The Israelite Narratives In The Story Of á¹¢Ä liḥ (Peace Be Upon Him) In Light Of The TafsÄ«r Heritage: A Study And Critique

This research addresses an important issue related to the Qur’an, namely the presence of IsrÄ â€™Ä«liyyÄ t (Israelite reports) within exegetical works, many of which were filled with such narratives from an early stage and across different periods. These reports, transmitted generation after generation, were largely drawn from the Jewish and Christian heritage concerning the prophets, the origins of creation, the universe, and related matters, and entered Islam through certain Jews who embraced it. At the same time, another group emerged that rejected these IsrÄ â€™Ä«liyyÄ t altogether, whether they agreed with Islamic teachings, contradicted them, or remained neutral. Accordingly, preachers and exegetes are urged to avoid citing weak and unsound reports in their lessons and interpretations. The study employed the inductive-analytical, deductive, and critical methods, and reached several important conclusions, the most notable being that IsrÄ â€™Ä«liyyÄ t are not confined to reports with origins in the sources of the People of the Book, but rather encompass all statements and reports of non-Islamic origin that entered tafsÄ«r; that the term IsrÄ â€™Ä«liyyÄ t is applied to this bulk of narratives predominantly; and that a report may possess an authentic, good, or sound chain of transmission according to experts in Ê¿ilm al-jarḥ wa al-taÊ¿dÄ«l, yet still contain falsehoods or myths in its content. Hence, there is no necessary link between the soundness of the chain and the reliability of the text, since a reliable chain may nonetheless transmit a flawed or irregular narrative.