Mahmud Tawfiq Muhammad Saad
- Died
- 1446 AH
- Born in
- -
Mahmud Tawfiq Muhammad Saad (d. 1446 AH / 2024 CE) was an Egyptian scholar of Arabic rhetoric and Quranic hermeneutics who served as professor and head of the Department of Rhetoric and Criticism at Al-Azhar University's Faculty of Arabic Language in Shibin al-Kawm .
Academic Career and Scholarship
Saad was based in Cairo, where he was affiliated with the Hadayiq al-Zaytun district, and spent his academic career within the Al-Azhar University system . He specialized in Arabic literary criticism and Quranic rhetoric (al-balagha al-quraniyya), advancing through the academic ranks to become a full professor and chair of the Department of Rhetoric and Criticism at the Faculty of Arabic Language in Shibin al-Kawm . In his rhetorical scholarship, he drew upon classical Azhari traditions and acknowledged the contemporary rhetorical authority of his teacher Muhammad Abu Musa .
Saad's research focused primarily on developing methodologies for contemplative Quranic hermeneutics (tadabbur) and textual coherence, particularly regarding the contextual and structural unity of individual surahs. In his treatise al-Azf ala Anwar al-Dhikr ("Playing upon the Lights of Remembrance"), he outlined a framework for discerning Quranic literary meaning through the holistic context of the surah and its structural placement within the wider scripture . He also devoted scholarly attention to classical rhetorical exegesis, authoring a study on the ninth-century scholar Burhan al-Din al-Biqai titled al-Imam al-Biqai wa-Minhajuhu fi Tawil Balaghat al-Quran ("Imam al-Biqai and His Methodology in Interpreting the Rhetoric of the Quran") , alongside applied studies of Quranic eloquence such as Shadharat al-Dhahab ("Nuggets of Gold") .
Answer updated
List of Works
This work explores Quranic eloquence and the linguistic and rhetorical understanding of revelation. It analyzes the text through Arabic linguistic norms and rhetorical practices from the era of revelation, focusing on lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical dimensions across selected verses from Surat al-Tawbah.
This contemporary legal and conceptual treatise examines the rules, degrees, and ethical guidelines governing the duty of enjoining good and correcting wrongdoing in Islamic law. It outlines the conditions, mechanisms, and prophetic principles required to rectify wrong and establish righteousness.
This treatise on Quranic rhetoric and contemplative hermeneutics outlines a framework for deducing the rhetorical and literary meanings of the Quran within the context of the individual surah, treating the surah as the minimal unit of Quranic challenge and textual unity.
This scholarly monograph examines the life and Quranic rhetorical hermeneutics of the ninth-century AH scholar Burhan al-Din al-Biqai. It provides an intellectual biography along with a detailed analysis of al-Biqai's interpretive methodology regarding structural coherence and Quranic inimitability.