Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Critical Studies on the Quranic Exegesis

Miracles of Prophets in Tafsir al-Manar: Review and Criticism

Document Type : Promotional article

Authors
1 PHD student in Quran and Hadith Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
2 Associate Professor of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Abstract
The authors of Tafsir al-Manar are of the opinion that taking verses based on their apparent meaning will be correct only if that meaning is not intellectually impossible. Therefore, when dealing with the verses containing the miracles of the prophets and especially the cases related to the resurrection of the dead, which generally include extraordinary works, they interpret the verses in such a way that it can be said that nothing but denying the occurrence of miracles follows. In this study, while criticizing his opinions and by rejecting the claim that the people of Jesus did not request to see a miracle, as well as adding other evidences, we intend to show that based on the Holy Qurʾān, the miracles of Jesus could not have been just a challenge and must have actually happened. Also, in verse 259 of Sūra al-Baqara, which is likely to be related to Prophet ʿUzayr, we will criticize the interpretation of the two words Labth and ʿIẓām in the Shiʿa interpretations, and we will criticize the opinions reflected in this regard in al-Manar and also the opinions reflected in some Shiʿa interpretations. These commentators have considered the way of the dead to come back to life in verse 259 of Sura al-Baqara sometimes similar to what happened to the companions of the cave, and sometimes it means a real death for them. In this study, we are going to defend the opinion that based on the Qurʾān, both opinions have the same probability of occurrence, and therefore the debate will be fruitless; Because in any case, God's purpose in showing how to revive the dead to the mentioned person has been fulfilled in the revival of his vehicle.
 
Keywords

  • The Holy Qurʾān, the Persian translation by Nāṣer Makarem Shīrāzī, Tehran, Office of History and Islamic Studies,1380 SAH.
  • ʿAlavī Mehr, Ḥoseyn, History of Interpretation and Commentators, Qom, World Centre of Islamic Sciences, 1384 SAH.
  • Ayāzī, Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī, Al-Mufassirūn: Ḥayātuhum wa Minhajuhum, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, 1373 SAH.
  • ‏‫Bāqerī, ʿAlī ʾAwsaṭ, “Al-Minār and Interpretation of the Verses Expressing Miracles”, Maʿrefat, vol. 83, 1383 SAH.
  • Dhahabī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Al-Tafsīr wa al-Mufassirūn, Cairo, Dār al-Kitāb al-Ḥadītha.
  • Jawādī Āmolī, ʿAbullāh, Tasnīm, Qom, Isrāʿ.
  • Khālīl b. Aḥmad, Al-ʿAyn, ed. Mahdī Makhzūmū and Ibrahīm Sāmirrāʾī, Beirut, Dār wa maktaba al-Hilāl, 1980.
  • Makārīm Shīrāzī, Nāṣer, Tafsīr Nemūne, Tehrān, Islāmīyya, 1353 SAH.
  • Marāghī, Aḥmad b. Muṣṭafā, Al-Tafsīr, Beirut, Dār Ihyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
  • Maʿrefat, Muḥammad Hādī, Tafsīr va Mufasserān, Qom, Al-Tamhīd, 1380 SAH.
  • Mujāhid b. Jabr, Al-Tafsīr, ed. ʿAbdurrahmān Ṭahir Surtī, Beirut, Al-Manshurāt al-ʿImīyya.
  • Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Al-Tafsir, ed. ʿAbdullāh Maḥmūd Shaḥḥata, Beirut, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1423 AH.
  • Muṣṭafawī, Ḥasan, Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance,1386 SAH.
  • Nafīsī, Shādī, Rationalism in 14th Century Interpretations, Qom, The Islamic Propagation Office of Qom Seminary, 1379 SAH.
  • Qurashī, Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar, Qāmūs-e Qurʾān, Tehran, Islāmīyya, 1412 SAH.
  • Raḍī Behābādī, BībīSādāt, “Principles and Methodology of the Commentary of al-Manar for Studying Extraordinary Events”, A Research Quarterly in Islamic Theology and Religious Studies, vol. 13, Issue 48, 1396 SAH.
  • Rāghib Isfahānī, Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad, Al-Mufradāt, Damuscus, Dār al-Qalam, 1412 AH.
  • Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad, Al-Manār, Cairo, Al-Hayʾa al-Miṣrīyya al-ʿĀmma lil Kitāb, 1990.
  • Robinson, Neal, Christ in islsm and Christianity, New York, State University of New York Press, 1991.
  • Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr, Al-Tafseer, ed. ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAbdul-Muḥsin al-Turkī, Cairo, Dār Hijr, 2001.
  • Ṭabāṭabāyī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Al-Mīzān, tr. Muḥammad Baqer Mūsavī Hamedānī, Tehran, Islāmīyya, 1363 SAH.
  • Ṭabrasī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-Bayān, Beirut, Aʿlamī, 1415 AH.
Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 6
March 2023
Pages 265-284

  • Receive Date 30 November 2022
  • Revise Date 04 January 2023
  • Accept Date 16 March 2023