The Makkah School of Exegesis

Introduction
In the present topic, we will investigate the major formative
Makkah school of exegesis that have evolved during the life
time of companions and early successors whose views have
significantly shaped up the later generations of both classical
and modern Qur’an scholars.
The four schools of the formative phase are illustrated below:
 Schools of the formative phase

Schools of hijaz Schools of Iraq

Makkah Madeena Kufah Basra

Ibn Mas’ud Al hasan al basri

Ibn Abbas Ubai b. ka’b
 We will discuss some selected topic only, topic is given below:
(1) The Makkah school of exegesis
(2) Features of Makkah school of exegesis
(3) Success of Makkah school
(4) Impact of Makkah school on other exegetes
 The Makkah school of exegesis
 The school of Makkah was founded by ibn abbas (d.68/67) and was the most
influential in Qur’an exegesis.
 Ibn abbas was the prophet’s cousin and well-known for his extensive knowledge
of the Qur’an, Arabic language, pre-Islamic poetry, Arabic history and culture
(ayyam al arab) and Arabic genealogy (ansab al arab).
 Hewas rightly nicknamed as habr al-ummah (the encyclopaedia man of the
muslim nation) the turjuman al-qur’an (the translator of the Qur’an)
 He enjoyed a special status among the companions, and for his encyclopaedic
knowledge, ibn abbas was umar b al khattab’s close aide.
 He was appointed by ali ab abi talib the ruler of basra for four year. Among the
students of ibn abbas are mujahid (d.104/722)
 Itis worthwhile to note that when ibn abbas was in basrah al-hasan al basri left
for majinah and the two scholars neither met in basrah nor in Makkah during any
of the hajj seasons.
 However, when ibn abbas’ was in Basrah< Abu al-Aliyah (d90/708) attended the
study circles of ibn abbas.
 Most important, however, Abu al-Aliyah remained a proMadinah school scholar
and was not influenced by Ibn Abbas’s exegetical views.
 The influences of his teacher, Ubai remained evident in abu al aliya’s journey of
studying qur’anic exegesis
 Features of Makkah school of exegesis
 The major prototypical exegetical features of makkkah school are:
 1) hypothetical opinion (ijtihad) and discovery (istinbat): this is attributed to the
fact that the founder of the school, Ibn’Abbas, encouraged his students, such as
Mujahid and Ikramah, to critically debate Qur’anic matters and provide their
exegetical personal opinions, that is, to practice ijtihad and instinbat in Qur’an
exegesis. This however, is contrary to the schools of exegesis led by Ibn Mas’ud
in kufah, Ubai b Ka’b in Madinah and al-hasan al basri in basrah.
The personal opinion approach, among other factors, made the Makkah school’s
reputation broaden and the number, the Basrah school’s exegetes were influenced by
the Makkah school’s practice of ijtihad.
Although the Makkah school exegetes adopted the approach of personal opinion and
discovery of signification in the analysis of Qur’anic
Expression related to the names and attributes of God (asma wa sifat allah) and
theological mutashbihat, their exegesis was based upon mainstream theological
views.
In other word, their personal opinion account aimed at proving rather than
disproving the literal, that is, exoteric, meaning of the names and attributes of God.
For instance, both Ibn’Abbas and Mujahid confirmed the yadd (hand) of God in
Q39:67, wal-samawatu matwiyyatun biyaminih (The heavens will be folded in His
right hand) and the ain (eyes) of God in Q11:37, wasna al fulka bi a yunina
(construct the ship under our eyes).
2) The recording of exegesis in the form of lecture notes: Ibn abbas encouraged his
students to take notes of his exegesis teaching sessions. These basic lecture notes,
however, should not be confused with recording Qur’anic exegesis in the form of
volumes.
 The use of jewish anecdotes in exegesis: Ibn Abbas was highly influenced by the
Jewish converts Ka’b Ibn Mati al Himyari al Yamani known as Ka’b alAhbar
(D.34/654) and Abd Allah b. salam ibn al harith (d.43/663). Student of the
Makkah school, such as mujahid, sa’id b. jubair and Ikramah, were also
influenced by jewish anecdotes. This influence was extended to their successor
student, such as al-Suddi (d.127/744)
 The use of poetic in qur’anic exegesis.
 Interestin admonition (al-waz) and urging people for the renunciation of pleasere
in worldly things (al-zuhd).
Success of Makkah school
1) The founder of the Makkah school ibn abbas outlived other companion exegetes.
2) he died in 68/687 while ibn masud the founder of the kufah school died in
32/653, and ubai b ka’b of the Madinah school died in 20/640.
3) Thus the teaching of ibn abbas continued, his students increased and his views
spread to more parts of the Mulsim world through his students.
5) However although al-Hasan al Basri,l the founder of the Basrah school, died in
110/728, he had only one student, Qata’dah
6) The large number of pilgrims who come annually to Makkah used to
convey his exegetical views as well as the views of his students to their
local communities in various parts of the muslims world
7) Ibn abbas’ encouraged his students to traveol to other Muslim
countries to teach exegesis and be his ambassadors for his exegetical
views. Both mujahid and Ikramah travelled to several countries such as
Egypt, Morocco and Iraq where they lived in either Basrah or Kufah.
8) Ibn Abbas encouraged his student to record exegesis as lecture notes.
His students’ lecture notes and books became valuable sources for
Qur’an schoolars elsewhere. Thus ibn abbas views disseminated rapidly
and widely.
Impact of Makkah school on other exegetes
 the Makkah school of exegesis had significantly influenced the views
of exegetes from other schools of exegesis. The impact of the Makkah
school was evident on the school of Kufah and the school of Basrah:
(1) Sa’id b. Jubair for instance, influenced some exegetes from the Kufah
school such as Dahhak and al-Suddi who both narrated Fromibn
Abbas’s student, Sa’id b. Jubair. Similarly, Sufyan al Thawri from
kufah was also influenced by ibn Abbas views through his students
Muhajid, Ata’ Ikramah and Sa’id b. Jubair.
The Basrah school was influenced by the Makkah school. Ibn Abbas was appointed
the Amir (ruler) of Basrah by Ali b. Abi Talib for four years during which he taught
Abu al Aliyah who became a close friend of Ibn Abbas and visited him in Makkah
several times when he went for pilgrimage.
Academically, however Abu al Aliyah was more attached to Ubai b. Ka’b of the
Madinah school. Ikramah also lived in Basrah and was admired by both al Hasan al
Basri was more attached to the Madinah school of exegesis and its student Sa’id b.
al Musaidyab.
The other main reason why the Makkah school did not influence al-Hasan could be
attributed to the fact that he was living in Madinah for the whole of meeting ibn
Abbas neither in Basrah nor during pilgrimage. One cannot verify, however,
whether this was a deliberate action by al-Hasan to avoid Abbas or a more co-
incidence.
 Conclusion
The Makkah school, however, was not able to influence the exegetes of the
Madinah school. On the contrary, the Madinah school frowned upon the Makkah
school for their indulgence in Istinbat (discovery) and ijtihad (independent personal
judgement) and the discussion of controversial theological matters such as the
theological Mutashbihat and the names and attributes of God.
 Thanks for watching

NAME: Rashid Khan (Department of Qur’an and Related sciences, Research

scholar of DHIU)
GMAIL: rashidpgscholar@gmail.com
PHONE: 9846673572
ADDRESS: Harchanda, Jarval Qasba, kaisar ganj, Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, 271904