KHUTAB IX: 21. AL-QURȚUBĪ
21. AL-QURȚUBĪ
Another classical Muslim
scholar worthy to mention here in the field of tafsīr (commentary of the
Qur’ān) is Abū ‘Abdullah Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad
whose title was “al-Qurṭubī”
(الْقُرْطُبِي) meaning
“the native of Cordova” in
Andalusia (Muslim Spain) where he was born in 610/1214.
During
his youth he supported his family by carrying clay for use in potteries. He
followed the Mālikī school of jurisprudence, the dominant madhhab in
Andalusia at that time.
Andalusia (Muslim
Spain) in general and Cordova in particular was well-known as the centre of
learning, the land of scholars and
men-of-letters from which admirable writings were produced. It was in Cordova
where most books were kept in entire Andalusia, and its public libraries were
taken with utmost care. It was the best market place for merchandise, that it
had ben said: “If a man died in Seville and had books to sell, they were
brought do be sold in Cordova.”
In the 10th century the Islamic civilization reached its peak, and in the beginning of the
12th century the number of Muslims reached to 5.6 million in
Andalusia. In Cordoba alone, there were between
113,000 and 200,000 houses, between 600 and 700 mosques, between 300 and 900
public baths, about 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and paved streets. Public
baths were introduced for making ablution (wuḍū’) before performing the
five-daily obligatory prayers. While the rest of Europe was still in illiteracy
more than seventy libraries, bookshops and research institutions had flourished
in Muslim Spain. Among great scholars at this golden time of Andalusia
were: Ibn al-Bayṭār
(d. 646/1248) who described more than 1,400 medical drugs, philosophers who
were also physicians, like Ibn Sīnā (d. 427/1037), Ibn Ṭufayl (d. 581/1185),
Ibn Rushd (d. 595/1198), and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Ibn Maymūn, d.
600/1204). Abū ’l-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī, (Albucasis Alzahravius d. 404/1013),
entitled “father of surgery” whose work was translated into Hebrew, Latin and
Castilian. In comparative religions Ibn Ḥazm ’s work al-Faṣl fi al-Milal wa
al-Nihal was well-known till today. Encyclopedias on Arab scholars produced
encyclopedias on various branches of knowledge: medicine, astronomy, biology,
zoology, botany, chemistry, physics, mathematics, algebra, geometry, etc.
The well-known scholar Abū Bakr Ibn al-‘Arabī
said about the education of children in Andalusia at that time. He said that it
was the duty of the ruler to instruct Muslim children when they had enough
intelligence about faith, to teach them writing and arithmetic, to memorize
classical Arabic poetry, to learn and understand Arabic grammar, and when they
became matured as teen-agers to teach them the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth of
the Prophet. He advised the ruler not to mix in teaching two subjects at the
same time, unless the children had good understanding, strong energy, and
receptivity to it.
It
was in this condition of the city of Cordova where al-Qurṭubī was born. He learned
as much as this city could provide for his education. His
father Aḥmad died during the Spanish attack in 1230, and six years later King
Fernando 1st captured Cordova in 1236, and many Muslims left the
city, and al-Qurṭubī left for Egypt. Although many people moved to Seville to
study, he preferred Egypt where many scholars lived. He settled in Alexandria,
and after studying Ḥadīth and Tafsīr there he moved to Cairo, and
then settled in Munyah ibn Khuṣayb north of the town Asyūṭ until he died in 671/1273.
Al-Qurṭubī wrote many books, and the
most important one among them was al-Jāmi‘ li-Aḥkām al-Qur’ān (الْجَامِعُ لأَحْكَام الْقُرْآن)translated
as “The Compendium of Legal Rulings of the Qur’ān”, which has been very
popular even today. The title of the book itself indicates that its main objective
was to deduce juristic injunctions and rulings from the Qur’ān. However, his commentary
was not limited to verses dealing with legal issues, but was a general
interpretation of the whole of ā with a Maliki point of view, the dominant madhdhab
in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in his time.
Al-Qurṭubī
was not fanatic with Mālikī school, but he followed what he thought the right
one. For example, commenting the verse "It is made lawful for you to have sexual relations with your wives on
the nights of the fasts… (Q. 2:187) he said in the
12th out of 36 issues on the verse, after mentioning the
disagreement of scholars about eating on the day of Ramadan out of forgetting,
and the view of Imam Mālik that it invalidates the fasting and has to be made
up, “according the opinion of other than Mālik, it does not invalidate the
fasting by eating out of forgetting, I say: this is the right one, and it is
the opinion of the majority of scholars.”
Another example of al-Qurṭubī’s open-mind
is his commentary on this verse:
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ
وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَارْكَعُوا مَعَ الرَّاكِعِينَ (البقرة: 43)
And perform the
prayers and give zakat
(obligatory charity), and bow down along with
those who bow down (Q. 2:43)
Commenting this verse al-Qurṭubī put
it in forty-three issues. In the 16th issue he mentioned the opinion
of those accept the possibility of a boy leading the prayer, such as al-Ḥasan
al-Baṣrī and Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, and those who do not accept it, such as Imām Mālik
and al-Thawrī, and others among aṣḥāb al-ra’y (upholders of personal
opinion), but he did not follow this view, as he found an evident of its
possibility. He said: “It is possible for a boy to lead the prayer if he is qārī’
(a reciter of the Qur’ān, namely, he is able to recite the Qur’ān properly)”.
He based his view on the story of a boy of six or seven whose name was ‘Amr ibn
Salamah who led the prayer because he was the only person among them who could
recite the Qur’ān. Moreover, the Prophet said,يَؤُمُّ الْقَوْمَ أَقْرَؤُهُم
لِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ (“the
best reciter of the Qur’ān who should lead the prayer”) without excepting ‘Amr
ibn Salamah.
On the 43rd and last issue he mentioned three
versions of greeting Allah at the beginning of the tashahhud cited while
one is sitting in the prayer, all of them had been taught by the Prophet, as
follows:
a. ‘Umar’s version chosen by Mālik and followers of
Mālikī school (North Africa), namely,
التَّحِيَّاتُ
لِلَّهِ الزَّكِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ الطَّيِّبَاتُ الصَّلَوَاتُ لِلَّهِ...
Salutations
to Allah, pure actions to
Allah, good words and prayers [are] to
Allah…
b. Ibn ‘Abbās’s version chosen by al-Shāfi‘ī,
al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, and followers of Shāfi‘ī school (Indonesia, Malaysia, and to
some extent, Egypt where al-Shāfi‘ī passed away), namely,
التَّحِيَّاتُ اْلمُبَارَكَاتُ
الصَّلَوَاتُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلَّهِ ُ...
Blessed salutations,
prayers, good deeds [are] to Allah…
c. Ibn Mas‘ūd’s version, chosen by al-Thawrī, the
people of Kufah (in al-Qurṭubī’s time), Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (Ḥanbalī school), Isḥāq
ibn Rāhawayh (teacher of al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dā’ūd, al-Nasā’ī), Dā’ūd
(founder of Ẓāhirī school), Abū Mūsá al-Ash‘arī, as well as the Ḥanafī school.
التَّحِيَّاتُ
لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ...
Salutations [are] to Allah and prayers
and good deed [to
Him]…
As the four madhdhabs (Ḥanafī, Mālikī,
Shāfi‘ī, and Ḥanbalī schools) are taught at al-Azhar high schools, special
books for fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence) are used for students
following their respective madhhabs.
Al-Qurṭubī’s methodology in his Tafsīr is as
follows:
a. He mentioned the asbāb al-nuzūl, variant
readings, i‘rāb (desinential inflection), nāsikh (abrogating) and
mansūkh (abrogated) verses, and explained difficult words.
b. He frequently appealed to language expression
for a legal decision, and frequently cited Arabic poetry.
c. He refuted the Mu‘tazilah, the Qadariyyah, the
Rawāfiḍ (Dissenters), philosophers, and extremist sufis.
d. He avoided many legendary stories, but
occasionally he brought some strange Jewish legends.
e. He frequently reported from people of early
generation based on their authority in the explanation of the Qur’ān and in
legal judgments referring every view to its viewers.
Al-Qurṭubī in his Tafsīr was highly influenced
by many earlier scholars, and reported their commentaries, especially in legal
judgments, as his sources, among them are as follows:
a. al-Țabarī’s Jāmi‘ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr
al-Qur’ān, especially the interpretation of the verses of the Qur’ān based
on the ḥadīths and reports from the companions of the Prophet .
b. al-Māwardī’s al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyyah (السُّلْطَانِيَّة (الأَحَكَام translated as The Ordinances of Government. Abū ‘l-Ḥasan al-Māwardī’s
(792-1058) was a Shāfi‘ī jurist whose book was considered the most significant classical theoretical explanation of public law in
relation to political theory.
c. al-Naḥḥās’s I‘rāb al-Qur’ān (إِعْرَابُ
الْقُرْآن) translated as The Expression of the Qur’ān
and Ma‘ānī al-Qur’ān (مَعَانِي الْقُرْآن), translated
as The Meanings of the Qur’ān. Abū Ja‘far Aḥmad al-Naḥḥās (d. 338/950)
was an Egyptian grammarian, a writer, and a commentator of the Qur’ān.
d. Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah’s al-Muḥarrir al-Wajīz fi ‘l-Tafsīr (الْمُحَرِّرُ الْوَجِيْزُ فِي
تَفْسِيرالْكِتَابِ الْعَزِيْز) translated as The Brief
Editor in the Commentary of the Noble Book, or simply Tafsīr Ibn ‘Aṭiyyah. ‘Ibn
‘Aṭiyyah (d. 542/1147 or 546/1151) was a native of Granada who studied from
scholars of Andalusia commentary of the Qur’ān and its variant readings, Arabic
linguistic and grammar, rhetoric, and
Islamic law from which al-Qurṭubī got benefit in his Tafsīr.
e. Ibn al-‘Arabī’s Aḥkām al-Qur’ān أَحْكَامُ
الْقُرْآن), The Principles of the Qur’ān). Abū Bakr ibn
al-‘Arabī (d. 543/1148) was born in Seville in 468/1075 where he was educated
and studied variant readings on the Qur’ān. Then in 485/1092 he and his father
moved to Syria where he continued his study, and then he continued his study in
Baghdad, and Egypt.
Al-Qurṭubī’s Tafsīr greatly influenced many later
Qur’ān commentators, among them are as
follows:
a. Ibn Kathīr’s Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm (تَفْسِيْرُ
الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيم), translated as The
Commentary of the Glorious Qur’ān, or simply called Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr. Abū
‘l-Fīdā‘īl ibn Kathīr was a student of Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Dhahabī. He died in
Damascus in 774/1373 in Damascus and was buried next to that of his teacher Ibn
Taymiyyah. His Tafsīr contained many ḥadīths of the Prophet and
the sayings of the ṣaḥābah cited usually in explaining the verses of the
Qur’ān.
b. Abū Ḥayyān’s al-Baḥru ’l-Muḥīṭ (الْبَحْرُ الْمُحِيْط), translated as the
Comprehensive Sea (i.e. the Qur’ān). Abū Ḥayyān al-Gharnaṭī (the native of Granada) was born in 654/1256. He was a
commentator of the Qur’ān, an Arabic grammarian and a linguist. He travelled
extensively in pursue of knowledge: to Tunisia and Egypt (Alexandria, Cairo,
Damietta, and Minya). He was said to have memorised the book of Sībawayh on
Arabic grammar. He taught the science of Qur’ānic
exegesis at the college named after Mamlūk Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn in
Alexandria and in the Mosque of Ibn Țūlūn in Cairo where he died in 745 /1344.
This is a glimpse of al-Qurṭubī’s
life and works.
(CIVIC, 11 December,
2015)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
( تفسيرالقرطبى (ت. 671 هـ
http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/#ixzz3tmZOh94Y
http://www.alukah.net/culture/0/76537/
http://www.hasbunallah.com.au/tafseer-e-qurtubi-arabic-al-jame-al-ahkam-al-quran/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml
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