ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Introduction to the Science of Tafsir of the Quran Part 3: An Awareness of the Meaning of the Words in the Qur`an Knowledge of the meaning of the individual words of the Qur`an is one of the fundamental prerequisites for the commentary of the Qur`an, since understanding compounded word is only possible after comprehending its original components.

At this point, it is imperative to note that we must never rely upon the common meaning that we perceive of a word, which is in our minds, and explain the verse according to that interpretation. How often have we seen that with the passing of time, the meaning of a word completely changes and the common definition (of a particular word) which was well known during the time of the revelation may later undergo a change.

Therefore, we must go forth and study the root meaning of the word and seek to acquire its original denotation, and only then can we proceed to explain a verse of the Qur`an. For example the words “عصـــى” and “غــــــوى”, in the common understanding of today means ‘he sinned’ and ‘he deviated’, whereas the original meaning of these two words (during the time of revelation of the Qur`an) was different from the meanings that we commonly perceive today.

We observe a group of people who prove the fallibility of the prophets by the following verse: وَ عَصَــــى آدَمُ رَبَّـهُ فَغَوَى “Thus did Adam distance himself from his Lord, and perform an action which had no benefit to it.” [^1] They assume that the words “عصـــى” and “غــــــوى” mean the same today as they did during the time of the revelation.

However if the original meaning of these two words was searched out, people would definitely see that they have different (original) meanings than what is in the minds of the people today, which have been derived from the original meaning of these two words. However, the original meaning of these two words was never associated with the technical meaning of sinning!

The best book available which is able to guide us in finding the original meaning of the words contained in the Qur`an is the work al-Maqayis , written by Ahmad b. Faris b. Zakariyya (d. 395 ah). This work has been printed in six volumes in Egypt and the author’s entire endeavor in compiling this work was to bring forth the original meaning of the words of the Qur`an and to make them available to us.