منهج الشنقيطي في تفسير القرآن بأقوال الصحابة والتابعين

The Methodology of Al-Shanqiti in Interpreting the Quran with the Sayings of the Sahaba and the Taba,een

Abstract

The last Holy Book of Allah Ta'ala is the Holy Quran. This great and holy book has been revealed in Arabic language to the last prophet of Allah, Muhammad ﷺ. The purpose of revelation of the Holy Qur'an is to tell people the straight path of their Lord Allah and to guide them in all matters of their life. This book was best understood by those who learned and understood it from Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and they are his Companions. After them are those who learned and understood from them and they are the Taabi'een. Therefore, the Tafsir described by them has been given the third rank by the Ummah after the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith. This is the third most authentic source of Tafsir e Qur'an. Since ancient times, the commentators adopted this method in their interpretations (Tafaseer), none of the interpretations of Bilamathur (تفسير بالمأثور) is free from it and this blessed series continues till now. Among the commentators who interpreted the Holy Qur'an through the sayings of Companions and Taabi'een is the great mujtahid, jurist and muhaddith, the great religious Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Al-Amin al-Shanqati. Which has an important, famous and authentic Tafsir is: “Azwa al-Bayan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an by Qur'an”. In which, he has arranged to interpret the Holy Qur'an through the sayings of the Companions and Taabi'een, like other methods, and he adopted different and numerous methods for this excellent method. Is this tafsir really such a tafsir that can be called a modern model of Tafsir al-Qur'an according to Tafsir by sayings of the Companions and Taabi'een? And is this method of interpretation acceptable to the commentators in the Tafsir: “Azwa al-Bayan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an by Qur'an” of Imam al-Shanqiti? And how much material has he provided to his believers and students in his interpretation by using other ancient interpretations based on his memory? We will try to answer these and other similar questions in the following article. And at the same time, we will also briefly review the efforts of some other great commentators who interpret the Holy Quran according to this method, so that in the light of this we can clarify the position that this is the third best method of interpreting the Holy Quran. is to be interpreted through sayings of the Companions and Taabi'een and we can also formulate a remedy for some of the misconceptions that have been spread about this method.