What follows is a translation of a portion of Imam Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suyūṭī’s al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, prepared for the Introduction to Islamic Disciplines course at Usul Academy. This is a well-known and oft-quoted passage from the Itqān and can be found in several contemporary works in Quran Studies. I chose to retranslate this portion in a style that may be better suited for my intended audience.

Type Seventy-Eight: On the Qualifications and Etiquette of the Exegete (Mufassir)

Section: On the Types of Disagreement in Qurʾānic Exegesis

Some have stated that scholars have differed regarding the interpretation of the Qurʾān, specifically whether it is permissible for any individual to engage in it.

One group maintains that it is impermissible for anyone to undertake the interpretation of any portion of the Qurʾān, even if he be a learned and cultivated scholar, who possesses breadth in the knowledge of evidences, jurisprudence/law, grammar, transmitted reports (akhbār), and prophetic and non-prophetic traditions (āthār). Rather, his role is confined to restricting himself to what has been transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concerning it.

Others, however, held that its interpretation is permissible for one who has acquired the totality of the disciplines required of the exegete (mufassir). These amount to fifteen sciences:

First: Lexicography (Lughah)

By means of it, one apprehends the explanation of individual lexical items and their denotations in accordance with established linguistic convention. Mujāhid states: “It is not lawful for one who believes in Allah and the Last Day to speak concerning the Book of Allah if he is not knowledgeable in the languages of the Arabs.” The statement of Mālik on this matter has preceded. A minimal acquaintance with the language does not suffice, for a term may be polysemous; one may know one of its meanings while the intended meaning is another.

Second: Grammar (Naḥw)

For the meaning varies and changes in accordance with inflection (iʿrāb), and thus it is indispensable to take it into consideration. Abū ʿUbayd relates from al-Ḥasan that he was asked concerning a man who studies Arabic in order to refine his speech and rectify his recitation. He replied: “That is commendable; learn it. For a man may recite a verse and be unable to apprehend its syntactic construction, and thus perish therein.”

Third: Morphology (Taṣrīf)

Through it one comes to know the patterns (abniyah) and morphological forms (ṣiyagh). Ibn Fāris states: “Whoever is deprived of this knowledge is deprived of the greater part, for a word such as wajada is indeterminate; when we subject it to morphological analysis, it becomes clarified through its verbal nouns.”

Al-Zamakhsharī remarks: Among the aberrant interpretations is the claim of one who asserts that imām in the verse, ‘On the Day We shall call every people by their imām’ (Q 17:71), is the plural of umm, and that people will be called on the Day of Resurrection by their mothers. This, he said, is an error necessitated by ignorance of morphology, for umm is not pluralized as imām.

Fourth: Etymology (Ishtiqāq)

For when a term admits derivation from two distinct roots, its meaning varies in accordance with each, as in the case of al-Masīḥ, whether derived from siyāḥah (to travel) or masḥ (to anoint).

Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh: The Sciences of Rhetoric (Maʿānī, Bayān, Badīʿ)

Through the first, one apprehends the properties of syntactic constructions insofar as they convey meaning; through the second, their properties in respect of clarity and obscurity of indication; and through the third, the modalities of rhetorical embellishment. These three constitute the sciences of eloquence (ʿulūm al-balāghah), and they are among the most essential pillars for the exegete. For it is incumbent upon him to attend to what the inimitability (iʿjāz) of the Qurʾān requires, and this is apprehended only through these sciences.

Al-Sakkākī states: “Know that the nature of inimitability is wondrous: it is apprehended, yet cannot be adequately described, like the correctness of metrical proportion (wazn), which is perceived but cannot be defined, or like beauty. There is no path to its acquisition, for those not endowed with a sound natural disposition, save through sustained training in the sciences of maʿānī and bayān.”

Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd observes: “Know that the recognition of the eloquent and the more eloquent, the graceful and the more graceful, is a matter apprehended solely through taste (dhawq), and no formal proof may be adduced for it. It resembles two maidens: one fair, tinged with redness, fine-lipped, pure of teeth, dark-eyed, smooth-cheeked, delicate-nosed, of balanced stature; the other inferior in these attributes, yet more pleasing to the eye and the heart. The cause of this is unknown; it is apprehended through taste and direct perception, not through rational explanation. Such is the case with discourse.”

He continues: “There remains a difference between the two cases. The beauty of faces, and the preference of some over others, is apprehended by anyone possessing sound sight. As for discourse, it is apprehended only through taste. Not everyone occupied with grammar, language, or jurisprudence is among those endowed with such taste or qualified to evaluate discourse. Rather, those endowed with taste are those who have cultivated themselves in the science of rhetoric, trained themselves through epistles, sermons, composition, and poetry, and thereby acquired a stable disposition and a fully developed faculty. To such individuals recourse must be made in assessing discourse and preferring one expression over another.”

Al-Zamakhsharī says: “It is incumbent upon the exegete of the manifest Book of Allah and His inimitable speech to preserve the integrity of its composition, the perfection of its eloquence, and the soundness of that by which it constitutes a challenge, free from any defect.”

Others have stated: Mastery of this discipline, in its principles and conventions, constitutes the foundation of exegesis through which the marvels of the divine discourse are disclosed; it is the basis of eloquence and the central jewel of rhetoric.

Eighth: The Science of Qurʾānic Readings (Qirāʾāt)

Through it one comes to know the modalities of Qurʾānic recitation, and by means of variant readings certain interpretive possibilities are given preference over others.

Ninth: Theology (Uṣūl al-Dīn)

For within the Qurʾān are verses whose outward sense suggests that which is not permissible with respect to Allah Most High. The theologian interprets such passages and establishes what is impossible, necessary, and permissible.

Tenth: Principles of Jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-Fiqh)

Through it one comes to know the modalities of inference in deriving legal rulings and extracting meanings.

Eleventh: Occasions of Revelation and Narrative Reports (Asbāb al-Nuzūl wa al-Qiṣaṣ)

For through knowledge of the occasion of revelation, the meaning of the verse is apprehended in accordance with the circumstances in which it was revealed.

Twelfth: Abrogation (al-Nāsikh wa-l-Mansūkh)

So that the decisive (muḥkam) may be distinguished from that which is otherwise.

Thirteenth: Substantive Law (Fiqh)

Fourteenth: Prophetic Traditions (Aḥādīth)

Those which clarify what is general or ambiguous.

Fifteenth: Bestowed Knowledge (ʿIlm al-Mawhibah)

This is a knowledge which Allah Most High bestows upon one who acts in accordance with what he knows. To this is alluded the report: “Whoever acts upon what he knows, Allah will cause him to inherit knowledge of that which he did not know.”

Ibn Abī al-Dunyā states: “The sciences of the Qurʾān, and what may be derived from it, constitute an ocean without shore.”