Glorious Quran Exegesis By Imam Al Shawkani

Chapter One

Introduction

Preamble

The first part of this chapter (the first six pages) is essentially based on the information reported in the publication www.gloriousquranhistory.ca . The rest of the chapter is an introduction to Qur’anic exegesis; its classification and evolution in Islamic history. The chapter ends with a listing of all Qur’anic exegeses produced throughout 1400 years.

The Glorious Qur’an

The Glorious Qur’an is the sole, holy and spiritual WORD (speech and narrative) of ALLAH (Sub’hanahu Wa Ta’ala, SWT) as revealed exclusively to the Prophet Mohammad ( Salla Allahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, SAAS) in the Arabic language through the Archangel Gabriel (Alayhi Al Salam, AS) in the Arabian Peninsula during the first 3 decades of the 7th Century AD. This great book is the sole and Universal Islamic Constitution for Practicing Muslims and thus should be read on a daily basis, recited during the 5 daily prayers and memorized (depending on the ability of the person). More importantly each practicing Muslim must and should strive towards applying its commandments, advice and teachings in order to achieve piety, contentment, peace, prosperity and happiness in this earthly-world (hayat aldunia) as well as success, pleasure and salvation in the hereafter (alakhirah).

Similar to previous universal religions, viz, Judaism and Christianity and their respective scriptures, the Torah and the Bible, for Islam, the Qur’an contains the WORD (message & Knowledge) of ALLAH (SWT) to the Arabic speaking peoples of the Middle East and the world. There is more than one citation in the Qur’an were it is clearly revealed that the language or tongue of this universal book is Arabic and nothing but Arabic. These Qur’anic Ayat (verses) which are reported in Chapter 2 of www.gloriousquranhistory.ca – are a direct Divine Speech directed to the Prophet & Messenger of Allah, Mohammad (SAAS).

The Glorious Qur’an was revealed over a period of 23 years. Beginning in the year 608 AD when the Prophet (SAAS) was 40 years old. The first 13 years of revelations were in Makkah, while the latter 10 years were in Medina (Makkah and Medina are the two holy cities in the Arabian Peninsula representing the spiritual and geographic centerpiece of Islam). The Qur’an revelation was completed in the year 631 AD just three months short of the Prophet’s death on the twelfth day of Rabi’-Ul-Awwal (the third month of the Muslim calendar) in the year 632 AD – equivalent to the 11th year after Hijrah (AH) in the Muslim calendar.

The total number of revealed Ayat of the Qur’an are 6236 occupying 114 chapters (Sou’war; plural of Surah), 87 of which were revealed in Makkah and 27 in Medina. To facilitate memorization and recitation, the Qur’anic text is classified into 30 more or less equal principal parts called Aj’za’ (plural of Juzu’ in Arabic), each of which is partitioned into two halves thus forming 60 lesser parts called Ah’zab (plural of hizb in Arabic). Eleven of the Aj’za were revealed in Makkah while the remainder were revealed in Medina.

The content and sequence with which the Ayat were revealed represent in part a reflective narrative of the nature and description of events and situations – their location and chronology – experienced by the Prophet (SAAS) personally during the last 23 years of his honorable life.

Despite his illiteracy in reading and writing Arabic, the Messenger of Allah (SAAS) nevertheless had exceptionally sharp faculties foremost amongst which was his memory and ability to memorize. This Prophetic skill was instrumental in the later compilation and scripting of the Noble Qur’an . And so the Archangel Gabriel (AS) would reveal the Ayat by reading them to the Prophet (SAAS), repeating them a few times then requesting the Prophet (SAAS) to recite them in his presence – very much like a teacher tutoring and coaching a student. The repetition of recitations by Mohammad (SAAS) was monitored by the Archangel (AS) to make sure that the phonetics, pronunciation, punctuation and grammatical details were correct.

Proper reading, memorizing and reciting of the Qu’ran was paramount to the Prophet (SAAS) in order to propagate the Qur’anic revelations amongst the various tribes within the Arabian Peninsula. These Arabian tribes that surrounded Makkah and Medina, spoke in different tongues or dialects and for the sake of ensuring the spreading of the Qur’an a DIVINE Permission was granted to the Prophet of Allah (SAAS) to read and pronounce the revealed Ayat within the SEVEN TONGUES uttered by the seven prominent Arabian tribes of the Peninsula, namely: QURAISH, THAQEEF, HATHEEL, HAWAZEN, MUDHAR, RABI’A & TAMEEM.

Scribing the Qur’an was performed by a total of 43 Arabic literate (reading and writing) Sahabah (Companions to the Prophet (SAAS) in his honorable lifetime). Amongst the prominent were: Othman bin Affan (Radhiya Allahu Anh, RAA), Obayy bin Ka’b (RAA), Mu’ath bin Jabal (RAA) and Zaid bin Thabit (RAA). The employed Arabic scripting, lingual and grammatical aspects as well as the orthographic and calligraphic rules were meticulously and carefully followed. Once completed, this written form of the Qu’ran was then recited to the Prophet’s (SAAS) ears by each of the of the reciting/scribing Sahabah and thus approved for safekeeping.

The writing media for the Ayat at the time of revelation were palm branches, animal shoulder bones, smooth stones and cloth and leather patches. Upon the death of the Prophet (SAAS) and during the short lifetime of the First Khalifah (Chosen Successor to the Prophet) Abu Bakir Al Siddique (RAA), these media were later transcribed – by the same a/m Sahabah – into SUHUF (codices) written on soft leather and cloth. Thus the complete and documented version of the Glorious Qur’an was transformed into uniform Suhuf and kept with Abu Bakir (RAA) himself for safeguarding. It is important to mention here that subsequent to the transcription process onto codices, the original documentation media of the Qur’an, i.e, the palm branches, shoulder bones, etc. were fully destroyed leaving the Suhuf as the only authentic and complete source of the Revelation and thus it was considered as the Master Copy of the Glorious Qur’an.

During the 10 year period (13-23 A.H.) of the Second Khalifah Omar bin Al Khattab (RAA), Islam as a religion, creed, culture, heritage and way of life spread rapidly eastward into China and westward into Spain and southern France. This huge geographic dominion necessitated that the “Abu Bakir” master copy of the Qur’an – which was by this time in the safeguarding of Khalifah Omar (RAA) – be propagated through a group of Sahabah who were versed in memorizing and reciting the Qur’an. The goal was teaching the Qur’an to new Muslims in the newly acquired Islamic frontiers.

By the time Othman bin Affan (RAA) was chosen to become the Third Khalifah in the year 24 AH, the master copy of the Qur’an was in the safekeeping of Haf’sah bint (daughter) of Omar bin Al Khattab (RAA), and one of the late wives of the Prophet (SAAS). Upon the request of Othman (RAA), Haf’sah (RAA) delivered the Qur’an Master Copy to be kept with him in Dar Al Khalifah (Court of Succession).

As a result of the observed discrepancies in memorizing, reciting and pronouncing the Qur’anic text which occurred amongst the new Muslims who were taught by the group of Sahabah who in turn journeyed to the major knowledge centers at the time to spread the Qur’an by word of mouth and/or through recitation, Othman (RAA) consulted his advisors from the Sahabah and decided to duplicate the Suhuf Master Copy of the Qur’an into scribed copies. For this unprecedented task, Othman (RAA) selected four of the outstanding Sahabah who were scholars in the Arabic language and who had prior experience in scribing Arabic literature. These four were: Zaid bin Thabit (RAA), Abdallah bin Al Zubair (RAA), Said bin Al Aas (RAA) and Abdul Rahman bin Al Harith (RAA). Needless to mention of course that Zaid (RAA) was the most experienced amongst the four since he was the only Sahabi (single Companion) who oversaw and participated in scribing the Qur’an during its revelation at the time of the Prophet (SAAS) and then during transcribing it to the Suhuf Master Copy at the time of Abu Bakir (RAA).

The process of scribing duplicates of the Abu Bakir Qur’an master copy took a duration of two years (24-25 AH). As a result of checking, cross-checking and proofing the scribed copies, SEVEN IDENTICAL DUPLICATES of the Qur’an were produced. Each of these duplicates was appropriately called MUSHAF OTHMAN in honor of the Third Khalifah who proposed, supported and supervised the production of the seven copies.

Recalling the Divine Permission granted to the Prophet Mohammad (SAAS) to pronounce and read the Qur’an text in any of the seven Arabian prominent dialects and because Quraish was the Arabic tongue with which the Qur’an was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (SAAS) as well as being at the same time the name of the chief Makkan tribe to which the Prophet Mohammad (SAAS) belonged to, Muslim students of the Qur’an ( and due to their varying cultures, lineages and ethnic origins) displayed discrepancies in reading and thus committed errors in pronunciation of the Qu’anic text, To eradicate and eliminate this problem, Othman (RAA) was voraciously and faithfully committed to scribing the seven Qur’an duplicates in the Quraish dialect. Support for this endeavor had already been recommended earlier by Omar bin Al Khattab (RAA) when he was Khalifah. This came in the form of a directive to Ibn Mas’oud (RAA) – A famous Muslim scholar- in Koufah (Iraq) “to teach their knowledge seeking students the Qur’an in the Quraish tongue and not in any other”.

At the time of Othman’s Khilafah (Period of Succession) during the years 24-35 AH, it was imperative to integrate the regional Islamic knowledge centers surrounding (or conterminous to) the major Center of Islam i.e, Medina where the Khalifah resided and conducted his governance of the Islamic territories. These centers were: Makkah, Al Basrah, Al Kufah, Al Shaam, Al Bahrain and Al Yemen. Accordingly, six of the duplicate copies of Mushaf Othman were sent out to the a/m centers while the seventh was retained in Medina. This achievement was amongst the greatest in the history of the Qur’an and of the whole of Islam since it formed the true groundwork for propagating the Word of Allah (SWT) to Muslims all over the world.

The seven original “blue print” copies of the Qur’an known as Mushaf Othman became the source of many more copies of the Qur’an, each of which was scribed, compared and identically duplicated from any of the original seven. The so-called “third generation” duplicates of Mus’haf Othman were distributed to the various Muslim communities called AMSAR (i.e, Muslim Communities in Arabic) across the new Islamic World and beyond the six regional knowledge centers mentioned earlier.

Mushaf Othman was written with Arabic script, orthography and calligraphy, sentence construction, spelling, tenses, vowels, etc which were prevalent in the 7th Century AD and which are still valid today. The orthography and calligraphy (i.e, the word-spelling and shapes of letter-forming words) reflected to a large extent pronunciation, phonetics, punctuation and grammar of the Arabic language of the time. However when literate Muslims who read, recited and memorized Mushaf Othman across the Islamic world grew in number, some started to commit mistakes in pronunciation spelling certain words which resembled similar orthographic appearance. This problem was identified as TAS’HEEF (i.e, Erroneous Pronunciation in Arabic) in reciting the Qur’an and continued for more than 40 years through the Khilafah of Othman (RAA), Khilafah of Ali bin Abi Taleb (RAA) – (Both belonging to Al Khilafah Al Rashidah which extended to the year 40 AH) and , Khilafah of Mu’awiyah Bin Abi Sufyan (RAA), Khilafah of Yezeed bin Mu’awiyah, Khilafah of Marwan bin Al Hakam up to the Khilafah of Abdul Melik bin Marwan – (All of whom belonged to Al Khilafah Al Umawiyyah which extended to the year 86 AH).

Owing to the tas’heef problem which over the years became wider in extent, both Othman (RAA) and Ali (RAA) were searching for Arab lingual scholars who were able to devise practical lingual techniques in order to uproot this problem which was growing unabated. Consequently Abul Aswad Al Du’ali – a famous lingual scholar devised the dotting technique (known as Tanqeet: i.e, Dotting in Arabic) at the time Ali (RAA) became the Fourth Khalifah. In this improvisation, dots were placed on top, alongside and below similar scripted letters. This went far in minimizing the tas’heef problem. A further development came on the hands a of a student of Abul Aswad, Al Nasr bin Aasim Al Laithi who devised a complementary technique called I’jam (i.e, segregating similar letters and words in Arabic). In this brilliant technique, so-called diacritical signs or markings are placed on letters forming words to reflect certain sounds for vowels, consonants and syllables. This achievement immensely aided students of Arabic in “Arabizing” (i.e, E’rab in Arabic or analyzing the constitution and content of Arabic sentences and expressions).

During the period which culminated in the production of Mus’haf Othman there were parallel efforts to scribe the Qur’an through personal efforts by some of the Sahabah. The four prominent Sahabah who produced their “personal” copies of the Qur’an were: Abdullah bin Mas’oud (RAA), Obai bin Ka’ab (RAA), Abdullah bin Abbas (RAA) and Ali bin Abi Taleb (RAA). The last two Sahabah are of course first cousins of the Prophet (SAAS). Despite this important development, none of the above named attempted to propagate or promote their personal Mus’haf in competition to Mus’haf Othman. On the contrary, all four Sahabah engaged themselves in promoting the study, reading and recitation of the unifying master copy of Mus’haf Othman.

Finally, amongst present-day indigenous Arabs and non-Arab scholars, the grammar of the Arabic language, its lexicon, its phonetics, its phraseology, its orthography and calligraphy have essentially remained unaltered for more than fourteen centuries. This unique advantage implies that the Glorious Qur’an revealed, recited and scribed in the first few decades of the inception of Islam is, still to this day, recited and scripted in an identical fashion and form as did the Prophet (SAAS) himself and his Sahabah (RAA).

Sunni Islam & Hadeeth

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam with some 1.5 billion Muslims across the globe. Its adherents are referred to in Arabic as Ahl Al–Sunnah Wal-Jamāʻah, which translates to “People of the Tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) and the Consensus of the Muslim Ummah (Muslim Nation)“. In English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, and Sunnites. Sunni Islam is the world’s second largest religious body, after Christianity and the largest religious denomination for any religion in the world. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as the orthodox version of the religion. The word “Sunni” is believed to come from the term “Sunnah” in Arabic, which refers to the Tradition of the Messenger of Allah (SWT) in his sayings and actions as documented in the Nine Authoritative Sources of Hadeeth (see below) [book volumes which document the authentic Sayings of the Prophet (SAAS)] who Muslim Scholars over the six centuries following the his death (SAAS) have accepted as the authoritative Sunni Collections of Hadeeth.

The Nine Sources of Hadeeth are authored by well known Muslim Scholars during the second and third Hijri Centuries. The earliest is Imam Malik’s work in the second Hijri Century while the latest is Imam Al Nasa’i’s contribution in the fourth Hijri Century. The seven other A’immah (plural for Imam) all dedicated their contributions to the Prophetic Hadeeth during the third Hijri Century. Listed according to their authenticity and credibility in reporting and narration these sources are:

Saheeh Al Bukhari (Deceased: 256 A.H*).
Saheeh Muslim (Deceased: 261 A.H*).
Sunan Al Tirmithi (Deceased: 279 A.H*).
Sunan Al Nasa’i (Deceased: 303 A.H*).
Sunan Abu Dawood (Deceased: 275 A.H*).
Sunan Ibn Majah (Deceased: 273 A.H).
Musnad Ahmad (Deceased: 241 A.H).
Muwata’ Malik (Deceased: 179 A.H).
Sunan Al Darami (Deceased: 255 A.H).

*(A.H = After Hijrah).

The Nine Sources of Hadeeth accepted by Sunni Muslims of the world, in conjunction with the Glorious Quran and (Practicing) Muslim Scholar Binding Consensus Council (MSBCC) (Ijma’ Al Ummah in Arabic), form the basis of all jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Laws are derived from these THREE basic sources; in addition, Sunni Islam’s juristic schools recognize differing methods to derive verdicts such as analogical reasoning, consideration of public welfare and juristic discretion.

The MSBCC which is the regular closed meeting of knowledgeable Muslim Scholars actively engaged and diligently working in the realm of the Glorious Quran, Honorable Sunnah & Virtuous Hadeeth in various Islamic countries. This body possesses the sole authority and responsibility of making majority decisions regarding issues affecting practicing Muslims worldwide in their current daily life. Examples are: body part donations, conditions of fasting in countries north or south of Latitude 50 degrees and bank mortgages for ownership of single sole family homes.

Qur’an Exegesis

Qur’an exegesis (i.e, Qur’an interpretation or Tafseer Al Qur’an in Arabic) includes all forms of statements (or Bayan in Arabic) to the vocabulary of the Qur’an and its compositions: whether statements explaining the Arabic Qur’anic language, or devising juristic rulings or the achievement of an appropriate occasion or the reason behind the Descending Ayat of the Qur’an during Revelation, or defending a problematic issue in the Qur’anic text, or between it and another text.

Qur’an exegesis is known to have existed since the time of the Revelation of the Glorious Qur’an itself, since it is well known that Quranic text explains itself. During the lifetime of the Prophet (SAAS) some of his Companions when reading the Qur’an would need explanations of specific text. This would readily be provided by the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) himself in compliance with the Commandment of Allah (SWT) in:

Surat Al Nahl (Ayah 44): And We have descended upon you the Qur’an to show people what has been revealed to them so that they may contemplate.

From those early days until a complete discipline of Qur’anic Exegesis was established by consecutive generations of Muslim Scholars over the seven centuries after Hijrah, various forms of exegesis “approaches” developed. Outstanding amongst these approaches are: a) Qur’an through Qur’an and b) Qur’an through Hadeeth & Sunnah exegeses. Based on these two approaches, Qur’anic exegesis schools of thought developed in Makkah, Medinah, Damascus, Baghdad & Koufah with thousands of volumes and classifications written by Learned Muslim Scholars specializing in the exegesis of the Qur’an.

In all of the various Qura’nic exegeses volumes and classifications written over the centuries, the Arabic Language, Arabic Rhetoric, Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic Rulings, Theology and Credence were central in the minds and hearts of the contributing scholars.

Classification of Qur’anic Exegeses

Four distinct approaches classifying exegesis of the Qur’an have developed over the centuries. These are:

Exegesis based on knowledge using the Arabic language of the Qur’an. This approach has four sections:

- Arabic common amongst indigenous Arab communities.
- Arabic uncommon to indigenous Arabic communities.
- Arabic common to Muslim Scholars.
- Arabic only known to Allah (SWT).

Exegesis based on extracting knowledge directly from the Glorious Qur’an itself or from the Honorable Sunnah or from the knowledge of the Sahabah or the Tabi’een (i.e, Two consecutive generations of followers of the Messenger of Allah and his Companions). This category might also include conscientious diligence (Ijtihad) as well as inspiration and conscious emanation (Ilham & Faidh). This approach has the following three sections:

- Exegesis based on the narrative called – Ma’thour implying a general truth or adage.
- Exegesis based on the knowledge called – Ra’i or opinion.
- Exegesis based on conscious emanation and reference called Ishari or indicative.

Exegesis based on the description of the words and sentences constituting the Ayat from the Arab lingual point of view using meaning and pronunciation as parameters. This approach has two sections:

- Exegesis called Ijmali or all-encompassing.
- Exegesis called Tahlili or analytical.

Exegesis based on addressing the general subject matter revealed by the Qur’an such as Tawheed (Monotheism) or Aqeedah (Credence) or describing specifics such as Salat (Prayers) Ahkam (Rulings) for Zakat (Alms) or for Meerath (Inheritance). This approach has two sections:

- Exegesis called Aam or general.
- Exegesis called Moudhoo’I or objective.

Qur’anic Exegeses During the Fourteen Centuries of Islamic History

Over the fourteen Centuries of Islamic history and based on the classification outlined in the previous section, 36 different Qur’an Exegeses have been documented and published. Hereunder are ALL the Exegeses of the Glorious Qur’an listed by the author’s name and the year of his death. The last three authors are still living.

Ma’ani Al Qur’an – Abul Hasan Al Akhfash Al Awsat – 215 A.H.

Jami’ Al Bayan Fi Ta’weel Al Qur’an – Muhammad Bin Jareer Abu Ja’far Al Tabari – 310 A.H.

Tafseer Al Naisaboori – Abu Bakir Ibn Al Munthir Al Naisaboori – 318 A.H.

Tafseer Ibn Abi Hatem – Abu Muhammad Abdul Rahman Al Hanzali Al Razi Ibn Abi Hatem – 327 A.H.

Ma’ani Al Qur’an – Ahmad Bin Muhammad Al Muradi Al Nahawi – 338 A.H.

Al Hidayah Ela Buloogh Al Nihayah Fi Elm Ma’ani Al Qur’an – Abu Muhammad Makki Abi Taleb Al Qurtubi – 437 A.H.

Al Wajeez Fi Tafseer Al Kitab Al Azeez – Abul Hassan Ali Al Naisaboori Al Shafi’I – 468 A.H.

Ma’alim Al Tanzeel Fi Tafseer Al Qur’an – Abu Muhammad Al Hussain Bin Mas’ood Al Baghawi – 510 A.H.
Tafseer Al Kashaf – Mahmood Jar Allah Al Zamakhshari – 521 A.H.

Al Muharir Al Wajeez Fi Tafseer Al Kitab Al Azeez – Abu Muhammad Bin Atiyyah Al Muharibi Al Andulusi – 542 A.H.

Zad Al Maseer Fi Ilm Al Tafseer – Jamal Eddin Abdul Rahman Al Jawzi – 597 A.H.

Al Tafseer Al Kabeer Wa Mafateeh Al Ghaib – Abu Abdullah Fakhir Eddin Al Razi – 606 A.H.

Romooz Al Kunooz – Izz Eddin Abdul Razak Al Ras’ani Al Hanbali – 661 A.H.

Al Jami’ Li Ahkam Al Qur’an – Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Faraj Al Qurtubi – 671 A.H.

Anwar Al Tanzeel Wa Asrar Al Ta’weel – Nasir Eddin Omar Al Sherazi Al Baidhawi – 685 A.H.

Madarik Al Tanzeel Wa Haqa’iq Al Ta’weel – Abdullah Bin Ahmad Abu Al Barakat Al Nasfi – 710 A.H.

Libab Al Ta’weel Fi Ma’ani Al Tanzeel – Abul Hasan Ali Bin Omar Al Sheehi – 741 A.H.

Tafseer Al Bahr Al Muheet – Muhammad Bin Yousif Abu Hayyan Al Ghirnati – 745 A.H.

Tafseer Al Qur’an Al Kareem – Muhammad Bin Abi Bakir Bin Qayyem Al Jawziyyah – 751 A.H.

Tafseer Al Qur’an Al Azeem – Abul Fida Ismaeel Ibn Katheer Al Damashqi – 774 A.H.

Tafseer Al Jalalain – Jalal Eddin Al Mahalli – 864 A.H. & Jalal Eddin Al Seouti – 911 A.H.

Al Durr Al Manthour Fi Al Ta’weel Bil Ma’thoor – Jalal Eddin Al Seouti – 911 A.H.

Fat’h Al Qadeer Al Jami’ Baina Fanayy Al Riwayah Wal Dirayah Min Ilm Al Tafseer – Muhammad Bin Ali Al Shawkani – 1250 A.H.

Tafseer Rouh Al Ma’ani – Mahmood Bin Abdallah Al Hussaini Al Aloosi – 1270 A.H.

Fat’h Al Bayan Fi Maqasid Al Qur’an – Abul Tayyeb Muhammad Siddiq Al Qanawgi – 1307 A.H.

Fi Zilal Al Qur’an - Sayyed Qutub Ibrahim Hussain Al Shathili – 1344 A.H.

Fi Majalis Al Tathkeer Min Kalam Al Hakeem Al Khabeer – Abdul Hameed Bin Badees Al Sunhaji – 1359 A.H.

Tadabur Al Qur’an – Ameen Ihsan Islahi – 1375 A.H. [ Urdu Language].

Tayseer Al Kareem Al Rahman Fi Tafseer Kalam Al Mannan – Abdul Rahman Bin Nasir Al Sa’di – 1376 A.H.

Adhwa’ Al Bayan Fi Eedhah Al Qur’an Bil Qur’an – Muhammad Al Ameen Bin Abdul Qader Al Shanqeeti – 1393 A.H.

Al Tahreer Wal Tanweer – Muhammad Al Tahir Bin Ashoor Al Tunisi – 1393 A.H.

Ma’rif Al Qur’an – Muhammad Shafe’ Al Othmani – 1396 A.H. [ Urdu Language].

Tafheem Al Qur’an – Abul A’ala Al Mawdoodi – 1399 A.H. [ Urdu Language].

Aysar Al Tafaseer – Jabir Bin Moosa Abu Bakir Al Ja’zairi – Still Living.

AlTafseer Al Muneer Fi Al Aqeedah Wal Shareeah Wal Manhaj – Wahbah Mustafa Al Zihaili – Still Living.

Safwat Al Tafaseer – Muhammad Ali Al Sabooni – Still Living.

Epilogue

This has been an introductory chapter to enlighten the interested reader about Islam, the Glorious Qur’an and its revelation, Muhammad (SAAS), His Companions (RAA) and the scribing of Qur’an. The chapter also gives a brief exposure to the nine sources of Hadeeth which are the sayings and actions of the Prophet & Messenger of Allah (SWT). The chapter is concluded with an overview of the Qur’an exegesis, its classification and a list of the titles of THIRTY SIX EXEGESES of the Glorious Qur’an along with the names of the Muslim Scholars who authored them over the Fourteen Centuries of Islamic history since the revelation of the Noble Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS).

It is worth noting that the THE TWENTY THIRD EXEGESIS (UNDERLINED) IN THE ABOVE LIST – by Imam AL SHAWKANI – will be the subject matter of this publication.