Identifying and Criticizing the View of "Sum of Sayings" in Tafsīr-i Nimūneh (Case Study: Juz' 20 to 30)

Abstract

The sum of sayings includes gathering the opinions of other commentators on a subject that is very common in some interpretations, including Tafsīr-i Nimūneh. A phenomenon that has been repeatedly addressed throughout the development of Tafsīr-i Nimūneh. The purpose of this study is to study some verses of Tafsīr-i Nimūneh that bring the sayings and opinions of other commentators and has accepted all or some of them and considers the sum of them as unobstructed and then critique some of these verses based on three criteria of examining the concept of verse, the narrative examination and the lexical examination. Therefore, this research, with a descriptive-analytical method by studying documents, seeks to answer the question of how to identify and critique the view of "sum of sayings" in Tafsīr-i Nimūneh? The findings of the research indicated that 120 of the verses in this range had the acceptance of the sum of sayings, which by examining 81 of them with the studied interpretations, it was concluded that few of the verses were interpreted in other interpretations by the acceptance of sum of sayings. Although the sum of sayings can be seen in many verses, but different sayings have not been gathered here. Then, the aspects of the sum of the sayings were criticized in the three mentioned characteristics in a number of verses. The result was the justification of the sum of the sayings in some cases and the lack of justification in others.