Tafsir Selection Report

Tafsir ibn Al Qushayree of the last verse of s Luqman

‫ان هللا عنده علم الساعة‬
‫و ينزل الغيث و يعلم ما في االرحام‬
‫و ما تدرى نفس ما ذا تكسب غدا‬
‫و ما تدري نفس باي ارض تموت‬
‫ان هللا عليم خبير‬

Title of Tafsir
‫تفسير القشيري – لطاءف االشارات‬
Translation of the Title Subtle Illusions

Authors full name

‫االمام ابي القاسم عبد الكريم بن هوازن بن عبد الملك‬
‫القشيري النيسابوري الشافعي‬
DOB 376/986 to Arab parents from the Qushayr and Sulaim tribes in Ustawa,
Nishapur in Persia.

DOD 465/1072

Early life His father died when he was young so he was raised an orphan. It is
most likely he was raised by his maternal uncle who was a prominent
landowner.
Education He received the education of an Arab aristocrat. This involved the
study of the Arabic language and literature, as well as horsemanship,
weaponry and martial arts.

Travels As a young man he travelled to Nishapur to study fiscal administration.

Here he met his first spiritual teacher, Sheikh Abu ‘Ali al - Daqqaq
(d.405/1015). He immersed himself in the study of deen. Teacher and
student went on to form such a close relationship that al-Daqqaq
married him to his daughter Fatima. After his demise, al Qushayri
became the sheikh of the school he had founded.
Teachers Abu ‘Ali al-Daqqaq
Abu ‘Abd al Rahman al-Sulami
Hadith scholars in Hijaz and Iraq

Life In Nishapur in 420s/1030s and 430s/1040s Sufism was primarily

associated with the Shafi’i school of law and Ash’ari theology. This was
seen as a threat by the more prominent Hanafi school and Mu’tazili
theology.
Al Qushayri became a profound defender of Ash’ari theology and wrote
 several works in its defence. In 446, he was arrested and after his
release a week later, he left Nishapur for a decade.

This book and his Risala was completed before the most intense
persecution occurred of the Shaf’ii – Ash’ari – Sufi elite but traces of
these tensions can be felt in some passages – where he speaks of
strifes in communities and antagonism directed towards those on the
path (tariqa)

Authors style  Describes the Quran as a book for lovers who eagerly seek
news about their beloved
 He refers to Allah swt as “the Haqq” “the Truth” “the Real”
 He categorises groups of people in the Quran by their spiritual
orientations and types of knowledge
Eg. Spiritual aspirants (muridun) or those with deeper
knowledge as (‘arifun) and those who see nothing but God in
everything (muwahideen)
 Al Qushayri repeatedly differentiates between the desire for
rewards of the gardens of paradise and the desire for God
Himself
 He kept it the tafseer brief out of fear of wearying the reader.
He uses hadith and poetry in his tafseer

Regarding the verse 4:36, ones’ neighbour is mentioned. Al Qushayry applies this concept to ones
inner neighbour:

I found this so profound. I wanted to share it:

Tafsir Selection Report

Tafsir Shawkanyi

Title of Tafsir
‫فتح القدير‬
Translation of the title Opening of the Almighty
Authors full name
‫محمد بن علي بن محمد بن عبد هللا الشوكاني ثم‬
‫الصنعاني‬
DOB 1173 AH
DOD 1255 AH
EARLY LIFE His fathers Nisbat was to Shawkaan – a village close to Sanaa. One of
his students seemed to think this attribution was not really a very
logical one.
His own nisbat goes to Shawkan because he grew up here, died and
was buried here.
He spent most of his early life with his father where all his worldly
needs were taken care of leaving him free to study to his hearts
content. His father was an Aalim and Qadi and known to be a righteous
man. So, he was raised upon chastity and purity.

Education Arabic morphology, literature , grammer. Rhetoric, History, Arabic

prose and poetry

Teachers Al ‘Allamah Ahmad bin Muhammad al Harraziy

Taught him Usul ul Fiqh and Fiqh for 13 years

Purpose The tafaseer of the earlier scholars fell into two categories:
1. Those that were simply hadeeth based
2. Those that relied on linguistic explanations and other sciences

He wanted to combine the two.

It was important to him to convey authentic narrations containing

the tafseer of the prophet, the sahabah and the successors.

He used the works of the likes of Ibn Jareer, Ibn Katheer, al Qurtubi,
without sometimes referencing the authenticity of the hadeeths.
Hence some slightly weak hadeeths may be included in his tafseer

Imam Shawkani was a mujtahid in Fiqh thus giving Fiqh a

prominent place in his tafseer. He mentions different opinions then
gives an indication of his own preference as well.

Arabic Grammer also plays a big role too

Books  Nayl al Awtaar (commentary on ALmuntaqa min al Akhbar)
 Al Fawaaid al Majmu’ah (fabricated hadeeths