Aqwal al-Tahawi fi al-Tafsir: al-Fatiha - al-Tawba
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- Aqwal al-Tahawi fi al-Tafsir: al-Fatiha - al-Tawba
Aqwal al-Tahawi fi al-Tafsir: al-Fatiha – al-Tawba (The Exegetical Statements of al-Tahawi: From al-Fatiha to al-Tawba) is a scholarly study by Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Wazrah al-Dosari that compiles and examines the Quranic commentary of Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi (239–321 AH / 853–933 CE) across the first nine surahs of the Quran .
Background and Scope
The work originated as a master's thesis submitted to the Department of Quran and Its Sciences in the Faculty of Usul al-Din at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, supervised by Hasan Muhammad Abdulaziz Ali . The author noted that while al-Tahawi was widely recognized for his authority in jurisprudence and hadith, his contributions to Quranic exegesis remained scattered across his various writings rather than gathered in a standalone commentary .
To reconstruct al-Tahawi's exegetical corpus for this portion of the Quran, al-Dosari extracted his commentary from three primary works:
- Sharh Mushkil al-Athar
- Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar
- Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama
The text spans the opening section of the Quran, beginning with Surah al-Fatiha and concluding with Surah al-Tawba .
Structure and Methodology
The work is organized into an introduction, a biographical preliminary section, two primary chapters, a conclusion outlining major findings, and indexes :
- Preliminary section (Tamhid): A concise biographical outline of al-Tahawi divided into five subsections covering his name, lineage, birth, upbringing, creed, legal affiliation, education, teachers, students, scholarly standing, reception, writings, and death .
- Chapter One: An analytical breakdown of al-Tahawi's exegetical methodology across ten sections, examining his approach to interpreting the Quran through the Quran, the Sunnah, statements of the Companions and Successors, and Arabic linguistics; his handling and evaluation of differing exegetical opinions; his treatment of variant Quranic readings (qira'at); his commentary on verses concerning theological doctrines and legal rulings (ayat al-ahkam); and his citation of occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) and abrogation (al-nasikh wa-al-mansukh) .
- Chapter Two: The collected corpus of al-Tahawi's statements arranged in the order of the Quranic text from al-Fatiha to al-Tawba .
In Chapter Two, al-Dosari quotes al-Tahawi's words first, followed by an academic analysis that compares his interpretations with those of other major exegetes and weighs their evidence to establish the preferred opinion . The editorial apparatus includes documenting and classifying variant readings into frequent (mutawatir) and anomalous (shadhdh), authenticating prophetic traditions, verifying legal issues, reconciling apparent discrepancies in al-Tahawi's statements, and identifying lesser-known figures and geographic locations upon their first mention . The volume concludes with specialized indexes for Quranic verses, prophetic traditions, biographical entries, poetic verses, sources, and subjects .
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