تفسیر بالرائے کا آغاز و ارتقاء: ایک تحقیقی جائزہ

The Beginning and the Evolution of Tafsir Bil-Ra'ay: A Research Review

Abstract

Ilm-e-Tafseer is such a science that tries to understand the Holy Book of Allah, The Quran, which was revealed on His last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad PBUH. Another word that is used for the elaboration of the words of the Holy Quran is “Ta’weel“. The earlier scholars considered the word “Tafseer” a synonym of “Ta’weel“. Whereas the later scholars, considered “tafseer” as narration and “ta’weel” as derivation. In fact, derivation and narration are both interconnected. Accepting the narration without derivation is a cause of going astray. Principally two kinds of “tafseer” are stated i.e., “Tafseer bil Ma’soor” and “Tafseer Bil Ra’ay“. “Tafseer bil Masoor” is a tafseer that consists of copied material whereas ” Tafseer Bil Ra’ay” comprises derived material. The use of narration in “tafseer” started in the era of the companions of Holy Prophet PBUH and their narrations are known as “‘Aasar“. Afterward, with the expansion of the Muslim empire beyond Madinah and with so many people embracing Islam, a (geographical) distance was felt among people from the companions of Holy Prophet PBUH. Hence the need for “Ijtehad” was felt by the people. This was an important reason for the use of narration in “tafseer” written subsequently. As far as the organization of these narrations is concerned, the oral narrations were spread far and wide through companions of Holy Prophet PBUH and their acquaintance in the Muslim empire before the end of the first Hijri century.