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The al-ism al-a`zam, Mightiiest Name of God in select Islamic Tafsir Literatures. .

The al-ism al-a`zam, Mightiest Name of God in select  Sunni and Shi`i Islamic Tafsir Literatures. 

 

 

 

al-Ṭabarī , Abū Ja`far Muhammad ibn Jarīr (d. 923)

  • Jāmi' al-bayān fī  ta'wīl al-Qur'ān. 15 vols. Beirut:  Dār al-Fikr, 1408/1988.  *
  • Jāmi' al-bayān fī  ta'wīl al-Qur'ān. 12 vols. Beirut:  Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmīyah, 1992. *
  • Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an ta'wīl āy al-Qur'ān. Dār al-Iḥyā al-Turāth al-`Arabī, Beirut:Lebanon, 14XX/2001.
  • The commentary on the Qurān by Abū Ja‘far Muhammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī; being an abridged translation of Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an tawīl āy al-Qurān, with an introduction and notes by J. Cooper ; general editors, W. F. Madelung, A. Jones. London ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1987. *

Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Abd-Allāh ibn al-'Arabī al-Ma`afiri (d. 543/1092).

Andalusian Mailikī jurist and commentator who was qaḍī (judge) in his native Seville. He journeyed to Syria, Iraq and Egypt and was a one-time pupil of `Abd al-Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d.505/1111). See J. Robson EI2 III:707; McAuliffe, 2006 [CCQ] pp.194-196.

  • al-Amad al-aqṣā ("The Furthermost Pillar"). On the Divine Names and Attributes. In mss. Rabat and Istanbul...

Maybudī, Rashīd al-Dīn (d. after 520/1126)

  • Kashf al-asrār wa`uddat al-abrār [The Unveiling of he Mysteries and the Preparation of the Pious], 10. vols ed. `Alī Asghar Ḥikmat. Tehran: Intishārāt Dānishgāhī, 1952-1960.*

Abū `Alī al‑Ṭabarsī (d. c. 548 /1153)

An Imami Shi`i commentator and a Mu`tazalite in matters of theology. His Majma` al-Bayan was completed in  in June 1142 (see EI2 art Kohlberg). His weighty Shī`ī tafsīr work, entitled Majma` al‑bayān li‑`ulūm al‑Qur’ān (The Compilation of the Explanation of the Sciences of the Qur’ān) contains some important interpretations of the al-ism al-a`zam concept.

  • Majma' al-bayān fī tafīr al-Qur'ān.  6 vols. Mat`ba`at  Saydā' [Sidon, Lebanon]: Maṭba`at al-`Irfān,  1333-56/1914-37.
  • Rep. 1914>  4 Vols. Qumm : al-Maktabat Shihab al-Din al-Husayni, Ayat-Allah al-Mar`ashi al-Najafī   *
  • Rep. 1914>  10 vols. in 5. Beirut: Dar al-Ihya al-Turath al`Arabi, 1383/ 1963.
  • Majma' al-bayān fī tafīr al-Qur'ān.  10 vols. in 3.  Mat`ba`at  Saydā' [Sidon, Lebanon]: Maṭba`at al-`Irfān,  1334/1915. (?).
  • Majma' al-bayān fī tafīr al-Qur'ān, intr. Muḥsin al-Amīn al-Ḥusaynī al-'Āmilī, 30 vols, in 6, Beirut 1380/1961
  • Majma' al-bayān fī  tafsīr al-qur'ān, 6 vols. Beirut:  Dār Maktabat al-Ḥayat, 1380. *
  • Majma` al-Bayān fī tafsīr al-Qur’ān . 5 vols. Qumm: Maktabah `Ayat-Allāh Uzmā al-Mar`ashī al-Najafī. 1403/ 1982. 
  • Majma' al-bayān fī  tafsīr al-qur'ān, 6 vols. Beirut: 1415/1995.

A very important Shī`ī tafsīr work, the Majma` al‑bayān li‑`ulūm al‑Qur’ān (The Compilation of the Explanation of the Sciences of the Qur’ān) of the Shī`ī theologian Abū `Alī al‑Ṭabarsī (d. c. 548/1153) has been called a Shī`ī  "encyclopedia of  Qur’ānic sciences" (O.A. Abdul, 1977:78). Here al‑Ṭabarsī presents in Arabic characters a Hebrew transliteration of the biblical etymology of the tetragrammation (יְהוָה = Y‑H‑W‑H, Yahweh), אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה, (= `ehye `āsher `ehye,  Exod. 3:14a) loosely meaning "I am that I am" (RSV). He considered it one of the forms of the al‑ism al‑a`ẓam  (Mightiest Name [of God]), said in Arabic to be yā ḥayy yā qayyūm   يا قيوم حييا    (O Living One! O Self‑Subsisting!) (Ṭabarsī, Majma`   XIX:226).

We may note here that in one of his many  alwāḥ   to  oriental Jews, Baha'-Allah  reflected such sources  as the above when he used the Arabic transliteration  XXXXX  for   אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה,  and transliterated the (unvoweled) tetragrammaton يهوه  (= Y‑H‑W‑H) (See, Ma’ida-yi Asmani IV:40; Lambden, 1983:22ff; 1988:66f,155f).

 

al-Rāzī, Muhammad ibn `Umar, Abū  al-Su`ud Muhammad ibn, Muhammad Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606/1209).

al-Rāzī, Muhammad ibn `Umar, Abū  al-Su`ud Muhammad ibn, Muhammad Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606/1209

G. C. Anawati, 'Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī' EI2 vol. 2:751-5

  تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير  

  • Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb al-mushtahir bi'l-Tafsīr al-kabīr,  ?  vols. Cairo, 1286/1869.
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabīr... 8 vols. Bulaq: xxxxx., 1279-1289/ 1862-1872.
  • al-Tafsīr al-kabir (The Extensive Commentary), (3rd printing) Beirut:  Dār al-Ihya al-Turath al-`Arabi, 32 vols in 16. n.d. *
  • Tafsīr-i kabir-i Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Persian trans.  `Ali  Asghar Ḥalabi,  Tehran : Intishārāt-i Aṣāṭīr , 1371/XXX. / vol. 4 1378/ 1999. only*
  •  
  • أحكام البسملة وما يتعلق بها من الأحكام والمعاني وإختلاف العلماء
  • Aḥkām al-basmalah wa-mā yataʻallaqu bi-hā min al-aḥkām wa-al-maʻānī wa-ikhtilāf al-ʻulamāʼ . Būlāq, Cairo : Maktabat al-Qurʼān, 1988.
  • Sharh asma' Allah al-husná lil-Razi : wa-huwa al-kitab al-musammá lawami al-bayyinat sharh asma' Allah Ta`alá wa'al-sifat. ed. Sa`d, Taha `Abd al-Ra`uf, Cairo: Maktabat al-Kulliyyat al-Azhariyya, 1396/ ADD. 396pp.

Lawāmi` al-bayinnāt fī asmā' Allāh wa'l-ṣifāt

  • Lawāmi` al-bayinnāt fī asmā' Allāh wa'l-ṣifāt (The Perspicuous Brilliances regarding the Names of God and the Attributes"). This work contains a section on the ism Allāh al-a`ẓam.

  • Lawāmi` al-bayinnāt fī asmā' Allāh ta`ala wa'l-ṣifāt.  Cairo : Maktabat al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyah, 1976.

  •  شرح أسماء الله الحسنى للرازي : وهو الكتاب المسمى لوامع البينات شرح أسماء الله تعالى والصفات = Sharḥ asmāʼ Allāh al-ḥusná lil-Rāzī : wa-huwa al-kitāb al-musammá, Lawāmiʻ al-bayyināt sharḥ asmāʼ Allāh taʻālá wa-al-ṣifāt ed. Ṭāhā ʻAbd al-Raʼūf Saʻd.  Cairo: al-Maktabah al-Azharīyah lil-Turāth, 1999. 

  • Traité sur les Noms Divins, trans and commentary M. Gloton, 2 vols. Paris: Devy,  1986. *

  • Traité sur les noms divins = Lawâmiʻ al-bayyinât fī al-asmâʼ wa-al-çifât : (Le livre des preuves éclatantes sur les noms et les qualités) by Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʻUmar Rāzī; Maurice Gloton Beyrouth, Liban : Editions Al-Bouraq, 2000.

Sirr al-maktum fī mukhaṭabāt al-nujum

  • Sirr al-maktum fī mukhaṭabāt al-nujum ("The Sealed Mystery about the addressers of the Stars"), a work about Talismans and astral magic.

This work includes reference to the 7 sigla constituting the al-ism al-a`zam or Mightiest Name of God

Ibn al-`Arabī, Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn (d. 638/1240).

  • al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya. (`The Meccan Revelations [Openings]', 4 Vols.) Beirut: Dār Ṣadir n.d. [1968 = Cairo Ed. 1911].
  • Ibn ‘Arabî: Les Illuminations de la Mecque, Sinbad, Pais, 1988 (esp.  section “La Science des Lettres”, traducido y comentado por D. Gril,...)...
  • Kashf al-ma'ná an sirr asma' Allah al-husná. ed. and introd., Beneito, Pablo + Hasan Mamduhi. Qum: Bakhshayish, 1419/ 1998. 200pp.  ISBN 9649063633

al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl a-Dīn `Abd al-Raḥman (d. 911/1505)

  • الدر المنتظم في الاسم الأعظم = "The Well-strung  Pearls on the Mightiest Name [of God]").
  •  
  • الدر المنظم في الاسم الأعظم   = "The Ordered Pearls as to the Mightiest Name [of God]") Titles vary or two works ??
  • al-Durr al-muntaẓim fī al-ism al-a`zam [?] apparently within a mss. extant in the al-Zahiriyya Library in Damascus (?) 831 pages long.
  • al-Durr al-munaẓẓam fī al-ism al-a`zam... [=Rasa'il al-Suyuti No. 17] ed. Sa'id Muhammad al-Liḥām. Beirut: `Alam al-Kitab, 1417/1996. 15pp.
  • al-Durr al-muntaẓim fī al-ism al-a`zam ,  ed. Husayn Jihad al-Husayni. ADD: Mu`assat al-Balāgh, 2001. 56pp. 
  • Trans Stephen Lambden :

The Treatise of Jalāl a-Dīn `Abd al-Raḥman al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505) on the Mightiest Name of God.

Al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur’ān

  • الإتقان في علوم القرآن =
  • al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur'ān, Cairo: Azhariyya Press, 2 vols. 1318/ 1900.*
  • al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur'ān. al- Maktaba al-Assrya, 2006.
  •  

Tafsir - Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-ma'thūr

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn

  • تفسير الجلالين
  • Tafsīr al-Jalālayn by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maḥallī + Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī.
  • al-Durr al-Manthūr fī 'l-Tafsīr al-Mānthūr. 6 vols. in 3. Qum: al-Maktabat Shihab al-Din al-Husayni, Ayat-Allah al-Mar`ashi al-Najafī , n.d. c. 1377/1957 (+1404/1983).
  • Sharĥ al-Isti'ādha  wa’l-Basmala. (In mss. ?)
  • Mīzān al-Madalah fī Sha'n al-Basmalah. (In mss. ?)
  •  

 بهاء الدين محمد بن الحسين بن عبد الصمد الحارثي العاملي  

'Āmilī, Bahā' al-Dīn Muhammad, Shaykh Bahā’ī  (d. 1031/1622).

He wrote around 90-100 works in Persian and Arabic including a Tafsir volume(s).

  • تفسير عين الحيوة    Tafsir `Ayn al-Ḥayat ("The Commentary of the Wellspring of Life"). in ms,
  • al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá [fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd] in Rasa'il al-Shaykh Baha' al-Din Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn `Abd al-Samad  al-Harithi al-ʻĀmili. Lithograph Tehran [?]: Hajj Shaykh Ahmad Shirazi, 1319/1901[3],  pp. 386-410

  • al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá [fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd] in Rasa'il al-Shaykh Baha' al-Din Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn `Abd al-Samad  al-Harithi al-ʻĀmili. Qum: Maktabat Baṣīratī / Intishārāt-i Baṣīratī, 1398/ 1978. pp. 386-410.

  • al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá : tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd by Bahāʼ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn ʻĀmili.  Qum : Dār al-Qurʼān al-Karīm, 1412/ 1992.
  • al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd... Qum : Qum: Būstān Kitāb, 1422 /2001.

  • علوم قرآنى `Ulūm Qur'ānī. ("On The Qur'anic Sciences") , in ms,..

  •  حل الحروف القرآنيه   Ḥall al-ḥurūf al-Qur'ān  ("On the status of the Qur'anic [Isolated] Letters"), in ms,

  • Mss. UCLA Qayeni Coll. No. 21. "Shaikh Baha'i (Baha' al-Din Muhammad al-Amili, universal scholar and wazir of Shah 'Abbas the Great, died 1030 / 1621): "Sharh suwar al- Qur'an" (Coranic commentaries); Arabic; varying, always well legible script w. red titles. Main body of text pp.29-318. Beginning, end, margins and pasted-in notes w. a wide variety of marginalia. - Semi-leather binding w. painted ornaments in orange and blue. - 397 pages of text; 14 l/p (main body of text); 190x125 mm. Scribe: Abu Turab Salim b. Rashid. Dated (pp. 47, 318, 369): 1110 and 1117 / 1698 and 1705."  See http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/url/colls/mideast/qayeni.htm

GLOSSARIES ON SUNNI TAFSIR WORKS

  • Bayḍāwī, Qaḍī  ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar Nāṣir al-Dīn (d. c. 700/1300). Sunnī commentator and author of the well-known Anwār al-tanzīl wa-asrār al-ta`wīl  ("The Lights of the Revelation and the mysteries of the Exegesis")
  •  حاشيه انوار التنزيل قاضى بيضاوى  Hashiyya = Marginal Glosses of Shaykh Baha'i upon the Anwār al-tanzīl of Qaḍī  Bayḍāwī

  • Zamakhsharī, Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmud Ibn `Umar (d. 538/1144). Persian born Sunnī, Mu`tazili Qur'an commentator and author of the well-know al-Kashshāf  'an ḥaqā'iq ghawamid al-tanzi wa 'uyun al-aqawil fī  wujuh al-ta 'wil,
  •  حاشيه كشاف زمخشرى    Ḥashiyya = Marginal Glosses of Shaykh Baha'i upon the Kashshāf of Zamaksharī.

On the Tafsir works of Shaykh Bahā'ī see:

ʻAbbās, Dalāl.

  • Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʻĀmilī : Adīban wa-Faqīhan wa-ʻāliman, Beirut (?): Dar al-Ḥawar,  1995,  Pt III section II on `Ulum al-Qur'an pp.535-552. *