Sharh Muqaddimat al-Tafsir li-Ibn Taymiyyah - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (49)

by this phrase they sometimes intend that the incident in question was the very occasion of revelation, and at other times that the matter simply falls under the remit of the verse even though it was not the cause.

At other times what is meant is merely that the matter is encompassed by the verse, even if it did not trigger the revelation—much as one might say, “This verse refers to such-and-such.”

The scholars have disagreed over a Companion’s statement, “This verse was revealed concerning such-and-such.” Should it be treated as a musnad report, the way we would treat a Companion’s narration of the specific event for which the verse was sent down, or should it be regarded instead as that Companion’s personal tafsīr, which is not musnad? Al-Bukhari counts it as musnad, whereas other scholars do not, and most of the Musnad collections follow the latter convention, such as the Musnad of Ahmad and the like. By contrast, when a Companion names the particular incident after which the verse descended, they do enter that kind of report into the musnad.

Commentary
If we treat the Companion’s words, “It was revealed concerning such-and-such,” as musnad, their purport is that the incident occurred during the lifetime of the Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and that the verse then came down to explain it or to clarify its ruling. If, however, we do not accord the statement musnad status, it becomes merely that Companion’s exegesis of the verse, which may be correct, though another Companion might hold a different view.

With this understood, one person’s assertion, “It was revealed concerning such-and-such,” does not contradict another’s claim, “It was revealed concerning so-and-so,” provided that the wording of the verse accommodates both, as we explained under the heading of interpretation by example. Likewise, if one Companion cites an occasion for which the verse was sent down and another cites a different occasion, both reports can be correct in that the verse may have been revealed immediately after each of those

يراد به تارة أنه سبب النزول، ويراد به تارة أن هذا داخل في الآية وإن لم يكن السبب. * * * ويراد به تارة أن هذا داخل في الآية وإن لم يكن السبب، كما تقول: عني بهذه الآية كذا. وقد تنازع العلماء في قول الصاحب: ((نزلت هذه الآية في كذا)) هل يجري مجرى المسند كما لو ذكر السبب الذي أنزلت لأجله، أو يجرى مجرى التفسير منه الذي ليس بمسند، فالبخاري يدخله في المسند، وغيره لا يدخله في المسند، وأكثر المسانيد على هذا الاصطلاح، كمسند أحمد وغيره، بخلاف ما إذا ذكر سبباً نزلت عقبه فإنهم يدخلون مثل هذا في المسند. الشرح قول الصاحب: ((نزلت في كذا)) إذا أجريناه مجرى المسند صار معناه أن الأمر حدث في عهد الرسول ﵊، فنزلت الآية تفسيراً له، أو بياناً لحكمه، وأما إذا جعلناه ليس جارياً مجري المسند، صار ذلك تفسيراً منه للآية، وقد يكون صواباً وقد يخالفه غيره. * * * فإذا عرف هذا فقول أحدهم: ((نزلت في كذا)) لا ينافي قول الآخر: ((نزلت قي كذا)) إذا كان اللفظ يتناولهما كما ذكرناه في التفسير بالمثال. وإذا ذكر أحدهم لها سبباً نزلت لأجله، وذكر الآخر سبباً، فقد يمكن صدقهما بأن تكون نزلت عقب تلك