The Problems in Hadith Usage in Kur'an Yolu Tafsir within the Context of Qur'an-Sunnah Unity

Abstract

The Sunnah has an important role in the correct understanding and the protection from wrong interpretations of the Qur'an. Accordingly, hadith played a crucial role in shaping the opinions of the mufassirs. In this article, the tafsir titled Kur'an Yolu written by a group of scholars and first published by the Presidency of the Religious Affairs in 2003 which is widely read in Turkey is examined from hadith usage point of view. The problems in hadith usage are classified under headings such as insufficiency/incorrectness in the explanation of verses due to insufficient usage of hadith, not including hadith which corroborate the verse, wrong conclusions derived from hadith, problems with citations, hadith translation problems, wrong explanation of hadith, problems with some issues related to Sunnah. Over fifty examples where there were wrong citations of hadith, wrong conclusions were derived, there was mixing up of hadith and translation errors leading to wrong meanings were determined and the most important ones were studied. Due to these problems regarding hadith usage, it was seen that sometimes the unity of Qur'an and Sunnah was violated and some wrong explanations were given. The article is important due to determination of these mistakes and attracting attention to care and precaution in hadith usage in this kind of works. This study indicates the importance of Qur'an-Sunnah unity and shows the important role that hadiths play in understanding the verses. It is observed that in case hadiths related to a verse are not given or given in an insufficient or incorrect manner the verse in question is understood or interpreted incorrectly. Therefore, the correct translation and explanation of the hadith, avoiding citation mistakes and making use of primary sources are very important. The factors that lead to wrong conclusions are not evaluating a hadith in its entirety (taking into account only the first part of the hadith), not evaluating the hadiths related to a subject in entirety (taking into account only certain hadiths), not making use of commentaries in order to understand a hadith correctly and wrong citation of a hadith. The fact that the hadith which is about the gladness of Allah due to the repentance of a person has been confused with another hadith and an additional error has been made in the text of this hadith indicates that the authors have remembered this hadith incorrectly and they have not verified this hadith in its source. Given the material mistakes in many other examples under the citation errors title, it has been concluded that the wrong citation of hadiths in a way that affects the meaning constitutes a serious problem for the work under examination.

As to the translation problems, it is observed that they arise from wrong citation of the hadith from its sources (for instance omitting a word or adding expressions that are not found in the hadith) or not making use of commentaries in understanding the hadith. It is necessary that for the analysis of the hadith the authors make use of the tafsir of Ibn Kathir who is a hadith scholar along with the works of other scholars who are not specialized in hadith in order to correctly determine the accuracy level and meaning of the hadith. It seems necessary that a commission that includes hadith scholars review this work in order to correct the mistakes that are found and to make use of the suggestions that are put forward. This step is important for correcting the mistakes found in this prestigious and widely used work. Furthermore, since many readers gain knowledge about Qur'an using this work, consideration of issues raised in this study will contribute to the forthcoming edition of the work. It is surprising that despite proposed corrections since its initial publication, so many material mistakes still exist in this valuable work which is a product of great effort. It is hoped that it will continue to become useful for people by making necessary corrections.