The Categorization of Historical Narratives in Majma’ al-Bayān Commentary

The purpose of the study is examining the typology of Hadiths with the function of historiography in Majma' al-Bayan. The model used in this article is the Methodology-based Typology. Methodology-based Typology in the field of Qur'anic interpretation is a model that classifies and analyzes three types of Hadith scholars’ approaches, i.e. relationalist, functionalist and structuralist. In this paper, this kind of typology has a descriptive-analytical approach to functional typology in Hadith. Accordingly, three categories of narration, including the narrations of the Sura-revelation- based, the narrations of the Sura-cause-based (the atmosphere of the revelation of Sura), and the narratives narrating the details of the tales (Qasas) and stories of the prophets and ancient tribes, are categorized and analyzed as the historiographical function of Hadith. The results of this study show that the narrative-revelation- based and most of the narrative-cause-based contain information about historical events or events that were important in the formation of post-Islamic history. Also narratives narrating details of the Qasas, include three hundred and eight narratives, which according to its historiographical function, can be categorized in nine different types. According to the findings of the study, it can be said that historiographical Hadiths are an essential prerequisite for explanation of Qur’anic verses and have an explanatory-interpretive role in the interpretation of history-bounded Qur'anic verses.