Tafsir al-Jalalayn

Tafsir al-Jalalayn (The Interpretation of the Two Jalals) is a concise classical Arabic commentary on the Quran composed jointly by the Egyptian Shafi'i scholars Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864 AH / 1459 CE) and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Authorship and Composition

Neither author gave the work an official title; it became universally known among scholars as Tafsir al-Jalalayn in reference to their shared honorific title, Jalal al-Din al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1. Al-Mahalli began the composition with the second half of the Quran, commenting from the beginning of Surat al-Kahf to the end of Surat al-Nas, followed by Surat al-Fatiha, before dying in 864 AH without writing the remainder al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1. Six years after al-Mahalli's death, al-Suyuti undertook the completion of the work at around twenty-two years of age, writing the commentary from Surat al-Baqara through Surat al-Isra' Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1. He composed his section in forty days, beginning on Wednesday, 1 Ramadan 870 AH and concluding on Sunday, 10 Shawwal 870 AH, placing the commentary on Surat al-Fatiha at the end of al-Mahalli's portion so it would join his own al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1. Haji Khalifa recorded in Kashf al-Zunun that al-Mahalli wrote from the start of the Quran to Surat al-Isra' and that al-Suyuti finished the rest, though scholars have identified this attribution as an error Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1.

Method and Sources

The commentary is structured in an interwoven (mamzuj) style, embedding concise glosses directly into the Quranic wording al-Taliq ala Tafsir al-Ja…+1. In his introduction at the beginning of Surat al-Baqara, al-Suyuti outlined the methodology followed in completing the text: matching al-Mahalli's condensed approach by presenting what is strictly necessary to understand the divine speech, relying on the soundest interpretive opinions, providing essential grammatical parsing (i'rab), highlighting prominent canonical readings (qira'at), and omitting unsatisfactory views and lengthy linguistic discussions better suited to specialized grammatical treatises Faharis Ulum al-Quran al-…+1. Neither scholar commented on the opening formula bi-smillāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm (the Basmala) Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…. Theologically, both authors interpreted the divine attributes according to the Ash'ari school al-Dalil ila al-Mutun al-….

In Bughyat al-Wu'at, al-Suyuti noted that al-Mahalli relied heavily on the two commentaries of Muwaffaq al-Din Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Kawashi—Tabsirat al-Mutadhakkir and al-Talkhis fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim—for grammatical precision and pause markers al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1. Al-Suyuti similarly utilized al-Kawashi's works alongside al-Wahidi's al-Wajiz, al-Baydawi's Anwar al-Tanzil, and Ibn Kathir's Tafsir al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1.

Reception and Supercommentaries

Tafsir al-Jalalayn achieved widespread reception throughout the Islamic world, becoming a standard curricular text in instructional circles and mosques, and was routinely printed in the margins of Quranic codices al-Taliq wal-Idah ala Taf…+1. Haji Khalifa recorded the observation of a Yemeni scholar who counted the letters of the Quran and the commentary, noting that their lengths were virtually equal up to Surat al-Muzzammil, with the commentary exceeding the text only from Surat al-Muddathir onwards al-Dalil ila al-Mutun al-…. Despite its high brevity, scholars evaluated it as a text primarily suited for advanced students studying under specialized instructors because of its dense allusions and grammatical nuances Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1. Later scholars have noted that despite its merits, it unreservedly incorporates some weak reports and unverified Israelite narratives (Isra'iliyyat) without critical qualification Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim ….

Numerous supercommentaries (hashiyas) were produced to unpack its concise expressions, including:

• Al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyya bi-Tawdih Tafsir al-Jalalayn lil-Daqa'iq al-Khafiyya (known as Hashiyat al-Jamal) by Sulayman ibn 'Umar al-Jamal (d. 1204 AH), in four volumes Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1.
• Hashiyat al-Sawi by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Sawi (d. 1241 AH), an abridgment and expansion of al-Jamal's work in four volumes Faharis Ulum al-Quran al-…+1.
• Qabas al-Nayyirayn 'ala Tafsir al-Jalalayn by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-'Alqami (d. 969 AH) Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1.
• Majma' al-Bahrayn wa-Matla' al-Badrayn by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Karkhi, in four volumes Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim ….
• Hashiyat al-Jamalayn 'ala al-Jalalayn by Mulla 'Ali al-Qari (d. 1014 AH) Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim …+1.
• Al-Kamalayn 'ala Tafsir al-Jalalayn by Salam Allah al-Dihlawi Khizanat al-Turath - Fihr…+1.