The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tafsir

  • Peculiarity of Tafsir in Nigeria

    Peculiarity of Tafsir in Nigeria

    One of the undisputable aiding instruments of Tafsir is literacy. The more literate the Muslims are in the relevant language, the more they are likely to understand the Qur’an through Tafsir. And no one who thoroughly understands Tafsir will be ignorant of Islam or even life.

    Muslims who are deeply schooled through the Western system of education will discover that virtually all the sciences, social sciences and arts, originated from the study of Tafsir. Even some scientific terminologies confirm this. It therefore takes real scholars, not just reciters of the Qur’an or speakers of Arabic language, to be exponents of Tafsir. This is a rare factor that is conspicuously missing in Nigeria.

    There is a sharp difference between translating the context of the Qur’an and interpreting it in expository manner. The one is shallow. The other is deep. Ordinarily, Tafsir is not supposed to be an annual Ramadan affair. It should rather be a daily practice for all scholars who are ardent in it.

    Although Tafsir gains more popularity in the month of Ramadan because every true Muslim wants to get closer to Allah through familiarization with the Qur’an, it is not limited to that sacred month alone and it should not be seen as such.

    Read Also: LITERACY AND TAFSIR

    Going by the limit of their knowledge and the extent of their unwillingness to learn more, only a few Muslim scholars in Nigeria are qualified to tutor the populace on Tafsir. Most of the so-called Nigerian Muslim scholars (Alfas) have turned Tafsir into an annual commercial jamboree which fetches them what they regard as Ramadan booty. Their motive of engaging in Tafsir is more pecuniary than spiritual. And that is where problem lies.

    What most of those Alfas often dish out in the name of knowledge is mere hearsay. And that is why majority of Nigerian Muslim audiences at Tafsir Centres can hardly benefit from what they hear in those Centres.

    Tafsir is a special field of discipline meant only for research oriented scholars and students. But unfortunately, it is one area of study which has very few institutions of learning in Nigeria.

    Because of this problem, the Qur’an has been translated into very few Nigerian languages so far. And today, the few copies of vernacular Qur’an in circulation can hardly be found on book shelves even as most of them are virtually out of print. The solution to this problem is for  philanthropic Muslims to rise up in financial support of Tafsir provisions.

    • RAMADAN KARIM!
  • Problem of Tafsir

    Problem of Tafsir

    It is understandable that most of the Tafsir books available in the world today are in Arabic language. The language of the revelation of the Qur’an is Arabic. Most of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who interacted closely with him and were privileged to deeply understand the interpretation of the Qur’an were Arabs. Arabic itself as a language is exceptionally rich literarily and semantically. For centuries after the revelation of the Qur’an, it was mostly the Arabs who assumed authority on its interpretation. Others, like the Persians (Iranians), the Indians and the Turks who tried to compete with the Arabs in the field of Tafsir, could only do so in Arabic language which they first had to learn as a second language.Thus, from the very beginning, Arabic had been the authoritative language of Tafsir.

    Therefore, in those days, whoever wanted to attain scholarship in the field of Tafsir ought to have mastered Arabic language. But the anomaly in this becomes very conspicuous when one remembers that over four fifth of the world’s Muslims today are non-Arabic speakers.

    This seems to have created some hurdles for humanity in understanding the practical meaning of the Qur’an and in appreciating its real essence.

    Read Also; Six ways to pass WAEC exams well

    There is nothing like being literate in one’s mother tongue. The Arabs have demonstrated this abundantly through Tafsir. But since Tafsir of the Qur’an is not meant for the Arabs alone,shouldn’t there be a means of making it available to majority of Muslims in the languages understandable to them?

    That is one major question which the global Muslim leadership was unable to answer for centuries but which technology has come to answer succinctly especially through the means of computer. Any Muslim scholar who is not computer literate today is therefore an illiterate who may not be strictly qualified to be called a scholar. 

    In this computer age, the world needs the Qur’an more than ever before. And it is only Tafsir that can justify that need. Muslims and non-Muslims alike should be able to read the interpretations of the Qur’an in languages other than Arabic. Read more on Tafsir tomorrow.

    RAMADAN KARIM!

  • Peculiarity of Tafsir in Nigeria

    one of the undisputable aiding instruments of Tafsir is literacy. The more literate the Muslims are in the relevant language, the more they are likely to understand the Qur’an through Tafsir. And no one who thoroughly understands Tafsir will be ignorant of Islam or even life.

    Muslims who are deeply schooled through the Western system of education will discover that virtually all the sciences, social sciences and arts, originated from the study of Tafsir. Even some scientific terminologies confirm this. It therefore takes real scholars, not just reciters of the Qur’an or speakers of Arabic language, to be exponents of Tafsir. This is a rare factor that is conspicuously missing in Nigeria.

    There is a sharp difference between translating the context of the Qur’an and interpreting them in expository manner. The one is shallow. The other is deep. Ordinarily, Tafsir is not supposed to be an annual Ramadan affair. It should rather be a daily practice for all scholars who are ardent in it.

    Although Tafsir gains more popularity in the month of Ramadan because every true Muslim wants to get closer to Allah through familiarization with the Qur’an, it is not limited to that sacred month alone and it should not be seen as such.

    Going by the limit of their knowledge and the extent of their unwillingness to learn more, only a few Muslim scholars in Nigeria are qualified to tutor the populace on Tafsir. Most of the so-called Nigerian Muslim scholars (Alfas) have turned Tafsir into an annual commercial jamboree which fetches them what they regard as Ramadan booty. Their motive of engaging in Tafsir is more pecuniary than spiritual. And that is where problem lies.

    What most of those Alfas often dish out in the name of knowledge is mere hearsay. And that is why majority of Nigerian Muslim audiences at Tafsir Centres can hardly benefit from what they hear in those Centres.

    Tafsir is a special field of discipline meant only for research oriented students and scholars. But unfortunately, it is one area of study which has very few institutions of learning in Nigeria.

    Because of this problem, the Qur’an has been translated into very few Nigerian languages so far. And today, the few copies of vernacular Qur’an in circulation can hardly be found on book shelves even as most of them are virtually out of print.

  • Challenge of Tafsir

    It is understandable that most of the Tafsir books available in the world today are in Arabic language. The language of the revelation of the Qur’an is Arabic. Most of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who interacted closely with him and were privileged to deeply understand, through him, the interpretation of the Qur’an were Arabs. Ditto the disciples who followed their footsteps.

    Arabic itself is exceptionally rich linguistically and literarily. And for centuries after the revelation of the Qur’an it was mostly the Arabs who assumed authority on its interpretation. Others, like the Persians (Iranians), the Indians and the Turks who tried to compete with the Arabs in that field, could only do so in Arabic language which they first had to learn as a second language.

    Thus, from the very beginning, Arabic had been the authoritative language of Tafsir. Whoever wanted to attain scholarship in the field of Tafsir must have mastered Arabic language. But the anomaly in that becomes very conspicuous when one remembers that over four fifth of the world’s Muslims today are non-Arabic speakers.

    This anomaly seems to be creating some hurdles for humanity in understanding the practical meaning of the Qur’an and in appreciating its real essence.

    There is nothing like being literate in one’s mother tongue. The Arabs have demonstrated this abundantly through Tafsir. But since Tafsir of the Qur’an is not meant for the Arabs alone, shouldn’t there be a means of making it available to majority of Muslims in the languages understandable to them?

    That is one major question which the global Muslim leadership was not able to answer for centuries but which technology has come to answer succinctly especially through the means of internet. Any Muslim scholar who is not computer literate today is therefore an illiterate cannot be strictly called a scholar.  

    In this computer age, the world needs the Qur’an more than ever before. And it is only Tafsir that can justify that need. Muslims and non-Muslims alike should be able to read the interpretations of the Qur’an in languages other than Arabic. More on Tafsir tomorrow.

  • Origin of Tafsir

    from the beginning of Ramadan, every year, Muslims congregate in various Mosques or Learning Centres where Tafsir (exposition of the Qur’an) is rendered by learned scholars. This is in accordance with the Prophetic tradition which encourages better understanding of the Qur’an.

    Linguistically, Tafsir means exposition. But technically, it means the comprehensive analysis of the Qur’an linguistically, logically and semantically. In other words, Tafsir is the exposition of the contents of the Qur’an, as usually done comprehensively by Muslim scholars especially during the month of Ramadan throughout the Muslim world.

     Because of the coded language of the Qur’anic revelation, it became necessary for the verses of that sacred book to be decoded for the purpose of thorough understanding of the Muslim Ummah when the Prophet was alive. And this was thoroughly done by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to the great delight of his companions.

    From the explanation above, it therefore becomes clear that the revelations of the Qur’an were the immediate cause of intellectual research in Islam. For instance, Arabic the original language of the Qur’an had no grammar prior to the revelations of the divine message. The grammar of that language evolved only from the contents of the Qur’an.

    With time, the challenge which the Qur’an threw to humanity in all spheres of life led to serious competition among scholars. Thus, each time a revelation came, the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were always eager to know why and how of every what. And this led to their very close association with the Prophet who paved the way towards that intellectual research.

    Although the formal study of Tafsir as an independent discipline did not begin until many years after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), he (the Prophet) nevertheless started its process. He did not only give the exoteric and esoteric meanings of revealed verses of the Qur’an, he also explained their application to the daily life of man as well as the implications of same. 

    It was the prophet who decoded most of the coded areas of the Qur’an for proper understanding of the ordinary Muslims. Through his utterances and actions which were later to be known as Hadith and Sunnah, the contents of the Qur’an became more and more understandable to the Muslims even as further research continues today.

    Thus, after the prophet’s demise, Hadith and Sunnah together became an independent subject of research paving man’s way to higher firmaments in civilization. And this has helped, in no small measure, in expanding the scope of Tafsir. It is from this that, all new discoveries and new frontiers in knowledge became adapted to the study of Tafsir until Tafsir itself became an estuary through which every stream of knowledge was passed to mankind. But what problems does Tafsir face? Read on tomorrow.  

     

  • Tafsir in Nigeria

    One of the undisputable aiding instruments of Tafsir is literacy. The more literate the Muslims are in the relevant language, the more they are likely to understand the Qur’an through Tafsir. And no one who thoroughly understands Tafsir will be ignorant about Islam or even life.

    Muslims who are deeply schooled through the Western system of education will discover that virtually all the sciences, social sciences and arts, originated from the study of Tafsir. Even some scientific terminologies confirm this. It therefore takes real scholars, not just reciters of the Qur’an or speakers of Arabic language, to be exponents of Tafsir. This is a rare factor that is conspicuously missing in Nigeria.

    There is a sharp difference between translating the context of the Qur’an and interpreting them expositorily. The one is shallow. The other is deep. Ordinarily, Tafsir is not supposed to be an annual Ramadan affair. It is should rather be a daily practice for scholars who are ardent in it.

    Although Tafsir gains more popularity in the month of Ramadan because every true Muslim wants to get closer to Allah through familiarization with the Qur’an, it is not limited to that sacred month alone and it should not be seen as such.

    Going by the limit of their knowledge and the extent of their unwillingness to learn more, only a few Islamic scholars in Nigeria are qualified to tutor the populace in Tafsir. Most of the so-called Nigerian Muslim scholars (Alfas) have turned Tafsir into an annual commercial jamboree which fetches them what they regard as Ramadan booty. Their motive of engaging in Tafsir is more ulterior than religious.

    What most of those Alfas often dish out in the name of knowledge is mere hearsay. And that is why majority of Nigerian Muslim audiences at Tafsir Centres can hardly benefit from what they hear in those Centres.

    Tafsir is a special field of discipline meant only for research oriented students scholars. But unfortunately, it is one area of study which has very few institutions of learning in Nigeria.

    Because of this problem, the Qur’an has been translated into very few Nigerian languages so far. And today, copies of the vernacular Qur’an so translated can hardly be found on book shelves even as most of them are virtually out of reprint. With this situation, how can Nigerian Muslim populace thoroughly understand the Qur’an? This is a great challenge to truthful Muslims who are blessed by Allah. They can pull resources together and jointly finance the reprinting of reviewed copies of the Glorious Qur’an in appreciation of Allah’s special favour on them. And that can be best done in this sacred month.

  • Origin of Tafsir

    From the beginning of Ramadan, every year, Muslims congregate in various Mosques or Learning Centres where Tafsir (exposition of the Qur’an) is rendered by learned scholars. This is in accordance with the Prophetic tradition which encourages better understanding of the Qur’an.

    Linguistically, Tafsir means exposition. But technically, it means the comprehensive analysis of the Qur’an. In other words, Tafsir is the exposition of the contents of the Qur’an, as usually done comprehensively by Muslim scholars especially during the month of Ramadan throughout the Muslim world.

    Because of the coded language of the Qur’anic revelation, it became necessary for the verses of that sacred book to be decoded for the purpose of thorough understanding of the Muslim Ummah. And this was thoroughly by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to the great delight of his companions and disciples.

    From the explanation above it becomes clear that the revelations of the Qur’an were the immediate cause of intellectual research in Islam. For instance, Arabic the original language of the Qur’an had no grammar prior to the revelations of the divine message. The grammar of that language evolved only from the contents of the Qur’an.

    The challenge which the Qur’an threw to humanity in all spheres of life led to competition among the scholars. Thus, each time a revelation came, the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were always eager to know why and how of every what. And this led to their very close association with the Prophet who paved the way towards that intellectual research.

    Although the formal study of Tafsir as an independent discipline did not begin until many years after the death of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), he (the Prophet) nevertheless started its process. He did not only give the exoteric and esoteric meanings of revealed verses of the Qur’an, he also explained their application and to the daily life of man as well as the implications of same.

    It was the prophet who decoded most of the coded areas of the Qur’an for proper understanding of the ordinary Muslims. Through his utterances and actions which were later to be known as Hadith and Sunnah, the contents of the Qur’an became more and more understandable to the Muslims even as further research continues today.

    Thus, after the prophet’s demise, Hadith and Sunnah together became an independent subject of research paving man’s way to higher firmaments in civilization. And this has helped, in no small measure, in expanding the scope of Tafsir. It is from this that, all new discoveries and new frontiers in knowledge became adapted to the study of Tafsir until Tafsir itself became an estuary through which every stream of knowledge was passed to mankind.

    Ever since Tafsir has become a field of study, research into all spheres of knowledge has increasingly advanced with resultant development of man. It is through such research that man zoomed into the firmament of science which brought about the current gargantuan civilization.

    If there are such famous universities like Al-Azhar of Cairo, in Egypt; Qarawiyyin of Fez, in Morocco and Zaytuniyyah of Tunis, Tunisia, (the three oldest Universities in the world) it is as a result of the research developed to advance the course of Tafsir. But what problems does Tafsir face? Read on tomorrow.