Tefsirin Erken Döneminde Tevil: Mücâhid b. Cebr'in Aklî Yorumları

Abstract

Mujāhid b. Jabr (d. 103/721) is one of the prominent scholars of tābiʿīn generation. There is consensus among scholars that he was a reciter (qāriʾ), a jurist (faqīh), and a trustworthy (thiqa) scholar. A disciple of Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68/687-688), he was particularly known among tābiʿīn for his contributions to the science of Qur’an exegesis (tafsīr), and therefore has been referred to by such appellations as al-Imām and the leader of reciters and exegetes (shaykh al-qurrāʾ wa-l-mufassirīn). Eminent scholars, such as al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820), Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241/855), al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870), and al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) valued his narratives and regarded him as an incontestable authority in tafsīr. Mujāhid comes to the fore for his emphasis on personal opinion (raʾy) in tafsīr, as well as research and verification methods, such as visiting the places where some of the stories in the Quran took place, traveling for the pursuit of knowledge, and asking for information from the People of the Book (Ahl al-kitāb). The fact that he himself conveyed his opinions about the virtue of the raʾy is one of the most important indicators of his aforementioned features. The tradition that those who deepen their knowledge will know the interpretation of the ambiguous verses (mutashābihāt), whose only narrator from Ibn ʿAbbās is Mujāhid, may be seen as an expression of his conception of tafsīr. Noteworthy in this context is that he interprets some verses through metaphor and allegory. This interpretation of his and others like it gave rise in the classical period to the opinion that he had “some views in tafsīr that should be approached with caution,” leading some contemporary scholars such as Goldziher (d. 1921) to regard him as an “early harbinger of the tendency to rational exegesis.” One of the most controversial examples of his rational exegesis concerns the conversion into monkeys of the Israelites who had violated the Saturday ban. While the majority of the exegetes understood from the verses that the people in question had been literally transformed into monkeys, Mujāhid claimed that this was not but an allegory and that there was no conversion to monkeys in the real sense, but, in the sense that they were transformed into monkey-like people in terms of their character traits. Most exegetes, especially al-Ṭabarī, rejected Mujāhid’s view on the grounds that it was tantamount to not accepting the other punishments given to the Israelites, and the metaphorical interpretation in this way was contrary to the literal meaning of the verse as well as to consensus. Mujāhid’s view has been mostly accepted in the modern approach to tafsīr, where rational tendencies become more prevalent. Regarding the table miracle of Jesus, Mujāhid said, “This is an allegory; nothing was sent down to them.” This statement has been read to mean that the apostles abandoned their wishes when Allah informed them that He would bring down the table, but would inflict great torment on them if they did not believe. However, most exegetes, following the view of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728)—who thinks that “if this table had been brought down, that day should have been a holiday among Christians”—did not accept his view, holding instead that the table was offered and associating this miracle with some festivals celebrated by Christians. An opinion has been attributed to Mujāhid that he interpreted the expression “Your Lord will raise you to a praised position” in verse 79 of sūrat al-Isrāʾ as “He puts him on His Throne with Himself.” The majority of exegetes understood the same verse as “the authority of intercession.” While al-Ṭabarī and some literalists (Ahl al-ḥadīth) accepted this view of Mujāhid and tried to explain its possibility, ḥadith scholars, such as Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463/1071) and al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1348), as well as commentators, such as al-Wāḥidī (d. 468/1076) and al-Rāzī, strongly opposed it. In fact, the attribution of this view to Mujāhid seems problematic in terms of both transmission chain and theory. Regarding transmission, Lays b. Abī Sulaym (d. 143/760-61) is considered a weak narrator. In terms of theory, Mujāhid adopted, just like the majority of the scholars, the view that the verse refers to the authority of intercession, depending on stronger narrative chains. It is impossible for one who prefers rational interpretations in many occasions and agrees with other scholars that the verse signifies intercession to adopt, at the same time, a view that evokes anthropomorphism (tashbīh and tajsīm).