The meaning of the Qur'an depends on its interpretation - what makes someone elses interpretation more valid than my own?....

Every verse in the Qur'an has a corresponding "circumstance of revelation" but in no way is the understanding (the tafsir) of verses restricted solely to the particular historical circumstances in which they were revealed. The internal relationships between these verses may be quite complex, such that arriving at an understanding of how the verses interlock and how each applies to a particular situation can be quite a demanding task. It is not necessarily a simple "black or white" process. There may be many parameters involved, there may be a larger context in which a particular situation should be viewed. All these matters impinge on the situation.

In other words there is a great deal involved in deciphering the Qur'an. The Qur'an asks us to reflect on its verses, but this reflection must entail more than simply reading a verse and its corresponding hadith. If the reflection is for the sake of increasing personal piety, then each person has his own level of understanding and there is no harm in that. In fact, this manner of reflection is encouraged, and over time our understanding deepens through this reflection, and our level of knowledge broadens and deepens along with our faith. However, if the reflection is in order to decide matters that pertain to the State, to the gestation of laws and rulings, to the gestation of society, the dispensing of justice, the guidance of the community, then there are certain minimum requirements of understanding that one should achieve. The Imam Jaffar Ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq(a.s.) relates some of these requirements, as taught by the Prophet, in a hadith:

"...he who does not distinguish in the Book of Allah the abrogating verse from the abrogated one, and a specific one from a general one, and a decisive from an ambiguous; and does not differentiate between a permission and an obligation, and does not recognize a verse of Meccan period from a Medinite one, and does not know the circumstances of revelation, and does not understand the technical words of the Qur'an (whether simple or compound); and does not comprehend the knowledge of decree and measure, and is ignorant of advancing and delaying (in its verses); and does not distinguish the clear from the deep, nor the manifest from the esoteric, nor the beginning from the termination; and is unaware of the question and the answer, the disjoining and the joining, and the exceptions and the all-inclusive, and is ignorant of an adjective of a preceding noun that explains the subsequent one; and is unaware of the emphasized subject and the detailed one, the obligatory laws and the permissions, the places of the duties and rules, and the meaning of the lawful and the unlawful; and does not know the joined words, and the words that are related to those coming before them, or after them - then such a man does not know the Qur'an; nor is he among the people of the Qur'an....".

Based on these and other hadiths, and in accordance with many Qur'anic verses ("Why should not a company from every group remain behind to gain profound understanding (tafaqquh) in religion and to warn people when they return to them, so that they may beware." (9:122)), a science of jurisprudence arose. The requirements for a person to be considered a mujtahid (one who can pronounce on matters of law) are many.

- Knowledge of Arabic (syntax, conjugation, roots, semantics, oratory).
- Knowledge of tafsir and principles of tafsir.
- Logic (mantiq)
- A knowledge of Hadiths
- A knowledge of transmitters (rijal)
- Knowledge of the principles of juriprudence (Qur'an, Sunnah, Consensus, Reasoning)

The understanding of Qur'an and sunnah for purposes of law involves:

- discussion of imperatives (awamir)
- discussion of negative imperatives (nawahi)
- discussion of generalities and particularities (aam wa khas)
- discussion of unconditional and conditional
- discussion of tacit meanings
- discussion of the abstract and the clear
- discussion of the abrogator and the abrogated

The principles of Application of the law involves:

- principles of exemption
- principles of precaution
- principles of option
- principles of mastery

The jurisprudent is bound to go through a very rigorous process in pronouncing judgement on a given a situation. It is not a matter of looking at one verse and one hadith.

As well, the Imam Jafar Ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq(a.s.) has said that: "The Book of God comprises four things: the statement set down ('ibarah), the implied purport (isharah), the hidden meanings relating to the supra-sensible world (lata'if), and the exalted spiritual doctrines (haqa'iq). The literal statement is binding for all believers. The implied purport is the concern of the elite (in knowledge). The hidden meanings pertain to the friends of God (awliya). The exalted spiritual doctrines are the province of the prophets." These gradations in understanding are in accordance with the gradations in knowledge and spiritual purity and inner capacities within human beings.

So interpretation is not simply a matter of having an opinion on the meaning of a verse or interpreting a verse according to one's inclinations or opinions - it is rather a result of inner capacities which one has nourished and unfolded within oneself by the process of drawing near to God, as this process is detailed in the Qur'an.