The Typology of Shia Exegetical Hadiths and Their Linguistic Relationship with the Quranic Text

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Professor of the Quran and Hadith Sciences Department, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/hsr.2024.13605

Abstract

In the major encyclopedias of narrative exegesis, over twelve thousand exegetical hadiths attributed to Ahl al-Bayt has been collected. The exegesis presented in most of these narrations is understandable to everyone and can be considered as the meanings of the Qur’anic words. However, in many of these narrations, words, phrases, and Quranic verses have been interpreted in such a way that the reader cannot easily establish a coherent relationship between them and Quranic words. At times, it is suggested that this type of narrative interpretation is not meant to express the exegesis (Tafsīr), but rather to convey the interpretation (Taʼwīl), and it is also posited that the interpretation of the Quran is not confined solely to the linguistic relationship with the words of the Quran, but rather is a meaning that only the Prophet and Ahl al-Bayt can comprehend. The present study aimed to categorize exegetical narratives and examine the linguistic relationship that each category has with their apparent words and meanings. The author contends that any meaning presented as an exegesis or interpretation for the Quran must have a linguistic connection with the Quranic text, and the reader must comprehend this connection through linguistic analysis. Consequently, any meaning offered in the hadiths, whether as exegesis or interpretation, which lacks a linguistic connection with the words of the Quran, loses its credibility and cannot be accepted as the intended meaning of the divine words

Keywords


Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
March 2024
Pages 101-134
  • Receive Date: 25 November 2023
  • Accept Date: 04 December 2023
  • First Publish Date: 01 March 2024
  • Publish Date: 01 March 2024