O
ne of the undisputable aiding instruments of Tafsir is literacy. The more literate the Muslims are in the relevant language, the more they are likely to understand the Qur'an through Tafsir. And no one who thoroughly understands Tafsir will be ignorant of Islam or even life.
Muslims who are deeply schooled through the Western system of education will discover that virtually all the sciences, social sciences and arts, originated from the study of Tafsir. Even some scientific terminologies confirm this. It therefore takes real scholars, not just reciters of the Qur'an or speakers of Arabic language, to be exponents of Tafsir. This is a rare factor that is conspicuously missing in Nigeria.
There is a sharp difference between translating the context of the Qur'an and interpreting it in expository manner. The one is shallow. The other is deep. Ordinarily, Tafsir is not supposed to be an annual Ramadan affair. It should rather be a daily practice for all scholars who are ardent in it.
Although Tafsir gains more popularity in the month of Ramadan because every true Muslim wants to get closer to Allah through familiarization with the Qur'an, it is not limited to that sacred month alone and it should not be seen as such.
Going by the limit of their knowledge and the extent of their unwillingness to learn more, only a few Muslim scholars in Nigeria are qualified to tutor the populace on Tafsir. Most of the so-called Nigerian Muslim scholars (Alfas) have turned Tafsir into an annual commercial jamboree which fetches them what they regard as Ramadan booty. Their motive of engaging in Tafsir is more pecuniary than spiritual. And that is where problem lies.
What most of those Alfas often dish out in the name of knowledge is mere hearsay. And that is why majority of Nigerian Muslim audiences at Tafsir Centres can hardly benefit from what they hear in those Centres.
Tafsir is a special field of discipline meant only for research oriented scholars and students. But unfortunately, it is one area of study which has very few institutions of learning in Nigeria.
Because of this problem, the Qur'an has been translated into very few Nigerian languages so far. And today, the few copies of vernacular Qur'an in circulation can hardly be found on book shelves even as most of them are virtually out of print. The solution to this problem is for philanthropic Muslims to rise up in financial support of Tafsir provisions.
Dr.Femi Abbas is a columnist at The nation newspaper and can be reached via: E-mail: femabbas756@gmail.com Tel: 08115708536 (Text only)
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