Study of the Principles of the Qur’ān Interpretation in Schools of Separatism (Tafkīk) and Traditionalism (Akhbāriyyūn)

   Some argue that the most important achievement of traditionalism, that is, reliance on narrations without principally critiquing them, is reconstructed in separatism school; thus, this school is considered as a type of neo-traditionalism. A comparative examination of these two viewpoints can provide the principles for understanding the doctrines of each one of them and also represent the degree of the truth or falsehood of this claim and their differences and similarities.
This study, made by library method, showed that the traditionalists have chosen just tradition in their encounter with the four proofs, despite the separatists who rely on all the four pillars. They believe that the only way to understand the doctrinal knowledge is through the aḥādīth of the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.); however the Prophetic traditions, like the Qur’ān, lack apparent authoritativeness. They consider intellect and consensus as fabricated by the Sunnīs and thus fail to resort to them. The common ground of these two schools is limited to appealing to the aḥādīth of the Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.), as, of course, the contradictory position that each one of them have followed in adopting the aḥādīth, has tainted the attribution of the separatists to traditionalism.