al-Tafsir al-Bayani lil-Quran al-Karim
- Author died
- 1419 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Ma'arif
al-Tafsir al-Bayani lil-Quran al-Karim (The Rhetorical Exegesis of the Noble Quran) is a two-volume work of literary Quranic exegesis by the Egyptian scholar and literary critic Aisha Abd al-Rahman Bint al-Shati (d. 1419 AH / 1998 CE) . Published by Dar al-Ma'arif in Cairo, it provides a detailed stylistic, lexical, and rhetorical analysis of selected short chapters (suwar) of the Quran .
Background and Purpose
Bint al-Shati conceived the work as an effort to restore the Quran to the center of Arabic literary and rhetorical studies . She criticized academic institutions and university literature departments for dedicating extensive study to classical Arabic poetry and prose—such as the Mu'allaqat, al-Mufaddaliyyat, al-Naqa'id, wine poems, and maqamat—while neglecting the direct, analytical literary study of the Quran, which she regarded as the supreme textual monument of the Arabic language and its eternal rhetorical miracle .
The exegesis represents the practical implementation of the literary hermeneutic method formulated by her teacher and husband, Shaykh Amin al-Khuli . Bint al-Shati completed the first volume in Shaban 1381 AH / January 1962 CE while serving as professor of Arabic language and literature at Ain Shams University . After three editions of the first volume were exhausted and an unauthorized edition appeared in Beirut, she published the second volume five years later .
Structure and Scope
The work is organized into two volumes focusing on selections of the shorter, predominantly Meccan surahs:
- Volume 1 (1962 CE): covers seven surahs: al-Duha, al-Sharh, al-Zalzalah, al-Nazi'at, al-'Adiyat, al-Balad, and al-Kawthar .
- Volume 2: presents an additional set of short surahs interpreted under the same methodology .
Method
Bint al-Shati's approach is founded on rigorous thematic and inductive analysis (al-dars al-istiqra'i) of the text:
- Inductive lexical study: Rather than interpreting verses isolated from the rest of the text, she traces each root and vocabulary word across all its occurrences in the Quran to determine its distinctive Quranic semantic value before addressing its meaning in a specific verse .
- Syntactic and stylistic analysis: After establishing individual lexical usages, she analyzes phrasal combinations, structural patterns, and stylistic nuances (al-zawahir al-uslubiyyah), comparing them with parallel passages throughout the Quran .
- Contextual synthesis: She examines the immediate context of a word within its specific verse and surah, followed by its broader context across the whole Quran .
- Occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul): Historical reports concerning the circumstances of revelation are used to understand the historical setting, but Bint al-Shati maintained that revelation is not bound by strict causal necessity to those events, adhering to the legal-interpretive maxim that normative force belongs to the generality of the phrasing rather than the specificity of the cause (al-'ibrah bi-'umum al-lafz la bi-khusus al-sabab) .
Reception and Critique
Scholars recognized al-Tafsir al-Bayani as a refined literary contribution that drew effectively upon classical works of Quranic rhetoric and exegesis . However, traditional commentators raised several methodological cautions:
- Manna' al-Qattan observed that treating the Quranic text purely as literary material risks narrowing its scope, potentially overlooking its legal rulings, moral doctrines, and non-literary facets of inimitability (i'jaz) .
- Fadl Hasan Abbas praised her critique of academic neglect toward the Quran, but argued that a strictly literary and aesthetic framework remains insufficient on its own, because the primary purpose of the Quran is guidance in creed and conduct . Abbas also contested specific interpretations where she departed from the majority of classical exegetes, such as her reading of al-na'im in Surat al-Takathur as referring exclusively to otherworldly rather than worldly bliss .
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