An Analysis of the Sources of Interpretation in the Commentaries of Al-Tabari, al- Zamakhshari, Al-Razi, Al-Qurtubi and Ibn Katthir
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Abstract
This study investigates the major sources cited in Sunni tafsirs and their relative frequencies. The commentaries of Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310/923), Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn ‘Umar al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1143-4), Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn ‘Umar al-Razi (d. 606/1209-10), Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1273), and ‘Imad al-Din Ismail ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) are considered. The citations of each tafsir were counted from a sample of twenty pages per volume from all the works. Pages within each volume were chosen at random. The results of only the top sources in each tafsir were then analysed. These showed that, though all the scholars were unanimous in asserting that only the Prophet (s.a.w.), his Companions (r.a.), and the generation that followed them were suitable candidates for interpreting the Qur’an, it is only Ibn Kathir, and to a lesser degree, al-Qurtubi and al-Tabari, who truly adehered to this.
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