Wakīʿ narrated to us; he said: Sufyān narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Thaʿlabī, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) said, “Whoever speaks about the Qur’an without knowledge, let him take his seat in the Fire.”

Through this same chain, al-Tirmidhī reported: ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us; he said: Ḥibbān ibn Hilāl narrated to me; he said: Suhayl, the brother of Ḥazm al-Qaṭʿī, narrated to us; he said: Abū ʿImrān al-Jawnī narrated to us, from Jundub, who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) said, “Whoever interprets the Qur’an according to his own opinion, and happens to be correct, has still erred.” (1)

Al-Tirmidhī remarked, “This is a singular hadith, and some hadith critics have spoken against Suhayl ibn Abī Ḥazm.”

Likewise, it is related from a number of scholars among the Companions of the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) and others that they were extremely strict in forbidding the interpretation of the Qur’an without knowledge. As for the reports that Mujāhid, Qatādah, and other scholars offered explanations of the Qur’an, it is unthinkable that they did so without knowledge or on the basis of mere personal opinion. Indeed, what has come down from them confirms that they never spoke on their own initiative without sound knowledge.

Whoever tackles the Qur’an with his personal opinion assumes a burden about which he has no knowledge and follows a path other than the one he was commanded to take. Even if he hits upon the correct meaning in fact, he is still in error, because he did not approach the matter through its proper gateway—just like someone who judges between people in ignorance: he is in the Fire even if, in reality, his verdict happens to coincide with what is right. Such a person’s sin, however, is lighter than that of one whose verdict is actually wrong. Allah knows best.