The Principles of Understanding the Qur'an from the Perspective of the Shiite Doctrine (Sunnah)

Abstract

Understanding the Holy Qur'an, like any other text, has principles and rules that are the basis for inferring from the Qur'an, and the factor for reducing differences in the understanding of its verses. In the meantime, one of the sources of the aforementioned principles is Sunnah left by the Infallibles (AS), those true interpreters of the Qur'an, which have been left in the form of sayings, deeds, and interpretations of those imams. Analytical descriptive investigation of this problem indicates that the understanding of the Qur'an is based on principles such as: return of allegorical verses (Mutashabihat) to decisive verses (Muhkamat), presentation of unknowns to axioms, etc., which is discussed in intellectual and transmitted discussions, and it teaches the correct way of inferring from the Qur'an, and by stating the framework and the basic rules for understanding the verses, it expresses the context, concept and what necessarily implies the understanding of the Qur'an under the special rules.