Explaining Some Rules of Qur'anic Exegesis.

The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. We begin this morning with a lesson on tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), and it is necessary that we touch upon some of the rules of tafsir. So we say:
First: Tafsir is derived from the root *fasara*, meaning to peel the fruit from its skin, i.e., to clarify and make distinct. It refers to clarifying the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Tafsir can refer to lexical tafsir, meaning explaining a word regardless of its context, and it can refer to semantic tafsir, meaning explaining a word according to its context.
For example, the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): If we explain *al-quwwah* (strength) using lexical tafsir, its meaning becomes the opposite of weakness. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So we say that the meaning of *al-quwwah* is the opposite of weakness in terms of the word, but the intended meaning is throwing in terms of the intended sense.
Similarly, The meaning of *al-ziyadah* (increase) is surplus, i.e., the increase of one thing over another in terms of the word. But the intended meaning is looking at the Face of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as explained by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So lexical tafsir is not the intended meaning; the intended meaning is specified by the context, or clarified by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or something similar. As for the word, you explain the term based on its isolated meaning without looking at its context. The Noble Qur'an is interpreted by the second method, i.e., by what Allah intended.
Second: Does the intended meaning contradict the apparent meaning, or is it the apparent meaning unless there is evidence? The intended meaning is the apparent meaning, meaning that Allah intends the apparent meaning of His speech necessarily, and it is not possible to deviate from the apparent meaning except with evidence. Whoever deviates from the apparent meaning to something else without evidence is among those who distort the words from their places.
An example of this rule is the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): The apparent meaning of His saying: Why? Because this contradicts the apparent meaning without evidence. If it contradicts the apparent meaning without evidence, it falls under the category of distorting words from their places. Even if its proponents call themselves "those who interpret figuratively" (mawilun), they only call themselves that to have their saying accepted and to make their error easy for people, because there is a difference between saying this is a figurative interpretation (ta'wil) and saying this is a distortion (tahrif). Otherwise, the truth is that they are distorters. For this reason, you will find that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) expressed this in *al-'Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah* by saying: "without distortion" and he did not say "without figurative interpretation," because distortion is blameworthy in all cases, while figurative interpretation has both valid and invalid forms.
Now, if evidence indicates that the intended meaning is contrary to the apparent meaning, we interpret it by the intended meaning. For example, the saying of Allah the Exalted: What clarifies that this is not the intended meaning? The action of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), for he used to seek refuge before starting to read. Clear? Now, these are two rules.
The third rule: To whom do we refer for the interpretation of the Qur'an? Do we refer to language and linguistic reality, or do we refer to the legal reality, or what?
We say first: In tafsir, we refer to the interpretation of the One who spoke it, which is Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So in tafsir, we first refer to the speech of Allah. If a word is general in one place in the Qur'an and specific in another, we refer to what is specified by the Qur'an itself. If it is ambiguous in one place—meaning its meaning is not clear—but it is clarified in another place, we refer to the other place. So the Qur'an is first interpreted by the Qur'an, because the One who spoke it knows it better than anyone else. In the saying of Allah the Exalted: What is *al-Qari'ah* (the Striking)? Allah clarified it by His saying: And He said: and interpreted it by His saying: Similarly, His saying: Which *nasiyah* (forelock) is it? Does Allah pierce every forelock? No, And so on. So we first refer to the interpretation of the One who spoke it, which is Allah, i.e., to interpreting the Qur'an by the Qur'an.
After this, we refer to interpreting the Qur'an by the Sunnah, because the people who know the speech of Allah best is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So we refer to his interpretation and do not accept the interpretation of anyone else. An example is the saying of Allah the Exalted: He (peace and blessings be upon him) interpreted it as looking at the Face of Allah. Now, if someone comes and says: "And *ziyadah* means an increase in good," we say to him: We do not accept your saying. Even if the word, in terms of its lexical meaning, allows what you said, we do not accept it. Why? Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) interpreted it as looking at the Face of Allah, and he is the one who knows the intent of his Lord best, so we do not accept your saying.
Third: We refer to the interpretation of the Companions. That is, if we do not find it in the Qur'an or the Sunnah, we refer to the interpretation of a Companion, because the Companions are the people who know the intent of Allah and His Messenger best, as they were in the era of revelation and witnessed the circumstances and indications pointing to the intent. Undoubtedly, the one who witnesses a thing is not like the one who is absent from it. Now, perhaps I speak in a state of agitation and say: "Are you doing such and such when such and such happens?" You will find me agitated. The one who hears my speech and has not witnessed me thinks it is ordinary speech and does not know why, because he does not have the indication. For this reason, we say the Companions are the people who know the interpretation of the speech of Allah and His Messenger best, because they witnessed the circumstances and knew the indications, so we refer to their interpretation.
An example of this is the saying of Allah the Exalted: Here, Abu Bakr interpreted *al-kalalah* as one who has no child and no parent, i.e., the one who dies without a child or a parent, meaning no ancestors or descendants. Here we take the interpretation of Abu Bakr. Why? Because he is from the Companions, and the Companions are the people who know the interpretation of the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) best. And the meaning of our saying this is that if someone from the later generations interprets the Qur'an contrary to how the Companions interpreted it, we do not refer to his saying at all.
After that, the fourth: If we do not find it in the Qur'an, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the speech of the Companions, we refer to the sayings of the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), especially those known for receiving knowledge from the Companions, such as Mujahid ibn Jabr (may Allah have mercy on him). He said: "I presented the mushaf to Ibn Abbas twice or more, stopping at every verse and asking him about its meaning" So we take the saying of such a person because he took it from the Companions. Even if some of the Tabi'un may not reach this rank because they did not take it from the Companions, in any case, the Tabi'un are closer to the correct meaning than those after them, although, as you know, they are a rank lower than the Companions.
The fifth: We refer to the real meaning of the word, which is the linguistic meaning, i.e., we refer to the meaning of the word in the Arabic language. The evidence for this is the saying of Allah the Exalted: meaning you understand the meaning. This is a reference by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the Arabic language, and that the understanding of the Qur'an is according to the Arabic language. We have an argument. If someone asks: "What is your evidence that the meaning of this word is such and such?" We say: This is its meaning in the language, and the Qur'an was revealed in the Arabic language. Allah pointed to this in His saying: and other clear verses.
If the linguistic reality and the Shari'ah reality differ, we revert to the Shari'ah reality. That is to say, the linguistic and Shari'ah realities undoubtedly agree in many things. The sky is the sky linguistically and in the Shari'ah, the earth is the earth linguistically and in the Shari'ah, camels are camels linguistically and in the Shari'ah, and so on. If the Shari'ah reality and the linguistic reality conflict, we prioritize the Shari'ah reality, because the Shari'ah has transferred some words from their original linguistic meaning to a Shari'ah meaning. An example of this is faith (iman). Linguistically, faith is affirmation, acknowledgment, or belief, though there is disagreement among scholars regarding the interpretation. But in the Shari'ah, it is different. Faith in the Shari'ah is broader than this; it includes the linguistic meaning and everything else, such as deeds, words, actions, and abstentions. All of these are part of faith in the Shari'ah. Similarly, regarding prayer (salah), we found in the Qur'an: On which meaning do we base the prayer? On the linguistic meaning, which is supplication, or on the Shari'ah meaning? On the Shari'ah meaning, because the Shari'ah has transferred some Arabic words to a new meaning not used in the Arabic language, so we take what the Shari'ah has established.
We have now taken five: we revert in interpretation to the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the Companions, the Successors, and the linguistic meaning. And if the language and the Shari'ah conflict, we prioritize the Shari'ah meaning. And this is the topic, I think the third topic.