Tafsir at-Tabari: Jami' al-Bayan - Dar al-Tarbiyah wa al-Turath Edition — The Qur'an was revealed from seven gates of Paradise

Discourse on the explanation of the meaning of the statement of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of God be upon him: "The Qur'an was revealed from seven gates of Paradise," and mention of the reports narrated regarding that (1)

Abū Jaʿfar said: Transmitters differed regarding the wording of the report about that from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of God be upon him:

67 - It was narrated from Ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, that he said: The earlier Scripture was revealed from a single gate and in a single mode, whereas the Qur'an was revealed from seven gates and in seven modes: prohibiting and commanding, (2) lawful and prohibited, decisive and ambiguous, and parables. So deem lawful its lawful, deem prohibited its prohibited, do what you are commanded to do, refrain from what you are forbidden from, take heed from its parables, act upon its decisive [verses], believe in its ambiguous [verses], and say: "We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord."

Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated that to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ informed me, from ʿUqayl ibn Khālid, from Salama ibn Abī Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, from his father, from Ibn Masʿūd, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him. (3)

(1) In the printed edition: "narrated regarding that".
(2) In the printed edition: "prohibition and command", and the correct reading is from the manuscript, Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān (p. 66), and Fatḥ al-Bārī (9: 26).
(3) Hadith 67: Ibn Ḥajar said in al-Fatḥ (9: 26), mentioning the aforementioned report with this Chain of transmission, he said: "Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: This hadith is not established, because it is from the narration of Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān from Ibn Masʿūd, and he did not meet Ibn Masʿūd." Then he said: "And the mentioned hadith was graded authentic by Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim, but there is reservation regarding its authentication due to the interruption between Abū Salama and Ibn Masʿūd. Al-Bayhaqī transmitted it from another route from al-Zuhrī as a Mursal hadith, and said: 'This is a good Mursal narration.'" See Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān (p. 66). And see Musnad Aḥmad, hadith 4252, from Filfila al-Juʿfī from Ibn Masʿūd: "The Qurʾān was revealed to your Prophet Peace and blessings of God be upon him from seven doors upon seven modes—or he said: letters—whereas the Book before him used to descend from one door upon one mode."

Translation · EN

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