Social-Sociological Interpretation and Tabatabai's Sociological Interpretations

The Shia commentator Tabatabai developed Shia thought through his fifty works and his twenty-volume commentary Al-Mizan. He used both Shia and Sunni sources, establishing a connection between the two sects. In his commentary, he did not merely confine himself to explaining the religious text but drew on many sciences. By reinterpreting the Quran and hadiths, addressing the needs of the age, seeking solutions to Muslims' problems, highlighting social issues, combating anti-Islamic views, and producing a multifaceted commentary of high intellectual depth, he contributed to the history of Islamic thought. The Quran, just as it recounts the events that befell previous communities and nations, also mentions the social events that have transpired among the Islamic ummah, urging lessons to be learned by pointing to God's unchanging social laws. The practice of commentators addressing social laws and interpreting verses in relation to their own time, seeking solutions to the social problems of their era, has gained widespread popularity in the last century with the social commentary school of thought. Tabatabai also sought solutions to the social problems of his era in the light of the Quran. He did not concern himself with the linguistic and jurisprudential details of the verses, but rather interpreted them in terms that concerned societies. In this article, the school of social commentary, Tabatabai's sociological comments on society and social relations in Islam, property, freedom, prophethood, qibla, sunnatullah, taqiyya, social justice, women, patience, imitation, prevention of superstitions, ordering goodness will be discussed, and his views will be compared with another commentator. The article is important in terms of presenting the sociological views of the commentator. The study employed the analysis-synthesis method, along with content analysis and syntheses. Generally, the commentator's commentary, the book on Islamic Sociology, and relevant books and articles were referenced.