Reasons for the Difference of Interpreters of the Quran about Some Meanings or Words

6-3-2022 | IslamWeb

Question:

AsalamualaikumWhy do the scholars differ concerning the interpretation of the Holy Quran (in some verses for eg surah baqarah verse 228 ) meaning of al quru,I tried to find the book asbaab ikhtilaaf al mufasireen but i wasn't able to find it, can you please explain the answer to me,may allah reward you.Ameen.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The reasons why interpreters of the Quran differ concerning some meanings are too many to be listed here. This topic is worthy of being singled out by writings, as it is a prolonged and branched topic. In fact, there are many dedicated writings about this matter.

One of the reasons why the interpreters differ is the linguistic polysemy, which means that the word in the Arabic language has more than one meaning. Accordingly, scholars vary in determining the intended meaning of the verse. For example, Al-Qur’ (singular of Quru’) means menstruation, and it also means purity.

The book Ikhtilaf Al-Mufassireen Asbabohu wa Dhawabituhu reads:

“One of the reasons for the difference is also: polysemous word, which has more than one use in reality, so it is possible to employ such meaning in one of the potential uses:

For example, the word Qur’ means menstruation but it also has the meaning of purity. Allah the Almighty Says (what means): {Divorced women remain in waiting [i.e., do not remarry] for three Quru’ (periods)…} [Quran 2:228] Imam Ash-Shawkani said: “Abu ‘Amr ibn Al ‘Alaa’ said: ‘Some of the Arabs call menstruation Qur’ and some of them call purity Qur’, and some others combine them and call menstruation and purity Qur’.’”

Allah knows best.