Appearance
What Is “Interpretation by Opinion”?
The question
The narrations forbid interpreting the Qur’an “by one’s opinion” (tafsīr bi-l-raʾy). What exactly do they forbid, and what does that leave the exegete free to do?
Views answered: al-Ṭabarī, Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
Jawādī Āmulī’s argument
For Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī, interpretation by opinion is interpretation from ignorance or folly: attributing to God a meaning without proof, whether or not it turns out true. Interpretation grounded in knowledge is not opinion. He finds al-Ṭabarī’s treatment brief, limited to a few reports. He values Shaykh al-Ṭūsī’s fuller discussion but corrects it on three points: drawing a clear lesson from a verse is exegesis, not opinion; weighing ḥadīth against the Qur’an requires the Qur’an to be understood first; and understanding the Qur’an is more than a linguistic exercise.
Views compared
Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.
What the prohibition covers Read →
al-Ṭabarī
Interpreting without explicit guidance from the Prophet is not allowed; even a correct opinion is at fault, being speculation.Jawādī Āmulī
Interpretation grounded in knowledge and scholarly standards is not opinion and is not prohibited. Al-Ṭabarī offers only a few reports and a brief comment and does not go into what interpretation by opinion is.Verses only God knows, such as the Hour Read →
Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
Some meanings belong to God alone, leaving no room for human enquiry.Jawādī Āmulī
Those verses are clear; drawing from them that only God knows the Hour is exegesis, not opinion. What is barred is fixing its time; al-Ṭūsī blurs the two.Weighing ḥadīth against the Qur’an Read →
Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
The Qur’an is a proof and a criterion for narrations, so it cannot be beyond understanding.Jawādī Āmulī
Agreed, but he leaves out the method this implies: the Qur’an must first be understood and accepted as the measure, or relying on ḥadīth to interpret it becomes circular.Verses plain to every Arab speaker Read →
Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
Some verses, such as Say, He is God, the One, are understood by anyone who knows the language.Jawādī Āmulī
Understanding the Qur’an is not merely linguistic: the meanings of oneness and self-sufficiency were beyond the Arabs of the Jāhiliyyah.Reading guide
Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.