Sunan Saeed ibn Mansur - Bidayat al-Tafsir
- Author died
- 227 AH
- Editions
- t al-Humayd
Sunan Sa‘id ibn Mansur – Bidayat al-Tafsir (The Sunan of Sa‘id ibn Mansur – Beginning of Tafsir) represents the opening portion of the Quranic exegesis (Kitab al-Tafsir) and the virtues of the Quran (Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an) from the major hadith work al-Sunan by the traditionist Sa‘id ibn Mansur (d. 227 AH / 842 CE) .
Scope and Contents
The work preserves early narrated traditions (hadith and athar) compiled by Sa‘id ibn Mansur on the interpretation of the Quran and related disciplines . This specific portion contains:
- Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an (The Book of the Virtues of the Quran), which Sa‘id ibn Mansur presented consecutively without topical chapter division .
- Kitab al-Tafsir (The Book of Exegesis), arranged by surahs according to the standard order of the Quran, starting from Surat al-Fatihah, followed by Surat al-Baqarah, Surat Al ‘Imran, Surat al-Nisa’, and concluding with Surat al-Ma’idah .
The transmission of al-Sunan from Sa‘id ibn Mansur is notably documented through his students Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Zayd al-Sa'igh and Ahmad ibn Najdah ibn al-‘Iryan . Ibn Dihyah al-Kalbi noted that the entire compilation of al-Sunan originally comprised twenty-four parts organized around jurisprudence and legal disagreements .
Methodology and Sources
Sa‘id ibn Mansur’s exegesis belongs to the genre of exegesis by transmitted traditions (al-tafsir bi-al-ma’thur), recording traditions with full chains of transmission back to the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, and the Successors (al-Tabi‘un) . The author drew directly upon earlier specialized written sources, including the exegesis of Mujahid ibn Jabr via Abdullah ibn Abi Najih and the exegesis of Sufyan al-Thawri via Abu Hudhayfah al-Nahdi . Later Quran commentators and hadith scholars, including Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, regularly cited and relied upon the exegetical reports preserved in the work .
Manuscript Discovery and Edition
While portions of Sunan Sa‘id ibn Mansur—covering legal chapters such as inheritance, wills, marriage, divorce, and jihad—had previously been edited and published by Habib al-Rahman al-A‘zami, the exegetical sections remained largely inaccessible in print .
A handwritten manuscript containing this initial portion of Kitab al-Tafsir alongside Kitab Fada'il al-Qur'an was identified in the private library of Muhammad ibn Sa‘ud al-Subayhi in the town of al-Rayn (south of al-Quway‘iyyah), through the assistance of Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Jibreen . Sa‘d ibn Abdullah al-Humayyid edited and annotated the text as his doctoral dissertation at the College of Usul al-Din at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, defending it in 1413 AH . It was published in five volumes by Dar al-Sumay‘i in Riyadh in 1417 AH / 1997 CE .
Answer updated