Recognizing the Status of Tradition in the Qurʾān-by-Qurʾān Interpretation School on the Basis of the difference between two steps of reflection and explanation (interpretation)

The interpretation school of AllamehTabatabaʾi with its Qurʾān-by-Qurʾān approach has been engaged the minds of scholars for many years to understand, investigate, criticize, and complement it. Despite the attempts of these scholars and attaining some new insights into it, still there is no comprehensive understanding of this school, especially about the status of tradition in it, and the present views have many deficiencies and contradictions. One of the most important reasons for this deficiency is that one fail to distinguish between the “reflection on Qurʾān” and the “explanation (interpretation) of Qurʾān” and confuse them with each other. In the present paper, firstly, we will show that AllamehTabatabaʾi, the reviver of this school, recognized these two steps and their difference. Secondly, we will investigate the differences of these two, and then present a new definition of the tradition status in this school.