ভূমিকা
Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Introduction to the Science of Tafsir of the Quran Part 4: Exegesis of the Qur an through the Qur an With complete clarity, the Qur`an introduces itself as the explainer of all things, when it states: وَ نَزَّلْــنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِـبْـيَاناً لِّكُلِِّ شَيْءٍ “And We have sent down The Book (Qur`an) upon you (Muhammad) as a clarifier of all things.” [^1] If the Qur`an is an explainer of all things, then naturally it stands to reason that it would be an explainer of itself as well.
Therefore, if there is some ambiguity in one verse of the Qur`an - and its ambiguity was for a purpose – we can resolve its ambiguity by referring to other verses which were revealed in regards to that same issue. At this point, we present an example of this concept.
In Suratul Shu’ara (26), verse 173, Allah (awj) states the following in regards to the nation of (prophet) Lut (‘a): وَ أَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ مَّطَراً فَسَآءَ مَطَرُ الْمُـنْذَرِينَ “And We rained down upon them a rain, and evil was the rain on those warned.” This verse gives us a glimpse of the sending down of something, however it is not clear what sort of precipitation this was – was it a spatter of water or was it a raining down of stones?
Therefore to clear this issue up, another verse of the Qur`an, which removes the ambiguity of the verse quoted above, is referred to in which we are told: ...وَ أَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حِجَارَةً مِّنْ سِجِّيلٍ... “…and We rained down upon them stones made from baked clay… ”[^2] The word “حِجَارَةٌ” (stones) is the word, which clears up the ambiguity in the first verse. In order for us to truly comprehend this third point, we present another example.
In one instance in the Qur`an, we read the following: هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلاَّ أَنْ يَّأْتِـيَهُمُ اللٌّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِّنَ الْغَمَامِ وَالْمَلاَئِكَةُ وَقُضِيَ الأَمْرُ وَإِلـى اللٌّهِ تُرْجَعُ الأُمُورُ “Will they wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds, with Angels (in His train) and the question is (thus) settled?
But to Allah do all affairs go back (for decision).” [^3] The apparent reading of this verse shows us that it is not free of ambiguity, since the coming and going of an object are characteristics for a physical entity and we know that the sacred essence of Allah (awj) is free from being a physical body. Thus, we must seek to remove the vagueness, which is contained in this verse through some other means.
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