The Noble Qur'an is the Book of Allah that we are commanded to follow: the constitution of the Muslims, containing the clear truth, and the proof against all people until the Day of Judgement. Since its revelation to our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, interpretation began with the Companions, then their Successors and those who followed them. As the Muslim lands grew and doctrinal and intellectual schools arose, their followers naturally competed to support their views from the Qur'an, the first source of law — and so the schools of interpretation multiplied.
This book seeks the ways to a sound, disciplined contemporary understanding that meets the needs of the Ummah. It reviews the contemporary schools of interpretation and weighs them by a scholarly standard consistent with the correct method of tafsir. It covers in detail the school of Ahl al-Sunnah with its doctrinal, narrative, juristic, scientific, rhetorical and literary approaches; the rationalist school; the Sufi school with its principles, features and commentaries; and the secularist school with its deviant methods — with the merits and faults of each.
