Section: On the Early Generations’ Differences in Exegesis and the Fact that They Are Differences of Variety

The disagreements among the early scholars in Qur’anic exegesis are few, whereas their disagreements over legal rulings are far more numerous. Most of the soundly-reported differences trace back to ikhtilāf tanawwuʿ (differences of variety), not to ikhtilāf taḍādd (mutually contradictory differences). These differences fall into two categories.

Commentary

Here the author states that the salaf could disagree in interpreting the Qur’an, yet their disagreements in exegesis are less frequent than their disagreements in matters of law. Exegesis is concerned with clarifying the words of the Qur’an—their meanings and what is intended by them—and this admits relatively little divergence. Legal rulings, by contrast, are built upon ijtihād (independent reasoning), reflection, and analogy, so differences there are more numerous because people vary in knowledge and understanding.

We have already explained that there is a distinction between explaining a word’s lexical meaning and explaining the meaning intended by the verse. Clarifying the wording is one matter, and clarifying what is meant by the verse is another: a word is interpreted according to its dictionary sense, whereas the intended meaning is determined by the context and surrounding indicators.