Section: Explaining the Qur’an through the statements of the Followers

When you cannot find the explanation of a verse in the Qur’an itself, nor in the Sunnah, nor in the words of the Companions, many leading scholars turn next to the sayings of the Followers (tābiʿūn). One outstanding example is Mujāhid ibn Jabr, who was a prodigy in tafsīr.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq relates: “Abān ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to us from Mujāhid, who said: ‘I presented the entire muṣḥaf to Ibn ʿAbbās three times, from its opening to its close; at each verse I would stop him and ask about it.’”

With this same chain, al-Tirmidhī reports: “Al-Ḥusayn ibn Mahdī al-Baṣrī told us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us, from Maʿmar, from Qatādah, who said: ‘There is not a single verse in the Qur’an except that I have heard something concerning it.’”

Likewise, he said: “Ibn Abī ʿUmar narrated to us; Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah from al-Aʿmash, who reported that Mujāhid remarked: ‘Had I adopted the recitation of Ibn Masʿūd, I would not have needed to ask Ibn ʿAbbās about much of the Qur’an as I did.’”

Ibn Jarīr states: “Abū Kurayb narrated to us; Ṭalq ibn Ghanām from ʿUthmān al-Makkī, from Ibn Abī Mulaykah, who said: ‘I saw Mujāhid questioning Ibn ʿAbbās about the interpretation of the Qur’an while carrying his tablets. Ibn ʿAbbās would tell him, “Write,” until he had asked him about the entire tafsīr.’”

For this reason Sufyān al-Thawrī used to say, “When tafsīr reaches you from Mujāhid, that by itself is sufficient for you.”