A critical review of Rashid Reza's view on the miracles of Jesus and Muhammad

Intellect is one of God’s greatest blessings to human beings. The two broad categories of Quranic interpretations are the narrative or effective interpretation and the intellectual and ijtihad interpretation. The Quranic verses are interpreted using ration and reasons that are supported by the Quran, the narrations, and the Sireh in the intellectual interpretation approach. In this approach, the intellect serves as a light source for direction.Many Quranic commentators have used the intellect to interpret the Quran, including the Sunni Egyptian scholar Muhammad Rashid Rida. He was a disciple of Muhammad Abduh and presents a different method of interpretation of Quranic verses about the miracles of Jesus (PBUH) and Muhammad (PBUH). Thus, it is necessary to examine his views in this regard. This article examines the intellectual interpretations of Tafsir Al-Manar about the miracles of the mentioned prophets using a descriptive-analytical method to assess the accuracy of Mohammad Rashid Rida's commentaries. The results of this investigation led to the conclusion that Rashid Rida’s views contradict the appearances of Quranic verses and Shiite and Sunni narrations and commentators. He has also used contradictory discourse in his writings. Mohammad Rashid Rida's denial of the miracles proves his incorrect use of intellectual interpretation of the Quran, which would have otherwise led to a true intellectual interpretation.