The Approach of Shi’ite and Sunni Exegetes to the Qur’anic Doubt of Jonah’s Infallibility; Analysis, Critique, and Preference

Document Type : Academicm and Research

Authors

1 Researcher, Center for the Development of Interdisciplinary Research in Islamic Thoughts and Health Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Qur’anic Studies, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Qum, Iran

Abstract

Received: 2021/9/20  |   Correction: 2022/1/18   |   Accepted: 2021/4/17
The appearance of some Qur’anic verses seems to indicate the impatience, disobedience, and even rebellion of Jonah to carry out his prophetic mission. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) hence was forbidden, according to the Qur’an, to follow him and consequently be like him as well. This has led him to be accused by some Muslim scholars of committing sin and thus lacking infallibility. But on the contrary, another group of both Shi’ite and Sunni exegetes and Hadith scholars have tried to provide a more appropriate interpretation of the suggested Qur’anic verses and the existing Islamic narrations, exposing the weakness of this notion. Based on the results of this article, Shi’ite exegetes have offered two solutions to answer the doubts concerning the infallibility of Jonah. The first one is that Jonah only committed lapse and not sin, and the second is that the event in question preceded his prophetic mission. Although a considerable number of Sunni commentators have stated the same two ways, some have also believed in Jonah’s sin and rebellion against God. The present research however evaluates these three approaches and then proposes its own preferred theory. The evaluation and critique of the mentioned approaches indicate that the viewpoint of abandoning the best and first deed by Jonah is the only acceptable one, which seems more compatible with the Qur’anic verses and has been proposed by many exegetes as well.
Keywords: Jonah, infallibility, Qur’anic doubts, the exegetes’ approach, theological exegesis, comparative exegesis
 

Azizi, S; Rad, A. (2022) The Approach of Shi’ite and Sunni Exegetes to the Qur’anic Doubt of Jonah’s Infallibility; Analysis, Critique, and Preference. Biannual Journal of Comparative Exegetical Researches, 8 (15) 251-280. Doi: 10.22091/PTT.2022.5788.1801.

Keywords

References

The Holy Qur’an;
Abū-Ḥayyān, Muḥammad b. Yūsuf (1999), alـBaḥr alـMuḥīṭ fī alـTafsīr, Beirut: Dār alـFikr.
Abul-Futūḥ Rāzī, Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī (1986), Rawż ul-Jinān wa Rūḥ-ul-Janān fī Tafsīr-il-Qurʾān, edited by Muḥammad-Jaʿfar Yāḥaqqī & Muḥammad-Mahdī Nāṣiḥ. Mashhad: Bunyād-i Pazhūhish-hā-yi Āstān-i Quds-i Rażawī.
Akātī, Marḍīyya and ʿAlī-Riḍā Ḥaydarīnasab (2014), “Barrasī-i Shubahāt Pīrāmūn-i ʿIṣmat-i Ḥaḍrat-i Yūnus (PBUH)” in: The First National Conference for Religious Thinking and Research, Qum: Anjuman-i ʿIlmī-i Padāfand-i Ghayr-i ʿĀmili Īrān.
Ālūsī, Maḥmūd b. ʿAbdullāh (1994), Rūḥ al-Maʿānī fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, edited by ʿAlī ʿAbdul-Bārī ʿAṭīyya, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya.
Bayḍāwī, ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar (1997), Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Taʾwīl, edited by Muḥammad ʿAbdul-Raḥmān al-Marʿashlī, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Faḍlullāh, Muḥammad-Ḥusayn (1998), Tafsīr min Waḥy alـQurʾān, Beirut: Dār alـMilāk.
Fakhr-al-Dīn Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar (1999), Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Fayḍ-Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. Murtaḍā (1994), AlـAṣfā fī Tafsīr alـQurʾān, Tehran: Ṣadr.
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad b. Ṭāhir (n.d), alـTaḥrīr wa alـTanwīr, Beirut: Muʾassasa alـTārīkh al-ʿArabī.
Ibn Babiwayh, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (1997), al-Amālī, Tehran: Kitābchī.
Ibn Babiwayh, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (2006), ʿIlal al-Sharāʾiʿ, Qum: Dāvarī.
Ibn Babiwayh, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (1999), ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā, Qum: Jahān.
Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbdullāh (2018), Tafsīr Sura al-Anbīāʾ wa al-Ṣāffāt, available in: http://portal.esra.ir
Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbdullāh (2018), Tafsīr Sura al-Qalam, available in: http://javadi.esra.ir
Kamālīzādi Ardakānī, Ḥusayn and ʿAlī Rād (2017), “Shubahāt darbāri-yi Ḥaḍrat-i Yūnus (PBUH) dar Tafāsīr-i Farīqayn; Pāsukh-hā va Rūykard-hā” in: Muṭāliʿāt-i Taṭbīqī-i Qurʾānpazhūhī, vol. 2, no. 3.
Mughnīya, Muḥammad-Jawād (2003), Tafsīr al-Kāshif, Qum: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmī.
Qummī Nayshābūrī, Ḥasan b. Muḥammad (1995), Gharāʾib al-Qurʾān wa Raghāʾib al-Furqān, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya.
Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusain b. Muḥammad (1995), al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān, Beirut: al-Dār al-Shāmīyya.
Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad (1998), alـFurqān fī Tafsīr alـQurʾān, Qum: Farhang-i Islāmī.
Suyūṭī, ʿAbdul-Raḥmān b. Abī-Bakr (1984), al-Durr al-Manthūr fī Tafsīr al-Manthūr, Qum: Kitābkhāni-yi Āyatullāh Marʿashī-Najafī.
Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr (1991), Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān, Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muḥammad-Ḥusayn (1995), al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Qum: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī-i Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmīyyah-yi Qum.
Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan (1994), Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, edited by Sayyid Faḍlullāh Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī and Sayyid Hāshim Rasūlī-Maḥallātī, Tehran: Nāṣir Khusruw.
Thaʿlabī Nayshābūrī, Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm (1997), al-Kashf wa al-Bayān ʿan Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī (1999), al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd (1987), al-Kashshāf ʿan Ḥaqāʾiq al-Taʾwīl wa Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl, Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics