Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Linguistic Resources of Interpretation

Not only did the Almighty guarantee protection and security of the Quran from being lost, He also promised to explain it. Both of these facts have been mentioned in the following verses, respectively:

We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption) (15:09)

and

We shall Ourself explain it (75:19)

The fulfilment of this latter promise required that the Almighty guard Arabic, the language of the Quran, from extinction.

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Historical Resources of Interpretation

There are two types of historical resources of interpretation:

• Foundational or absolutely authentic, and
• Secondary or supportive

The Holy Quran alone is the basic and foundational resource while the sound Hadith, established historical facts, and the Scriptures of the earlier nations constitute the ancillary and secondary resource.

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Occasion of Revelation

It is commonly held that the shan-i-nuzul (occasion of revelation) is narration of a particular incident or incidents, which spurred the revelation of a verse or a set of verses. I am afraid this is not correct. The shan-i-nuzul of a revelation, in fact, refers to

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Explanation of the Verses with their Parallels

2. Explanation of the Verses with their Parallels

Now we turn to the second important principle of exegesis namely tafsir al-ayat bi al-ayat. To begin with I quote Imam Suyuti:

The scholars have said that, while embarking on the task of interpreting the divine text, a commentator has to refer to the Holy Quran itself

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Preface – Part 4

What I intend to bring to the eyes of the academic world does not call for this elaborate and lengthy discussion. Yet, I have gone this far in this preliminary discussion only because discovering the coherence in the Book demands great contemplation. If one fixes the view the Book does not contain any nazm at all in the mind, even before approaching it for interpretation, it would be impossible for him to tread a single step in this direction. Everything will look so strange and unfamiliar that it would be hard for him to immerse himself into such an endeavour.

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Preface – Part 3

6. Another thing that corroborates my thesis regarding the Quranic nazm is the conviction of people whose bosoms were opened by the Almighty to some fruits of the fine ordering of the Holy Quran. These scholars have glimpsed into some of the realities buried in the fine structure of the Book of Allah.

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Preface – Part 2

3. Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that coherence is the necessary characteristic of every discourse. Minus it, you will lose a significant part of the meaning and implications of the discourse.  A whole contains what we may call over and above of the sum total of its parts. Grapes and wine are certainly different things.

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Preface – Part 1

In the present work, I have, with the help of God and His blessings, tried to uncover the nazm (coherence) in the Holy Quran. I intend to write a simple and self explanatory commentary on the divine book free from the differences that have arisen among the Muslims after the Holy Prophet (sws).

Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran – Contents

1. Preface 
   • Quranic Nazm (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4)
   • Explanation of the Verses with their Parallels
2. Occasion of Revelation
3. Historical Resources of Interpretation
4. Linguistic Resources of Interpretation
5. Divine Books explain each other
6. Univocity of the Quranic Text
7. Correspondence and Sequence
8. Surah as a Unit
9. The Holy Quran and the previous Scriptures on the Divine Commands and Historical Narratives
10. Length of Surahs
11. Fundmental teachings of the Quran
12. Jihad
13. Maruf and Munkar: Good and Evil
14. Nazm adds to the meaning of the Text
15. Structure of the Quran
16. Names of the Surahs and their Central Themes
17. Determining the Addressees and the Addressers
18. Mode of Revelation
19. Interpreting the Quran in the light of Hadith

This is a rendering of English translation of Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam ul Quran by the permission of the translator, Tariq Mahmood Hashmi. Original version available here.

Announcement

Earlier this year I started translating Muqaddimah – Tafsir Nizam-ul-Quran by Imam Hamiduddin Farahi into English and successfully posted 5 articles. Unfortunately, my copy of the Muqaddimah had some pages missing in it which resulted in my being unable to continue this translation. In the meanwhile, however, I became aware of  very professional and high quality translations of Imam Farahi’s works undertaken by the Al-Mawrid Foundation. By the grace of Allah I have been able to obtain permission from Tariq Mahmood Hashmi of Al-Mawrid, who has translated the Muqaddiman into English, to put his translation on my blog. For this, I am greatly indebted to him.

Henceforth, I will start replacing my own work (Parts 1 – 5) of the Muqaddimah with his translation and will continue to use his translation for the rest of the work, Insha Allah.