al-Tafsir al-Muyassar

al-Tafsir al-Muyassar (lit. 'The Facilitated Exegesis') is a concise Arabic commentary on the Quran prepared by a panel of scholars and published by the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Quran in Medina al-Tafsir al-Muyassar+1.

Background and Purpose

The project was initiated by the King Fahd Complex after identifying shortcomings in existing translations of the meanings of the Quran al-Tafsir al-Muyassar. The Complex sought to produce an accessible, dependable Arabic exegesis adhering to the interpretive methodology of early Islamic scholarship (al-salaf al-salih), intended both to assist general readers and to serve as an authoritative baseline for future foreign-language translations published by the Complex al-Tafsir al-Muyassar+1.

The initial draft was authored by a team of exegesis specialists—including Mustafa Muslim—originally under the supervision of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki Mabahith fi Ijaz al-Quran+1. The draft was subsequently examined by an initial review committee at the Complex's Secretariat and by two committees at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawah, and Guidance in Riyadh prior to its publication al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.

Methodology and Guidelines

The drafting committee worked according to twelve core editorial principles:

1. Interpreting verses in conformity with the theological creed of the Salaf al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
2. Giving precedence to sound transmitted exegesis (al-tafsir bi-l-ma'thur) al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
3. Restricting citations to the correct or most preponderant scholarly view al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
4. Emphasizing Quranic guidance and the overarching objectives of Islamic law (maqasid al-shari'ah) al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
5. Maintaining brief and accessible prose, integrating the gloss of uncommon vocabulary directly into the flow of the sentence al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
6. Confining the gloss of each verse strictly to its immediate meaning without prematurely introducing details that appear elsewhere in the Quran al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
7. Explaining the meaning directly without citing extraneous historical accounts (akhbar) unless essential al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
8. Aligning the interpretation with the reading of Hafs from Asim in both meaning and grammatical parsing al-Tafsir al-Muyassar+1.
9. Omitting variant readings (qira'at), grammatical debates, inflection (i'rab), morphology, and technical rhetoric al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
10. Commenting on each verse individually, opening each entry with the verse number and avoiding repetition of the Quranic wording except when strictly necessary al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
11. Restricting the length of the commentary to what can fit within the margins of the Medina Mushaf (Mushaf al-Madinah al-Nabawiyyah) al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.
12. Avoiding untranslatable idiomatic jargon to facilitate rendition into other languages al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.

Editions and Revisions

The first edition appeared in 1418–1419 AH Buhuth wa Maqalat fi al-L…+1. Following feedback received by the Ministry and the Complex, further reprints were temporarily halted to conduct a thorough revision al-Tafsir al-Muyassar. A dedicated committee reviewed the text, harmonizing repeated expressions and theological terms (such as tasdiq, jahd, and yaqin) with Salafi usage, unifying the commentary on the Divine names and attributes, and standardizing parallel Quranic terms al-Tafsir al-Muyassar. Direct addresses to the Prophet ﷺ were adjusted from "O Muhammad" to "O Messenger" or "O Prophet" according to context, except in eleven passages where the phrase narrates the speech of non-believers al-Tafsir al-Muyassar. Secondary interpretations were added where a word bore multiple equally plausible readings, and inter-verse connections were clarified where context required it al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.

The revised and expanded second edition was published in 1430 AH / 2009 CE (624 pages) under the supervision of Salih ibn Abd al-Aziz Al al-Shaykh, Minister of Islamic Affairs and General Supervisor of the Complex, with a preface by the Complex's Secretary-General, Muhammad Salim al-Awfi al-Tafsir al-Muyassar+1. The commentary is also published digitally on the King Fahd Complex's official website al-Tafsir al-Muyassar.