The Position of Reason and Tradition in Interpreting the Quran from the View of Ibn Taymiyyah and Allamah Tabatabaii

The present paper studies the position of "reason" and "tradition" in interpreting the Quran from the view of Ibn Taymiyyah and Allamah Tabatabaii. The elements of "reason" and "tradition" are emphasized in interpreting the Quran because they are emphasized in the text of Quran in order to achieve the aim of the Quran. According to Allamah Tabatabaii, reason is not only "the key" of religion, but also the "lantern" for the true reality of religion, because the Quran is in harmony with genesis and common sense. Therefore, it is said that the Quran is closely associated with reasoning. Allamah believes that hadiths are of great importance in interpreting the Quran because the true reality of the Quran belongs to Holy Prophet's household, but the hadiths must be evaluated in terms of their chain of transmission and indication in order to avoid traditionalism in understanding the Quran during occultation. Ibn Taymiyyah, however, believes that reason is at most the "key" of religious knowledge. Beyond this, we should appeal to tradition, like traditionalists. The views of these two scholars about the method of interpreting the Quran are compared and criticized in this paper and the better one is proved.