al-Taqib ala Tafsir Surat al-Fil lil-Farahi - ضمن "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
al-Ta‘qib ‘ala Tafsir Surat al-Fil lil-Farahi (Critique of al-Farahi's Exegesis of Surah al-Fil) is a Quranic critical treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1311–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE), written as a systematic rejoinder to the unconventional exegesis of Surah al-Fil proposed by the Indian scholar Abd al-Hamid al-Farahi (d. 1349 AH / 1930 CE) .
Background and Motivation
Al-Farahi's treatise on Surah al-Fil was published posthumously in 1354 AH (1935 CE) in India as a lithograph edition . In it, al-Farahi deviated from traditional exegesis by arguing that the pronoun in the divine statement تَرْمِيهِمْ (tarmihim, "striking them") addressed human listeners—meaning the Arabs—rather than the birds; that the people of Mecca actively resisted Abraha's army by pelting them with stones; that God sent a violent storm to destroy the army; and that the flock of birds mentioned in the surah was sent only afterward to consume the corpses . He further claimed that the ritual stoning of the pillars (ramy al-jimar) during the Hajj was instituted to commemorate the pelting of Abraha's army rather than Ibrahim's defiance of Satan .
When copies of al-Farahi's treatise reached Hyderabad, where al-Muallimi was living and working as an editor at the Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyya, al-Muallimi read it . Although al-Muallimi held al-Farahi's scholarship and other works in high esteem—such as Im‘an fi Aqsam al-Qur'an and al-Ra'y al-Sahih fi Man Huwa al-Dhabih—he considered al-Farahi's arguments regarding Surah al-Fil unfounded and contrary to the unbroken consensus of exegetes, prompting him to compose a detailed rebuttal .
Structure and Contents
Al-Muallimi organized his work into two main divisions :
- Part One: Historical Examination (Riwayatan wa Dirayatan): Comprising eight chapters lettered from Alif to Ha, this part addresses the historical reports surrounding the Expedition of the Elephant . Al-Muallimi refutes al-Farahi's claim that a military engagement occurred between the Meccans and Abraha, observing that pre-Islamic Arabs meticulously preserved and celebrated the details of their battles in oral history and poetry, yet left no record of fighting Abraha . He defends the traditional accounts of birds hurling stones, citing early verse preserved in Muhammad ibn Habib's manuscript al-Munammaq . He also examines the theological nature of miracles (khawariq), explaining why punitive miracles are overt rather than obscured behind natural causes, and systematically critiques al-Farahi's theory regarding ramy al-jimar .
- Part Two: Exegesis of the Surah: Arranged into an introduction and two sections (babayn) :
- Introduction: Analyzes the central thematic axis ('amud) of the surah and its structural connection to neighboring chapters, arguing that its primary intent is a divine warning to sinners engrossed in worldly rivalry .
- First Section: A verse-by-verse commentary structured across numbered chapters, adhering to standard classical interpretations while noting points of agreement with al-Farahi—such as regarding the general address in the first verse .
- Second Section: A linguistic, grammatical, and rhetorical analysis dedicated to the verse تَرْمِيهِمْ بِحِجَارَةٍ مِنْ سِجِّيلٍ . Al-Muallimi prefaces this section with sixteen hermeneutical principles and linguistic rules covering circumstantial clauses (hal), explanatory resumption (isti'naf bayani), tense shifts, and metaphorical usage (majaz) .
Method and Tone
Al-Muallimi's critical approach is characterized by objective, measured reasoning, showing respect and invoking divine mercy upon al-Farahi while avoiding vitriol or personal attacks . He attributes al-Farahi's stance to intense zeal for shielding the Quran against contemporary Western and skeptical criticisms of miracles, which led al-Farahi to favor interpretations that aligned with ordinary causation .
Manuscript Tradition and Publication
The author did not provide a formal title page for the manuscript, and catalogers in the Library of the Grand Mosque in Mecca recorded it under provisional titles such as Risala fi al-Ta‘qib ‘ala al-Mu‘allim ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Farahi and Bahth fi Tafsir Surat al-Fil .
The text survived in autograph manuscripts preserved at the Library of the Grand Mosque (MSS 4645 and 4785) . The second section of Part Two was identified in MS 4785, restoring the work to near-total completeness . The treatise was edited by Muhammad Ajmal Ayyub al-Islahi, reviewed by Ali ibn Muhammad al-Umran and Abd al-Razzaq Abu al-Basal, and published as part of the collected works project Athar al-Mu‘allimi .
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