Oldest Exegesis of Entire Quran by Muqatil ibn Sulayman
His work is the oldest interpretation of the entire Quran that has reached us. It has been referred to by researchers and scholars over the centuries and there are numerous copies of the exegesis available today.
Abolhassan Muqatil ibn Sulayman ibn Bashir Azodi has been referred to as the “great one among Quran interpreters”. He was originally from Balkh (Afghanistan) but lived in Marv (Merv), a city now in Turkmenistan.
He was born between 700 and 710 AD in Balkh. He then moved to Merv and settled there after getting married. Marv was among the major cities of Khorasan back then and many scholars, including Ahmed ibn Hanbal and Sufyan al-Thawri lived there.
After a while, Muqatil went to Basra and then Baghdad, in today’s Iraq. He settled in Baghdad, a large city that was the center of knowledge and visited by various groups of scholars and thinkers. There, he became famous for his vast knowledge in different fields and was known as the Sheikh of Hadith and Tafseer.
The seminary school of Marv had the grounds for getting free from local limitations and that allowed Muqatil to write an exegesis not limited by a certain local tradition. The preface of the exegesis shows that he has benefited from different local traditions. In addition to Hadiths and narrations, Muqatil was also a scholar in theology and other fields.
Such qualities in addition to the fact that his interpretation was the first exegesis of the entire Quran made it popular immediately after it was completed. So much so that copies of the work reached great scholars of Hadiths in different parts of the Muslim world and they assessed his work.
In this exegesis, all verses of the Quran have been interpreted consecutively. He has benefited both from Hadith and reasoning and used brief and concise and at the same time eloquent phrases. His interpretation relies on the Quran to Quran method.
The overall method he uses is first introducing the general features of the Surah, for example whether it is Makki or Madani and what is the number of the verses. He then interprets each verse part by part with the help of other verses. Then he elaborates on the Sha’an Nuzul (reason and context of revelation).
Given his mastery and knowledge, the author has managed to beautifully undertake and use the Quran-to-Quran method. Among other features of his exegesis is creating unity and integration among verses whose apparent meanings seem contradictory.
He has briefly mentioned and done critique of other scholars’ views and avoided polemical issues. Another advantage of the work is that it is brief and presents rich content concisely.
The Quran exegesis is so important that it is still used by scholars after twelve centuries and one feels it has been written for today although it is not used much by the common reader because of containing specialized issues.
