Tafseer and Tadabbur

Tafsir of the Quran

A Tafsir is a detailed technical explanation of every kalimah (word) and ayah (verse) of the Quran. Example, describing the root letters of a word, the tenses, the linguistic meaning, the context of the ayah, the history behind it and any other relevant sources to explain the Quranic messages.
Scholars have put lots of effort in producing Tafseer upon Tafseer of the Quran. However they have to follow these set of rules in order to derive upon a meaning of a word or ayah:

>>1. The Quran to explain the Quran.
When a word found in one part of a Surah which the scholars are not too sure of the meaning will have them searching for the same word used in other parts of the Quran. Other part of the Quran will explain in detail what this word mean.
Example: In Surah Al-Fatihah, the word Áalaameen is mentioned in the phrase = Robbul-Áalaameen (Lord of the Áalaameen). What is Áalaameen?
Surah Ash-Shuára' (ayaat 23 - 24) explained the meaning :
Pharaoh asked, “And what is ‘the Lord of Áalaameen?”
Moses replied, “˹He is˺ the Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything in between, if only you had faith.”

>>2. The explanation from the Prophet s.a.w.
There are many instances when the companions would ask the Prophet what does certain word mean? Eg. the word "Zhulm" in the context of an ayah in Surah Al-An’Am: 82.

It is ˹only˺ those who are faithful and do not do “Zhulm” are guaranteed security and are ˹rightly˺ guided.

The companions understood “Zhulm” as injustice but after asking the Prophet s.a.w, he said it means associating partners with Allah (Shirk) based on the context of the ayah.

>>3. The understanding of the companions of the Prophet s.a.w.
They were the first generation of people:
--> They had direct access to the Prophet s.a.w
--> The ayaat were sent down because of incidents that happened to them
--> The Quran was in the classical language that they were speaking
--> The Prophet s.a.w praised them as being the very best generation of this Ummah i.e the most sincere, honest, knowledgeable and pious in religiosity.

Example Surah An-Nisa’: 43: 

  ..  If you are either ill or travelling or have satisfied a want of nature or have had contact with women and can find no water, then betake yourselves to pure earth .. (to do tayammum) ..

Ibu Abbas (a Scholar among the companions) said that contact with women means to have sexual relations with your spouse and not merely touching your spouse that will nullify your wudhuk. Therefore if some later opinion said that by touching your wife will nullify the wudhuk, this is a contradiction of what Ibn Abbas (the companion and cousin of the Prophet s.a.w) had said. The sayings of the Companions are above all other sayings of later generations.

We can also refer to the Tabieen who were students of the Companions. Three scholarly Companions had many students under them. They were Abdullah bin Mas'ud (in Kufah), Ibn Abbas (in Makkah) and Ubayy ibn Ka'b (in Madinah). When it is a consensus of Tabieen in understanding an ayaat, then we will take it.

>>4. The ayah must be understood as how the classical Arabic were understood.
Modern Arabs will need to refer to the Scholars who have knowledge of classical Arabic. The Arabic language of the Quran is not what the modern Arabs are currently speaking.

>>5. Tafseers may include some additional stories from the Israelite in supporting certain narrative, not as the source of a narrative. The Prophet s.a.w allowed this as some of their stories may be true and the some other are false.
It acts as additional material to complete the narrative of certain ayaat and NOT as the source of information.

>>6. Lastly are the opinions of later scholars that are subjective depending on the time and era that we are living in. Eg. Surah Ar-Rahman 55:37 :

"And when the sky is SPLIT OPEN and becomes ROSE-coloured like TANNED LEATHER".

Take note that “ROSE” colour on tanned leather takes TIME to develop.

Modern scholars are in the opinion that this ayah is talking about the Rosette Nebula. Photographs of the Nebula taken by telescopes visually looked like a rose. Clusters of hot stars (4-5 million years old) RELEASE intense radiation and powerful stellar winds, blowing away gas and carving out the nebula's iconic "rosette" cavity. The center cavity looked like where the “sky split open” and the whole process took millions of earth years. The size of the Nebula is about 100 to 130 light years in diameter.

Tadabbur: Pondering on the Ayaat of Allah

Reading Qur’an is to understand the messages. That is the purpose of this documentation. Syaithan does not fear people who read the Quran without understanding but fears those who read and understand the messages. That was why the Mushrikoon of Makkah will make loud noises when the Prophet s.a.w was reciting the Quran to other Arab tribes because they want to distract them from understanding what was being recited.

The Mushrikun will not bother the Prophet s.a.w reciting the Quran if the people listening are non Arabs who do not understand Arabic and are just enjoying the melody of the Quran.

Only by understanding and contemplation will the Qur’an change a person from being bad to being good. A person can recite the Qur’an for 20 years but has no change in his bad behaviour since all the years of recitation are without any understanding. 

Definition of "Reading"

If you read a magazine or newspaper, the purpose is to understand what you are reading. How about reading a Book containing the speeches of Allah? Most Muslims will just recite making sounds that they have no idea what they are reading. That is not the definition of "Reading". Non Muslims will find it weird. How can you read a book of a language that you do not understand?

The ways the Quran were being studied

Scholars exhaust themselves in the study of the Quran.
--> Some produced Tafseers as mentioned above.
--> Some counted the number of ayaat.
--> Some counted the number of letters.
--> Some wrote the connections between surahs and between ayaat.
--> One scholar compiled every word in the Quran into a dictionary of Quranic Arabic explaining each one of them:
Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran - A classical dictionary of Qur'anic terms by 11th-century Sunni Islamic scholar Al-Raghib al-Isfahani