Tafsir al-Khazin Lubab al-Tawil fi Maani al-Tanzil

Lubab al-Taʾwil fi Maʿani al-Tanzil (Arabic: لباب التأويل في معاني التنزيل), commonly known as Tafsir al-Khazin, is a comprehensive Sunni Quranic commentary authored by the Shafiʿi scholar ʿAlaʾ al-Din ʿAli ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Baghdadi, known as al-Khazin (d. 741 AH / 1341 CE) Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1.

Composition and Sources

Al-Khazin completed the composition of his commentary in the year 725 AH / 1325 CE Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. The work was primarily conceived as an abridgment and refinement of Maʿalim al-Tanzil by al-Baghawi (d. 516 AH), which al-Khazin praised highly in his preface for its soundness and coverage of prophetic traditions and legal rulings Mafhum al-Tafsir wa al-Ta…+1. In addition to condensing al-Baghawi's text, al-Khazin incorporated supplementary material extracted from earlier exegetical and hadith works, including hadith compilations such as al-Humaydi's al-Jamʿ bayn al-Sahihayn and Ibn al-Athir's Jamiʿ al-Usul Mafhum al-Tafsir wa al-Ta…+1. The author noted in his introduction that his personal role in the compilation was limited to faithful transmission and selective curation (al-naql wa-al-intikhab) without introducing speculative interpretations of his own Mafhum al-Tafsir wa al-Ta….

Structure and Methodology

The work opens with an introductory section divided into five thematic chapters covering:

1. The virtues of the Quran, its recitation, and its instruction al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru….
2. The warning against interpreting the Quran through baseless personal opinion, and against neglecting or forgetting the Quran after learning it al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru….
3. The compilation of the Quran, the order of its revelation, and its revealed forms al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru….
4. The transmission and meanings regarding the Quran's revelation in seven modes (sabʿat ahruf) al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru….
5. The linguistic and technical definitions of tafsir (exegesis) and taʾwil (interpretation) al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru….

Al-Khazin set out to avoid prolixity by omitting full chains of transmission (isnad), compensating for their absence by elucidating rare and difficult vocabulary found within the cited traditions (gharib al-hadith) Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1. For hadith citations, he implemented a sourcing system: he assigned specific symbolic abbreviations for reports found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, explicitly named other canonical collectors, and directly identified reports that al-Baghawi had narrated through his own transmission or via al-Thaʿlabi Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…+1.

Content and Scholarly Reception

The commentary integrates tradition-based reports (al-tafsir bi-al-maʾthur), legal deductions (ahkam sharʿiyyah), historical notices, and narratives concerning past prophets and nations al-Tafsir wa al-Mufassiru…+1. While some later writers classified the work under reason-based exegesis (tafsir bi-al-raʾy)—likely guided by the occurrence of al-Taʾwil in its title—scholars have pointed out that its reliance on transmitted narrations and its abridgment of al-Baghawi place it firmly within the tradition-based genre Mafhum al-Tafsir wa al-Ta…+1.

A prominent feature of the work is its extensive inclusion of historical narratives and Israʾiliyyat (Judaeo-Christian traditions), frequently inherited from al-Baghawi and al-Thaʿlabi al-Israiliyat wal-Mawduat…+1. Critics have noted that al-Khazin often cited these stories without investigating their authenticity, although he routinely signaled unverified or weak accounts by introducing them with passive or non-committal formulas such as yurwa ("it is narrated") or ruwiya al-Israiliyat wal-Mawduat…+1. However, where narratives directly conflicted with theological tenets or impugned the doctrinal infallibility (ʿismah) of the prophets—such as the accounts surrounding Harut and Marut, Dawud, Sulayman, or the Gharaniq incident—al-Khazin explicitly refuted and dismantled them at length al-Israiliyat wal-Mawduat….

Print History

Tafsir al-Khazin has been printed across several multi-volume editions, frequently published alongside other classical commentaries. Notable historical printings include a seven-volume edition featuring al-Baghawi's Maʿalim al-Tanzil on its margins, as well as a four-volume edition published in Egypt alongside al-Nasafi's Madarik al-Tanzil wa-Haqaʾiq al-Taʾwil Mujam al-Matbuat al-Arabi…. Modern editions have been issued in seven volumes by publishers in Cairo and Beirut Majallat al-Jami'a al-Isl…+1.