Intermediate Tafsir

In the Name of Allah Most Merciful and Compassionate, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his pure and virtuous family, and his beloved companions. Praise be to Allah who revealed the Immense Revelation, Preserver of those who spread peace and submit to Him, and Destroyer of the wrongdoers who wreak corruption. He made his Book the difference between truth and falsehood, the introduction to every conclusion, the companion of every traveller, and the savior of every lost.

In this program we begin by diving into the depths of the meanings of the Qur'an as we enter the world of rhetoric and its terminology in a practical manner while explaining its terms in the way of the rhetoricians and exegetes. Throughout this program students will notice an increase in an understanding of rhetorical methods, and will begin to identify the usages of fasaāha, bayān, badi', and ma'ani in Qur'anic contexts. With the mindset of an exegete, students learn to analyze verses linguistically and precisely differentiate the nuances and fine distinctions between words and dissect their etymological roots. All of this is done following the method of the exegetes across the ages through both interpretive tafsīr and narrated tafsīr.

We also focus on extracting the purpose of every chapter, its axis, and its divine, miraculous ordering, while tying each chapter to the one before and the one after. From a linguistic perspective, we also break down the secrets behind word choice and other secrets hidden behind each verse.

Following the order generally taken by works of exegesis, we start by listing the names of chapter - if it has multiple names in the tradition, then recounting the contexts of each chapter's revelation and the stories and narrations regarding that matter, then depicting some of the countless virtues of the respective chapter, and then summarizing the purpose of the chapter. It is important to note that everything in this program is based on the preponderant opinions based on years of study by exegetical specialists and we do not delve into the differences of opinions amongst scholars. Rather this is further studied in our higher level programs where we break down the opinions, the scholars who put forth those opinions, and why the preponderant opinion is such.