ṬABARĪ

Selections from
The Comprehensive Exposition
of the Interpretation of the
Verses of the Qurʾān
volume i

the royal aal al-bayt institute

for islamic thought
and
the islamic texts society

Translated by
Scott C. Lucas

1 Tabari T.O.C.indd 3 03/03/2017 17:10

 Copyright © The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan 2017

This first edition published 2017 by

The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought &
The Islamic Texts Society
Miller’s House
Kings Mill Lane
Great Shelford
Cambridge cb22 5en, uk.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

: 978 1911141 25 9 vol I

: 978 1911141 26 6 vol II
: 978 1911141 27 3 case set

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

installed in retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publishers.

The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and

The Islamic Texts Society has no responsibility for the persistence
or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites
referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any
content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

Cover design copyright © The Islamic Texts Society

1 Tabari T.O.C.indd 4 03/03/2017 17:10

 CONTENTS

Acknowledgements vii
Abbreviations ix
Translator’s Introduction xi

Selections from
THE COMPREHENSIVE EXPOSITION OF THE
INTERPRETATION OF THE VERSES OF THE QURʾĀN
VOLUME I

Ṭabarī’s Introduction 1
The Opening: Sūrat al-Fātiḥa (1:2–7) 111
The Cow: Sūrat al-Baqara (2:255) 164
The Cow: Sūrat al-Baqara (2:284–286) xxx
The Family of ʿImrān: Sūrat Āl ʿImrān (3:7) 217
The Family of ʿImrān: Sūrat Āl ʿImrān (3:18) xxx
Repentance: Sūrat al-Tawba (9:38–40) 254
Repentance: Sūrat al-Tawba (9:128–129) xxx
The Cave: Sūrat al-Kahf (18:60–82) 268
The Light: Sūrat al-Nūr (24:35–42) 319
Prostration: Sūrat al-Sajda (32:1–30) 351
Yāʾ Sīn: Sūrat Yāʾ Sīn (36:1–83) 394
The Companies: Sūrat al-Zumar (39:53–55) 471

Appendix A: The Disconnected Letters (al-Muqaṭṭaʿāt)

Appendix B: Ṭabarī’s Teachers
Appendix C: Ṭabarī’s Qur’ān Interpreters
Appendix D: Ṭabarī’s Poets
Appendix E: Translated Arabic Passages in the 2001
Dār Hajar Edition of Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī
Bibliography
General Index

1 Tabari T.O.C.indd 5 03/03/2017 17:10

 ṬABARĪ
Selections from
The Comprehensive Exposition
of the Interpretation of the
Verses of the Qurʾān
volume ii

the royal aal al-bayt institute

for islamic thought
and
the islamic texts society

Translated by
Scott C. Lucas

1 Tabari T.O.C.indd 3 03/03/2017 17:15

 Copyright © The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan 2017

This first edition published 2017 by

The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought &
The Islamic Texts Society
Miller’s House
Kings Mill Lane
Great Shelford
Cambridge cb22 5en, uk.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

: 978 1911141 25 9 vol I

: 978 1911141 26 6 vol II
: 978 1911141 27 3 case set

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

installed in retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publishers.

The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and

The Islamic Texts Society has no responsibility for the persistence
or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites
referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any
content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

Cover design copyright © The Islamic Texts Society

1 Tabari T.O.C.indd 4 03/03/2017 17:15

 CONTENTS

Abbreviations vii
Translator’s Introduction ix

Selections from
THE COMPREHENSIVE EXPOSITION OF THE
INTERPRETATION OF THE VERSES OF THE QURʾĀN
VOLUME II

The Smoke: Sūrat al-Dukhān (44:1–59) 1

The Beneficent: Sūrat al-Raḥmān (55:1–78) 57
The Inevitable Occasion: Sūrat al-Wāqiʿa (56:1–96) 137
Iron: Sūrat al-Ḥadīd (57:1–29) 218
The Gathering: Sūrat al-Ḥashr (59:18–24) 272
Sovereignty: Sūrat al-Mulk (67:1–30) 281
The Resurrection: Sūrat al-Qiyāma (75:1–40) 300
The Most High: Sūrat al-Aʿlā (87:1–19) 347
The Sun: Sūrat al-Shams (91:1–15) 361
The Night: Sūrat al-Layl (92:1–21) 378
The Earthquake: Sūrat al-Zalzala (99:1–8) 399
The Chargers: Sūrat al-ʿĀdiyāt (100:1–11) 409
Rivalry: Sūrat al-Takāthur (102:1–8) 423
The Disbelievers: Sūrat al-Kāfirūn (109:1–6) 433
Aid: Sūrat al-Naṣr (110:1–3) 437
Sincerity: Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ (112:1–4) 444
Daybreak: Sūrat al-Falaq (113:1–5) 454
People: Sūrat al-Nās (114:1–6) 462

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 ṬABARĪ

Appendix A: The Disconnected Letters (al-Muqaṭṭaʿāt)

Appendix B: Ṭabarī’s Teachers
Appendix C: Ṭabarī’s Qur’ān Interpreters
Appendix D: Ṭabarī’s Poets
Appendix E: Translated Arabic Passages in the 2001
Dār Hajar Edition of Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī
Bibliography
General Index

vi

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 ABBREVIATIONS

Commentary: Ṭabarī. The Commentary on the Qurʾān by Abū

Jaʿ far Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, being an abridged
translation of Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an-taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān,
with an introduction and notes by John Cooper.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Al-Durr al-manthūr: Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī’l-
tafsīr [bi-]al-maʾthūr. 7 vols. Beirut: Dār al- Kutub
al-ʿIlmiyya, 2004.
Dār Hajar: Ṭabarī. Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī: Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan-taʾwīl
āy al-Qurʾān. Ed. ʿAbd Allāh al-Turkī and Markaz
al-Buḥūth wa’l-Dirāsāt al-ʿArabiyya wa’l-Islāmiyya
bi-Dār Hajar. 27 vols. Cairo: Hajar, 2001. Available at:
http://www.archive.org/details/TafsirTabariTurki.
EI²: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online,
2012.
Guillaume: Guillaume, Alfred. The Life of Muḥammad: A
Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah. Karachi:
Oxford University Press, 2001 [1955].
Hava: Hava, J. G. Arabic-English Dictionary. New Delhi:
Goodword Books, 2001 [1899].
Ḥalabī or Jāmiʿ al-bayān: Ṭabarī. Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan-taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān. 30
vols. Cairo: Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1954–1968.
Lane: Lane, Edward. An Arabic-English Lexicon. London:
Williams and Norgate, 1863. Available at: http://
www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/.
Al-Muḥarrar al-wajīz: Ibn ‘Aṭiyya. Al-Muḥarrar al-wajīz fī-tafsīr al-kitāb
al-‘azīz. 6 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2007.
Q. Qurʾān.

vii

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 ṬABARĪ

Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī: Ṭabarī. Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī: Jāmi‘ al-bayān ‘an-taʾwīl āy

al-Qurʾān. Ed. Maḥmūd Shākir and Aḥmad Shākir.
16 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1957–1969.
Wright: Wright, William. Arabic Grammar. 2 vols. in 1.
Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 2005.

viii

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