Selefilik ve Te'vil Üzerine

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the concept of ta’wil (interpretation of the Qur’an) in early Salafi thought and Ibn Taymiyyah’s systematic salafism. word Salaf, in Islamic terminology, is generally used to refer to the first two generations of Muslims: the Sahabah (The Companions) and the Tâbi‘un (The Followers). As it is widely accepted that these two generations are looked upon as examples of how Islam should be practiced. Actually, Al-Imam al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) wrote in his book Iljâm al-Awâm; The madhhab of the Salaf means the way held by the Sahaba and the Tabiun. principles of this madhhab are seven. early Salafis, such as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Sufyan al-Thawri, al-Awzai, Malik ibn Anas, are called as well Ahl al-Hadith (The People of hadith). In other words, the term Ahl al-Hadith is often used interchangeably with the term Salafiyya. In the late periods, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and his disciple Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) tried to enrich the Salafiyya madhhab, which later broke into two parts; the early Salafis did not go into details about the attributes of Allah. later Salafis were interested in detailing about them. early and the later Salafis altogether are called Ahl as-Sunnat al-khassa. early Salafi position is to neither attribute anything anthropomorphic, nor deny that which God attributed to himself in the Qur’an. Salafis would argue that confirming an attribute of God does not entail similarity with his creation. Confirming the attribute, such as the hand does not confirm its nature. They would argue that the nature of the attribute should not be questioned, distorted, divested of its intended meaning that befits God’s dignity, nor resembled to his creation.