What is Tafsir?

[transferedposts]

What is Tafsir?

In the simplest terms
Tafsir = interpretation

The following was copied from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafsir

Tafsir is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an.
It does not include esoteric or mystical interpretations, which are covered by the related word Ta'wīl.

An author of tafsīr is a mufassir

There are two approaches to interpreting the Qur'an,
a) based on tradition and
b) based on language, context and context of situation of the text.
In the former approach there are four traditional sources for commentary of the Qur'an:

1.The Quran: The highest form of tafsīr is when one verse of the Quran is used to explain another.
2.The Ḥadīth: the second highest grade of tafsīr is where Muhammad commented on the meaning or virtues of particular verses of the Quran, and those statements have been passes down to us. Many of the great collections of Ḥadīth have separate sections about tafsīr.
3.The reports of the Ṣaḥābah: The Ṣaḥābah, or companions of Muhammad, also interpreted and taught the Quran. If nothing is found in the Quran or the Hadīth, the commentator has recourse to what the Ṣaḥābah reported about various verses.
4.The reports of the Tābi'ūn, the next generation who learned from the Ṣaḥābah: these people grew up with people who had enjoyed everyday interaction with Muhammad, and had often asked about the meanings of verses or circumstances of their revelation.


Prohibited tafsir

Muslims believe that it is prohibited to perform Qur'anic interpretation using solely one's own opinion. This, they base on an authenticated hadith of Muhammad which states that it is prohibited.

Imam al-Ghazali qualifies this tradition, with the following understanding:

"The truth is that prophetic Traditions (akhbar) and statements of the Prophet's companions and of other pious Muslims in early Islam (athar) prove that 'for men of understanding there is wide scope in the meanings of the Qur'an'. Thus 'Ali (may God be pleased with him!) said, 'except that God bestows understanding of the Qur'an upon a man.' If there is no meaning other than that which is related [from Ibn 'Abbas and other exegetes] what is that understanding of the Qur'an [which is bestowed upon a man]?

The Prophet (may God bless him and greet him) said, 'Surely the Qur'an has an outward aspect, an inward aspect, a limit and a prelude.' This is also related. by Ibn Mas'ud on his own authority and he is one of the scholars of Qur'anic interpretation.

[If there are no meanings of the Qur'an besides the outward ones], what is the meaning of its outward aspect, inward aspect, limit and prelude?

'Ali (may God show regard to his face!) said, 'If I so will I can certainly load seventy camels with the exegesis of the Opening Sura of the Book.' What then is the meaning of this statement of 'Ali, when the outward exegesis of this sura is extremely short us [and can be set forth in a few pages]? Abu Darda' said, 'One cannot [fully] understand the religion until one sees the Qur'an from different perspectives.'

A certain religious scholar said, 'For every Qur'anic verse there are sixty thousand understandings [comprehensible to man].

The understandings of it which remain [incomprehensible to man] are even more than these in number.