The Requirements of Interpretation from Sayyid Murtada’s Viewpoint

Interpretation is a term that has long been prevalent among Muslim scholars from various disciplines. This term is mostly used in fields such as: interpretation, hadith and jurisprudence. Although this concept has also been considerably used in theological and sect discussions, its prevalence has been the result of the attention in the previously mentioned fields. Among Muslim scholars, there are some individuals known to have applied this term more. Sayyid Murtada, the late jurist, theologian, scholar, commentator and prominent Shiite leader, is one of these individuals. Sayyid Murtada has applied this term repeatedly in his interpretation, jurisprudential and hadith discussions. He even has a voluminous book in the field of interpretation which carries a title including this term, i.e. Haqa’iq al-Ta’vil fi Motashabih al-Tanzil. Although a small part of the book has survived, this very small portion, along with the acknowledgement of those who have seen the book, implies the importance of this work. According to Khatib Baghdadi, the book is a unique work concerning the interpretation of the Qur’an. According to Sheikh Aqa Bozorg, the reason for the veracity of Khatib’s claim is that in this book, Sayyid Murtada has presented the difficult and ambiguous verses one by one and has solved their difficulties.