ABSTRACT
One of the most important types of tafsīr is what is known in Arabic as tafsīr bi al-riwāyah or tafsīr bi al-ma’thūr – interpretation based on tradition or text. I will refer to this as ‘tradition-based tafsīr’. Tradition-based tafsīr means that the interpretation of the Qurʾān should be guided by the Qurʾān, the Prophet and earliest Muslims. In other words, interpretation is hoped to reflect, as far as possible, the original sources of Islam. Moreover, when the source is a reported saying of the Prophet, or a Companion or Successor, the narration (riwāyah) should have a ‘sound’ basis – that is, a sound and complete chain of narrators (isnād) whose narrations are truthful and reliable. 1 Only then can the narrated report be accepted as historically authentic and therefore authoritative. A number of scholars (classical and modern) have argued that tradition-based tafsīr is the safest and best method of interpretation. Mannāʿ al-Qaṭṭān, a scholar of the modern period, states:
What we have to follow and hold onto is the tafsīr based on text/tradition. This is because it is the path of true knowledge. It is also the safest way of guarding [oneself] against [attributing] error and deviation to the Book of God. 2
