Muhammad Ali Taha al-Durra
- Died
- 1428 AH
- Born in
- Homs
Muhammad Ali Taha al-Durra (1340–1428 AH / 1923–2007 CE) was a Syrian Shafi'i jurist, grammarian, and exegete from Homs, recognized primarily for his multi-volume grammatical commentary on the Quran, Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim wa Irabuhu wa Bayanuhu.
Early life and education
Al-Durra was born in Homs in 1340 AH (1923 CE). He memorized the Quran in local elementary schools (kuttabs) during his childhood and later embarked on formal religious studies in 1948 CE by enrolling in the Islamic Institute (al-Maʿhad al-Sharʿi) affiliated with the Scholars' Association (Jamʿiyyat al-ʿUlamaʾ) in Homs.
He studied Arabic grammar under Muhammad Junayd and Wasfi al-Musaddi. He closely accompanied the head of the Shafi'i scholars in Homs, Tahir al-Ra'is, studying with him al-Nawawi's Minhaj al-Talibin alongside its commentaries in Shafi'i jurisprudence, as well as al-Qastallani's hadith commentary Irshad al-Sari. He also studied under Abu al-Su'ud Bismar, Ahmad al-Ka'kah, and Mahmud Junayd.
Career and scholarship
Al-Durra served as an imam and sermon deliverer (khatib) across several mosques in the city of Homs and its surrounding countryside. He subsequently dedicated himself to scholarly writing, commencing with Fath al-Qarib al-Mujib, a work dedicated to parsing the poetic evidence cited in the commentaries on Ibn Hisham al-Ansari's Mughni al-Labib.
His primary scholarly contribution was Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim wa Irabuhu wa Bayanuhu, which combined verse-by-verse grammatical parsing (iʿrab) with exegesis and rhetorical commentary. Alongside Muhyi al-Din Darwish's parsing work, al-Durra's commentary came to be regarded among students of Islamic knowledge as one of the prominent contemporary references on Quranic parsing due to its accessibility and comprehensive coverage.
Al-Durra died in 1428 AH (2007 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim wa Irabuhu wa Bayanuhu is a multi-volume contemporary Quranic commentary and grammatical parsing work. Arranged according to the standard order of the Quranic text, it provides verse-by-verse grammatical parsing (iʿrāb) alongside lexical clarification, exegesis, rhetorical remarks, and legal rulings.
Fath al-Kabir al-Mutaal Irab al-Muallaqat al-Ashr al-Tiwal is a multi-volume grammatical commentary on the ten pre-Islamic odes known as the Mu'allaqat. It provides an exhaustive, verse-by-verse treatment of each ode through lexical explanations, concise prose paraphrases of meaning, and comprehensive grammatical analysis.