Introduction to the Principles of Tafsīr
By Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥarrānī

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Section: The Companions and Successors’ Care for the Meanings of the Quran

It must be understood that the Prophet ﷺ explained the meanings of the Quran to his Companions just as he conveyed its wording. Allah the Exalted says, “so that you may clarify to the people what has been revealed to them” ⦗an-Nahl: 44⦘—a directive that covers both the words themselves and their intended sense.

Abū ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān as-Sulamī reported: “Those who used to teach us the Quran—ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, and others—told us that when they learned ten verses from the Prophet ﷺ they would not go beyond them until they had learned the knowledge and practice they contained. They said, ‘Thus we learned the Quran along with knowledge and action together.’ For that reason they might spend a considerable time memorizing a single surah.”

Anas said, “When a man recited al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān he was greatly esteemed in our eyes.” Ibn ʿUmar spent several years memorizing al-Baqarah—some say eight years, as Mālik narrates.

This approach rests on Allah’s words: “A blessed Book We have sent down to you so that they may reflect upon its verses” ⦗Ṣād: 29⦘; “Do they not then contemplate the Quran?” ⦗an-Nisāʾ: 82; Muḥammad: 24⦘; and “Have they not reflected on the Word?” ⦗al-Muʾminūn: 68⦘. Reflection on speech is impossible without understanding its meanings.

Likewise, He the Exalted says, “Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran so that you may reason” ⦗Yūsuf: 2⦘, and reasoning about speech necessarily entails comprehending it.