Chapter: Reports on the Excellence of Qur’anic Exegesis and Its People

Our scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have said:

As for the traditions extolling tafsīr that have come down from the Companions and the Successors, among them are the following:

• ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) once mentioned Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh and described him as a man of knowledge. Someone exclaimed, “May I be your ransom! You ascribe knowledge to Jābir while you yourself are who you are!” ʿAlī replied, “He knew the explanation of the Almighty’s words, ‘Indeed, He who imposed the Qur’an upon you will surely return you to a place of return’ (Q 28:85).”

• Mujāhid said, “The most beloved of all creatures to Allah is the one who is most knowledgeable about what has been revealed.”

• Al-Ḥasan stated, “By Allah, never did Allah reveal a single verse but that He loves for people to know why it was sent down and what it means.”

• Al-Shaʿbī related that Masrūq travelled to Baṣrah in search of the explanation of a verse. When he was told, “The man who interprets it has gone to Syria,” he prepared himself and journeyed to Syria until he learned its tafsīr.

• ʿIkrimah, commenting on the words of the Exalted, “And whoever leaves his home migrating toward Allah and His Messenger …” (Q 4:100), said, “I sought the name of that man—who left his home migrating toward Allah and His Messenger—for fourteen years, until I finally found it.”

• Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “He is Ḍamrah ibn Ḥabīb; the full account will appear later.”

• Ibn ʿAbbās said, “For two years I wished to ask ʿUmar about the two women who sided against the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; only my awe of him held me back. At last I asked, and he replied, ‘They were Ḥafṣah and ʿĀʾishah.’”

• Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah remarked, “The likeness of people who recite the Qur’an yet do not know its interpretation is that of a folk to whom their king sent a letter by night while they had no lamp: fear overcame them and they did not know what the letter contained. The likeness of the one who knows the tafsīr is that of a man who brings them a lamp, whereupon they read what is in the letter.”

Chapter: On the Bearer of the Qur’an—Who He Is—and on Those Who Oppose Him

Abū ʿUmar said: It is reported through chains that contain some weakness that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Part of magnifying Allah’s Majesty is to honor three persons: a just ruler, an elderly Muslim, and a bearer of the Qur’an who neither goes to excess concerning it nor turns away from it.”

He further said, “The bearers of the Qur’an are those who know its rulings—its lawful and its unlawful—and who act according to what it contains.”

Anas narrated that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The Qur’an is superior to all things. Whoever shows reverence to the Qur’an has indeed shown reverence to Allah, and whoever treats the Qur’an lightly has belittled the right of Allah, Exalted is He. The bearers of the Qur’an are surrounded by Allah’s mercy, they magnify the speech of Allah, and they are clothed in the light of Allah. Whoever befriends them has befriended Allah, and whoever opposes them has belittled the right of Allah, Exalted is He.”