Rules of M. Quraish Shihab's Interpretation in Tafsir Al-mishbah

As one of Malay Archipelago commentator, M. Quraish Shihab has his own rules of interpretation the Qur'an. Like other commentators, this is to ensure they are in line with the requirements of the interpretation and not deviant. However, his highly significant attention in interpreting the verse based on the linguistic meaning has led him to a different interpretation with other authentic commentators. One of the causes of this difference is due to the rules of interpretation used. Thus, is the rules of interpretation used in the Tafsir Al-Mishbah is following the rules of interpretation that has been compiled by scholars? Or is there any other rules pursued to guide his interpretation? To what extent was the accuracy of the rules pursued? To answer these questions, the authors outlined two examples of the Qur'anic verses to identify the rules pursued in his interpretation via the document analysis approach. Based on these two examples of Qur'anic verses, this preliminary study found that he had been following the rules of interpretation that has been formulated by the scholars. In addition, this study also found that even when using the same or different rules or interpretations, there were times when his interpretation was more powerful when compared with other commentators, however, sometimes his interpretation is weaker.