X.—Commentaries on the Qurʾān

In the earliest ages of Islām the expositions of the Qurʾān were handed down in the traditional sayings of the companions and their successors, but we have it on the authority of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn that one Qutaibah ibn Aḥmad, who died A.H. 316, compiled a systematic commentary on the whole of the Qurʾān. The work is not now extent.

Muslim commentaries are very numerous. Dr. M. Arnold (Islam and Christianity, p. 81) says there are no less than 20,000 in the Library at Tripolis.

The best known commentaries amongst the Sunnīs are those of:—

Al-Bag͟hawī, A.H. 515.

Az-Zamak͟hsharī, A.H. 604.

At-Tafsīru ʾl-Kabīr, A.H. 606.

Ibnu ʾl-ʿArabi, A.H. 628.

Al-Baiẓāwī, A.H. 685.

Al-Mudārik, A.H. 701.

Ḥusain, A.H. 900.

Al-Jalālān, A.H. 864, A.H. 911.

Al-Mazharī, A.H. 1225.

ʿAzīzī, A.H. 1239.

Amongst the Shīʿahs the following are works of reputation:—

Shaik͟h Ṣadūq, A.H. 381.

At-Tafsīru ʾl-Kabīr, by Saiyid Muḥammad ar-Rāzī, 30 volumes, A.H. 606.

Aṣ-Ṣāfī, A.H. 668.

As-Sirru ʾl-Wajīz, A.H. 715.

Sidratu ʾl-Muntahā, by Mīr Bakir, A.H. 1041.

Al-Burhān, by Saiyid Hasham, A.H. 1160.