Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

Islam has two main sources, the Qur’an, and the Sunnah. Allah (swt) stated in the Quran the things he wanted to convey to His servants and to be implemented by them. He appointed the Prophet (pbuh) to declare those messages to people. The verses that were revealed gradually over twenty-four years were explained by the Prophet (pbuh) and Muslims put them into practice. The issues that the companions did not understand or misunderstood were clarified through the Prophet (pbuh).
After the Prophet (pbuh) passed away, he task of explaining the Qur’an was handed over to his companions and then to his followers. In later generations, many commentary works were written to understand and explain the Qur’an. The commentaries written by compiling great number of narrations from the Sunnah and, if any, from the companions and tabiin to interpret the Qur’an are called narration tafsir. Baghawi’s (d. 516/1122) commentary book named Maâlim al-tanzîl is also a narrative type of commentary and has an exceptional importance in this field.
Baghawi has a say in many Islamic sciences some of those are tafsir, hadith and fiqh. He worked hard to ensure that people could understand and learn easily the life and hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, in short, his sunnah. As a result of this work, he became the person who initiated the method of narrating hadiths without attributions. He applied this method so that people from all walks of life could understand it, he quoted the narrations sometimes by giving the name of the companion narrators and seldom the tabii ones without mentioning the attribution of the hadith. He did this in his Masâbîh al-sunnah. Masâbîh al-sunnah and Sharh al-sunnah are two extremely important works in terms of seeing his competence and success in the field of hadith. While writing his tafsir Maâlim al-tanzîl, of which a surah we examined in our article, he took many narrations from these two hadith books.
In his tafsir, Baghawi, as required by the narration school, made many quotations from the Prophet of Allah (pbuh), his companions and followers. In other words, he used marfu', mavkûf and maktu' narrations. He conveyed the narrations he included in his commentary, sometimes with isnad, (attributing hadith to the one who said) sometimes without isnad, sometimes by quoting the narrator of the companions, and sometimes in an ambiguous manner. The work contains sahih, hasan, non-hasan and weak narrations in terms of authenticity, as well as fabricated narrations, although in small number.
In this study, firstly, information about Baghawi's life and works is given. Later, the sources of the sixteen narrations he used in the Surah al-Shu'ara were identified and their degrees of authenticity were evaluated. While doing this, the following method was followed: First, the places of the narrations conveyed by the author in al-Kutub al-tis'a and other primary sources were determined, and then the differences in attribution and wording between the narrations were pointed out. Then, the opinions of hadith scholars regarding the authenticity of the narrations are given. Following this, our personal opinion is stated by making a brief evaluation. Finally, the methods and practices regarding the use of narration were analyzed.
Although the logic of the narrated school of tafsir is the same, it is known that each tafsir written with this method has its own characteristic. In the article, determinations were made regarding Baghawi's use of hadith within the scope of Surah Al-Shu'ara. We can summarize these findings as follows: Baghawi narrated 16 narrations in the interpretation of Surah Al-Shu'ara. He mentioned 15 of these narrations with isnad and 1 without isnad. Of the 16 narrations referenced by the author, 11 are in Sharh al-sunnah, 7 are in Masâbîh al-sunnah, and 7 are in both of his works. 5 of them could not be identified in either work. 13 of the narrations were identified in al-Kutub al-Tis'a, and 3 of them were identified in other hadith books. When we evaluate the narrations conveyed in the Surah Al-Shu'ara in terms of their sources, it has been determined that all of them are marfu'. In al-Kutub al-Tis'a, Bukhari 7, Muslim 10, Abû Dâvûd 2, Tirmidhi 5, Nasâî 3, İbn Mâjah 2, Ahmad b. Hanbal 9, Dârimî 3 and Malik ibn Enes included 1 narration in his works.
It has been determined that 12 of the 16 narrations we compiled are sahîh, 1 is hasan sahîh garîb, 2 are weak and 1 narration is fabricated.