The Role of History of Early Islam in the Quranic Exegesis

There are a good number of historical verses in the holy Quran which relate to circumstances of descending ere as well as events occurred in early Islam whose understanding is in need of reference to history, especially that of early Islam. That is why consideration of history of early Islam is of great necessity and importance in the Quranic exegesis. In fact, knowledge of events occurred in early Islam, hinted by the holy Quran, causes clarity of concepts of verses related to such events, including ghazwas and sarriyas (different kinds of war), in such a way that verses would become ambiguous or understanding of as well as commenting on verses would become impossible without such knowledge of history. Furthermore, history plays a significant role in solving apparently contradiction of verses, determining instances of verses, rejecting illusion of exclusivity, validation of context of verses, knowledge of Meccan and Medinan as well as chronology of verses, and knowledge of invariable and variable as well as abolishing and abolished precepts – in the same way that knowledge of language and terminology of prophetic era is a great aid to understanding Quranic terminology and language.