lot of
negative connotation with it.
But it means,
there is an opinion that you can't have
about the Quran. You can't just say, you
know what I think it is? I think
this eye means that and this eye means
that. Or just for example, there was
a man who claimed
that he knew what,
the the following verse meant. So Suratul,
Suratul,
Allah
speaks about,
how the Kaaba was attacked and Allah saved
it, when the elephants attacked
the.
So Allah
send birds, and this bird was throwing with
him pebbles. Right? From,
and one one man said this is referring
to bacteria.
Bacteria because what do you mean birds and
pebbles being thrown that are fire and how
is that even possible?
And he said this is probably referring to
to germs and bacteria and these they were
carrying a virus and and whatnot. This is
pure conjecture and based upon his own personal
opinion and bias, this type of tafsir is
the one that is absolutely maharam.
This type of tafsir is known as absolutely
maharam. That's not allowed. But when the scholars
say that is the tafsir that is allowed,
when one can ponder over the Quran, there
are so many verses and ayaat
that speak about,
the the pondering over the Quran, the the
the burr. And
if,
in some scholars say this is Allah. You
can explain
the Quran as long as you're using the
methods
mentioned before,
and you can say, for example, we understand
from this verse this this this this. We
understand from this as long as it doesn't
go against atafsir atafsir al mathur
and it is not something that is based
purely on conjecture. But if someone, based on
their knowledge and their studies, then they extract
benefits
from this and istimbabat.
This is allowed. Is when deducements
from the from the tafsir. This is allowed.
But this is the methodology.
What did Allah say about this verse? What
did the prophet say about this verse? What
did the Sahaba and Tabi'in say about this?
And you can see how the Sahaba were
so keen on teaching it and then you
would see how the Tabi'in themselves, they taught
it and they established Madaris where they taught
the tafsir.
And it was also written down.
It was also written down. So even Mujahid
would write down what he learned from Ibra
Abbas.
And it was mentioned that many other
scholars have,
during those times, during the time of Tabi'in
even, would write down what they understood from
the Quran.
But when it comes
to actual books that have been authored and
that are with us
here till today,
then
look no more further than
the 4th century scholar Ibn Jabril at Tabari
and Histafsir,
which is 30 volumes.
So you might be wondering what is in
these 30 volumes? Everything that I mentioned earlier
is in it.
So the, the Histafsir is known as Jamrul
Bayan and Ta'wili I al Quran,
or for short it's called Jamrul Bayan, it's
also called the tafsir of Tabari, the tafsir
of Tabari. So, the the sheikh, he died
in the year,
I believe 3 10 Nam.
So
Histafsir
is
the greatest ofsir
because he managed to
collate all of the that
are beneficial. So when he is explaining a
verse, he will look at it from, is
there other ayahs that have spoken about it,
and then he will bring all of the
hadith related to it, and then he will
bring if there is a Surah al Nuzul.
Surah al Nuzul is reason of revelation,
and then and he and he's he's doing
all of that with the chain of narration.
So he would literally say because he's he's
early, he would say
meaning he will bring the chain of narration
all to the prophet or to the whoever
is in the table if it's a companion
or a tabiri.
His tafsir
is considered to be among the greatest tafasir.
He will bring all of the aforementioned things.
He will say, Mujahid said about this verse
this.
Another Tabi said about this verse this. Ibn
Abbas said this.
The hadith, the prophet
said this. So it's a tafsir
that is, bringing you all of the narrations
that were
about that particular
passage or verse.
And after that, he usually gives you a
summary
of which of these statements he thinks is
the most valid and most correct
and he will base it upon the evidence
that have been supporting those of course. Another
thing that I perhaps should mention
is that a lot of the tafasir will
have something else which is what is known
as Israel Iliyat.
Israel Iliyat. Israel Iliyat
are statements that have been,
taken from the Banu Israel or the people
of the book, the Jews and the Christians.
And
you will find Israel
usually
when you are,
reading some of the stories in the Quran,
some of the stories
in the Quran. And the reason for this
was because, first of all, the prophet
allowed,
the narrating from the.
Right? Narrate from them when there is not
a problem. So a lot of the some
of the companions would do this. Some of
the companions
would listen to some of the Jews about
a particular,
subject related to a prophet or an incident,
and then they would say what they have.
And if it correlates with what with what
is in the Quran, perhaps it would sometimes
add more context
and then this would be narrated. One, main
one is Kabir al Shraf which was one
that they will always, he will always narrate
the stories,
of the, the people of the book. And
there are many things that today as Muslims
we we say, but they are from Israel.
An example of that is, for example, Kabil
and Habil, the names of the 2 sons
of Adam.
The the names of the 2 sons of
Adam
is taken from
the the Israeliat.
There is no source. There's not another verse
telling us. There's not a hadith telling us.
There is not, it is taken from the
Israeliat.
And a lot of people say kabil and
habil thinking that perhaps it is from the
Islamic tradition it is not. So does that
mean it's wrong? Not necessarily.
Not necessarily.
There's a rule, and the scholars they say
if statements coming from Barisrael there's 3 things
that you could do.
And this is based on a statement from
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam where he
said the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
whenever the
tell
you something
regarding the religion,
then don't
deny it and don't,
agree with it.
Why? Because if you believe it, it could
be among the false things that they say,
and there are many false things that they
say.
If you disbelieve it and disregard it and
deny it, it could be among the the
truth that is left in their books. So
there is some truth in it. Right? For
example, if you open the the Old Testament
or New Testament and you find Adam.
Adam, you have Adam in the Quran. This
is correct. You can't deny that because it's
in the Quran.
If it's not in the Quran, then don't
deny it and don't affirm it because it
could be either or.
So this is a general statement, and you'll
have some tafasir that will use a lot
of Israeli at.
The tafsir that I just mentioned earlier, the
30 volumes on, he brings a lot of
sometimes, and we will come across a lot
a few of them when we are going
through.
They usually add more context,
but the scholars give us a nice which
is that you don't use it for but
you use it for
meaning what? You can't use it as a
primary evidence.
But, like, not even as a secondary
but, like, after you exhaust all of your
other evidences, you can just add to it
to give some extra information and mentioning
that it is from the Israeli as well,
something that a lot of the tafseers that
are authored don't do.
But there are some scholars that, they put
some commentary on it and they will tell
you these portions from the Israel Iyad. 1
mufassir
that is really good at mentioning it if
they bring you a statement or a narration
from the Bani Israel will tell you is
Ibn Kathir. Ibn Kathir will usually mention it.
He will say, well, to add more context
to this, the Bani Israel have said this
this this this this and of course he
will tell you that this is not from
the Islamic
traditions or from our own narrations, from the
sahab or from the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam which is of course very important.
You have some tafasir that that use it
too often like and
others. There's a lot of in it. This
is why, it's,
so it's called al kashfurbayyan
al Thalabi al Thalabi.
He has a tafsir which is an amazing
tafsir as well.
And
but Katharafir Israel,
he puts a lot of these stories in
it. So sometimes these stories are very interesting,
and long,
but there's no need to always put them.
And also the problem is they don't really
clarify them as well. Someone will read that
and they will think, oh, okay. This is
from the Hadith or something like that, which
is, again something that is important. It has
to be clarified.
So you'll come across that in a lot
of the tafsir books as well.
Faib.
So
now I wanna talk about now that you
understood generally how the methodology of the Seer
is, and I just want you to remember
those 5 points. Use the Quran first, then
the sunnah of the prophet,
the statements of the companions, the Tabi'in, especially
when they agree, it's a huja, and then
also, the local Arabiya and.
Right? And this is when someone is using,
the the general understanding of the religion to
extract benefits from these verses. There were many
tafasirs that were written.
This is not the place to expand upon
every single tafsir.
I do wanna mention 2 tafsirs.
This is for your benefit,
and because they also have been translated into
English language. Now I haven't read them in
the English language for me to tell you
there are really good translations, but good things
have been said about them. This is the
abridged
Tafsir al Bukathir in English. Right? So the
Tafsir al Bukathir
has been summarized and then it has been
translated into English language. It's good for you
to have that. Also,
has also been, translating it into English. It's
usually about 2 volumes or one thick volume
in Arabic language, but then in English, it's
like 5 or 6 volumes, I believe. And
I've seen people that have it. I, myself,
am planning on getting the as well, and
I encourage it's a good tafsir to have
as well. Now what's interesting is, what you
will find is in the earliest
he will barely mention, like, a lot a
lot of narrations, and that is because although
what he's telling you is based upon the
narrations,
it is meant to be a summary for
the person to quickly read over it, which
is perfectly fine as well. So
there is so much that has been done
for the Quran and its study that you
have to appreciate that this is
such a vast,
field of knowledge
and the type of things that the scholars
have have done regarding the Quran and its
research. I mean,
Imam al Suyuti has a lot of he
has a tafsir as well, and he also
has a lot of books,
dedicated to the study of the Quran and
different sciences in the Quran. And
it's it's something that if
you start it's
It is like an ocean.
One thing that I find very interesting is
when you're reading the Quran, you will come
across verses that are abrogated.
Now this is something, again, that most people
perhaps either don't know or don't pay attention
to. In the Quran, you will find verses
that have been abrogated by other verses. Right?
This is known as a nasihkulmansukh,
something that the person should keep in mind
when they are learning the Quran, these things
exist. For example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
legislate something and then later on that legislation
will be removed and replaced with another legislation.
Meaning the ayah that mentioned it, it's still
there, but the rule
is lifted and there's another rule that has
replaced it. This is known as a nasih
al mal suh. Very important for people to
know. And the scholars would say there are
this many,
surahs that have a nasih and a malsukh
and this. So it's something again that when
you're studying tafsir, you have to pay attention
to.
The scholars went as far as to even
count
how many verses in the Quran. Right? And
you'll have the scholars, they count, like, 6,500,
6,600
verses in the Quran. Scholars don't even count
how many letters are in the Quran. And
the reason I mention this is because this
is how
deep they delved into
the Quran. Some scholars, they they would
study the Quran and write about just the
linguistic aspects of the Quran and the grammatical
aspects of the Quran and produce a whole
work surrounding that. Others will focus on the,
matters related to Akid and Tawhid. Others will
focus on a general explanation of the Quran.
Others will particularly focus on the Tabireen and
what they said.
So it's it's,
there is there are so many works done
that one has to be able to appreciate
that this book that we all have in
our home produce volumes and volumes and volumes
of work showing you the magnificence
of the Quran.
One of the fields of knowledge that are
exactly the Quran is was known
as. So there are about 500 verses that
are related to just rulings, halal haram, do's
and don'ts. And there are some scholars that
just took those ayaats and explained them
explained them so that the person can just
pick those books up and he will find
out, okay, so this is how you do
tayammum,
and this is the the rulings regarding the
prayer, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. So there are different
angles and different aspects of the the study
of the Quran, but the methodology is always
the same. What did the law say? What
did the prophet say? What did the companions
say? What did the Tabi'in say?
I'm gonna,
conclude
my introduction to the here.
Just one final point is that when you
hear all of this, you might be saying,
oh, this this is, very complicated and there
is so much to it. That's perfectly fine.
That's perfectly fine, and it might even look
intimidating a little bit when you're talking out
of sea studies. Okay. So you have to
there's the Arabic language. There is the abrogated
verses. There is the Maqi and Madani, which
I haven't mentioned yet. The Quran split,
into Maqan Surahs and Madani Surahs as well.
And, the Maqan Surahs are the ones that
were revealed before the Hijra, and the Madani
Surahs are the ones that were revealed after
the Hijra of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. Hijra is a migration.
And then you there's,
there's so much
that one might feel overwhelmed or intimidated.
Suffice it to say,
when you attend a tafsir class
and you open a musaf
and the shaykhur the ustar that the person
is explaining it, you're gonna go home and
have so much that you're benefiting from, especially
because
that when you read the Quran, you will
get and.
When you read the Quran, you will get.
When you read the Quran, you will get
ethics and morals and akhlaq.
You will get the stories of the past.
There is so much in it that you're
never losing out. So I highly encourage you
guys always
be involved with the study of the Quran.
Even if you're not studying academically,
just to attend a tafsir class,
just to have a look into, wait a
minute, all of these verses, what did the
prophet say about them? What was the context
they were revealed in? What are some of
the benefits that I can take home
from? What are what what are some of
the things that the sahaba said about this
verse? What did the tabi'in say? This is
what you want to be involved in and
you're gonna benefit Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And
while we are going to the tafsir Sur
Sur Baqarah, I will try my best to
to,
convey as much of these statements from the
companions and the tabi'een as I can, inshallah,
and hopefully, especially now that Ramadan is close,
it can be for myself definitely and for
all of you a way to prepare yourself
for Ramadan,
start getting into the habit of reading the
Quran, studying the Quran, learning the Quran, and
appreciate
the sciences behind it as well.