Qurʾanic Taʾwīl: Comparing the Views of Ibn ʿArabī and ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī

In this article, Shaykh Hamid Raza Fazil explores two central issues regarding the Qur’an: how do we understand the words of the Qur’an? And how do those words point us towards the ultimate goal of the Qur’an, the ethical and metaphysical realities that underlie and compose our existence? Shaykh Fazil explores these questions through the views of two major Qur’anic mufassirs in Islamic history: the 6th-century mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī, and the 20th-century mufassir and philosopher-sage, ʿAllāmah Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī.

This article is translated by Dr. Syed Rizwan Zamir, associate professor of religion at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. The Qurʾanic translations are loosely based on Arberry’s The Koran Interpreted: A Translation.

Introduction

God Almighty says: “It is He who sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are verses clear that are the Essence of the Book, and others ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is swerving, they follow the ambiguous part, desiring dissension, and desiring its interpretation; and none knows its interpretation, save only God. And those firmly rooted in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it; all is from our Lord’; yet none remembers, but men possessed of minds.”^[1]Qurʾan, Āl ʿImrān (3):5.

In this brief article, we will explore the reality of taʾwīl, a Qurʾanic concept about which there is significant disagreement among scholars. First, however, the difference between the related terms tafsīr and taʾwīl needs to be clarified. Although some scholars consider these two terms to be the same, and have in fact themselves engaged more in taʾwil instead of tafsīr, more precise scholars (muḥaqqiqūn) affirm a difference between the two.

Tafsīr

Dictionaries define tafsīr in the following way: (1) to discuss and explain something (fassara al-bayān); (2) to lift a veil (kashf al-qināʿ); and (3) to lift a veil from the face of someone (kashf al-mughaṭṭā).^[2]Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. “f-s-r.” In its technical usage, tafsīr refers to “the meaning of Qurʾanic verses, and the discovering what is intended by them and what they are referring to.” (Wa-huwa bayānu maʿānī al-ayāt al-qurʾāniyyah wa-l-kashf ʿan maqāṣidiha wa-madālīliha)^[3]Tafsīr al-Mīzān, vol. 1 (Beirut: Muʾassasah al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 S.H.), p.4. In other words, to discuss the meaning of the Quranic verses and to lift veils from its hidden purport (madlūlāt) is called tafsīr. Therefore, translation pertains to the outward meaning, whereas tafsīr deals with a veiled meaning.

Taʾwīl

Dictionaries define it as, “to return a thing [to its origin],” (al-awl: al-rujūʿ—awwala illayh al-shayʾ—rajaʿahu).^[4]Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. “a-w-l.” From this general meaning, our discussion pertains specifically to taʾwīl of Qurʾanic verses. Well-known exegetes and religious scholars explain its technical meaning as any act or statement taken to its finality and end. For example, if a verse has various meanings, the one that becomes the final meaning will be called its taʾwīl. Similarly, if a person carries out an act without clarity about its final goal and only determines its goal afterwards, it will be called taʾwīl.

Examples include: (1) the story of Moses (ʿa) and Khidr (ʿa), where, Khidr (ʿa) carried out some acts in Moses’s company—acts whose goal was unclear, and faced objections from Moses (ʿa). In the end, Khidr (ʿa) explained his objectives, namely, that the reason for boring a hole in the boat was to protect it from an unjust and oppressive ruler. He said, “As for the ship, it belonged to certain poor men, who toiled upon the sea; and I desired to damage it, for behind them there was a king who was seizing every ship by brute force.” (Qurʾan, al-Kahf (18):79.). (2) If a person sees a dream, and its meaning is unclear, then it is called taʾwīl. For example, when Joseph (ʿa) saw a dream and found it occurring in the outside world (khārij), he said, “’See, father,’ he said, ‘this is the interpretation of my vision of long ago; my Lord has made it true.’”^[5]Qurʾan, Yūsuf (12):100.

Similarly if there are specific meanings and secrets hidden in the speech of the speaker that constitute his or her final goal and objective, they are called taʾwīl. This is the same meaning of taʾwil that the Qurʾan refers to, namely the deeper meanings of God’s words and their final aims which are disclosed to the human person.

Taʾwīl According to Ibn ʿArabī

In Ibn ‘Arabi’s view, taʾwīl can be of two types:

1. Blameworthy: When theologians and philosophers attempt to explain away the outward aspects of a verse when it appears contradictory to reason. This is blameworthy taʾwīl because they employ their deficient reason to explain the verse.
2. Praiseworthy: The way of the folk of Allah and the gnostics (ʿurafāʾ), which he also names a “sign” (ishārah). Gnostics employ their unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (shuhūd) to understand Qurʾanic verses; the hidden meaning (maʿānī bāṭiniyyah) that is bestowed to them by Allah, the Most Exalted, through inspiration is called taʾwīl. For Ibn ʿArabī, it is this taʾwīl that is praiseworthy.

The first type of taʾwīl is the way of the theologians and philosophers. Ibn ʿArabī does not deem it valid. Attempting to avoid the term “people of taʾwīl” (ahl al-taʾwīl) for himself, he instead calls them [i.e., theologians and philosophers] the people of taʾwīl. [That said], he ascribes the particular taʾwīl to gnostics, referring to the verse, “[A]nd none knows its interpretation (taʾwīl), save only God. And those firmly rooted in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it; all is from our Lord’; yet none remembers, but men possessed of minds.” ^[6]Qurʾan, Āl ʿImrān (3):7.

For Ibn ʿArabī, “those firmly rooted in knowledge” are the gnostics, because human thinking does not intervene in their teachings. He also calls them “people of signs.” In his view, just as the descent of the Qurʾan is from God, the Most Exalted, similarly, the understanding of the Qurʾan also descends from God, the Most Exalted, upon the hearts of the believers. Hence understanding also comes from God. However, the text of the Qurʾan is not limited by these esoteric meanings. Rather, new meanings are always found.^[7]Muḥyi al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī, “Maʿrifat al-Ishārāt,” in al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyyah, vol. 10 (n.p., n.d.), p. 279. See also, Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, Falsafat al-Taʾwīl (al-Markaz al-Thiqāfī al-ʿArabī, 2014), p. 267-8. )

Taʾwīl According to ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī

ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī, in his book, Tafsīr al-Mizān, mentions the following regarding the reality behind taʾwīl:

For ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī, taʾwīl is not a question of words and meaning, but instead refers to an objective reality. Words, after all, provide signification (dalālah) to bring the mind closer to this reality. But it is not possible for words to encompass and exhaust that reality’s scope. Words only indicate. The reality of the Qurʾan is contained in the protected tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), which is with us is the form of words in the book. These words and their meanings are not taʾwīl; rather taʾwīl is that true objective reality from which all knowledge/gnosis, Qurʾanic prescriptions, injunctions, and wisdom draw their life. The words of the Qurʾan are reflections of this reality, which is the esoteric Qurʾan; access to this reality and taʾwīl is for God, the Most Exalted, and the Pure Infallibles.

Who are these Infallibles? Allah has mentioned them in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb: “People of the House, God only desires to put away from you abomination and to cleanse you.” Therefore, only Ahl al-Bayt can carry out the taʾwīl of the Qurʾan. It is this meaning of taʾwīl that helps us understand the Qurʾanic verse, “All that is wet and dry is within the Qurʾan,”^[11]Qurʾan, al-Anʿām (6):59. “Not a grain in the earth’s shadows, not a thing, fresh or withered, but it is in a Book Manifest. and that is possible only when we place the Ahl al-Bayt alongside the Qurʾan. It is so because according to the Qurʾan and hadith-reports the Noble Prophet (ṣ) and his Ahl al-Bayt are the only Holy Beings (dhawāt muqaddasah) that have access to the Qurʾan. This also clarifies those aḥādīth that declare, “Without us, the Ahl al-Bayt, you cannot understand the Qurʾan.”^[12]Comparable aḥādīth include the following hadith from Imam al-Bāqir (ʿa): “Only a liar will claim to have collected the entire Qurʾan as it was revealed [other than the Ahl al-Bayt.]  None have compiled, memorized, and preserved [the Qurʾan] exactly as Allah revealed except for ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and the Imams after him.” (Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1 (Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1407), hadith #1, p. 228) And: “…only he who is addressed by the Qurʾan truly knows it.” (Al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol 8, hadith #485, p. 311.) For more such aḥādīth, see Muḥsin al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, “Towards the Sacred Text: The Importance and Value of the Qurʾan in the Life of a Believer,” translated by Azhar Sheraze. Therefore, Ahl al-Bayt are needed in every era to understand the Qurʾan. The reality of the Shiʿi interpretive tradition is also made clear through this meaning of taʾwīl. They claim that they derive religion and its teachings from Ahl al-Bayt. No companion of the Prophet, other than the Ahl al-Bayt, has claimed a special access to the true reality of the Qurʾan. This claim is only made in the Shiʿi tradition, whose source is the teachings of Ahl al-Bayt.

Synthesis and Conclusions

There are three stages to understanding the Qurʾan: (a) tarjamah (translation), relating to the outward words and their meaning; (b) tafsīr, explaining the meanings of the verses; and (c) taʾwīl, about which three views have been presented. They are:

1. The popular view, that some meanings of [particular Qurʾanic] words and/or the ultimate meaning sought is taʾwīl;
2. Ibn ʿArabī’s view, that the hidden meaning that is bestowed by God Almighty is taʾwīl;
3. ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s view, that Qurʾanic words and meanings are derived from reality and that reality is taʾwīl.

According to the popular view, taʾwīl is not related to the whole of the Qurʾan, but only to certain verses, namely, those that are ambiguous. According to Ibn ‘Arabi’s view taʾwīl is possible for the whole of the Qurʾan, regardless of whether they are ambiguous or clear verses. This is so because the whole of the Qurʾan has hidden meanings that are bestowed from God, the Most Exalted. According to ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī as well, taʾwīl of the Qurʾan belongs to the entire Qurʾan, because the reality of all verses exists independent of their words.

According to the popular view and that of ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī, knowledge of taʾwīl is with God and those firmly rooted in knowledge (i.e., Ahl al-Bayt). However, according to Ibn ‘Arabi, those rooted in knowledge are all gnostics, whether they are of Ahl al-Bayt or not.

According to the popular view and that of Ibn ‘Arabi, taʾwīl is related to Qurʾanic words and their meaning. However, according to ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī, taʾwīl is not related to words, but rather to reality and objective existence.

The meaning of the Qurʾanic verse, “nor is there a single grain in the darkness of the earth, or anything, fresh or withered, that is not written in a clear Book”^[13]Qurʾan, al-Anʿām (6):59. is best understood if we accept ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s view. That is to say, in every age and era the reality of the words of the Holy Qurʾan can only be explained by Ahl al-Bayt. It is so because only these personalities are truly deserving of the title, “those who have knowledge of the Book.”^[14]Qurʾan, al-Raʿd (13):43. Hence, in every age, Ahl al-Bayt are needed to understand the Qurʾan, regardless of whether the particular science in question regards legal rulings, wisdom, or exhortations. Only Ahl al-Bayt can explicate the Qurʾan’s true meaning and purpose, for only they fully know the reality of things.