Page 8 - Tafsir of surat at tawba repentance

© Islamic Online University Usool at-Tafseer

“Verily, collecting the Qur’aan (for you) and reciting it (to you) is
My 21 responsibility, so when I read it to you, listen to it. Then it is
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upon Me to explain it.”

Therefore, it was the Prophet’s job to explain the Qur’aan to his followers by his
actions, as well as his statements. Allaah stated this in the Qur’aan:

( öNÍköŽs9Î) tAÌh“çR $tB Ĩ$¨Z=Ï9 tûÎiüt7çFÏ9 tò2Ïe%!$# y7ø‹s9Î) !$uZø9t“Rr&ur )

“I have revealed the Reminder (Qur’aan) to you (O Muhammad) so
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that you may explain to people what has been revealed to them.”

Consequently, the sahaabah all turned to the Prophet (r) whenever possible
during his lifetime for the tafseer (explanation, understanding, interpretation) of
the Qur’aan. For example, Ibn Mas‘ood related that when the following verse was
revealed:

ß`øBF{$# ãNßgs9 y7Í´¯»s9'ré& AOù=ÝàÎ/ OßguZ»yJƒÎ) (#þqÝ¡Î6ù=tƒ óOs9ur (#qãZtB#uä tûïÏ%©!$# )

( ÇÑËÈ tbr߉tGôg•B Nèdur

“Those who believe and do not obscure their faith with transgression
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(thulm), for them there is security, and they are rightly guided,”

some of the companions became distressed, because the general linguistic
meaning of thulm covers any kind of wrong, major or minor, and none of them

21
Literally, ‘Our.’ The ‘royal We’ is barely used in English, but it is a common feature of Arabic
speech, used to indicate the importance of the speaker. It is my standard practice to translate this
‘We’ as ‘I,’ since the literal translation is a frequent cause of confusion for English speakers.
22
Soorah al-Qiyaamah (75):17-9.
23
Soorah an-Nahl (16):44.
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Soorah al-An‘aam (6):82.

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