Key Debates

Verses on which Tafsīr al-Mīzān examines and answers other interpretations at length. Each page sets out the question and al-Mizan's argument, with a reading guide that opens the commentary at each stage of the debate.

Verse	Debate	The question
2:26	Compulsion and Delegation	Are human actions compelled by God's will and decree (jabr), or handed over entirely to man so that God has no part in them (tafwīḍ) — or is the truth “a position between the two”?
2:35	Adam, the Garden and the Tree	Did Adam sin when he ate from the tree? What kind of prohibition was it, and what was the Garden he was sent out of?
4:59	Those Vested with Authority	Who are “those vested with authority (ulu al-amr) from among you” whom the believers are ordered to obey alongside God and the Messenger?
5:3	The Perfection of Religion	On what day, and by what, did God perfect the religion and complete His favour, so that the unbelievers despaired of Islam?
5:55	The Verse of Guardianship	Who are “those who believe, who keep up prayer and pay the zakāt while they bow”, named with God and the Messenger as the believers' guardian (walī)?
5:67	The Verse of Delivery (Tablīgh)	What was the Prophet ordered to deliver, so important that failing to deliver it would mean he had not delivered God's message at all?
6:26	The Faith of Abū Ṭālib	Does the verse “And they prohibit (others) from it and go far away from it” refer to Abū Ṭālib, who protected the Prophet, as some reports claim — and did Abū Ṭālib die a believer?
6:74	Abraham's Father	Was Āzar, the idol-worshipper whom Abraham calls “my father” (ab), Abraham's real father?
6:85	The Children of One's Daughter	Are the children of a man's daughter his own children and descendants — and so are al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, the sons of Fāṭimah, the children and descendants (dhurriyyah) of the Prophet?