Sharh al-Shatibiyya Siraj al-Qari al-Mubtadi wa Tadhkar al-Muqri al-Muntahi
- Author died
- 801 AH
- Editions
- Maṭbaʿat Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī
Sharh al-Shatibiyya: Siraj al-Qari al-Mubtadi wa Tadhkar al-Muqri al-Muntahi (Arabic: سراج القارئ المبتدي وتذكار المقرئ المنتهي, lit. 'The Lamp of the Beginning Reader and Reminder of the Accomplished Reciter') is a commentary by the Quranic scholar Ibn al-Qasih (716–801 AH / 1315–1398 CE) on the didactic poem Hirz al-Amani wa Wajh al-Tahani, widely known as al-Shatibiyya, by al-Qasim ibn Firruh al-Shatibi (d. 590 AH) on the seven canonical Quranic readings (qira'at) .
Purpose and Methodology
In his introduction, Ibn al-Qasih explains that versified compositions represent the most accessible means to study the science of Quranic readings, highlighting al-Shatibi's poem as the foremost text in this genre . Noting that earlier commentators had ranged from overly brief expositions to excessively elaborate works that departed from moderation, Ibn al-Qasih aimed to provide a balanced exposition . His stated objective was to unravel the poem's verses and deduce the variant readings using straightforward language readily intelligible to beginning students .
To maintain clarity and accessibility, he deliberately avoided lengthy grammatical and rational justifications (taʿālīl), noting that such discussions were already documented in specialized works on Quranic syntax and exegesis .
Sources
The work was composed as an abridgment and synthesis of several major classical commentaries on al-Shatibiyya, with supplementary points and benefits not found in those earlier treatises . Ibn al-Qasih explicitly names his primary source commentaries as those authored by:
- Alam al-Din al-Sakhawi
- Abu Shama al-Maqdisi
- Al-Fasi
- Ibn Jubarah
- Ibrahim ibn Umar al-Ja'bari
Transmission and Publication
The commentary has been widely circulated and preserved in manuscript form in libraries across Damascus, Cairo, Fez, Istanbul, Paris, Berlin, and elsewhere . It was published in a large volume in Cairo with editorial review by Ali Muhammad al-Dabba', the head of Egyptian reciters (shaykh ʿumūm al-maqāriʾ al-miṣriyya) .
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