MEDENÎ SÛRELERDE ABDULLAH B. SELÂM İLE İLİŞKİLENDİRİLEN ÂYETLER BAĞLAMINDA TEFSİR RİVAYETLERİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Abstract

The Holy Qur’an was revealed considering the events occurred in twenty-three years. In the verses, Muslims, polytheists, Jews, Christians in the environment of nuzul and the relationship among them were told. The verses, which were understood correctly by the first addressees, then became difficult to understand because historical phases came between past and present, the context is estranged and some comments had various effects on them. In order to overcome this problem, the environment of addressing should be described and constructed again. The main material in this subject is comprised by asbab al-nuzul and tafsir narratives (ar-riwa’is). However, as these narratives include differences and contradictions, the very same narratives which are the means for solution can become a part of the problem. As the scholars indicate, an important portion of these narratives, especially those which are related to persons, are not real asbab al-nuzul but asbab al-nuzul explanations made in tafsir narrative style. This aspect of the narratives is not very well known today and it is not taken into consideration when evaluating the subject. The contradictive narratives should be evaluated on the basis of the Qur’an and sīra, in other words, the consensus of the facts. In the Holy Qur’an, in the verses revealed in different years of Medina period, some scholars among the People of the Book who hid and falsified the truth were criticized while those who adhered to the truths they believed and who did not make war against Islam were praised. These verses were evaluated by the majority of commentators without considering the Qur’an and sīra relationship as ʿAbdallāh b. Salām and his friends who believed in Islam in the first year of the hegira. Some of these comments are correct however, interpreting the verses revealed after the first year as ʿAbdallāh b. Salām and his friends does not correspond to the definition of addressees by the Holy Holy Qur’an and Qur’an and sīra relationship. Also, mentioned comments overshadow the development of relations with the Ahl al-Kitab and the existence of good ones among them. When the narratives and the comments are evaluated within the context of the process of nuzul and Qur’an and sīra relationship, it is understood that this approach is not right, the asbab al-nuzul narratives on which this though is based are not real reasons but commentary explanations. Analyzing the narratives from this perspective shall make positive contributions to the resolution of contradictory views in many subjects.