hassan asgharpour

Mohammad Izzat Darvazah, a contemporary Sunni commentator, is the author of one of the few interpretations of the Qur'an based on the order in which the surahs were revealed. In his book al-Tafsīr al- Ḥadīth, Darvazah tried to interpret the verses of the Qur'an according to the social-historical atmosphere of their revelation. Before being a commentator, he is a historian of Islam and this type of his tendency can be seen in most of his works. One of the manifestations of his historical perspective in his Tafsīr is to pay attention to the traditions in understanding the verses of the Qur'an. Tafsir narratives include the noteworthy part of Darvazah’s commentary. Some achievements of the current research show that often, Darvazah did not limit his understanding of the verses of the Qur'an to ḥadīths. Rather, after presenting a contextual understanding of the verses, he tried to strengthen his interpretative understanding with the help of ḥadīths if necessary. Darvazah, rather than accepting interpretative ḥadīths, has turned to criticizing them. His criticism of ḥadīths is mainly based on not quoting them in authentic sources of old ḥadīths of Ahl al-Sunnah; therefore, it can be said: most of Darwazah’s narrative criticisms have a source orientation, rather than a content or document. In the book al-Tafsīr al- Ḥadīth by Darvazah, ḥadīths have played a role in various fields such as: "Determining the order of revelation of surahs", "determining the reason for the revelation of verses and surahs", "virtues of surahs", "commentary on the verses of Aḥkām", "commentary on the stories of the Qur'an and others.

Islamic scholars have always disagreed with each other on explaining the conceptual scope of “apostasy” (irtidād) and determining its examples. A glance at the Shi'ite and Sunni exegetical sources shows that the commentators rely on the three bases of “Qur’anic verses”, “narratives” and sometimes “the historical background of apostasy” for explaining their opinions regarding the rulings related to apostasy and the apostate person. Results of this article prove that the conceptual scope of the term “apostasy” in the Holy Quran is more general than its jurisprudential meaning and application. The context and the combination of phrases related to this issue, relying on “conditional restrictions”, has a ruling aspect; Therefore, some exegetes, citing the “applications of reasons of repentance” believe that the repentance of the apostate is totally permissible; regardless of whether the apostasy is natural or national, or whether the apostate is a man or a woman, or whether the “heresy” has occurred with an intention and blasphemous speech, or with an act that requires disbelief. “Apostasy” in the Holy Quran, hadiths and the practice of Imams (AS) does not simply mean returning from religion and changing one’s view, but the apostate is someone who, after consciously accepting the religion, based on stubbornness and enmity with the intention of attacking the religion, denies the “truth” and not accept the divinity of God or the mission of the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). The main origin of the difference in issuing the verdict of “apostasy” is the two factors of “fundamental difference” and “method of inferring from the verses”.

In this scrutiny, all articles published up to the spring 2021 in Persian and Latin on the course of the commentators' exposure to the apostasy verses were reviewed. These articles by searching databases, Jurisprudence and Legal Quarterly, Comparative Interpretation Research Publications, sid.ir, Jihad University Scientific Information Center Database and Civilica Publications, Private Law Research Quarterly, using keywords such as Holy Quran, Apostasy, Rulings, commentators, jurists, principles have been obtained. It has also been extracted from reputable scientific journals from the above-mentioned articles and websites. In this study, the conceptual scope of the word “apostasy” in the Holy Quran is more general than the concept of jurisprudential apostasy, and in terms of context and expressions combination with the mention of conditional restrictions on verses, it has also acquired a legal aspect. Hence, some sects commentators, citing the application of repentance arguments, believe that the apostate repentance is perfectly permissible and essential to be adopted, and that application, whether the apostate means innate wind or national or apostasy on the part of male either female or that his disbelief is intentionally accomplished by blasphemous speech or deed. Apostasy in the Holy Quran and the hadiths and manners of the holy infallibles is not just a return from religion and belief change; rather, an apostate is one who, after illustrating the truth and surrendering to religion, stubbornly tries to strike at religion and denies the truth and the divinity of God Almighty or the mission of the Holy Prophet of Islam.