Manhaj al-Imam al-Tahir bin Ashur fi al-Tafsir
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- Al-Dar Al-Misriyyah
Manhaj al-Imam al-Tahir bin Ashur fi al-Tafsir (The Methodology of Imam al-Tahir ibn Ashur in Exegesis) is a contemporary scholarly study by Nabil Ahmad Saqr analyzing the hermeneutical principles and interpretive approach of the Tunisian scholar Muhammad al-Tahir ibn Ashur (1296–1393 AH / 1879–1973 CE) in his multi-volume commentary, Al-Tahrir wa-l-Tanwir .
Scope and Structure
The book investigates how Ibn Ashur constructed his exegesis by examining both traditional transmitted reports (al-tafsir bi-l-riwaya) and rational deduction (al-tafsir bi-l-diraya) . It explores Ibn Ashur's preliminary discourses to Al-Tahrir wa-l-Tanwir, in which he outlined core principles of Qur'anic sciences, and is arranged into four main parts and a conclusion :
- Part One (Ibn 'Ashur wa-Masadir al-Kitab): Examines Ibn Ashur's biography, his judicial and academic appointments, his educational milieu, his motives for writing the exegesis, and the diverse classical sources upon which he relied .
- Part Two (Manhaj al-Tahir ibn 'Ashur fi al-Tafsir bi-l-Riwaya): Focuses on Ibn Ashur's framework for exegesis based on transmission, detailing his structural procedure for analyzing chapters (surahs) and individual verses through selected textual examples .
- Part Three (Manhaj al-Tahir ibn 'Ashur fi al-Tafsir bi-l-Diraya): Explains Ibn Ashur's concept of reason-based interpretation (tafsir bi-l-ra'y) and the methodological tools he employed, noting how he treated transmitted reports and rational analysis as complementary facets of a unified interpretive process .
- Part Four (Mawqif al-Tahir ibn 'Ashur min al-Madhahib al-I'tiqadiyya): Analyzes Ibn Ashur's critical engagement with major theological schools in Islamic history, his approach to figurative interpretation (ta'wil) and legal injunctions, and his balanced, non-sectarian evaluation of classical scholarly heritage .
Methodological Analysis
The work highlights Ibn Ashur's systematic plan at the outset of each surah, where he consistently introduces the chapter's title, the reason behind its naming, its order of revelation, an overview of its historical occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul), its total verse count, its classification as Meccan or Medinan, and its primary overarching themes and objectives (aghrad) .
In its concluding assessment, the study determines that Ibn Ashur's method is founded on critical engagement with varied sources free from blind imitation (taqlid) . Within his transmission-based interpretation, interpreting the Qur'an by the Qur'an (tafsir al-Qur'an bi-l-Qur'an) served as a primary tool, applied with the premise that while certain verses illuminate and contextualize related passages, identical expressions across different contexts may also carry distinct, independent meanings .
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