Survival of the Mutazila Tradition of Quranic Exegesis

The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of

Qur’anic Exegesis in Shīʿī and Sunnī tafāsīr

Suleiman A. Mourad

SMITH COLLEGE

Like all other Islamic sects and movements, the Muʿtazilīs were very attentive to the

study of the Qur’an and many among their ranks authored books on Qur’anic

exegesis. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of tafāsīr compiled by

Muʿtazilīs are not extant, and for a long time, the scholarly community, with the

exception of only a few, was under the impression that the only surviving Muʿtazilī

tafsīr was al­Zamakhsharī’s (d. 538/ 1144) Kashshāf. The other major Muʿtazilī tafsīr

to have survived is al­Tahdhīb fī tafsīr al­Qurʾān by al­Ḥākim al­Jishumī (d. 494/

1101), but the fact that it is still in manuscript form and its copies are dispersed all

over the world has ensured that al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb has not received any serious

attention in modern tafsīr scholarship.1 Only recently, a third major Muʿtazilī tafsīr

long thought to have been lost, namely al­Jāmiʿ al­kabīr by Abū ʿĪsā al­Rummānī (d.

384/994), has been partly found. So not only do we now have enough sources to

study the Muʿtazilī tradition of Qur’anic exegesis,2 but we can also determine the

contribution of the Muʿtazilī exegetical tradition to the field of tafsīr.

The demise of the Muʿtazila does not necessarily mean that their tradition of

Qur’anic exegesis died out;3 nor for that matter their theology and religious thought.

Given the vehement intellectual animosity between Muʿtazilism and the dominant

mainstream movements of Sunnism4 and Shīʿism,5 one can argue that the demise of

the Muʿtazila was only possible after these movements could either articulate

answers to or absorb the potent Muʿtazilī theological and exegetical traditions. This

study will examine two cases that demonstrate that the Muʿtazilī tradition of

Qur’anic exegesis was absorbed into the mainstream exegetical traditions of Twelver

Shīʿism and Sunnism. The first case details the influence of al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb on

Majmaʿ al­bayān by the prominent Twelver Shīʿī exegete al­Ṭabrisī (d. 548/ 1154).

The second case shows the reliance of the paramount Sunnī theologian and

Journal of Qur’anic Studies 12 (2010): 83–108 Edinburgh University Press

DOI: 10.3366 / E1465359110000975

© Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS www.eupjournals.com/jqs

84 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

philosopher Fakhr al­Dīn al­Rāzī (d. 606/ 1210) in his Mafātīḥ al­ghayb on

al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf.

A. The influence of al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb on al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān

In the introduction of Majmaʿ al­bayān, al­Ṭabrisī6 only names Abū Jaʿfar al­Ṭūsī

(d. 460/ 1068) as an influential source.7 He was essentially emphasising that aside

from al­Ṭūsī’s Tibyān fī tafsīr al­Qurʾān, the Twelver Shīʿī tradition of Qur’anic

exegesis is inadequate. It is no surprise then that a good portion of the material in

Majmaʿ al­bayān as well as the hermeneutical system of five categories – ‘reading’

(al­qirāʾa), ‘philology’ (al­lugha), ‘grammatical syntax’ (al­iʿrāb), ‘occasion of

revelation’ (al­nuzūl) and ‘meaning’ (al­maʿnā)8 – were lifted from al­Ṭūsī’s Tibyān.

But it is also evident that al­Ṭabrisī had recourse to other tafāsīr. One might assume

that this would include a large collection of earlier works since he often quotes early

exegetes and scholars who addressed particular aspects of the Qur’anic sciences,

especially grammarians, philologists and qurrāʾ (early reciters of the Qur’an who

promoted variant readings). The inclination would therefore be to assume that he had

direct access to the works of these exegetes and scholars. However, as the

demonstration below will show, he relied on two principal sources that gave him

access to the earlier exegetical and scholarly traditions about the Qur’an. The first, as

noted above, was al­Tibyān by his Twelver Shīʿī predecessor al­Ṭūsī. The second

source was al­Tahdhīb by the Muʿtazilī exegete and theologian al­Jishumī. (A third

source for al­Ṭabrisī was al­Kashf wa’l­bayān by the Sunnī exegete al­Thaʿlabī

(d. 427/ 1035)).9

Taking Q. 63 (Sūrat al­Munāfiqūn) as a case study, it becomes apparent that al­

Ṭabrisī drafted his exegesis of the ayas of this sura by copying, word for word, the

material found in the tafāsīr of al­Ṭūsī, al­Jishumī and, to a lesser extent, al­

Thaʿlabī.10 In many instances, al­Ṭabrisī collated the material in al­Ṭusī and al­

Jishumī. He often cites the aya and then lists the variant opinions about its exegesis

as differently stated in al­Ṭūsī and al­Jishumī; sometimes he quotes al­Ṭūsī first,

other times, al­Jishumī. At no point does he identify either of them. It is also

important to say here that the sections in the tafāsīr of al­Ṭūsī and al­Jishumī are not

identical, except for very few cases, and consequently al­Ṭabrisī noted that both

sources are complementary in the sense that they provide a comprehensive exegesis

of Q. 63. As the focus of this study is on the influence of al­Jishumī on al­Ṭabrisī, I

will not delve any further into the material al­Ṭabrisī copied from al­Ṭūsī except

when I want to show that some subtle details prove that he opted to copy the material

from al­Jishumī and not from al­Ṭūsī.

Appendix A below comprises al­Jishumī’s entire exegetical section on Q. 63; I am

providing it since al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb is not yet available in print. The underlined

The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 85

parts of al­Jishumī’s text are found verbatim in al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān, and

constitute two sevenths of the entire exegetical section on Q. 63 in al­Ṭabrisī’s tafsīr.

(Two sevenths came from al­Ṭūsī’s Tibyān, another two sevenths came from al­

Kashf wa’l­bayān by al­Thaʿlabī, and the remaining one seventh engages with the

rationales for the veracity of particular readings or grammatical points, and it is very

likely that al­Ṭabrisī drafted this material himself).

The borrowing from al­Jishumī is most noticeable at the beginning. Indeed, al­

Ṭabrisī must have had al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb in front of him when he started on Q. 63.

He quotes verbatim from al­Jishumī the short introductory section that cites a

Prophetic ḥadīth about the merits of Sura 63, as well as the compositional

relationship of Sura 63 to Sura 62. Following this al­Ṭabrisī lists Q. 63:1–5,

summarises al­Jishumī’s section on qirāʾa and follows it with a short explanation,

found neither in al­Ṭūsī nor in al­Jishumī, regarding the rationale for the variation in

the reading. He then discusses the philology of these ayas, copying the material

directly from al­Jishumī, including the line of poetry. The most fascinating

observation about this section on philology is that it comprises a brief digressive

discussion of physics: bodies and atoms. In both texts this starts with the phrase ‘the

theologians have disagreed’ (‘ikhtalafa al­mutakallimūn’). But whereas al­Jishumī

identifies the only credible position as being that of ‘our elders’ (mashāyikhunā),

meaning his Muʿtazilī predecessors, al­Ṭabrisī drops the reference to the Muʿtazilīs

yet endorses their position as the only valid position; he uses instead the expression

‘the accurate investigators’ (al­muḥaqqiqūn). The section concludes with three

Muʿtazilī opinions regarding how the body is constituted: eight atoms (argued by

Abū ʿAlī al­Jubbāʾī and Abū Ḥāshim al­Jubbāʾī), six atoms (argued by Abū’l­

Ḥudhayl), or four atoms (argued by Abū’l­Qāsim al­Balkhī). Here too, al­Ṭabrisī

retained the names of the last two, but omitted the reference al­Jishumī makes to

them as ‘our elders’; he also changed al­Jishumī’s ‘Abū’l­Qāsim’ to ‘al­Balkhī’,

clearly for clarification. One completely understands al­Ṭabrisī’s omission of the

references to the Muʿtazilīs as ‘our elders’. Despite the fact that Twelver Shīʿism by

his time had adopted many a Muʿtazilī position, the Muʿtazilīs nonetheless were not

the elders of Twelver Shīʿism.

The section on the ‘meaning’ of Q. 63:1–5 is based almost entirely on al­Ṭūsī and al­

Jishumī. Al­Ṭabrisī lists what al­Ṭūsī says, and follows this with the invariably

different explanation listed in al­Jishumī. Here again we have three instances where

al­Jishumī quotes the opinions of the Muʿtazilī exegete Abū Muslim al­Iṣfahānī (d.

322/ 933), and they are copied word for word by al­Ṭabrisī. These instances offer

irrefutable evidence that al­Ṭabrisī’s access to al­Iṣfahānī’s exegetical glosses, as

well as that of other Muʿtazilī exegetes and theologians such as al­Jubbāʾī or Abū’l­

Qāsim al­Balkhī, was not direct, but rather indirect and through the medium of

86 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb. This also applies to several cases where it is clear that al­

Ṭabrisī copied from al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb the opinions of reciters, grammarians and

philologists – e.g. Abū ʿAmr b. al­ʿAlāʾ (d. 154/ 770), al­Kisāʾī (d. 189/ 804) and

Nāfiʿ (d. 169/ 785) – as well as early exegetes – e.g. Ibn ʿAbbās (d. ?68/ 687–8), al­

Ḥasan al­Baṣrī (d. 110/ 728) and Muqātil (d. ?150/ 767).

The remaining section in al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān engages with Q. 63:6–11.

Here he follows al­Ṭūsī’s schematic arrangement; al­Jishumī divides this section into

two: Q. 63:6–8 and Q. 63:9–11. But despite this minor difference, it is astonishingly

clear that al­Ṭabrisī has collated the discussions al­Jishumī has spread over these two

sections. For instance, the entire section on philology under Q. 63:6–11 in al­

Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān is taken from al­Jishumī’s two sections on philology for

Q. 63:6–8 and Q. 63:9–11, including the line of poetry that al­Jishumī cites. The only

addition that al­Ṭabrisī makes comes from al­Ṭūsī, namely the line of poetry by

Imruʾ al­Qays that al­Ṭabrisī places at the end.

In several cases, mostly short sections of a line or two, al­Ṭabrisī opts to borrow the

material from al­Jishumī, even though a similar, though shorter, discussion is found

in al­Ṭūsī. Here too, the evidence is that al­Ṭabrisī chose al­Jishumī over al­Ṭūsī.

Having shown the extensive, often unacknowledged, borrowing of three earlier

tafāsīr (al­Thaʿlabī’s, al­Ṭūsī’s and al­Jishumī’s) by al­Ṭabrisī does not, however,

undermine his originality or the usefulness of his work. On the contrary, it is clear

that he meshed together the different exegetical glosses found in his sources and

added to them useful remarks that allowed his Majmaʿ al­bayān to become one of

Twelver Shīʿism’s paramount references regarding its exegetical tradition.11

B. Al­Rāzī’s Reliance on al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf

Like al­Ṭabrisī, al­Rāzī12 made heavy use of two earlier tafāsīr: al­Basīṭ by al­

Wāḥidī (d. 468/ 1076) and al­Kashshāf by al­Zamaksharī. The case study is also here

Sura 63, as provided in Appendix B. The first conclusion that can be drawn is that

whereas al­Rāzī clearly acknowledges al­Zamakhsharī by referring to him as ‘ṣāḥib

al­Kashshāf’ (‘the author of al­Kashshāf’), he just copies from al­Wāḥidī without

giving any acknowledgment to him. More importantly, Appendix B also shows the

extent of al­Rāzī’s reliance on these two exegetes, which one would not be able to

specify and determine unless these texts were compared to each other. In other

words, if one were to only read al­Rāzī’s Mafātīḥ al­ghayb, it would be impossible to

establish the amount of material he borrows from al­Wāḥidī.13 As seen in Appendix

B, the borrowing is pretty extensive. Similarly, unless we compare al­Rāzī’s text

to al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf, we cannot determine where each citation from

al­Kashshāf ends; in one case (case B2b), his copying from al­Kashshāf starts before

The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 87

al­Rāzī says it does so. Equally important is that we have conclusive evidence that

al­Rāzī accessed the opinions of countless early reciters (e.g. ʿĀṣim), grammarians

and philologists (e.g. al­Mubarrad and Sībāwayhi), exegetes (e.g. Ibn ʿAbbās,

Qatāda, al­Ḍaḥḥāq and Muqātil), jurists (e.g. Abū Ḥanīfa) and poets (e.g. Jarīr) as

quoted in al­Basīṭ or al­Kashshāf, hence undermining the usual speculation that if

these people are quoted by him, then he must have possessed their books.14 Even in

those instances where it seems that al­Rāzī is summing up the opinion of earlier

exegetes (e.g. al­mufassirūn, ahl al­maʿānī) as in cases B1e and B1g in Appendix B,

he copied those too from al­Wāḥidī and al­Zamakhsharī.

Conclusion

The investigation conducted in this paper shows that the Muʿtazilī tafsīr tradition

survived the demise of Muʿtazilism, which modern scholars usually date to the

seventh/ thirteenth century. For instance, al­Rāzī quoted al­Zamakhsharī not for the

purpose of refuting him or the Muʿtazilī tafsīr tradition, even though he occasionally

does that. As seen in the six cases in his exegetical section on Q. 63, al­Rāzī must

have considered the exegesis of the Qur’an to be incomplete without some of the

valid opinions expressed in al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf and the Muʿtazilī tafsīr

tradition behind it, and that by appropriating it he was undertaking a great service for

Sunnism. In the case of al­Ṭabrisī, we have irrefutable proof that he made extensive

use of al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb, obviously without ever making an acknowledgment to

that effect. He did not just find and use some of al­Jishumī’s exegetical opinions,

which sum up the exegetical opinions of several earlier Muʿtazilī exegetes and

theologians, to complement the material he copied from al­Ṭūsī’s Bayān and al­

Thaʿlabī’s Kashf wa’l­bayān. Given the influence of al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān

on later Twelver Shīʿī exegetical tradition and religious thought,15 it is therefore

undeniable that, through his unacknowledged use of al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb, the

Muʿtazilī exegetical tradition was given by al­Ṭabrisī a position of prominence in

shaping the exegetical tradition of Twelver Shīʿism. If we add to this the fact that al­

Ṭūsī, who is the other principal source of al­Ṭabrisī, made heavy use of earlier

Muʿtazilī exegetes, particularly the tafāsīr of Abū Muslim al­Iṣfahānī (d. 322/ 933)

and ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al­Rummānī,16 then the exegetical tradition of the Muʿtazila not only

largely survived in the Twelver Shīʿī tradition, but more significantly represents the

principal shaper of the Twelver Shīʿī exegetical tradition.17

More important for our case is the fact that the earlier Muʿtazilī tafāsīr were only

available to Sunnī and Twelver Shīʿī exegetes through later Muʿtazilī tafāsīr such

as al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb and al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf,18 which were also valu­

able sources for accessing the variety of earlier opinions by first/seventh and

88 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

second/eighth century ‘founding fathers’ of Qur’anic sciences: reciters, grammarians,

philologists, exegetes and theologians.

The final conclusion that I want to emphasise has to do with tafsīr scholarship in

Khurāsān. All of the tafsīr works that I examined in this essay come from Khūrāsān;

except for al­Ṭūsī’s. This shows that by the sixth/ twelfth century, tafsīr scholarship

in Khurāsān became reliant on major tafāsīr that were produced there a generation or

two prior to this: al­Thaclabī’s Kashf wa’l­bayān, al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ, al­Jishumī’s

Tahdhīb and al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf. Coupled with the previous point, therefore,

it is misleading to compile lists of names of early exegetes, grammarians, etc. quoted

in later tafāsīr, especially those whose works have been lost, and speculate that the

later scholars must have possessed their works. Unless we have conclusive and

corroborative proof that they did, such assumptions are untenable to say the least.19

The evidence examined in this article shows that tafāsīr such as al­Thaclabī’s

al­Kashf wa’l­bayān, al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ and al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb became the

distribution points, to borrow Walid Saleh’s expression, of the early Islamic

exegetical tradition.20

That the Muʿtazila tradition of Qur’anic exegesis has been plagiarised by influential

exegetes of Sunnism and Twelver Shīʿism is evidence that both sects are indebted to

the Muʿtazila tradition and have assimilated it into their mainstream exegetical

traditions. Their intellectual triumph over it and its subsequent demise were therefore

possible only when they found answers to its potent theological discourse, including

its tradition of Qur’anic exegesis, either by refutation or assimilation; either way, it

was allowed to survive in their discourses.

The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 89

Appendices

Appendix A: al­Jishumī’s Exegetical Section on

Sūrat al­Munāfiqūn (Q. 63)

The text of Q. 63 in al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb is transcribed from the Mar‘ashī Library

Manuscript, Qumm, Iran (MS 3,746), folios 6b–11a. It represents the last volume,

vol. 9, and covers Q. 62–114, comprising 203 folios. It was copied in Jumāda II 678/

October 1279 by Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd Allāh al­Khawlānī. Hence its original provenance

was the Zaydī community in Yemen before it was taken to Iran in the nineteenth

century.

The underlined text is found verbatim in al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ al­bayān (ed. Ḥāshim

al­Maḥallātī (10 vols, Beirut: Muʾassasat al­Tārīkh al­ʿArabī and Dār Iḥyāʾ al­Turāth

al­ʿArabī, 2005), vol. 10, pp. 369–76).

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92 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 93

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94 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 95

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96 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 97

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98 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 99

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100 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 101

Appendix B: al­Rāzī’s Reliance on

al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ and al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf

B1. al­Rāzī’s Unacknowledged Reliance on al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ

The comparison between al­Rāzī’s Mafātīḥ al­ghayb and al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ were

based on Tafsīr al­Rāzī (32 vols, Beirut: Dār al­Kutub al­ʿIlmiyya, 1990), vol. 30, pp.

12–18, and al­Wāḥidī, al­Basīṭ, MS Nuruosmaniye 240, ff. 330a–333b. The text is

from al­Rāzī, and I am providing the corresponding folio number in al­Wāḥidī where

one can find the exact text. The ‘…’ represents text that al­Rāzī added to al­

Wāḥidī’s. I want to thank Walid Saleh for providing me with a copy of Q. 63 from

al­Basīṭ’s Nuruosmaniye Manuscript.

Case B1a: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 12 (ln. 13)–p. 13 (ln. 1); al­Wāḥidī, f. 330a (ln. 13)–f.

������ � "4# �$�� �+��&0�� ��� � -. �! ���� � '��� "�� �� � �� !��&����! $�>�. �=� � .?�45 � =�. �O :�� ��� "�� ��%� &��� @,6$� +��� [� �

+��6$� @��' �,�� ��5 .���� � &�� e? � +���� �.�$�W� �� $�^ .�$��� ����� � 4=!.� ��� ! $�>� � g5 @�B� �;� e?� 4�4&� 1,4��� ���Z. 4�4& � /,!

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Case B1b: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 13 (lns 21–2); al­Wāḥidī, f. 330b (lns 16–17)

�����8� < �� �����! 5�. 6�7� ... ���! �. ?�7 : �=>������! 5�.� .?=�4� ?�7� :������! 5�. 6�7�� $9��������8� < ��� �&� 8 0� "$4�.

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330b (ln. 5)

102 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

Case B1c: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 14 (lns 22–9); al­Wāḥidī, f. 331a (ln. 6)–f. 331b (ln. 6)

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���7�=� t�4�Z. ��� !�6 !�65... . ���3!� &� 5��, ���(=�� $69�.

Case B1d: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 15 (lns 5–16); al­Wāḥidī, f. 331b (ln. 11)–f. 332a

(ln. 12)

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 103

(ln. 12)

�K'$L� ��� )J.L� �#�2� 1���� � 5 � �%#� �Q �� ���� � ... �$69��. ?�7 : �! $�! $�<� S�6Y5 :.�QD�. _�� �5 ��� � -. �! $�<� S� $�! $�<� ?==7.?�45 +��7 � F($ A �!� -. �! 1�D5 +��6� +�,! =�.� A�$���. ��� � -. :

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AB( ��=��4� .���7 �� A��,! ��� @�B ��,��.

Case B1f: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 17 (ln. 21)–p. 18 (ln. 10); al­Wāḥidī, f. 332b (ln. 13)–f.

333a (ln. 13)

�&� �($ �. �(�<�, <� �( ���, �(��3 < ����: ��$ � ��, �� ... ?�7�@�&��. :6�>�. :.�,0�. .?=�4� �!� : �45���,� 1�F> �( �� ��� �s. AB(7� �B�. ���Z�� .�$ .�" $ '%8� ����-. $�B ! A ��� +��� A���� [� �....

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Case B1e: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 16 (lns 14–26); al­Wāḥidī, f. 332a (ln. 15)–f. 332b

104 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

�<$�. ?Y6� E �d��. B' ���d� .����� �� ��4�. � .@�&��. ?�7� : &Y� ?Q�� E���s. AB( �$7� ��<$�. ?Y6� �E' :���. #��Q�. � d� ��� U&� ... .+��7� : �(,��

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. � &�. E� ?��<��� ��6,5.

Case B1g: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 18 (lns 15–21); al­Wāḥidī, f. 333b (lns 3–8)

?�45 +,<� $�&� += � :�4�. � $�>d� E +��� /���= $�>� �O : &� �2=� � ���0�8�� ���,<� ��< .B' :���. ! ��� ... .�����%3 �� ���2 &��� $ �� [� �

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�0�! �$7� :�����%��+��7 /,! ������ :��0�8� &� �2=� � � '� �9��. J ��,!� -.� /����. /,! ?�&5 $�O��. +� .$���5 W9,�. �5 h. &.� ��.

B2. al­Rāzī’s Acknowledged Reliance on al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf:

Here too, I am providing the text as it appears in al­Rāzī’s Mafātīḥ al­ghayb. The

corresponding text is from al­Zamakhsharī, al­Kashshāf, ed. Muḥammad ʿA.–S.

Shāhīn (4 vols, Beirut: Dār al­Kutub al­ʿIlmiyya, 1995).

Case B2a: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 13 (lns 10–14); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4, p. 527

(lns 2–5)

P�����. �5 ?�7 :�01�# �����, ��$2�3�� ����7 � .$� � Q�<� � "�� �� ���&� '��� ��Y=�. �5 P,&�. %$<� [$<= # ����. J �B���. ������� � ��� .?<$�. ?�4� :����� �67� S��� �5 -�� �Q!�� �Q!�� �-�� ���� ��� . +��

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The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 105

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Case B2c: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p.15 (lns 20–4); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4, p. 528

(lns 10–14)

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Case B2d: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 16 (ln. 26)–p. 17 (ln. 1); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4, p. 531

(lns 15–20)

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Case B2b: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p.13 (ln. 28)–p. 114 (ln. 4); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4,

p. 527 (lns 12–15)

106 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

(lns 12–15)

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Case B2f: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 18 (lns 15–17); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4, p. 532 (ln. 24)

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NOTES

* The research for this article, which is based in a monograph under preparation on al­Ḥākim al­Jishumī and his Tahdhīb, was made possible through a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Franklin research grant from the American Philosophical Society, and generous support from Smith College and the Mellon Foundation.

1 Except for the lone study by ʿAdnān Zarzūr, al­Ḥākim al­Jushamī wa­manhajuhu fī tafsīr al­

Qurʾān (Beirut: Muʾassasat al­Risāla, 1971).

2 See, for example, my two forthcoming articles ‘The Revealed Text and the Intended Subtext: Notes on the Hermeneutics of the Qurʾan in Muʿtazila Discourse as Reflected in the Tahdhīb of al­Ḥākim al­Jishumī (d. 494/1101)’ in Felicitas Opwis and David Reisman (eds), In the Shadow of the Pyramids: Festschrift in Honor of Dimitri Gutas on His 65th Birthday (Leiden: Brill, 2010, in press); and ‘Toward a Reconstruction of the Mu‘tazilite Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis: Reading the Introduction of the Tahdhīb of al­Ḥākim al­Jishumī (d. 494/1101)’ in Karen Bauer (ed.), Studies on Theory and Method in Qur’an Commentaries (London: Institute for Ismaili Studies, forthcoming). Also, Alena Kulinich of SOAS, University of London, is preparing a doctoral dissertation on al­Rummānī’s Jāmiʿ al­kabīr.

3 The demise of the Muʿtazila is dated to the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries: see, for instance, Josef van Ess, art. ‘Mu‘tazilah’ in Lindsay Jones (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion (15 vols, Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005), vol. 9, pp. 6,317–25; and Sabine Schmidtke, art. ‘Mu‘tazila’ in Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān.

4 One has to be clear here that before the Muʿtazila school was cut off from mainstream Sunnism, the majority of the Muʿtazilīs were Sunnīs, and many of their renowned scholars held prestigious juridical appointments within Sunnī legal schools, for example ʿAbd al­Jabbār al­Hamadhānī (d. 415/1024), the chief judge of the Shāfiʿī school in Rayy. Al­Jishumī and al­Zamakhsharī were Ḥanafīs.

Case B2e: al­Rāzī, vol. 30, p. 18 (lns 3–6); al­Zamakhsharī, vol. 4, p. 532

The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis 107

5 There is no doubt that the Twelver Shīʿīs and Zaydīs were tremendously influenced by the theology and tafsīr tradition of the Muʿtazila. Yet they vehemently disagreed with the Muʿtazilīs on key issues such as the doctrine of Imāmate.

6 On the tafsīr of al­Ṭabrisī, see Bruce G. Fudge, ‘The Major Qurʾān Commentary of al­Ṭabrisī (d. 548/1154)’ (unpublished PhD Thesis, Harvard University, 2005).

7 See al­Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al­bayān fī tafsīr al­Qurʾān, ed. Hāshim al­Rasūlī al­Maḥallātī (10 vols, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al­Turāth al­ʿArabī and Muʾassasat al­Tārīkh al­ʿArabī, 2005), vol. 1, p. 7.

8 Al­Ṭabrisī sometimes adds a sixth one: ‘Composition’ (al­naẓm): see al­Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al­

bayān, vol. 10, p. 376

9 Based on Q. 63, al­Ṭabrisī’s reliance on al­Thaʿlabī’s Kashf wa’l­bayān is evident in three instances: (1) the sizeable section on the occasion of revelation (al­nuzūl) of Q. 63 is lifted entirely from al­Thaʿlabī; (2) the digressive exegetical gloss on the five facets of God’s, the Prophet’s and the believers’ powers in Q. 63:8 is also copied verbatim as it appears in al­Thaʿlabī; and (3) the exegetical gloss on the last part of Q. 63:10 is also lifted from al­Thaʿlabī: see al­Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al­bayān, vol. 10, pp. 373–5 and p. 376, and compare them to al­Thaʿlabī, al­Kashf wa’l­bayān, ed. Sayyid K. Ḥasan (6 vols, Beirut: Dār al­Kutub al­ʿIlmiyya, 2004), vol. 6, pp. 198–201 and p. 202. Walid Saleh has already discussed the influence of al­Thaʿlabī’s Kashf wa’l­bayān on Twelver Shīʿī tafāsīr, starting with Ibn al­Biṭrīq (d. 600/1203); see Walid A. Saleh, The Formation of the Classical Tafsīr Tradition: The Qurʾān Commentary of al­Thaʿlabī (d. 427/1035) (Leiden: Brill, 2004), pp. 219–20. The case of al­Ṭabrisī’s use of al­Thaʿlabī proves Saleh’s point, and brings even the date of Twelver Shīʿīs reliance on al­Thaʿlabī’s tafsīr to the first half of the sixth/twelfth century.

10 Except for the two sizeable citations and one gloss, al­Ṭabrisī did not use al­Thaʿlabī. So I will ignore him in further discussion here.

11 I am not in a position to offer any further reflections on this matter. On al­Ṭabrisī’s Majmaʿ

al­bayān, see the study by Bruce Fudge noted in note 6; My understanding is that Fudge is preparing a monograph on al­Ṭabrisī’s tafsīr.

12 On al­Rāzī as an exegete, see Tariq Jaffer, Fakhr al­Dīn al­Rāzī (d. 606/1210): Philosopher

and Theologian as Exegete (unpublished PhD Dissertation, Yale University, 2005). Jaffer is preparing a monograph on al­Rāzī’s tafsīr.

13 Jūda al­Mahdī has already pointed out al­Rāzī’s reliance on al­Wāḥidī: see Jūda M. al­Mahdī, al­Wāḥidī wa­manhajuhu fī’l­tafsīr (Cairo: Wizārat al­Thaqāfa, 1977), pp. 412–26; see also Walid A. Saleh, ‘The Last of the Nishapuri School of Tafsīr: Al­Wāḥidī (d. 468/1076) and His Significance in the History of Qur’anic Exegesis’, Journal of the American Oriental

Society 126:2 (2006), pp. 223–43, at p. 224. Jomier names al­Wāḥidī as one of the sources of al­Rāzī’s tafsīr, but provides no evidence for it: see Jacques Jomier, ‘Fakhr al­Dīn al­Rāzī (m.606H./1210) et les commentaires du Coran plus anciens’, Mideo 15 (1982), pp. 145–72. See also Claude Gilliot, ‘Works on Hadith and its Codification, on Exegesis and on Theology. Part Two: Qur’anic Exegesis’ in C.E. Bosworth and M.S. Asimov (eds), History of

Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. IV (Paris: UNESCO, 2000), pp. 97–131.

14 Jomier compiled, on the basis of al­Rāzī’s quotations, a speculative list of sources that al­Rāzī must have possessed: see Jomier, ‘Fakhr al­Dīn al­Rāzī’.

15 See Etan Kohlberg, art. ‘al­Ṭabrisī’ in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn.

16 See al­Ṭūsī, al­Tibyān fī tafsīr al­Qurʾān, ed. Aḥmad Qaṣīr al­ʿĀmilī (10 vols, Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al­Turāth al­ʿArabī, n.d.), vol. 1, pp. 1–2. Now that we have some manuscripts of

108 Journal of Qur’anic Studies

al­Rummānī’s al­Jāmiʿ al­kabīr, it is important to determine the extent of al­Ṭūsī’s reliance on al­Rummānī.

17 One has to point here too to the fact that Muʿtazilī tafāsīr were significant contributors to the development of a later Zaydī tafsīr tradition, as evidenced by the influences of al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb and al­Zamakshsarī’s Kashshāf among Zaydīs in Yemen since the sixth/eleventh century.

18 Al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf has had an exceptional influence in Sunnism: See Saleh, The Formation of the Classical Tafsīr Tradition, pp. 215–16. However, I disagree with the opinion that al­Kashshāf’s Muʿtazilī stance is minor. The major refutations and partial censorships of parts of its material by medieval and premodern Sunnī scholars only proves that al­Kashshāf’s Muʿtazilī position was not a secret and represented to some Sunnī scholars a serious challenge. Lane does not grasp this crucial aspect in his examination of the reception of al­Kashshāf: see Andrew J. Lane, A Traditional Mu‘tazilite Qur’ān Commentary: The Kashshāf of Jār Allāh al­Zamakhsharī (d. 538/1144) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006), pp. 48–101.

19 Aside from the speculative list by Jomier (see note 13), see the examination of al­Zamakhsharī’s sources in Lane, A Traditional Mu‘tazilite Qur’ān Commentary, pp. 181–219.

20 Saleh points to al­Ṭabarī and al­Thaʿlabī as the two distribution points: ‘al­Ṭabarī with full isnāds, and … al­Tha‘labī without the isnāds’, see Saleh, The Formation of the Classical

Tafsīr Tradition, p. 225. I would simply add to al­Thaʿlabī a few other tafāsīr (namely al­Wāḥidī’s Basīṭ, al­Jishumī’s Tahdhīb and al­Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf) that were produced in the same intellectual and geographical milieu: Khurāsān.