Tabaqat al-Mufassirin lil-Adhnawi
- Author died
- 1050 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-al-Hikam
Tabaqat al-Mufassirin lil-Adhnawi (The Biographical Layers of the Quranic Exegetes) is a biographical dictionary authored by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Adanawi (d. c. 1050 AH / 17th century CE) dedicated to the lives and writings of Quranic commentators (mufassirun) from the inception of Islam into the eleventh century AH.
Purpose and Scope
In his introduction, al-Adanawi explained that he compiled the work after observing that while scholars had devoted specialized biographical treatises to hadith transmitters (muhaddithun), jurists (fuqaha'), and grammarians (nuhah), few had compiled dedicated, comprehensive works focused exclusively on Quranic exegetes. The work serves as a supplement and rectification (istidrak) to what was omitted in the earlier Tabaqat al-Mufassirin by Shams al-Din al-Dawudi (d. 945 AH / 1538 CE); together, the two dictionaries constitute one of the most exhaustive compilations in the genre of exegetical biography.
Structure and Method
Unlike al-Dawudi, who arranged his entries alphabetically, al-Adanawi structured his book chronologically into generational "layers" (tabaqat), assigning a period of one hundred years (a century) to each layer.
The biographical entries open with the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ who interpreted the Quran before the close of the first century AH, such as Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. The book then proceeds through the Successors (Tabi'un) and subsequent centuries of Muslim scholars up through those who died after the tenth century AH. It concludes with a dedicated section for exegetes whose exact dates of birth or death could not be established in standard chronicles and biographical works. Individual entries typically record the commentator's lineage, notable teachers and students, transmission of tafsir, scholarly achievements, titles of their Quranic commentaries and other writings, and their death date and burial location when known.
Sources
Al-Adanawi explicitly enumerated his primary references in the preface, drawing upon major historical, biographical, and bibliographical texts across multiple fields and legal schools. Among his cited sources are:
- Wafayat al-A'yan by Ibn Khallikan.
- Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyyah al-Kubra by Taj al-Din al-Subki.
- Al-Jawahir al-Mudiyyah fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyyah by Abd al-Qadir al-Qurashi.
- Kata'ib A'lam al-Akhyar by Mahmud ibn Sulayman al-Kafawi.
- Taj al-Tarazim by Ibn Qutlubugha.
- Inba' al-Ghumr bi-Abna' al-'Umr by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.
- Al-Daw' al-Lami' and Tarikh al-Madinah by al-Sakhawi.
- Miftah al-Sa'adah (Mawdu'at al-'Ulum) and Al-Shaqa'iq al-Nu'maniyyah by Tashkubrizadah and its continuations.
- Kashf al-Zunun (Asami al-Kutub) by Katib Chelebi (Haji Khalifa).
- Nafahat al-Uns by Nur al-Din al-Jami, Mir'at al-Jinan by al-Yafi'i, Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra by Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani, and Al-Kawakib al-Durriyyah by al-Munawi.
Manuscripts and Publication
An autograph manuscript penned in Naskh script is preserved in the Egyptian National Library (Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya) in Cairo, comprising 63 folios under accession number 1859 (Tarikh Tal'at). The book was critically edited by Sulayman ibn Salih al-Khuzi and published in a single volume by Maktabat al-'Ulum wa-l-Hikam in Medina (first edition, 1417 AH / 1997 CE).
Answer updated