Bahir al-Burhan fi Maani Mushkilat al-Quran
- Author died
- 554 AH
- Editions
- Jami'at Umm al-Qura
Bahir al-Burhan fi Maani Mushkilat al-Quran (The Radiant Proof Regarding the Meanings of Difficult Passages of the Quran) is a treatise on the interpretation of difficult and seemingly problematic Quranic verses by the Khurasanian exegete and jurist Bayan al-Haqq al-Naysaburi (d. after 553 AH / 1158 CE).
Identification and Scope
Al-Naysaburi described the purpose of the book in the introduction to his larger exegesis, Ijaz al-Bayan an Maani al-Quran, advising that whoever seeks the discourse of theologians (muhawarat al-mutakallimin) and the debates of literati (muhadarat al-muta'addibin) should consult either Bahir al-Burhan fi Maani Mushkilat al-Quran or his other work al-Aswilah al-Rai'ah wa-al-Ajwibah al-Sadi'ah. The work addresses interpretive difficulties, theological questions, and subtle grammatical and rhetorical issues across the Quranic text.
The book is recorded under slightly variant titles in biographical and bibliographical literature: al-Safadi mentioned it in al-Wafi bi-al-Wafayat under the title Bahir al-Burhan fi al-Tafsir, while Ismail Pasha al-Baghdadi listed it as Bahir al-Burhan fi Mushkilat Maani al-Quran. Within the text of the book itself, al-Naysaburi refers to several of his other specialized treatises, including:
- Qat' al-Riyad fi Bida' al-I'tirad, a work on parenthetical constructions in Arabic poetry and rhetoric cited during his discussion of فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا (Quran 2:23).
- A dedicated commentary explaining the poetic evidence cited within Bahir al-Burhan (Sharh al-Abyat al-Waridah fi Kitab Bahir al-Burhan).
- al-Ilalah fi Mas'alat al-Yamin ala Shurb Ma' al-Kuz, a legal treatise on oaths.
- An unnamed treatise on words bearing dual connotations in prose and verse.
Manuscript and Printed Editions
The work survived in a unique manuscript preserved at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, where it was titled Wadh al-Burhan fi Mushkilat al-Quran. It was first published under that manuscript title in 1410 AH / 1990 CE by Dar al-Qalam in Damascus and al-Dar al-Shamiyyah in Beirut, edited by Safwan Adnan Dawudi.
The text was subsequently re-edited from the same manuscript by Su'ad bint Salih Babqi as a master's thesis at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca. Babqi established that the word Wadh in the manuscript heading was an error introduced by copyists, demonstrating that the contents match the description of Bahir al-Burhan provided by al-Naysaburi in his other works. Her edition was published by Umm al-Qura University between 1418 and 1420 AH (1997–1999 CE) in four volumes, comprising three volumes of edited text and an introductory study documenting numerous errors, omissions, and unauthorized additions in the earlier 1990 edition.
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