# Why didn't the Prophet explain every verse of the Quran himself?

*Why did the Prophet not write a verse-by-verse tafsir? Openness gives the Quran timelessness*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/8/
- Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (24:40–27:52)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=1480s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/

**Topics:** How to read the Quran; Tafsir and verse study

**Question as asked:** Why didn't the Prophet compose his own tafsir? Why couldn't a sahabi sit with him and go through each ayah?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Leaving the Quran undefined was a blessing, he says: a fixed tafsir would have restricted it, while leaving it to each age's understanding gives it timelessness.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that leaving the Quran to human understanding, read in light of each age, rather than defining everything, is what gives it its timelessness.

**Evidence, his words at 25:56:** “it would have restricted everything and the fact that it was left to human understanding to be able to read it in light of their own day and age is what gives the quran it's kind of timelessness” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=1556s)

## Longer summary

After some exchanges with the chat, Mufti Abu Layth reads a super chat asking why the Prophet did not compose his own tafsir, with a companion going through each ayah with him, and calls it a very good question. He says people should see a blessing in this rather than a misfortune: had everything been defined it would have restricted everything, and leaving the Quran to human understanding, read in light of each age, is what gives it its timelessness. He compares it to poetry, from which people take unique meanings, and says the Quran often answers something while leaving a lot of room to manoeuvre, which makes it meaningful for more people.

## Sources and names cited

- tafsir
- sahabah (companions)

## Transcript (machine tier, 24:40–27:52)

[24:39] right that reminds me mufti's somebody said mufti's gone global hell yeah mr wu why daley it's all about the dale lifestyle huh is that so spectrum says hey mufti hey spectrum hey mufti hey dude what's going on i have two serious questions whoa you know somebody says i have two

[25:17] they just got blocked united is blocked spectrum or deleted well uh i got one part of the question um musti someone sent a really interesting super chat why didn't the prophet compose his own tough seed why couldn't a sahabi sit with him and go through each ayah that is a very good question uh inaya whoever sent that um you see in many ways people don't see this as a [Music]

[25:56] as a curse or as something unfortunate see the blessing in it you see if everything became defined it would have restricted everything and the fact that it was left to human understanding to be able to read it in light of their own day and age is what gives the quran it's kind of timelessness see the problem with defining everything it would be in essence

[26:33] placing parameters on everything and don't let that i don't think we need to do that because i think humans are infinitely um you know we are not only different but but mysterious in our own ways that we have a we we find a sense of mystery that may be unique to us in life and yet when we read the quran it gives us the meaning that we may need from it just like just like many things like let's say poetry you could take a unique

[27:12] meaning from it some poetry is more vague at times and the nature of the quran is it's quite unbounded like that it's you know it doesn't um give always definitives it it kind of answers something but leaves a lot of room a lot of leeway for people to maneuver this maneuverability is what makes it even more meaningful for more for more people because you might come to the quran and take a meaning that helps you in your life and i might read it and

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/8. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/8/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.