The Fundamentals of the Qur’ān Interpretation Based on the Revelation Order

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Abstract

This article delves into the fundamentals of the method of interpretation based on the Revelation order. First, a brief reference is made concerning the methods of writing interpretations and the history of the interpretation based on the Revelation order. And then, the following issues are dealt with as the main body of the discussion: enumeration of the approaches for the interpretation based on the Revelation order; explanation of the arguments proving the present copy of the Qur’ān (Muṣḥaf) to be subject to individual reasoning (ijtahādī); pointing out the documents and evidences which regard the present order [of the Qur’ān's verses] as impermissible and disapproved by God and the Messenger as the fundamentals of the first approach; and exposition of the positive resultants of interpretation according to the chronological engineering of the Revelation, including the significant role of paying attention to the temporal and spatial circumstances of the Revelation of the verses and chapters of the Qur'an, which is ranked as the fundamentals of the second approach to this method of interpretation. Some critical reviews of these fundamentals are also carried out during the above discussions.