Kur’ân Tefsirinde Sahabenin Rey Yaklaşımı.
Ra’y Approach of the ṣaḥāba in Qur’ānic Commentary.

Summary/Abstract: The negative approach to interpreting the Qur’ān with the ra’y is a tendency that has taken place in various realms since the past. This reactive approach, which extends from time to time to interpretation of the Qur’ān, has been to limit people’s knowledge of religion only to transmit and imitate their behavior. In order to put such an approach on religion on a legitimate ground, the approach in question targeted the ṣaḥāba’ (companions) relationship with the Qur’ān. According to this, companions never interpreted the Quran with the ra’y. What the ṣaḥāba did was only to convey what they saw and heard from the Prophet. They did not appeal to the tafsīr with ra’y about the Qur’ān, or even did the tafsīr. Because, according to the narrations conveyed from the Prophet, the ṣaḥāba accepted this as a sin and did not express an opinion about the Qur’ān. What they did was just transmit from the Prophet. Accord-ingly, all Muslims’ relationship with the Qur’ān should be consist of transmition and imitation.The above-mentioned thoughts make very important claims about the interpretation of the Qur’ān. Because the fact that these claims are based on the ṣaḥāba are binding for Muslims. The fact that the ṣaḥāba put forward a common attitude or expressed an opinion on the subject means that they have heard or seen this issue mostly from the prophet. Therefore, the claim that the ṣaḥāba’s negative approach to express their views on the verses of the Qur’ān or that they have kept distance from the interpretation of the Qur’ān with a stricter attitude is a serious matter that should be emphasized and investigated.Considering the evidence that the ṣaḥāba’s view was based on the following can be seen: the verse that “It is forbidden to say things you do not know about Allah” (al-A‘rāf 6/33); the hadith that “Whoever speaks about the Qur’ān even though he does not know, get ready for his place in hell”; Abu Bakr’s statement that “Whoever say something he does not know about the Qur’ān, he will not find a sky to shade himself, nor a place to house.” and some tābi’ūn scholars’ similar statements in this regard. Some issues such as the tafsīr initially belongs to the content of Hadith discipline and that the narration concept corresponds to the word of science in the first periods must have been effective in the formation of this idea.Ibn Taymiyya’s (d. 728/1328) view that the Prophet explained the meaning of the Qur’ān as well as he conveyed all the words of the Qur’ān and his explanations about the most beautiful method of interpretation of the Qur’ān are actually nothing, but an explanation of the claims mentioned above from a different perspective.When the evidences put forward that the ṣaḥāba do not interpret the Qur’ān or even attempt to interpret the Qur’ān are examined, it will be seen that all the evidences brought for these claims actually state that speaking about the Qur’ān without any evidence, knowledge and undocument is not a right thing to do. Since interpretation of the Qur’ān would mean, in a sense, to narrate from Allah Almighty, talking about the Qur’ān without information and documents was regarded as ugly and disapproved by both Allah and the Prophet, the ṣaḥāba and their followers (tābi’ūn). Among the sources that the ṣaḥāba refer to in the interpretation of the Qur’ān are the Qur’ān itself, the reasons for the descent (nuzul) of the verses, as well as the Prophet’s words explaining the Qur’ān and its best practice, as well as their command of Arabic, the language of the Qur’ān.When the narrations about the relations of the ṣaḥāba with the interpretation of the Qur’ān are examined, it will be seen that it is not possible to say that the claims men-tioned above are a correct approach. For, the existing narrations reveal that the ṣaḥāba made a great deal of efforts towards the interpretation of the Qur’ān and that they interpreted some verses in this context. In some rumors, it is seen that the ṣaḥāba encouraged those around them to interpret the Qur’ān and criticized those who behaved loosely about it. This attitude of the ṣaḥāba must be due to the fact that the Qur’ān invites its addressees to reflect on its verses, that the Qur’ān’s coming to life depends on understanding it and that the interpretation of the Qur’ān is an inevi-table necessity. Because the unpredictable variability of life and the conditions that constantly show up in different forms within this framework require the continuous interpretation of the Qur’ān.It is possible to say that the discourse that the ṣaḥāba kept their distance from the interpretation of the Qur’ān actually stems from the confusion of the descent period of the Qur’ān and the post-descent period. For this reason, it would be more appropriate to examine the ṣaḥāba ' period as two different periods as before and after the descent. Saḥāba did not encounter with the problem of understanding the Qur’ān to a great extent while the Prophet was alive. For, the Prophet was practicing the Qur’ān actually. In addition to this, the ṣaḥāba had the opportunity to learn about the situation by asking the Prophet in some isolated events. This situation prevented them from engaging in tafsīr activities. However, after the death of the Prophet, situations have changed. For, people who became new Muslims, new events, changing language and facts made it necessary to reinterpret the verses that the ṣaḥāba knew before in the face of these new situations.As a result of these activities, we see that the ṣaḥāba disagreed about understanding the Qur’ān. The disagreement of the companions is one of the clearest evidences showing that they have expressed their views on understanding the Qur’ān based on ra’y. If there had been a statement from the Prophet about the verse in which they expressed their opinion, they would not have disagreed. As can be seen in many case studies put forward in the research, the ṣaḥāba interpreted the Qur’ān in a large amount of ra’y and lived it in the practice of life.

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