The role of Al-Tabarsi in guiding the Quranic readings through his interpretation (Majma’ Al-Bayan)

Abstract

This thesis, entitled Al-Tabarsi’s role in directing Qur’anic readings in Al-Tabarsi’s interpretation, aims to reveal Al-Tabarsi’s interest in directing Qur’anic readings through his interpretation of “Majma’ Al-Bayan.”  The study examined the Qur’anic readings that Al-Tabari directed and chose, based on grammar, context, and their role in changing meaning.

Since the nature of the topic at hand requires me to extrapolate Al-Tabarsi’s interpretation, and monitor the readings and direct them – if any – with the aim of analyzing the scientific material to come up with a description that reveals Al-Tabarsi’s role in grammatically guiding the reading in a way that serves the significance of the meaning, this study adhered to the inductive approach. The study consisted of an introduction, two sections, and a conclusion.

Al-Tabarsi was skilled in every aspect he spoke about. If he spoke about the readings and their aspects, he did well. If he spoke about the linguistic meanings of the individual words, he did well. If he spoke about the aspects of grammar, he did well. If he explained the meaning and the general meaning, he clarified the intended meaning. If he spoke about the reasons for revelation and explained the stories, he exhaustively discussed the statements and elaborated. If he spoke about rulings, he addressed the schools of thought of the jurists, and declared his school of thought and supported it if there was a disagreement on his part with the jurists. If he linked the verses, he established brotherhood between the sentences, and explained to us the beauty of the style and the elegance of the arrangement. If he presented the problems of the Qur’an, he removed the problems and put the mind at ease. We find that he tends to choose the reading that agrees with his school of thought after presenting the opinions of the two groups and the argument of each group, then he chooses the reading that agrees with the school of thought, as we found in the three previous readings.