Irtibat al-Ayat fi Surat al-Baqara - dimn "Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- دار عالم الفوائد للنشر والتوزيع
Irtibat al-Ayat fi Surat al-Baqara (The Interconnection of Verses in Surat al-Baqara) is an exegetical treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (1311–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE), dedicated to analyzing the textual coherence and thematic links between consecutive verses in Surat al-Baqara.
Context and Composition
The treatise was likely composed during al-Muallimi's stay in Hyderabad, India, where he worked as an editor at the Da'irat al-Ma'arif al-'Uthmaniyya after arriving in 1345 AH. In Hyderabad, he became acquainted with the works and students of the Indian Quranic scholar Hamid al-Din al-Farahi, who had developed a specialized approach to the structural coherence (nizam) of Quranic surahs. Al-Muallimi cites al-Farahi's treatise al-Ra'y al-sahih fi man huwa al-dhabih (The Correct View on Who the Sacrificed Son Was) within the work, describing it as a valuable book when discussing the connection of verse 144.
Scope and Method
The work begins by establishing the connection between Surat al-Fatiha and Surat al-Baqara, noting that al-Baqara commences by answering the supplication for guidance found in al-Fatiha, and observing how the opening verses categorize humanity into the guided, the open disbelievers, and the hypocrites.
Al-Muallimi's methodology differs from broader structural analyses of Surat al-Baqara—such as those later offered by al-Farahi or Muhammad Abd Allah Draz in al-Naba' al-'azim—by focusing predominantly on detailed, micro-level connections between individual verses and clauses rather than an overarching thematic framework.
The text is incomplete; al-Muallimi carried his analysis from the start of the surah up to verse 256: لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ ("There is no compulsion in religion"). At that point, after discussing the meaning of compulsion and addressing potential objections against the consensus of exegetes, the text breaks off. He also made cross-references to separate supplementary notes (fawa'id) that were not incorporated into the preserved manuscript.
Manuscript and Publication
The work survived as an unpolished working draft (musawwada) preserved in the Library of the Holy Mosque in Mecca under catalog number 4714. The manuscript consists of a 54-folio notebook in which the treatise runs from folio 2 to folio 32, with the main body ending on folio 25b and authorial additions written into the upper margins through folio 32, followed by thirteen blank folios left for the uncompleted portion of the surah.
The text opens directly with the formula الحمد لله، وسلامٌ ("Praise be to God, and peace") without a formal introduction. It was edited and published as part of the seventh volume of Athar al-Shaykh Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Muallimi al-Yamani, spanning approximately fifty printed pages.
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