Abstract Narrations prohibiting tafsir bi al-ra’y (Qur’anic exegesis based on personal opinion) are among the most important sources for determining the limits and criteria of Qur’anic exegesis. However, exegetes’ understanding of the concept of ra’y in these narrations has not remained uniform throughout Islamic history. One significant development in this regard is Muhammad Husayn al-Dhahabi’s division of tafsir bi al-ra’y into two categories, commendable (mamdūḥ) and reprehensible (madhmūm), in his influential work al-Tafsīr wa al-Mufassirūn. The main issue addressed in this study is to explain the reasons underlying this transformation in the understanding of the narrations prohibiting tafsir bi al-ra’y and to clarify the factors that contributed to al-Dhahabi’s formulation.
Using a descriptive-analytical method and based on library research, this study traces the development of the concept of ra’y from the context in which the prohibitive narrations were issued during the Prophet’s era, through the gradual expansion of the use of ra’y and ijtihād among the Companions and Followers and the emergence of exegetical schools, to the intellectual developments of the Islamic world in the modern period. It also examines the scholarly environment of al-Azhar and the intellectual influences that shaped al-Dhahabi’s understanding of ra’y and its relationship to Qur’anic exegesis.
The findings indicate that the distinction between commendable and reprehensible tafsir bi al-ra’y was not simply a direct consequence of the original meaning of the prohibitive narrations, nor was the acceptance of ra’y and ijtihād an entirely new phenomenon in al-Dhahabi’s period. Rather, it reflects a gradual development in the use of ra’y and ijtihād in Islamic scholarship and a subsequent rereading of the prohibitive narrations in light of the intellectual circumstances of al-Dhahabi’s era. Thus, al-Dhahabi’s formulation represents an attempt to reconcile the use of reason and ijtihād in Qur’anic exegesis with the narrations prohibiting tafsir bi al-ra’y.