The Opinion on the Tafsir *In the Shade of the Qur'an* by Sayyid Qutb
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success! What is your opinion of Sayyid Qutb’s tafsir titled *In the Shade of the Qur’an*? Do you advise students of knowledge to read it? Does he follow the methodology of the righteous Salaf in this tafsir, or not? I ask you to be kind, as many students of knowledge recommend reading this book.
Answer:
And I have read a lot of it, and this is what happened when I read it. I had a portion of it from some of my brothers; I told them to follow it, and they gave me a few sheets pointing out the places where he is criticized. I am, God willing, in the position of prohibiting it. I will review it and write something, perhaps Allah will make it easy. What appears to me is that I have come across some errors in it, but he is not infallible, nor is anyone else. There is no tafsir in which errors are not found, but it is obligatory for the people of knowledge to take the correct and leave the incorrect. The student of knowledge who does not have discernment should leave the books that contain problems and review the books that are known, such as *after the Sunnah*, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Jarir, al-Baghawi, and the known books. If something is problematic in Qutb’s tafsir or that of another, he should ask the people of knowledge and not rush. And I think it has reached me from close to it that there are many errors in it, contrary to the people of the Sunnah and the community. But close to what happened to me, meaning I read only a little of it or two places, and I found in it some benefit. But God willing, I am determined to read it, God willing, reviewing the places where it was said that there is something in them. However, there is intent in it, but there are beneficial places in any case. It can be benefited from by the people of knowledge who have insight; one can benefit from it in other ways.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success! What is your opinion of Sayyid Qutb’s tafsir titled *In the Shade of the Qur’an*? Do you advise students of knowledge to read it? Does he follow the methodology of the righteous Salaf in this tafsir, or not? I ask you to be kind, as many students of knowledge recommend reading this book.
Answer:
And I have read a lot of it, and this is what happened when I read it. I had a portion of it from some of my brothers; I told them to follow it, and they gave me a few sheets pointing out the places where he is criticized. I am, God willing, in the position of prohibiting it. I will review it and write something, perhaps Allah will make it easy. What appears to me is that I have come across some errors in it, but he is not infallible, nor is anyone else. There is no tafsir in which errors are not found, but it is obligatory for the people of knowledge to take the correct and leave the incorrect. The student of knowledge who does not have discernment should leave the books that contain problems and review the books that are known, such as *after the Sunnah*, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Jarir, al-Baghawi, and the known books. If something is problematic in Qutb’s tafsir or that of another, he should ask the people of knowledge and not rush. And I think it has reached me from close to it that there are many errors in it, contrary to the people of the Sunnah and the community. But close to what happened to me, meaning I read only a little of it or two places, and I found in it some benefit. But God willing, I am determined to read it, God willing, reviewing the places where it was said that there is something in them. However, there is intent in it, but there are beneficial places in any case. It can be benefited from by the people of knowledge who have insight; one can benefit from it in other ways.
Source
لقاءات لابن باز - جلسة مع الدعاة - ابن باز — archive.org (21:19)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.