Understanding and Interpretation in View of Allāma Ṭabāṭabā’ī (A Comparative Look at Hermeneutics)

Comprehension and interpretation has been the focal point of hermeneutics and many hermeneutists, such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Hirsch, Heidegger, Gadamer, and others have discussed and examined these two terms. In the science of interpretation, understanding and interpretation has also seemed to be frequently employed, to the extent that Allāma Ṭabāṭabā’ī has throughout his Tafsīr al-Mīzān defined understanding, called the Qur’ān as comprehensible, talked of various understandings; and in relation to interpretation, he has defined interpretation, explained the method of interpreting the verses, and showed the purpose of interpretation. The understanding and interpretation viewed by Allāma has the closest similarity to the classic hermeneutics and widest difference with the philosophical hermeneutics.