Page 9 - Tafsir of surat at tawba repentance

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were free from error. However, when they approached the Prophet (r) about it,
he replied,

ﱠ نِإ ِﮫﱠﻠﻟﺎِﺑ ْكِﺮْﺸُﺗ َﻻ ﱠﻲَﻨُﺑ ﺎَﯾ } ِ ﻪِﻨﺒِﻻ ﻥﺎﻤﹾﻘﹸﻟ َلﺎﹶﻗ ﺎﻤﹶﻜ ﻭﻫ ﺎﻤﱠﻨِﺇ ﻥﻭﱡﻨﹸﻅﹶﺘ ﺎﻤﹶﻜ ﻭﻫ ﺱﻴﹶﻟ )

{ ( ٌﻢﯿِﻈَﻋ ٌﻢْﻠُﻈَﻟ َكْﺮﱢﺸﻟا

“It is not as you all think. It is no more than what Luqmaan said to his son,
‘Verily, shirk (associating partners with God) is the greatest form of
25 26
thulm.’ ”
Thus the Prophet (r) clarified for them that the broader meaning of thulm was not
intended in the first verse; rather it was used to refer to shirk.
In this incident, the Prophet (r) explained the Qur’aan by the Qur’aan,
demonstrating the first step in the divinely ordained method of understanding and
interpretation of the Qur’aan that was established for all generations of Muslims
until the Day of Resurrection. After the Prophet’s death, the sahaabah turned to
those among themselves who were more gifted in understanding the Qur’aan and
who had been able to spend more time with the Prophet (r) for interpretation and
explanation of the Qur’aan.

Among the sahaabah who became the most noted for their ability to make
tafseer of the Qur’aan are the following: The four Righteous Caliphs, 27 the
Prophet’s wife, ‘Aa’ishah bint Abee Bakr, Ibn Mas‘ood, Ibn ‘Abbaas, Ubayy ibn
Ka‘b, Zayd ibn Thaabit, Aboo Moosaa al-Ash‘aree, ‘Abdullaah ibn az-Zubayr,
Anas ibn Maalik, ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Umar, Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullaah, and ‘Abdullaah
28
ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas. Within the space of twenty-five years after the Prophet’s
death, the sahaabah carried Islaam to all corners of the known world, toppling in
the process the great empires of Persia and Byzantine. Wherever the Muslim
armies stopped their advance, some of the sahaabah would settle and begin
teaching those who came into Islaam the recitation and interpretation of the
Qur’aan. For this reason, the knowledge of tafseer spread throughout the Muslim
realm, and centers of Qur’aanic learning sprung up everywhere. Among the
people who gathered around the sahaabah were some outstanding individuals
who remained their students and absorbed their knowledge. These students
became known as taabi‘oon. Each sahaabee carried with him a portion of

25
Soorah Luqmaan (31):13.
26
Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, p. 72, no. 226.
27
Aboo Bakr as-Siddeeq, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab, ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan, and ‘Alee ibn Abee
Taalib.
28
Al-Itqaan fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, vol. 2, p. 239.

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