Why Tafseer Matters When Reading Translation

A translation answers the question “What does this say?” Tafseer answers the questions that follow: “Why was this said?”, “What does it connect to?”, and “How have scholars understood it?”

What translation can’t carry
Arabic is a rich language, and a single word can hold several shades of meaning. A translation has to choose one phrasing, and some depth is unavoidably lost. Verses can also refer to situations, rulings or earlier passages that a reader wouldn’t know from the translated sentence alone.

What tafseer adds
Tafseer is the commentary of scholars on the Quran. It may explain the background of a verse, clarify difficult words, connect one passage to another, or draw out practical lessons. Well-known works include Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Jalalayn and Tafsir As-Saadi, each with its own style and level of detail.

Reading them together

• Read the Arabic Ayah first, even if you can’t yet read it fluently. Listen to the recitation.
• Read the translation to understand the plain meaning.
• Open the tafseer to see the context and scholarly explanation.
• Come back to the translation. Often a verse reads differently the second time.

A word of caution
Tafseer is a field of scholarship, and scholars sometimes emphasize different aspects. For rulings or questions that affect your life, ask a qualified scholar. The tafseer on The AI Quran is shown as published and is not written or altered by AI.