What Authority Do the Earliest Generations in Islam Have in Tafsir?
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
What authority do the earliest generations in Islam have in tafsir?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah guide every dimension of our lives to that which pleases Him.
The authority that the Successors hold in interpreting the Quran and transmitting hadith is traditionally, logically, and in revelation, undeniable.
Logically, the Successors were the direct students of the Prophet’s students.
Traditionally, more than fourteen hundred years of scholarship have held their views as authoritative to varying levels of authority.
In Revelation
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them [the next generation], and then those who will come after them [i.e., the next generation], and then after them, there will come, people, whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness.” [Bukhari]
The Successors’ views and transmissions of Prophetic hadith are held to varying degrees of authority among the different Schools of Thought. Allah knows best.
I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
