AL- QURAN, TAFSIR

AND TA’WIL

Pres ent B y: -
Nor H awa ni Bt C he Has san
Nor H aya ti Bt Kardi
Nor H as linda Bt Che H asim
Nor L iya na Bt Mo hma d
 The Meaning Of Al Quran

The Qur‘an (Arabic: ‫ القرآن‬al-quran,

literally "the recitation"; also called
al-quran al-karim "The Noble Qur'an";
also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and
Al-Quran), is the central religious text
of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an, in
its original Arabic, to be the literal
word of God that was revealed to Muhammad
over a period of twenty-three years until
his death, and believe it to be God's
final revelation to humanity.
 COMPILATION
OF THE QUR'AN
 During The Life Of The Prophet (S.A.W) (570-632 CE)

•The Prophet (s.a.w) used to recite the Qur'an before angel

(Gabriel) once every Ramadan, but he recited it twice (in the same
order we have today) in the last Ramadan before his death. Gabriel
also taught the Prophet (s.a.w)) the seven modes of recitation.

•Each verse received was recited by the Prophet, and its location
relative to other verses and surahs was identified by him.

•The verses were written by scribes, selected by the Prophet, on

any suitable object - the leaves of trees, pieces of wood,
parchment or leather, flat stones, and shoulder blades. Scribes
included Ali Ibn Abi Talib, Mu'awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan, Ubey Ibn
Ka'ab, Zayed Ibn Thabit.

•Some of the companions wrote the Qur'an for their own use.
Several hundred companions memorized the Qur'an by heart.
 During The Caliphate Of Abu Bakr (632-634 CE)

•Umar Ibn Al-Khattab urged Abu Bakr to preserve and compile the
Qur'an. This was prompted after the battle of Yamamah, where
heavy casualties were suffered among the recites who memorized
the Qur'an.

•Abu Bakr entrusted Zayed Ibn Thabit with the task of collecting
the Qur'an. Zayed had been present during the last recitation of the
Qur'an by the Prophet to Angel Gabriel.

•Zayed, with the help of the companions who memorized and

wrote verses of the Qur'an, accomplished the task and handed Abu
Bakr the first authenticated copy of the Qur'an. The copy was kept
in the residence of Hafsah, daughter of Umar and wife of the
Prophet.
 During The Caliphate Of Uthman (644-656 CE)

•Uthman ordered Zayed Ibn Thabit, Abdullah Ibn Al Zubayr, Saeed

Ibn Al-Aas, and Abdur-Rahman Ibn Harith Ibn Hisham to make
perfect copies of the authenticated copy kept with Hafsa. This was
due to the rapid expansion of the Islamic state and concern about
differences in recitation.

•Copies were sent to various places in the Muslim world. The

original copy was returned to Hafsa, and a copy was kept in
Madinah.
 Three Stages Of Dotting And Diacritization

•Dots were put as syntactical marks by Abu Al-Aswad Al Doaly, during

the time of Mu'awiya Ibn Abi Sufian (661-680 CE).

•The letters were marked with different dotting by Nasr Ibn Asem and
Hayy ibn Ya'amor, during the time of Abd Al-Malek Ibn Marawan (685-
705 CE).

•A complete system of diacritical marks (damma, fataha, kasra) was

invented by Al Khaleel Ibn Ahmad Al Faraheedy (d. 786 CE).
 The Meaning Of Tafsir

•The word 'tafsir' comes from 'fassara', which means, 'to

explain, to expound, to elucidate, to interpret.

• The word tafsir is the verbal noun of 'fassara', and means

'the explanation or interpretation of something.
 The Meaning Of Ta’wil

The word ‘ta’wil is from a-w-l, which means 'to return, to revert,'
which implies going back to the original meaning of a word to see
what its meanings and connotations are. The meanings of the
word 'ta'wil' were given earlier, and are repeated here.
The word ‘ta’wil has three meanings:

•To understand a word in light of one of its connotations, despite

the fact that this connotation is not the primary intent of the word.

•To explain a word or phrase.

•The actuality of an event.

Different Between
Tafsir And Ta’wil
With these two definitions in mind, there are five main opinions as to the
difference between tafsir and ta'wil,as follows:[3]

3. They are equivalent in meaning. This was the opinion of at-Tabari (d.
310 A.H.), as his commentary of the Qur'aan uses these two terms
interchangeably.

4. Tafsir is used in explaining a word which carries only one meaning,

whereas ta’wil is used in choosing one of the connotations of a word
that possesses many connotations.

5. According to al-Maturidi (d. 333 A.H.), when the interpretation is

based on certain knowledge, this is called tafsir,whereas when it is
based on personal reasoning (ijtihad), it is known as ta'wil.
4. Abu Talib at-Tha'labi held the view that tafsir was the explanation
of the literal meaning of the verse, whereas ta'wil was the actual
intent behind the verse. For example, the tafsir of the verse,

Verily, your Lord is ever-Watchful [89:14]

is that Allaah is aware of all that man does, but the ta'wil is that the
verse is a warning to man not to lapse into sins or to belittle the
commandments of Allah.

5. Tafsir is meant to give the meanings of the individual words in a

verse, whereas ta’wil gives the meaning of the verse as a whole.
 Five Sources For Tafsir

The five traditional sources for commentary of the Qur'an are:

3. The Qur'an.
4. The hadith.
5. The report of the Sahaba.
4. The reports of those who learned from the companions.
5. Reasons.