The Qur’an comes from Allah SWT, sent down to the Messenger of Allah SAAW as the law of the religion of Islam and a guidance for the believers. For this reason it is of the greatest importance that Muslims study the Qur’an. Allah SWT’s command to study the Qur’an is stated plainly in the Qur’an, for example in the following verses:

An-Nisa (4): 82

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَۚ وَلَوۡ كَانَ مِنۡ عِندِ غَيۡرِ ٱللَّهِ لَوَجَدُواْ فِيهِ ٱخۡتِلَٰفٗا كَثِيرٗا

“Do they not study (tadabbur) the Qur’an? Had it been from any other than Allah, they would surely have found in it much contradiction”

Muhammad (47): 24

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ أَمۡ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقۡفَالُهَآ

“Then do they not study (tadabbur) the Qur’an? Or are there locks upon their hearts?”

Among the hadiths from the Messenger of Allah SAAW on the importance of studying the Qur’an is the following:
“If you wish for the life of the happy, the death of the martyrs, safety on the day of resurrection, shade on the day of burning heat, guidance on the day of straying — study the Qur’an, for it is the speech of the Merciful, a guard against Satan, and weight in the balance (mizan)”

On the basis of the verse and hadiths above, it is plain to us that studying the Qur’an is an obligation for all Muslims.

Ali Imran (3): 7

هُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ مِنۡهُ ءَايَٰتٞ مُّحۡكَمَٰتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَٰبِهَٰتٞۖ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمۡ زَيۡغٞ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَٰبَهَ مِنۡهُ ٱبۡتِغَآءَ ٱلۡفِتۡنَةِ وَٱبۡتِغَآءَ تَأۡوِيلِهِۦۖ وَمَا يَعۡلَمُ تَأۡوِيلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُۗ وَٱلرَّـٰسِخُونَ فِي ٱلۡعِلۡمِ يَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِهِۦ كُلّٞ مِّنۡ عِندِ رَبِّنَاۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُوْلُواْ ٱلۡأَلۡبَٰبِ

“It is He who sent down the Qur’an to you. Among it are verses that are muhkamat — these are the foundation of the Book — and others that are mutasyabihat. As for those whose hearts incline to deviation, they follow what is mutasyabihat, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation, when none knows its interpretation but Allah. And those firmly grounded in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it (the Qur’an); all is from our Lord.’ And none takes heed but those of understanding”

In studying the Qur’an we come to the science of commentary, in which the verses of the Qur’an can be grouped into two: the muhkamat verses and the mutasyabihat verses. The muhkamat verses are those whose meaning is already plain, for example “O you who believe, establish the prayer.” This verse plainly means that prayer is obligatory for the believers, even though the manner of performing it is later set out in the science of Fiqh. The second group is the mutasyabihat verses, meaning verses whose sense is obscure and which cannot be taken directly. The verse Ali Imran:7 above implies that those whose hearts incline to deviation try to seek out the interpretation of the Qur’an, when the one who knows its interpretation is Allah SWT alone.

If we study the Qur’an, we will find that there are many mutasyabihat verses, for example in the following surahs:

Al-Qasas (28): 88

وَلَا تَدۡعُ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا ءَاخَرَۘ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَۚ كُلُّ شَيۡءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجۡهَهُۥۚ لَهُ ٱلۡحُكۡمُ وَإِلَيۡهِ تُرۡجَعُونَ

“And do not call upon another god besides Allah. There is no god but He. Everything will perish except Allah. His is the judgement, and to Him you will be returned”

If we look at the terms used in that verse without interpretation, its sense is “everything will perish except the face (wajhahu) of Allah”. That is to say, the hand of Allah, the foot of Allah and everything else will perish, except the face of Allah. This rendering can of course not be accepted by our reason as thinking people. If we look further at the translation of the Qur’an, that translation says “everything will perish except Allah”, not except the face of Allah! So the translator here has already interpreted this verse. This shows an inconsistency: in one verse it is said that only Allah knows its meaning (it may not be interpreted), and in another verse an interpretation of the verse is carried out (if only Allah knows its meaning, from where can the translator know the interpretation of that verse?!).

QS Al-Isra’ (17): 72

وَمَن كَانَ فِي هَٰذِهِۦٓ أَعۡمَىٰ فَهُوَ فِي ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ أَعۡمَىٰ وَأَضَلُّ سَبِيلٗا

“And whoever is blind (of heart) in this world will be blind in the hereafter and further astray”

If we take the direct sense of that verse without interpretation, we would of course think how pitiable the blind are — what wrong have they done? Blind already in this world, and to be blind in the hereafter too. Once again, our sound reason cannot accept this understanding. If we look at the translation of the Qur’an, once again we see the translator carrying out an interpretation, where the sense of the verse is given as “whoever is blind (of heart) in this world..”. Yet if we look at the Arabic grammar used in this verse, the word used is a’ma, which indicates physical blindness, while for blindness of heart the word used should be a’mal basyir. So from where can the translator know the interpretation of this verse, if only Allah knows its interpretation?

Is a translator permitted to interpret a verse of the Qur’an, when the translation of the verse Ali Imran:7 says that none knows its interpretation but Allah? Thinking it through logically: the Qur’an is a lesson for mankind, sent down for mankind — so why would Allah send down mutasyabihat verses if only Allah knows their meaning? We agree and we believe that no act of Allah is in vain. So to say that the mutasyabihat verses are known in meaning to Allah alone means we have charged Allah with acting in vain!

Then what of the translation of Ali Imran:7 as given above? Let us look again at the verse Ali Imran:7, which says:

“... when none knows its interpretation but Allah. And those firmly grounded in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it (the Qur’an); all is from our Lord.’ And none takes heed but those of understanding”.

If we look at that verse grammatically, we see that in it the word “And” is used to begin a sentence. In Indonesian grammar, “and” is a conjunction and so cannot be used to begin a sentence. It is the same in Arabic grammar: if we look at this verse again, the word “waa” (which means “and”) is a conjunction. So if we join the translation above together, it reads “when none knows its interpretation but Allah and those firmly grounded in knowledge...”. So there are people able to interpret the mutasyabihat verses of the Qur’an, namely those firmly grounded in knowledge.

Then who are those firmly grounded in knowledge? In the Qur’an there is an account which says that Allah taught interpretation to a man, for example in surah Yusuf (QS12):6, which reads:

وَكَذَٰلِكَ يَجۡتَبِيكَ رَبُّكَ وَيُعَلِّمُكَ مِن تَأۡوِيلِ ٱلۡأَحَادِيثِ وَيُتِمُّ نِعۡمَتَهُۥ عَلَيۡكَ وَعَلَىٰٓ ءَالِ يَعۡقُوبَ كَمَآ أَتَمَّهَا عَلَىٰٓ أَبَوَيۡكَ مِن قَبۡلُ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَ وَإِسۡحَٰقَۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٞ

“And thus will your Lord choose you and teach you something of the interpretation of dreams, and perfect His favour upon you and upon the family of Ya’qub, as He perfected it upon your two forefathers before, Ibrahim and Ishaq. Indeed your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise.”

In that verse Allah taught interpretation to the Prophet Yusuf a.s. So we conclude that the Prophet Yusuf a.s is among those firmly grounded in knowledge and taught interpretation by Allah SWT.

Then what of the interpretation of the Qur’an? We may of course conclude that whoever knows the interpretation of the Qur’an must be of a standing at least equal to the Prophet Yusuf a.s, or above the Prophet Yusuf a.s. So who are those firmly grounded in knowledge who are able to interpret this Qur’an?

QS Waqiah (56): 77-79

إِنَّهُۥ لَقُرۡءَانٞ كَرِيمٞ

فِي كِتَٰبٖ مَّكۡنُونٖ

لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلۡمُطَهَّرُونَ

“Indeed it is a noble Qur’an, in a Book well guarded, which none touches (the Qur’an) but the servants who have been purified”

What is meant by “but the servants who have been purified” in the verse above? If we look at the translations available today, some render this verse “but the servants who are in wudhu.” Returning to Arabic grammar, “La” in the Qur’an has two senses: negation and prohibition. The La used in this verse does not mean prohibition but negation. So the sense of this verse is “none touches the Qur’an, except...”. Is it correct to say that none touches the Qur’an except those in wudhu? Reason alone: is it true that everyone who touches the Qur’an is in a state of wudhu, when we know that many touch the physical Qur’an without wudhu? So has that verse of Allah fallen short in laying something down? Impossible!

On the basis of the discussion above, we may conclude that the word “touch” in this verse does not mean touching physically, but non-physically, namely understanding what the Qur’an contains.

To make the understanding clearer, let us look at the same word “touch” used in QS Al-A’Raaf (7):201, which reads:

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوۡاْ إِذَا مَسَّهُمۡ طَـٰٓئِفٞ مِّنَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ تَذَكَّرُواْ فَإِذَا هُم مُّبۡصِرُونَ

“Indeed those who are mindful of Allah, when they are touched(1) (disturbed) by a visitation from Satan, remember Allah, and at once they see (their errors)”

Taken physically it would mean “those mindful of Allah, when touched by Satan”. Of course the sense of that verse is not being touched by Satan physically, but being entered by Satan — that is, non-physical.

Returning to the discussion of surah Al-Waaqiah, “...except the servants who have been purified”. If this verse is translated “except the servants who are in wudhu” that is of course not right, because one who has wudhu is in Arabic Thohir, that is, one who purifies himself. Whereas this verse says servants who have been purified, not who purify. So what is meant in this verse is servants who have been purified by Allah.

Then who are those purified servants? Who are able to interpret the Qur’an for us, the Muslims, to take as a lesson and a guide for life?

QS Al-Ahzab (33): 33

وَقَرۡنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجۡنَ تَبَرُّجَ ٱلۡجَٰهِلِيَّةِ ٱلۡأُولَىٰۖ وَأَقِمۡنَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتِينَ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَأَطِعۡنَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥٓۚ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمُ ٱلرِّجۡسَ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمۡ تَطۡهِيرٗا

“And stay in your houses and do not display yourselves as in the display of the former times of ignorance, and establish the prayer, give the zakat and obey Allah and His messenger. Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O people of the house, and to purify you with a thorough purification.”

The verse above says that it is the Ahlul bayt who are the ones purified by Allah. Then who is meant by Ahlul Bayt? The common view of ahlul bayt is that they are the wives of the Prophet. To answer whether it is true that the ahlul bayt are the wives of the Prophet, we will examine the matter from three sides: the Qur’an, history, and grammar.

1. From the side of the Qur’an
In QS Al-Ahzab (33):30 the wives of the Prophet are warned by Allah not to commit an indecency. Returning to the earlier statement, Allah does nothing in vain, so if no wife of the Prophet were to commit an indecency, why would Allah give the warning? Did Allah not know that the wives of the Prophet would not commit an indecency? This proves that there were wives of the Prophet who committed indecency and so were warned by Allah SWT, and it also shows that the ahlul bayt in verse 33 (those purified by Allah) does not refer to the wives of the Prophet.

2. From the side of history
The first part of QS Al-Ahzab (33):33 states a command to the wives of the Prophet, namely “...stay in your houses”. This means the wives of the Prophet were not permitted to go out of the house, by the command of Allah. From history, we know that there was a wife of the Prophet who went out of the house, and even led the battle of Jamal after the passing of the Prophet SAAW. So is it possible that ahlul bayt means the wives of the Prophet, when there was one of the Prophet’s wives who broke the command of Allah?

3. From the side of Arabic grammar
The word indeed (Innama) used in QS Al-Ahzab (33):33 is called in Arabic grammar kalimatul hasyr (a restrictive clause). So the function of the word Innama is to restrict a subject; it is therefore not a continuation of the preceding subject. Another verse using Innama is QS5:55, “Indeed your protector is only Allah, the Messenger and those who believe ...” Allah uses the word “Innama” in this verse, which is a restriction, so none other than the three mentioned may be taken as a leader, none other may be obeyed.

Further, the word you (“ankum”) in the phrase “purify you” is the masculine pronoun; so if we take it that the ahlul bayt are the wives of the Prophet, the word used would be “ankunna”. The pronouns used in QS 33:33 all use the word “kum”, not “kunna”, and so do not refer to women — and thus it is not the wives of the Prophet who are meant in this verse. If we look at the beginning of QS 33:33, which does plainly mention the wives of the Prophet, the word used is “buyutikunna”, referring to the houses of the Prophet’s wives, and not buyutikum.

On the basis of the examination of the Qur’an, history and Arabic grammar, it is plain that the wives of the Prophet are not the ahlul bayt meant in QS33:33.

Then who are the ahlul bayt actually meant in the verse QS 33:33?

In Sahih Muslim, in book 44 “The Excellences of the Companions”, chapter 9 “The Excellences of the Family of the Prophet SAAW(2)”, it is related as follows:

“On the authority of Shafiyyah binti Syaibah, who said: ‘Aisyah said’: ‘Early in the morning the Prophet SAW went out wearing a “kisa”(3) made of black wool. Suddenly Hasan bin Ali came. He then invited him in. Then Husain came and entered with him. A little later Fatimah came. He invited her in. Then Ali came. And he invited him in too. Then he recited the word of Allah: “Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O people of the house, and to purify you with a thorough purification.”

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(1) The Indonesian translation says “shadowed” or “disturbed”, but the word used in this verse is “touched”
(2) taken from Tarjamah Shahih Muslim by KH Adib Bisri Musthofa, publisher Asy-Syifa, Semarang 1993, p. 312
(3) In Arabic, “kisa” means cloth