tafsīr bil-raʾy

…pure personal speculation, known as tafsīr bil-raʾy, and such interpretation, though generally disapproved, has persisted down to the present time. Others explained or embellished Qurʾānic passages using stories drawn from Christian—and especially from Jewish—sources (Isrāʾīliyyāt). To counter the arbitrariness of such interpretation, in the fourth Islamic century (10th century ce)…