نشریه قرآن شناخت
سال ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 11، بهار و تابستان 1392)

Mu''tazilite thinkers use a rational approach to understanding religious texts and interpreting Quranic verses. Using a «descriptive-analytical method»، the present paper investigates the meaning and basis of rationalism adopted by Mu''tazilite in their interpretation of the Quran. «Mu''tazilite rationalism is that intellect priority over other proofs comes first in interpreting the Quran and that the soundness of Shari''ah statements and understanding of their purpose requires intellectual proofs. Accordingly، Mu''tazilites reject literalism in understanding religious texts and the Quran، and emphasize on the central role of intellect and intellectual objects of perception in the interpretation of the Quran. They regard the human nature of conventions and their position in language and recognizing the attributes of divine unity and justice as a condition for understanding the speaker''s perception of religious knowledge. The bases of Mu''tazilite rationalism in interpretation include temporality of the Quran، interpretability of the Quran، instructive and emphatic nature of Quranic statements about divine unity and justice and conformity between the judgment of intellect and Quranic assertions.

Theological thoughts، particularly the belief in God''s justice and wisdom، have great effect on the commentary of the Glorious Quran. An inquiry into this issue can clarify ''Adlities'' approach to the Quran commentary and pave the way for distinguishing between their commentary and the commentaries of other theological-commentary schools. ''Adlities believe that God is just and wise and does not do anything which is considered wrong by intellect. This principle is also applied to God''s words in the Quran. God''s words in Quran are not beyond the addressees'' ability to understand them; rather، His words are at the level of human understanding and follow the rules of the dialog with addressees. The commentary traditions left for us by Infallible Imams belong to the category of this principle. Therefore، if the initial literal meaning of some verses and traditions are incompatible with divine justice and wisdom، they should be interpreted and analyzed in accordance with divine justice and wisdom.

Using a «thematic commentary» method، the present paper which seeks to clear up some of the doubts cast the report-giving which contradicts the real message of the Quran، expounds the question whether the Quran includes gives wrong reports or- so to speak-acts from expediency so the people''s guidance or some other purposes may be achieved. This undesirable idea of expediency is not directly found in the Quran. However، we can find the Quranic view about this kind of expediency in the contents of some of its verses when exploring the literal and idiomatic meaning of «expediency». Expediency literally has a positive meaning، but sometimes it has a negative one. In order to find a Quranic answer to the aforementioned question two things are worth considering: one the Quranic verses relating to the features، functions and aims of the Quran and second، the verses which point up God''s attributes and aims as a Quranic text. The research findings confirm that there are no factors or undesirable idea of expediency in the Quran.

Morphology is one of the sciences with an influential role in the interpretation of the Quran، which is investigated in the present paper. The discussion in this paper is centered on two main points: 1- «recognition basic letters of the Quranic words» 2- «recognition of the cases and modes of the words» of the Quran. The idea of the first point is that morphology helps the interpreter recognize the different possibilities of the basic letters of the word and to single out one of these possibilities، in order to fund out the root and tense of the word. In the second point، the idea is that morphology contributes to recognizing the difficult، common، similar and unified cases and modes.

«Ihtibak» is one of the rhetorical devices. When there are two successive statements and part of the first statement- the similar to which is stated in the second- and part of the second statement- which is referred to in the first- are omitted، it is said there is ihtibak. With the technique semantic capacities are added to some Quranic verses and a broader meaning is expressed in as simple way. An investigation into this rhetorical device makes explicit the effect of rhetoric on the interpretation of the Quran. among the effects are: a) sometimes، when there are two opposite subjects with separate rulings، conciseness requires mentioning only the principle of one subject and the ruling of the other، and the missing parts، i. e. the other opposite principle and the ruling of the mentioned principle are supposed to be discovered by the listener. b) No one of the two sides in contrast conforms to one another and the apparent inconformity is justified with the help of Ihtibak. c) Sometimes when two verbs with different tenses causing something similar to are found in a verse، it can be analyzed by Ihtibak. d) Ihtibak resolves some of the doubts cast on the content of Quranic verses and justifies the apparent inconformity between them. The present paper includes several Quranic and interpretive examples about this issue.

Citing intra-religion proofs، some proponents of the theory of «time-limitedness of the Quran» seek to prove that the Quran is limited to the time of revelation. They refer to the verse of «prohibition of inquiring» to support their view. Relying on one of the two occasions of revelation of this verse، which prohibits inquiring about fiqhi issues، they conclude that many religious represent answers to inopportune questions which are forbidden by the Quran، but such questions are entered into religion as «accidents» after they had been imposed، and this they consider as a sign of «time-limitedness of the Quran». Having carefully reviewed the content of the verse of «prohibition from inquiring»، the present paper proves that the true occasion of revelation of the mentioned verse is related to such issues as man''s end of life، felicity، affliction and things which are not worth knowing and that the idea of «accidentalness of some Quran''s injunctions» «time-limitedness of the Quran» cannot be proved even if the other occasion of revelation is considered to to be true.

The infallible Imams، who are the instructors and explicators of the Quran، have left many hadiths. These hadiths differ groups in their effect on the explanation of the Quran. One of them is called interpretive hadiths، that is، the infallible Imams seek to explain what God''s means by their focusing on the semantics and syntax of Quranic words and examining the rules of the dialogue. In many cases، these hadiths are mixed with other similar ones and this makes them difficult to use. Elaborating on the features of these hadiths، the present paper seeks to provide parameters to be used for differentiating interpretive hadiths from other types of hadiths in case of ambiguity. The research findings discuss the parameters of interpretive hadiths as follows: conforming of their content conforms to the verse، their explanation of the external signification of the verse، their compatibility with the verse، their conformity to the context of the verse and their conformity to the verse while explaining important points.