Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: Only Infallibles can explain Tafsir, Tawil of Qur’an where meaning is not apparent

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh Hosseini Shirazi was held on Wednesday, the 27th of Safar. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various legal issues.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi explained the three words “Zahir”, “Tafsir” and Tawil” in the verses of the Qur’an, and said: The late author of Rasa’il, Sheikh al-Ansari, and other fuqaha before and after him, have stated that apparent meanings in the Qur’an are Hujjat, that is in places where the meaning of the word is clear for people who are familiar with the Arabic language, that apparent meaning is Hujjat and must be taken. Tafsir means explaining the unapparent and expressions whose meanings are ambiguous, complex and unclear, which cannot be understood by other than the Infallibles. Tawil means using an expression to refer to something other than what the apparent meaning suggests.”

The Supreme Religious Authority elaborated on the similarities and differences between Tafsir and Tawil, and said: The similarity between Tawil and Tafsir is that in both, the apparent meaning cannot be understood by ordinary people who are not Divinely guided. The difference is Tafsir is used in cases where the apparent meaning is unclear and needs to be explained, for example, a short ambiguous phrase, but in the case of Tawil, some meaning is apparently understood while a different meaning has been intended and will be explained.”

His Eminence stressed the fact that Tafsir of Quran based on personal interpretation has been severely condemned in several narrations, including a hadith from the Holy Prophet that says: Whoever interprets the Qur’an based on his opinion will be caught in the fire of hell. The Marja then noted that: No one has the right to interpret the Qur’an except the Infallibles, peace be upon them, because others do not have the ability to understand the inner layers of meaning in Qur’an, and whatever they say is not correct and is pure falsehood, because only the Infallibles know the meaning intended by God.”