Al-Qur’an al-Karim, embodying humanitarian and moral values [in it], promises an earthly life where justice, law and trust prevails and also an eternal felicity after death. However, in order for these to transpire, one must gain insight into Al-Qur’an al-Karim and live out the moral and humanitarian values it includes. To this respect, the authentic interpretation of Al-Qur’an al-Karim since the sahabah (companions of the Prophet) generation has always been a topic of discussion. In the first place, harakat (short vowel marks) were used in an attempt to prevent the misinterpretation of the Qur’an without harakat. The fact that the sahabah were witnesses to the revelation and resolved any problems they encountered by consulting personally with the Prophet bestows a privilege upon them. This is evidenced by the behaviour of Hisam ibn Hakim and Omar, who, having discussed about the style of recitation of the Qur’an, informed the Prophet of the situation without any delay, whereupon the Prophet listened to his companions and heralded that both of them were correct in their method of recitation.
Being aware of the personal and social significance of the authentic interpretation of al-Qur’an al-Karim, immediately in the aftermath of the sahabah generation, Muslims carried out important works in the matter of establishing a connection between Qur’an and social life. Initially, in addition to the compilation and preservation of all narrations and parables related to the interpretation of the Qur’an, these Muslims composed crucial works on the subject of identifying the sarf (grammar), nahw (syntax) and balagha (rhetoric), I’rab al-Qur’an and lexical meaning of the words related to the linguistic structure of the Qur’an. As of the second century of the Hegira in particular, they composed a new genre of exegesis called I’rab al-Qur’an. Although several versions of I’rab related to the words and sentences in the Qur’an are included in these works, no stance is taken regarding which version should be preferred. This situation gives rise to confusions about the understanding of the Qur’an. The natural question that arises, then, is how to solve this problem. In this case, confusion regarding I’rab can be eliminated by setting forth primarily the I’rab of the words in the sentence and the linguistic and moral evidence that applies to the identification of the operator (‘amil) constituting this I’rab. Although there is usually much attention paid to these issues in I’rab books and exegeses, not much emphasis has been put on contextual evidence, which plays a bigger role in identifying the operator and I’rab.
The context serves as an important indicator in interpreting and identifying the i’rab of the verses where multiple i’rab versions are grammatically possible. This is because the context clarifies the semantic relation between the words and sentences of the Qur’an and thus is an important road map in identifying the correct one among the different potential versions of i’rab. As a matter of fact, al-Qur’an al-Karim is a divine address formed by means of a new syntax and new meanings assigned to the words that already existed among its first audience. In this new syntax, the words, sentences and surahs in the Quranic language are associated with one another within a semantic framework. For this reason, the cultural context should also be taken into consideration along with the intratextual and extratextual context of the verses while interpreting the Qur’an. Otherwise, this might give rise to an erroneous choice of i’rab and thus result in the misinterpretation of the verses. Besides, the context is not only effective in the choice of the correct i’rab but also has an important role in identifying the operator (amil), a crucial element of the sentence. Therefore, the relation between the operator and context must be thoroughly analysed for the authentic interpretation of al-Qur’an al-Karim. This also shows the extent of the relationships between i’rab, context, meaning and purpose. In fact, the danger of misunderstanding the Qur’an would always be present in case one of these is overlooked. However, the thing that must be taken into account in this respect is that the i’rab preferred and thus the interpretation that results should be objective and never be influenced by a particular sect or temperament because approaching the Qur’an with prejudices related to one’s belief and sect may not be a guide to a correct i’rab and accordingly to a correct interpretation. Observing that sometimes I’rab is assigned with the purpose of confirming or providing evidence for the truth of a particular sect’s view regarding a faith- or fiqh-related issue, Ibn Qayyim (ö.751/1350), says the following in this respect: “All communities strive to interpret the Qur’an in accordance with their own sect and understandings. The Mu’tazilah assign meanings to Qur’an according to their understanding, the Jahmiyya according to their judgment, and the Qadiriyya and the Shia according to their faith criteria, and thus all use the Qur’an to voice their own understandings.”
However, it should be immediately noted that it is not enough to take into consideration merely the context of the verses in order to correctly identify the i’rab of any verse and thus interpret these verses correctly. In addition to the context; the intention of the speaker, having a grasp of whether the prepositions used in the sentence are meant to have a real or figurative meaning, the eliminations (hazf) occurring in the sentence and the linguistic rules forming the foundation of the sentence need to be taken into consideration. Especially the eliminations (hazf) attribute a different meaning to the sentence and are an important indicator manifesting the Ijaz ul Qur’an (Inimitability of Qur’an). Therefore, unless analysed thoroughly, it might become a challenge to interpret Qur’an accurately.
In conclusion, all of these are efforts aimed at revealing the will of Allah properly. For this reason, before starting to identify the i’rab of any verse, special attention must be paid to considering whether it would be in accordance with the will of Allah. Otherwise, the risk of misinterpreting the verses always remains. For instance, Zeccâc (ö. 311/923) claims that the phrase أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ in the verse قَالُوا يَاشُعَيْبُ أَصَلَاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ ءَابَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ إِنَّكَ لَأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ meaning “Median people: O Shu’ayb, does your prayer command you that we should leave what our fathers worship or not do with our wealth what we please? (Hud, 11/ 87) may refer to the phrase أَنْنَتْرُكَ . Were this i’rab to be preferred, the meaning of the verse would be “O Shu’ayb, does your prayer command you that we should worship what our fathers did and do with our wealth what we please?”, which is not in accordance with the context of the verse at all. This is because the context of this verse is about avoiding injustices in trade, which explains the reaction of the tribe of Prophet Shu’ayb. This, in turn, demonstrates that Zeccâc did not give thorough consideration to the will of Allah in identifying the i’rab of this verse.
