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Select Primary Tafsir Sources in Arabic, Persian and Turkish arranged Chronologically ...

 

Select Primary Tafsir  Sources  in Arabic, Persian and Turkish arranged Chronologically with Occasional Bio-Bibliographical Groupings, Notes and Academic Articles. 

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Islamic Tafsīr, Qur'ān Commentary I :

Select Primary and Secondary Sources with occasional academic articles.

Stephen Lambden UC Merced (CA, USA).

IN PROGRESS - Under revision and supplementation 2021>

Last uploaded 24-10-2021.

The Web page(s) below are constantly under revision and updating. They will evolve into the bibliography of a forthcoming book about Islamic hermeneutics and Tafsīr perhaps entitled Dimensions of Tafsīr ("Exegesis") and Ta'wīl ("Eisegesis") in Islamic Qur'ān Commentary, A Literary Survey and Bibliographical Handbook. This book will give special attention to attitudes about exterior (ẓāhir) and interior (bāṭin) dimensions of meaning within diverse approaches to Qur'ān commentary as illustrated within varieties of Sunnī and Shī`ī Tafsīr and related literatures. It will attempt to give weight to those Islamic traditions (hadith, akhbar) and thinkers which sanction or put forth a deeper level of Qur'ānic understanding that may go beyond the merely literalistic. It will pay attention to those who have treasured both the straightforward senses of the Qur'ān and what might be its inner meanings or deeper senses. Corrections and suggested additions to these Web page(s) would be greatly welcomed - mailto: slambden@ucmerced.edu

SELECT URLs FOR TAFSĪR SOURCES AND STUDIES

 

`Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (b. Mecca c. 600 CE - d. Kufa 40/661).

The fīrst Imam for the Twelver Imami Shī`ī Muslims and fourth Caliph of the Sunnis

The cousin, son-in-law, and (for Imami Shi`is and others the immediate) successor to the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 CE). He was very widely respected as an important expert on all aspects of Tafsīr. Ibn `Abbās (d. c. 68 / 687) who is regarded as the "Father of Tafsīr" (see below) is reported to have said, "What I took from the interpretation of the Qur'ān is from `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib". The possibly proto-Shī`ī companion Ibn Maṣ`ūd allegedly stated that `Alī was heir to both the inward and outward dimensions of the Qur'ān. `Alī is reckoned to have compiled one of the earliest chronologically organized recensions of the Qur'ān (see Modarressi 2003: 2-4). Many ḥadith on Qur'ān commentary are attributed to and relayed from `Alī and his Imami associates and sympathizers. He remains a foundational figure of the greatest importance. A number of Tafsīr books or crystallizations of Tafsīr tradition are attributed to him. In recent years some of them have been the subject of academic evaluation. Sunni anti-Shi`i polemic to some extent appears to have eclipsed or lessened the full appreciation of his central position in the genesis of Qur'ān commentary.

  • Qur'ān codex. An early recension probably represented by the reading of `Āṣim ibn Abī Najūd al-Kūfī (d. ; one of the seven "readers" of the Qur'ān) and transmitted by Ḥafṣ ibn Sulaymān al-Kūfī (d.180/796) also a `Reader of the Qur'ān' and the former's student and step-son (Modarressi 2003:3 fn.10).
  • Monograph on the recension of `Alī by the Sunnī writer Abū Ṭāhir `Abd al-Waḥīd ibn `Umar al-Baghdāī al-Bazzāz (d.349/960).
  • See below on the Tafsīr attributed to Ibn `Abbās (d. c. 68 / 687).

Modarressi, Hossein.

  • 'Early Debates on the Integrity of the Qur'ān: A Brief Survey' Studia Islamica, No. 77. (1993).

`Ā'isha' bint Abi Bakr, third wife of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 58/678).

  • Tafsīr umm al-mu'minīn. ed. `Abd-Allah Abū al-Su`ūd Badr. Cairo: Dār al-`Ālam al-kutub. 1416/1996. *

Ibn `Abbās, `Abd-Allāh  (d. c. 68 / 687).

Ibn `Abbās, `Abd-Allāh  (d. c. 68 / 687).

A  paternal first cousin of Muhammad, was known as al-ḥi[a]br al-`arab (`Rabbi of the Arabs'). Many Muslims have regarded him as the father of tafsīr because he is thought to have written the first Islamic tafsīr work (Goldziher, 1970:65f; Sezgin GAS I:25; Goldfield,1981). Exegetical traditions stemming from Ibn `Abbās are especially rich in lexicographical insights and the Islamo-biblica, Abrahamica or Isrā’īliyyāt. A knowledgeable companion of the Prophet, he was an important collector and transmitter of biblical legends stemming from the Yemeni Jewish convert Ka`b al-Aḥbār (Rippin 1991:166). Many of his associates and students were important second century mufassirūn (Q. commentators). Like other early mufassirūn (Q. commentators) Ibn `Abbās made frequent use of non-literal, interpretation. Goldfeld has noted that his viewpoint was that it was appropiate at times for the Qur'an might be non-literally or allegorically interpreted less it "have no meaning to later generations" (1988:17, 25-27). There seems to have been a very close relationship between the (first Imam) `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661) and Ibn `Abbās. The latter is reported to have said, "What I took from the interpretation of the Quran is from `Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib".

Tafsīr attributed to the paternal fīrst cousin of Muhammad, the 'Father of Tafsīr'.  Veccia Vaglieri, L. ``Abd Allāh b. al-'Abbās.' in EI2 1:40-1. On ascription and authenticity see Rippin cited above on al-Fīrūzābādī.

  • Tafsīr Ibn `Abbās.. Şaḥīfa `Alī b. Abī Ṭalḥa `an Ibn `Abbās fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-Karīm. Beirut: Mu'assat al-Kutub al-Shaqāfī yya. 1411/1991. *
  • Tanwīr  al‑miqbās min tafsīr Ibn `Abbās. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1412/1992 (664pp.). *
  • Gharīb al-Qur'ān, ēd. Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahīm, Beirut 1993

 Goldfeld, Isaiah.

  • The tafsir of `Abdallah b `Abbas." Islam. 58 (1981): 125-135.

Rippin, Andrew.

  • `Tafsir Ibn `Abbas and Criteria for Dating Tafsir Texts' JSAI  XIX (1994), 38-83. also in Rippin, The Qur'an and its Interpretive Tradition. ( = Variorum Collected Studies Series. Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 2001), Item XV

  • `Ibn 'Abbas's Al-lughat fi'l-Qur'an'  in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 44, No. 1 (1981), 15-25

  • "Ibn 'Abbas's Gharib al-Qur'an." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 46 (1983): 332-33.

  •  "Tafsīr Ibn 'Abbas and Criteria for Dating Early Tafsir Texts. "Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 18 (1995): 38-83.

Motzki, H.

`Dating the so-called Tafsir Ibn `Abbas: some additional remarks' in JSAI 31 (2006 =  Studies in memory of Professor Franz Rosenthal) , 2  pp.

Tafsīr Ibn `Abbas, trans. Mokrane Guezzou

  • Tafsīr Ibn Abbas (= The Great Commentaries on the Holy Qur’an Series Volume II) Translated by Mokrane Guezzou General Editor: Yousef Meri 931 pp. Amman [Jordon] : Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought & Fons Vitae Publishing (USA).  ISBN: 1891785176 ISBN-13: 9781891785177.

"Tafsīr Ibn Abbas, presented here in complete English translation for the first time ever, is the second work in the Great Commentaries on the Holy Qur'ān series. The series aims to make widely available leading exegetical works in translation for study and research in unabridged form, which are faithful to the letter and meaning of the Arabic. Attributed variously to the Companion Abdullah Ibn 'Abbas (d.687CE) and to Ibn Ya'qub al-Firuzabadi (d.1414CE), Tafsīr Ibn Abbas is one of the pivotal works for understanding the environment which influenced the development of Quranic exegesis. Despite its uncertain authorship and its reliance on controversial Israelite stories, Tafsīr Ibn Abbas nevertheless offers valuable insight into the circulation and exchange of popular ideas between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity during the formative phase of Islamic exegesis. This commentary is unabridged and uncensored, like the other works in the Great Commentaries on the Holy Qur’an series. The traditions attributed to Ibn Abbas that are at the core of this work render it as a seminal work of exegesis. Tafsīr Ibn Abbas is unencumbered with isnads, or chains of transmission, and does not contain elaborate theological or philosophical explanations or technical grammatical explanations, thus making the work accessible to the non-specialist. Muslim scholarship considers the author Ibn Abbas as the real father of the science of Tafsīr. The reports related from Ibn Abbas regarding the interpretation of the Qur’an are quite abundant. In fact, there is almost no interpretation of a Qur’anic verse for which one cannot find an interpretation to Ibn Abbas.

About the Translator: Dr. Mokrane Guezzou is a British-Algerian translator of major Islamic works. His translation of Al-Wahidi’s Asbab Al-Nuzul also appears in the Great Commentaries on the Holy Qur’an series. He is also presently at work on a translation and study of Ibn ‘Ata Allah al-Iskandari’s Al-Qasd al-Mujarrad fi Ma’rifat al-Ism al-Mufrad (Fons Vitae). About the General Editor: Dr. Yousef Waleed Meri is a leading specialist in Islam of the pre-modern period, Islamic cultural and social history and interfaith relations. He received a B.A. (Magna cum laude) from University of California, Berkeley in 1992, an M.A. from the State University of New York Binghamton in 1995 and a D.Phil. from Wolfson College, Oxford University in 1999. Currently, he is a Fellow and Special Scholar in Residence at the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (Amman, Jordan), which is under the patronage of Abdallah II, King of Jordan. He has published numerous articles and books dealing with various aspects of Islamic history, civilization and ritual practice."

مجاهد بن جبر Mujāhid ibn Jabr.

al-Mujāhid, Abū’l-Ḥajjaj Mujāhid ibn Jabr al-Makkī (d. c. 104/722).

Mujāhid b. Jabr al-Makkī (d. c.104/722).

Sunnī and Shī`ī sources regard Mujāhid b. Jabr al-Makkī (d. c.104/722) as a diligent, apparently proto-Shī`ī Q. commentator and an avid collector of expository pre-Islamic lore. A rationalist pupil of both Ibn `Abbās and Imam `Alī, he collected Abrahamic and related materials expository of the Q. (Ibn Sa`d, Tabaqāt, 5:344, 467). Mujāhid is even said to have travelled to Babel (Babylon) in order to more adequately expound the qur’ānic legend of the fallen angels Hārūt and Mārūt. Isrā’īliyyāt traditions linked to him are found throughout the tafsīr tradition. They are registered in the influential Tafsīr of Ṭabarī. Probable Abrahamic or Jewish-Christian influence through Mujāhid is seen in exegetical traditions pointing to Muhammad being, like the divine Jesus, "seated" upon the celestial Divine Throne (cf. Ps.110:1; Rev. 3:21) (See bn Ḥanbal, Musnad I:375f; etc.; Rosenthal, tr. Ṭabarī, Tarīkh, 1:75ff; Dhahabī, Siyār A`lām, noted Sālīḥī, 199X:10; Rippin, Mudjāhid, EI2).

An important, possibly proto-Shi`i collector of pre-Islamic lore and related exegetical materials.

Stauth, Georg.

Wahb Ibn Munabih, Abu `Abd-Allah (d,c,110/728 or 114/732).

Abū `Abd-Allāh Wahb b. Munabbih (b. Sana c. 34 / 654-5 -d. c.110 / 728 or 114/732?).

Probably a Yemenite Jew of Persian descent, Wahb was an important authority on Abrahamic scripture and legend, especially South Arabian lore. A work of Tafsir is attributed to him as are various writings expressive of his interest in Abrahamic religious traditions and literatures often expressive of Islamo-Biblica.Though perhaps another name for part of his Kitab al-mubtadāī (Book of Creationī), his Kitab al-Isrā’īliyyāt (Book of Israelitica, Islamo-Biblica) is the title of one of his  several lost books (Duri, 1983:128f). It appears to have been a work whose contents were acquired from Yemenite Jewish hakhamim and from Christians and others (Hirschberg, EJ 16:241-2). A Sīrat al-nabī (Treatise on the Life of the Prophet), a Maghāzī Rasūl Allāh (Account of military expeditions of the Messenger of God) and a compilation entitled Kitab al-qadr (Book of Destiny) are attributed to him. A recension of his Kitab al-Mulūk .. min Ḥimyar... (The Book of the Himyarite Kings...) by Ibn Hishām, known as the K. al-Tijān fī mulūk al-Ḥimyar (The Book of the Crowned Kings of the Himyarites) has been described as "a rich mine of Arabian fable.

These abovementioned works of Wahb b. Munabbih are attested as early as 229/843-4 (Rosenthal, 1968:335 fn.2) and in even earlier streams of the Tafsīr tradition. Numerous respected Muslim authorities, including Ibn Isḥāq, al-Ṭabarī and al-Kisāī cite him approvingly though some modern Muslim anti- Isrā’īliyyāt authorities regard him as unreliable. Adang has recently referred to Wahb b. Munabbih as the "foremost transmitter of biblical narratives" (1996:10).

Tafsir (lost as a single codex?).

  • Sirat al-Nabi (Life of the Prophet) [lost?]
  • Kitab al-Isra‘iliyyat [largely lost ?]
  • Maghazi Rasul Allah (The Military Expeditions of the Prophet of God)
  • Kitab al-Qadr. (The Book of Destiny)
  • Kitab al-muluk … min Himyar (The Book of the Himyarite Kings…), extant in the recension of  Ibn Hisham known as Kitab al-Tijan fi muluk al-Himyar (The Book of the crowned Kings of the Himyarites)
  • ADD

Imami Shi`i Traditions, Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c.126/743) and Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (d. c. 148/765)

Traditions expressive of the Shī`ī affirmation of deep, inner senses in the Q. are especially found in statements of the fourth and sixth Imams, Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c.126/743) and Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (d. c. 148/765). They allegedly held that If the revelation of the Q. only had meaning with regard to the person or group of people to whom one or another verse was revealed, then the entire Q. would be dead today. Nay, rather! the sacred Book, the Q., is alive. It will never die for its verses will be fulfilled among the people of the future just as they have been fulfilled among those of the past (Ibn `Āmilī al-Iṣfahānī, Tafsīr mir`āt al-anwār, I: 5-6; Corbin [paraphrase in]1995:90; cf. Lawson, 1993:195f.
 

    Muhammad ibn `Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Bāqir (b. Medina c. 56-57/676 - d. c.117/735), the fifth (twelver) Shī`ī Imam. 

    See EI2 VII:397-400 (Kohlberg)

    Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c. 126/743), the fifth Imam.

    الدكتورة نهلة غروي نائيني

    • تفسير القرآن في حديث الإمام الباقر عليه السلام

    An important though little studied major fountainhead of Imami Shī`ī hadith and Tafsīr traditions. His Tafsīr is mentioned in the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadīm and seems to have been available to Ibn Tāwūs (see Kohlberg, 1992: 339-341; Modarressi, 2003:37-38)..

    Jābir ibn Yazid ibn al-Ḥārith al-Ju`fī  (d.128/745-6).

    Late `Umayyad period Kufan Shi`ite transmitter of Ḥadīth and a close associate of (the fīfth twelver) Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c.126/743) to whom a Tafsīr is also attributed (see below). He was much lauded by Shiite extremists and widely viewed as an expert in Tafsīr. He often expressed a pro-`Alid Qur'ānic exegesis-eisegesis. For some details see Modarressi 2003 1:86-103.

     Ja'far al-Ṣādiq (d.145/765) - the sixth (twelver) Shī`ī Imam.

    An important though little studied major fountainhead of Imami Shī`ī hadith and Tafsīr traditions treasured by Sufī s and others.

    "Editions of separate Qur’an commentaries are available for Ja`far al-Sādiq (Nwyia, 1968a), Nūrī (Nwyia, 1968b), Ibn`Atā’ (Nwyia, 1973, pp. 23–182) and Hallāj (Massignon, 1968, pp. 359–412)These four tafsīrs have been reproduced (with Nwyia’s original French introductions to his editions of the commentaries by Ja`far al-Sādiq and Ibn ‘Atā’ translated into Persian) in Pūrjavādī (1369, pp. 1–292)... " (Rostom, Mohammed in `Forms of Gnosis in Sulamī’s Sufi Exegesis of the Fātiha' in Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 16, No. 4 (October 2005),  p. 336. fn.4.

    Nwyia, Paul,

    Zadeh, Ensieh Nasrollahi

    See also extracts in translation in Michael Sells

    The sixth Imam Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (d.148/765)

    al-Jurayrī =  see Abān ibn Taghib =  Abū Sa`īd ibn Taghib ibn Rabāḥ ibn Raba`ī al-Bakrī al-Jurayrī
    (c. 80/699? - 141/758)
    al-Jurjānī  = 'Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjāni (ADD/ADD).

    •  Asrār al-balāgha, ed. H. Ritter, Istanbul 1954 *
    • Dalā'il i'jāz al-Qur'ān, Cairo 1372; ed. Maḥmūd Muhammad Shākir, Cairo 1404/1984

    al-Jurayrī  =  Abū Sa`īd Abān ibn Taghib ibn Rabāḥ ibn Raba`ī al-Bakrī al-Jurayrī (c. 80-141 AH = c .699? -758 CE).  

    Ibn Jurayj = 'Abd al-Malik b. `Abd  al-`Azīz Ibn Jurayj (d. 150/ 767). CHECK

    Cited by al-Tabari and al-Tha`labi  as well as Ibn Ṭāwūs who possessed "an excellent copy". See Sezgin GAL 1:91 ?? ; Kohlberg 1992:341-2.

    Prominent Kufān Shi`ite who excelled in Arabic grammar, lexicography, Qur'ān commentary and such other emergent Islamic sciences as Ḥadīth scholarship. An authority on the recitation of the Qur'ān, he is said to have been greatly respected by the sixth Imam Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (d.148/765) through whom important Tafsīr traditions were relayed and generated. Some details about him and his writings can be read in Modarressi's erudite Tradition and Survival  (2003) vol. 1: 107-116 which is drawn upon here.

    Ibn Jurayj = 'Abd al-Malik b. `Abd  al-`Azīz Ibn Jurayj (d. 150/ 767). Check!

    Cited by al-Tabari and al-Tha`labi  as well as Ibn Ṭāwūs who possessed "an excellent copy". See Sezgin GAL 1:91 ?? ; Kohlberg 1992:341-2.

    Prominent Kufān Shi`ite who excelled in Arabic grammar, lexicography, Qur'ān commentary and such other emergent Islamic sciences as Ḥadīth scholarship. An authority on the recitation of the Qur'ān, he is said to have been greatly respected by the sixth Imam Ja`far al-Ṣādiq (d.148/765) through whom important Tafsīr traditions were relayed and generated. Some details about him and his writings can be read in Modarressi's erudite Tradition and Survival  (2003) vol. 1: 107-116 which is drawn upon here.

    Ibn Wahb =  'Abd-Allāh ibn Wahb  (125/743-197/812) or (742 or 3 - 812 or 13 )

    Muqātil  ibn Sulayman = Abū’l-Ḥasan Muqātil  ibn Sulayman ibn Basir  al-Azdī al-Balkhī [al-Khurāsānī] (d. Basra 150 /767). 

    See  Ibn al-Nadim, 179; Ta'rikh Baghdad XIII: 161,3; Sezgin GAS 1:36-7. Possibly a Zaydī (Shī`ī) commentator and theologian.

    The possibly Zaydī (Shī`ī) commentator Muqātil b. Sulaymān al-Khurāsānī (d. Baṣra, 150/767) was a very important early transmitter of Isrā’īliyyat. In his historically oriented Tafsīr he gave much attention to the "biblical pre-history" of verses, as Versteegh refers to the Isrā’īliyyāt (Plessener [Rippin] `Mukātil b. Sulayman’ EI2 VIII: 508-9.1 Muqātil cited many exegetical traditions that can be traced back to the ahl al-kitāb (people of the Book). His haggadic type exegesis leaves little unexplained. The name, for example, of the namla (female ant) with which Solomon held converse is given as jarmī (Muqātil,Tafsīr III:299 on Q. 27:18).

    Muqātil b. Sulayman al- Khurasani (d. Basra, 150/767).

    • Tafsir = Tafsīr Muqātil b. Suklayman. ed. `Abd-Allāh Maḥmūd Shahḥata . 4+1 vols. Cairo: 1979-1988. 

    Gilliot, Claude

    Versteegh, C. H. M.

    al-`Askarī, al-Ḥasan ibn `Ali (d. c. 260/874).

    The 11th Imam of the twelver Shi`ites and the alleged father of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi. See Brockelmann, GAL 1:333; Goldziher, Richt., 278; Gacek, ALB 1996:201.

    https://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/sites/hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/files/page/images/t-askari.jpghttps://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/sites/hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/files/page/images/t-askari_0.jpghttps://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/sites/hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/files/page/images/11hasan.jpg

    تفسيرالإمام العسكري

     

    Ḥasan al-`Askarī  (b. Medina 230/844- d. Samarra’ 260/874), Eleventh Shi`ite Imam.

    • Add
    • Add
    • Add
    • Tafsīr al-`Askari. Mss. Brit. Mus. Or. 5582. Check.
    • Tafsīr al-`Askari. Tehran Lithograph 1268/1851-2. ?
    • Tafsīr al-`Askari, in the Margins of Tafsīr al-Qur'ān of `Ali Ibn Ibrahim al-Qumi. Lithograph [Tabriz?] by Hasan ibn Muhammad Amin al-Karamrudi. al-Tabrizi. Karkhanah-i Aḥmad Aqa and `Ali Aqa Ramadan 1315/1898. (pp.332+21). See Gacek ALB 1996: Nos.361 and 362.
    • Tafsīr al-`Askari. Lucknow: ?.
    • Tafsīr al-`Askari [attributed to the 11th Imam Ḥasan] al-`Askarī. Qumm: ADD., 1409/ 1988-9.10410

    Bar-Asher, Meir M.

    • Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imami Shiism. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999 (274pp.). *

    al-`Ayyāshī = Abū'l-Nadr Muhammad ibn Mas`ūd ibn al-Ayyāsh al-Sulami al-Samarkandi (fl. early 4th/ 10th cent.) (d. c. 320/932).

    https://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/sites/hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/files/page/images/t-ayyashi.png

    Early Shi`i Tafsīr. See Brockelmann GAL ADD+ GAL-S ADD. EI2 1:794-5 art. B. Lewis;

    • Tafsīr al-Qur'ān. ed. Hashim al-Rasul al-Maḥallātī. 2 vols. Qumm: Chapkhanah-yi `Ilmiyya. 1380-1/ Tehran 1380/1961. *
    • Tafsīr al-Qur'ān. ed. Hashim al-Rasul al-Maḥallātī. 2 vols. Tehran : Maktabat al-`Ilmiyya al-Islamiyya, 1411/1991.
    • Tafsīr al-Qur'ān. ed. Hashim al-Rasul al-Maḥallātī. 2 vols. Beirut: Mu`assat al-A`la. 1380-1/ 1411/1991. *
    • Tafsīr al-`Ayyāshī, 2 vols. Beirut: ADD., XXXX/200X

    al-Qummī, Abū al-Ḥasan `Ali ibn Ibrahim (d. c. 307/919 or 329/941).

    al-Qummī, `Alī ibn Ibrahīm (d. c. 919 CE/ 10th cent.).

    • Tafsīr al-Qummī. 2 vols. ed. Sayyid Ṭayyib al-Mūsawī al-Jazā’irī. Najaf: Maṭbaʻat al-Najaf, 1387/1967..
    • Tafsīr al‑Qur’ān.
    • The Tafsīr works of `Alī b. Ibrahīm al‑Qummī (d.10th cent.) and Abū'l‑Naẓr Muhammad al‑Ayyāshī (fl‑9th‑10th. cent. CE).

    Among the foundational Shi`ī tafsīr works mention should be made of the partially extant though influential Shī`ī tafsīr works of Abū'l‑Naẓr Muhammad al‑Ayyāshī (fl‑9th‑10th. cent. CE) and the Tafsīr al‑Qur’ān of `Alī b. Ibrahīm al‑Qummī (d.10th cent.). It must suffice here to note that the latter work, includes comments upon the first set of isolated letters A‑L‑M (Alif‑Lā—Mīm,Q. 2:1), holding that they indicate "a portion of the letters of the ism Allāh al‑a`ẓam (The mightiest Name of God)" (Qummī,Tafsīr 1:43). Qummī’s Tafsīr includes many non‑literal, imamologically oriented interpretations. Rippin has noted that Qummī did not simply define "Islam" as "submission" to God but reckoned it submission to the authority of the Twelver Imams (Enc.Rel.14:241). Qummī’s interpretation of A‑L‑M (Q. 2:1 etc) was repeated in later Shī`ī Tafsīr works including the lengthy Persian Tafsīr Sharīf of the philosopher‑theologian student of Mullā Ṣadrā, `Abd al‑Razzāq al‑Lāḥījī (d. c.1072/1662). Lāḥījī explained these three isolated letters as an acrostic expressing the phrase anā Allāh al‑mulk (I am indeed God, the Sovereign)` (Tafsīr Sharīf I:7).

    SELECT EARLY SUFI RELATED TAFSIR

    al-Baṣrī, Ḥasan = Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d.110/728).

    A "towering fīgure in Islamic thought" (Mourad 2006:3). See Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 202; Sezgin GAL I: 592; Mourad, 51ff...

    تفسير الحسن البصري

    • Tafsīr al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. 2 vols. ed. Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Raḥīm. Cairo : Dār al-Hadīth, 1992.
    • Tafsīr Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. 2 vols. Ed. Dr. Muhammad `Abd al-Rahman. Cairo: Dār al-Haramayn. n.d. [1992]. *
    • Tafsīr al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, 2 vols. ed. and comp. Dr. Muhammad `Abd al-Rahim, Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, (1535)1412 /1992. *
    • al-Qirā`a ("On the Qur'anic Readings"). mss.
    • al-`Adad ("On the Number of Qur'a Verses"). mss.
    • Nuzūl al-Qur'ān ("On the Occasions of Revelation"). mss.

    Obermann, Julian.

    • "Political Theology in Early Islam: Hasan al-Başrî's Treatise on Qadar." Journal of the American Oriental Society 55 (1935), 138-62.

    Al-Ṭanţawī, 'Alī.

    • Al-Ḥasan al-Basrī: namūdhaj li-l-ālim al-'āmil. Damascus: Lajnat Masjid Jāmi'at Dimashq, 1963.

    Suleiman Ali Mourad

    • Early Islam between Myth and History al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d.110H/728 CE) and the Formation of his legacy in Classical Islamic Scholarship. Leiden- Boston: Brill, 2006. (339pp.).*

    al-Harawī = al-Qāsim ibn Sallām ibn `Abd-Allah Abī `Ubayd al-Harawī (d. 157/224).

    An early  Sunni Hadith  scholar and philologist.

    • Kitāb Faḍā'il al-Qur'ān. (3rd printing) Damascus-Beirut: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 1420/1999. 478pp. incl. indexes. *
    • Gharīb al-Ḥadīth.

    al-Sakūnī =  Isma'il Ibn `Abī Ziyad al-Sakūnī (xxx/xxx; fl. 8-9 cent CE).

    Imami Shi`i Kufan client and prolific transmitter of hadith from Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq. See Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 36; Modarressi, T&S (2003), No. 116, pp. 304-5.

     

    al-Ḥibarī, Abū  'Abdullah al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Ḥakam (d. 286 / XXX).

    • Mā nazal min al-Qur'ān fī ahl al-bayt. ed. `Alī al-Husayni. Qum:XXXX., 1975.
    • Tafsīr al-Ḥibarī, ed. Muhammad  Rida al-Ḥusayni. Beirut: Mu`assasat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥya al-Turath,  1987 (696pp.).

     Sahl al-Din al-Tustarī (d.283/896).

    al-Ṭustarī (d. 283/896).

    Sufi allegorical-mystical tafsīr is very closely related and at times identical to Shī`ī tafsīr. A non-literal hermeneutic is often adopted. The Tafsīr al-Qur’ān attributed to al-Ṭustarī is perhaps the oldest continuous Sufi tafsīr. It is related to but goes beyond the tradition of Ibn `Abbās. Commenting upon the isolated letter al-qāf in the sūra of the same name (Q. 50), Ṭustarī reckons that it outwardly (ẓāhir) indicates the first created, world-surrounding, Mt. Qāf (al-jabal, Tafsīr, 92). The creation in six days mentioned in the Sūrat al-ḥadīd (Iron, Q. 57:3 cf. Gen.1) is expounded relative to the "He is the First and the Last" and associated with the al-ism al-a`ẓam (most mighty Name of God), with the six verses which commence sūra 50 (Tafsīr, 98); (Bowering, 1980:145ff; Sells 1996:92-95).

    Böwering, G.

    • 1980 The Mystical Vision of Existence in Classical Is­lam: The Qur'ānic Hermeneutics of the Sūfī Sahl At-Tustarī (d. 283/896).  Berlin:  Walter de Gruyter.

    al-Ḥallaj : al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr (executed. 309 /922)

    • حقائق التفسير او، خلق خلائق القرآن والاعتبار
    • Ḥaqāʼiq al-tafsīr aw khalq khalāʼiq al-Qurʼān wa-al-iʻtibār. Cairo: Maktabat Madbūlī, 2006.
    • Tafsir in Massignon, 1968, pp. 359–412
    • ADD

    Ninth century CE Tafsir,

    al-Jubbā'ī = Abu 'Alī al-Jubbā'ī (d. 303/915)

    • Tafsīr Abu 'Alī al-Jubbā'ī. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, [2000?].

    Gimaret, Daniel.