Understanding

Now we know that because of the way that language works the Qur'an can never have one exact translation,

as the original words themselves can have a variety of different meanings.

And the Qur'an itself makes clear that there are verses with different kinds of meaning in its Message,

some with clear meaning and some with a meaning that is ambiguous,

that can be understood in more than one way.

The Qur'an tells us this in Surah 3 verse 7,

and this division between what are known as

the 'muhkamat' verses and the 'mutashabihat' verses

was a matter of discussion in the muslim community from the very earliest times,

and the interpretation of these ambiguous verses is known as Ta'wil, taking its name from that ayat.

And there were always those who said that these ambiguous verses should not even be discussed,

being beyond our understanding,

whereas some said that they would not be in the Message if we weren't to try to understand them.

And then again, as the Qur'an doesn't specify which verses are which, that itself was always a matter of debate.

But there were other distinctions between the meanings of verses that are traced back to the Companions of the Messenger.

Ibn Mas'ud said that the Message has four types of meaning,

an apparent sense, 'zahir',

an inner sense, 'batin',

a limit, 'hadd',

and a lookout point. a 'muttala',

And Ibn Abbas is reported as saying

“The Qur'an has four aspects:

Tafsir, which the scholars are able to know;

Arabic, which Arabs are familiar with;

What is and is not permitted, which no-one can afford to be ignorant of;

and Ta'wil, which only God knows.”

When asked what that Ta'wil is he replied that it is

“That which will be”.

And as the years went by, and the study of the Qur'an became the province of scholars,

there was even more argument as to what was permissible in the explanation of the Message,

some saying that interpretations could only be based on hadiths and transmissions from the earliest times,

and those who thought that understandings could be based on reason, 'aql',

and considered opinion, 'ra'y',

and these arguments continue to the present day.

And it is said by some that the Message has seven different levels of understanding available to humankind,

but of such matters God knows best.

Check out various interpretations of ayats that you know

Get to know of some of the best known commentaries on the Qur'an