Tafsīr al-Tustarī - Al Tafsir.com

474 Pages·2011·5.25 MB·English

Tafsīr al-Tustarī

Tafsīr
al-Tustarī
by
Sahl b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Tustarī

Great Commentaries
on the Holy Qurʾān
translated by
Annabel Keeler and Ali Keeler

Royal Aal al-Bayt
Institute for
Islamic Thought

FONS VITAE
First published in 2011 by
Fons Vitae
49 Mockingbird Valley Drive
Louisville, KY 40207
http://www.fonsvitae.com
Email: [email protected]

© 2011 Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought
Amman, Jordan
Great Commentaries on the Holy Qurʾān: ISSN: 1943-1821
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011922358
ISBN 9781891785191

No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form without prior permission of
the publishers. All rights reserved.
This book was typeset by Neville Blakemore, Jr. and Muhammad Hozien

Printed in Canada
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
Introduction to the Translation xv
i. Sahl al-Tustarī’s Spiritual Formation and his Teachers xv
ii. Tustarī as Spiritual Master, and his Disciples xix
iii. Tustarī’s Works xxiii
iv. The Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm xxv
v. Tustarī’s Approach to Qurʾān Interpretation xxvi
vi. Mystical Teachings xxx
vii. Conclusion lix
Introduction to the Commentary 1

1 Al-Fātiḥa 10
2 Al-Baqara 12
3 Āl ʿImrān 41
4 Al-Nisāʾ 53
5 Al-Māʾida 60
6 Al-Anʿām 64
7 Al-Aʿrāf 71
8 Al-Anfāl 81
9 Al-Tawba 83
10 Yūnus 88
11 Hūd 91
12 Yūsuf 95
13 Al-Raʿd 100
14 Ibrāhīm 102
15 Al-Ḥijr 104
16 Al-Naḥl 107
17 Al-Isrāʾ 112
18 Al-Kahf 115
19 Maryam 119
20 Ṭā Hā 124
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Tafsīr al-Tustarī

21 Al-Anbiyāʾ 128
22 Al-Ḥajj 131
23 Al-Muʾminūn 135
24 Al-Nūr 137
25 Al-Furqān 139
26 Al-Shuʿarāʾ 142
27 Al-Naml 144
28 Al-Qaṣaṣ 147
29 Al-ʿAnkabūt 149
30 Al-Rūm 151
31 Luqmān 153
32 Al-Sajda 155
33 Al-Aḥzāb 157
34 Sabaʾ 160
35 Al-Malāʾika (or Fāṭir) 161
36 Yā Sīn 163
37 Al-Ṣāffāt 165
38 Ṣād 167
39 Al-Zumar 170
40 Al-Muʾmin (or Ghāfir) 175
41 Al-Sajda (or Fuṣṣilat) 177
42 Al-Shūrā (or Ḥā Mīm ʿAyn Sīn Qāf) 180
43 Al-Zukhruf 183
44 Al-Dukhān 186
45 Al-Jāthiya 188
46 Al-Aḥqāf 191
47 Muḥammad 193
48 Al-Fatḥ 196
49 Al-Ḥujurāt 200
50 Qāf 204
51 Al-Dhāriyāt 207
52 Al-Ṭūr 210
53 Al-Najm 212
54 Al-Qamar 215
55 Al-Raḥmān 216
56 Al-Wāqiʿa 218
57 Al-Ḥadīd 220
58 Al-Mujādila 224
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Contents

59 Al-Ḥashr 226
60 Al-Mumtaḥana 229
61 Al-Ṣaff 231
62 Al-Jumuʿa 233
63 Al-Munāfiqūn 234
64 Al-Taghābun 236
65 Al-Ṭalāq 237
66 Al-Taḥrīm 238
67 Al-Mulk 240
68 Al-Qalam (or Nūn) 242
69 Al-Ḥāqqa 244
70 Al-Maʿārij 247
71 Nūḥ 250
72 Al-Jinn 251
73 Al-Muzzammil 253
74 Al-Muddaththir 255
75 Al-Qiyāma 257
76 Al-Insān 259
77 Al-Mursalāt 261
78 Al-Nabaʾ 263
79 Al-Nāziʿāt 265
80 ʿAbasa 267
81 Al-Takwīr 268
82 Al-Infiṭār 270
83 Al-Muṭaffifīn 272
84 Al-Inshiqāq 274
85 Al-Burūj 276
86 Al-Ṭāriq 277
87 Al-Aʿlā 279
88 Al-Ghāshiya 280
89 Al-Fajr 282
90 Al-Balad 285
91 Al-Shams 288
92 Al-Layl 289
93 Al-Ḍuhā 291
94 Al-Inshirāḥ 293
95 Al-Tīn 295
96 Al-ʿAlaq 296
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Tafsīr al-Tustarī

97 Al-Qadr 297
98 Al-Bayyina 298
99 Al-Zalzala 299
100 Al-ʿĀdiyāt 301
101 Al-Qāriʿa 302
102 Al-Takāthur 303
103 Al-ʿAṣr 304
104 Al-Humaza 306
105 Al-Fīl 308
106 Quraysh 309
107 Al-Māʿūn 310
108 Al-Kawthar 312
109 Al-Kāfirūn 313
110 Al-Naṣr 314
111 Al-Masad 316
112 Al-Ikhlāṣ 317
113 Al-Falaq 318
114 Al-Nās 320
Appendix of Names Cited 323
Bibliography 333
Index I: Qurʾānic Citations 343
Index II: People and Places 353
Index III: Subjects and Technical Terms 359
Plates follow page lx.
viii
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad who first
invited us to embark on the translation of a Sufi tafsīr for the Great Commentaries on the Qurʾān
Project, and to the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute, Amman, Jordan, for their generous patronage of
our translation of the Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm of Sahl b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Tustarī. We would also
particularly like to thank the Series Editor, Yousef Meri, for his tireless support in overseeing the
translation through all its different stages, for his careful perusal of the English translation against
the Arabic original, and for his help and many suggestions regarding the referencing in the annota-
tion of the translation.
We would also like to offer our thanks and appreciation to Samir Mahmoud, here in Cambridge,
who has gone through the whole translation, both at an early stage, and in its final draft. Being a
native speaker of Arabic and having fluency in English as well as a proficient knowledge of Sufism,
his comments and suggestions on many details of the text, and his answers to our many queries,
have been invaluable. Also here in Cambridge, we would like to thank Aziza Spiker, who has acted
as proof reader and copy editor for the translation, and who has also made pertinent comments
about the translation of some of the Qurʾānic verses. Our thanks are also due Sahra Ucar, who at
short notice stepped in to help with compiling the Appendix, and to Lejla Demiri, who assisted
with the sourcing of many ḥadīths, and who acted as our guide at the Suleymaniye Library, whence
we were able to obtain two of the manuscripts we used for the translation. In addition, we would
like to thank Professor Paul Ballanfat of the Galatasaray University in Istanbul, with whom we have
consulted on certain passages in the Tafsīr, and Professor Nasrollah Pourjavady of Tehran University
and Harith Bin Ramli (the latter currently working on Makkī’s Qūt al-qulūb at Oxford University),
both of whom read through our Introduction to the Translation and made several helpful sugges-
tions, though we should add that any and all mistakes are, of course, our own. We would also like
to mention our gratitude to Robert Spiker and Ana Maria Giraldo for lending their expertise in
design and graphics, and to Valerie Turner and Muhammad Hozien for the extraordinary, unstinting
dedication they have shown in the final copy-editing, proofreading and typesetting of the manuscript.
Lastly, we would like to thank our families, and especially our spouses, Paul the husband of
Annabel, and Mariam the wife of Ali, for their tremendous patience and encouragement during
the completion of this work.
We would like to dedicate this translation to the master sitarist, Ustad Mahmud Mirza, whose
pure and beautiful music first gave us a glimpse of Paradise, and has continued to inspire us ever since.
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