Sayyid Raḍī's Rationalism in Interpretation

One of the ancient exegetical methods is rationalism in interpretation. Given the fact that the fourth century AH has been the earliest point of this trend and since Sayyid Raḍī has been one of the pioneers of this method, an exploration of rationalistic components in his exegetical opinions was taken into consideration. This study showed that the instrumental intellect had been more used by Sayyid than the referential intellect. Using intellect as evidence to esoteric interpretation (ta’wīl) of the verses and interpretation of the verses by metaphorical and figurative meaning, using intellectual self-evidence indicating the predication of the verses to figurative meanings, analysis of literary concepts with rational analysis, rational analysis of the subject of speech, and examining the statements with respect to rational criteria are the most important components in Sayyid Raḍī’s exegetical methods. Along with systematic ta’wīls and interpretations homogenous with the Mu‘tazilī rationalistic interpreters, the ta’wīls lacking enough evidence and proofs, including the hadiths of the Infallibles, are among the characteristics of his interpretations.