An İntroduction To ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân

**Prof. Dr. Sinsi** · 10-11-2012

Thus the knowledge of the Qur'ân was passed on 'by the trustworthy (scholars) of the ummah, who protected it from the alteration of the heretics, the false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant' [7]

Early scholars did not write on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân in general, but rather wrote separate tracts on each science of the Qur'ân This was due to the fact that, during the early stages of Islamic history, the oral transmission of knowledge occupied a more important status that the written transmission In addition, the general level of knowledge was high, and did not warrant the extensive writing down of knowledge

The first and most important of the topics to be written on was tafseer For example, each of the following scholars wrote a tafseer of the Qur'ân, composed of statements from the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the Companions: Sufyaan ath-Thawree (d161 AH), Sufyaan ibn ’Uyaynah (d198 AH), Wakee’ ibn al-Jaraah (d197 AH), and Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaaj (d160 AH)

Following his predecessor's footsteps, Muhammad ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (d310 AH) wrote the monumental Jaami’ al-Bayaan ’an Ta'weel aay al-Qur'ân, a tafseer that all later scholars who benefit from Other early tafseers were written by Aboo Bakr ibn Mundhir an-Naysabooree (d 318 AH), Ibn Abee Haatim (d328 AH), Ibn Hibbaan (d369 AH), al-Haakim (d405 AH) and Ibn Mardawayh (d410 AH) All of these tafseers were based on reports from the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the Companions and Successors, and included the chains of narration (isnaad) of the reports

After the books of tafseer followed a plethora of books on the other sciences of the Qur'ân: ’Alee al-Madeenee (d234 AH), the teacher of Imaam al-Bukhari, wrote a book on Asbaab an-Nuzool; Aboo ’Ubayd al-Qaasim ibn Sallaam (d224 AH) wrote two books, one on the science of the Qira'aat (which was one of the first of its kind), and one on abrogation in the Qur'ân, Naasikh wa al-Mansookh; Ibn Qutaybah (d276 AH) wrote a book on rare words in the Qur'ân, Mushkil al-Qur'ân;

Aboo Ishaaq az-Zajjaaj (d311 AH) wrote a grammatical analysis of the Qur'ân, ’Iraab al-Qur'ân; Ibn Darstawayh (d330 AH) composed a tract on the miraculous nature of the Qur'ân, I’jaaz al-Qur'ân; Aboo Bakr as-Sijistaanee (d330 AH) wrote another book on rare words in the Qur'ân, Ghareeb al-Qur'ân; Aboo Bakr al-Baaqillaanee (d403 AH) wrote his famous treatise, also related to the miraculous nature of the Qur'ân, I’jaaz al-Qur'ân; Imaam an-Nasaa'ee (d303 AH), the author of the Sunan, wrote one on the merits of the Qur'ân, Fadaa'il al-Qur'ân; Aboo al-Hasan al-Waahidee (d468 AH) wrote his famous book on Asbaab an-Nuzool; ’Ilm ad-Deen as-Sakhaawee (d634 AH) wrote one on the various qira'aat, and so on

It must also be mentioned that, in addition to these books, many of the books of ahadith, such as the Saheehs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, included sections on various topics of ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân For example, most of the books of the Sunnah have chapters on the tafseer of the Qur'ân, the benefits of reciting the Qur'ân, the history of its compilation, and other topics

Finally, the scholars of the later generations started compiling all of these sciences into one book, and thus began the era of the classic works on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân The first works of this nature were actually meant to be works of tafseer One of the first works that is reported in later references (but is not extant) is that of Aboo Bakr Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn al-Marzaban (d309 AH), entitled 'al-Haawee fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân' [8] Another work, of which manuscript copies of fifteen of a total of thirty volumes are extant, is that of ’Alee ibn Ibraheem Sa’eed (d330 AH), otherwise knows as al-Hoofee, which he entitled, 'Al-Burhaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân' This book is primarily one on tafseer, but also discusses all related aspects of a verse So, for example, after each portion of the Qur'ân, it includes information about the verses' meaning, its interpretation, its purpose of revelation, its proper method of recitation, the different qira'aat of the verses and how they affect the meaning, where to stop and where not to, and so forth This work is considered to be the first of its kind in its expansive approach to all the related sciences of the Qur'ân [9]

There appeared after this, books of a similar nature, until finally Badr ad-Deen az-Zarkashee (d794 AH) appeared with his monumental Al-Burhaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân (the same title as al-Hoofee's work) This is one of the great classics on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân available in print A little over a century later, another classic appeared, that of Jalaal ad-Deen as-Suyootee (d911 AH), entitled Al-Itqaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân These two works are considered the standard resource works on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, and both have been printed a number of times during the last few decades

Books on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân continued to appear throughout the centuries, [10] and these last few decades have been no exception The better know books of this era have been Manaahil al-’Irfaan fee ’Uloom al-Qur'ân by Shaykh Muhammad ’Abd al-Adheem az-Zarqaanee; al-Madhkhal li Dirasaat al-Qur'ân al-Kareem by Muhammad Aboo Shahmah; and the two books, both of which are entitled Mabaahith fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, one by Dr Subhee Saalih and the other by Dr Mannaa’ al-Qattaan

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be great interest in English circles concerning this topic Other topics, such as hadeeth and fiqh, have been given greater attention [11] In English, the only work present [12] is Ahmed Von Denffer's book, ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'ân [13] It is a useful book in that it presents a summary of many concepts of ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, and is meant for a young adult audience However, probably due to the nature of the audience, the author does not go into great detail

10-11-2012	#3
Prof. Dr. Sinsi	An İntroduction To ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân Thus the knowledge of the Qur'ân was passed on 'by the trustworthy (scholars) of the ummah, who protected it from the alteration of the heretics, the false claims of the liars, and the false interpretations of the ignorant' [7] Early scholars did not write on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân in general, but rather wrote separate tracts on each science of the Qur'ân This was due to the fact that, during the early stages of Islamic history, the oral transmission of knowledge occupied a more important status that the written transmission In addition, the general level of knowledge was high, and did not warrant the extensive writing down of knowledge The first and most important of the topics to be written on was tafseer For example, each of the following scholars wrote a tafseer of the Qur'ân, composed of statements from the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the Companions: Sufyaan ath-Thawree (d161 AH), Sufyaan ibn ’Uyaynah (d198 AH), Wakee’ ibn al-Jaraah (d197 AH), and Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaaj (d160 AH) Following his predecessor's footsteps, Muhammad ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (d310 AH) wrote the monumental Jaami’ al-Bayaan ’an Ta'weel aay al-Qur'ân, a tafseer that all later scholars who benefit from Other early tafseers were written by Aboo Bakr ibn Mundhir an-Naysabooree (d 318 AH), Ibn Abee Haatim (d328 AH), Ibn Hibbaan (d369 AH), al-Haakim (d405 AH) and Ibn Mardawayh (d410 AH) All of these tafseers were based on reports from the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) and the Companions and Successors, and included the chains of narration (isnaad) of the reports After the books of tafseer followed a plethora of books on the other sciences of the Qur'ân: ’Alee al-Madeenee (d234 AH), the teacher of Imaam al-Bukhari, wrote a book on Asbaab an-Nuzool; Aboo ’Ubayd al-Qaasim ibn Sallaam (d224 AH) wrote two books, one on the science of the Qira'aat (which was one of the first of its kind), and one on abrogation in the Qur'ân, Naasikh wa al-Mansookh; Ibn Qutaybah (d276 AH) wrote a book on rare words in the Qur'ân, Mushkil al-Qur'ân; Aboo Ishaaq az-Zajjaaj (d311 AH) wrote a grammatical analysis of the Qur'ân, ’Iraab al-Qur'ân; Ibn Darstawayh (d330 AH) composed a tract on the miraculous nature of the Qur'ân, I’jaaz al-Qur'ân; Aboo Bakr as-Sijistaanee (d330 AH) wrote another book on rare words in the Qur'ân, Ghareeb al-Qur'ân; Aboo Bakr al-Baaqillaanee (d403 AH) wrote his famous treatise, also related to the miraculous nature of the Qur'ân, I’jaaz al-Qur'ân; Imaam an-Nasaa'ee (d303 AH), the author of the Sunan, wrote one on the merits of the Qur'ân, Fadaa'il al-Qur'ân; Aboo al-Hasan al-Waahidee (d468 AH) wrote his famous book on Asbaab an-Nuzool; ’Ilm ad-Deen as-Sakhaawee (d634 AH) wrote one on the various qira'aat, and so on It must also be mentioned that, in addition to these books, many of the books of ahadith, such as the Saheehs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, included sections on various topics of ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân For example, most of the books of the Sunnah have chapters on the tafseer of the Qur'ân, the benefits of reciting the Qur'ân, the history of its compilation, and other topics Finally, the scholars of the later generations started compiling all of these sciences into one book, and thus began the era of the classic works on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân The first works of this nature were actually meant to be works of tafseer One of the first works that is reported in later references (but is not extant) is that of Aboo Bakr Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn al-Marzaban (d309 AH), entitled 'al-Haawee fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân' [8] Another work, of which manuscript copies of fifteen of a total of thirty volumes are extant, is that of ’Alee ibn Ibraheem Sa’eed (d330 AH), otherwise knows as al-Hoofee, which he entitled, 'Al-Burhaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân' This book is primarily one on tafseer, but also discusses all related aspects of a verse So, for example, after each portion of the Qur'ân, it includes information about the verses' meaning, its interpretation, its purpose of revelation, its proper method of recitation, the different qira'aat of the verses and how they affect the meaning, where to stop and where not to, and so forth This work is considered to be the first of its kind in its expansive approach to all the related sciences of the Qur'ân [9] There appeared after this, books of a similar nature, until finally Badr ad-Deen az-Zarkashee (d794 AH) appeared with his monumental Al-Burhaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân (the same title as al-Hoofee's work) This is one of the great classics on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân available in print A little over a century later, another classic appeared, that of Jalaal ad-Deen as-Suyootee (d911 AH), entitled Al-Itqaan fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân These two works are considered the standard resource works on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, and both have been printed a number of times during the last few decades Books on ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân continued to appear throughout the centuries, [10] and these last few decades have been no exception The better know books of this era have been Manaahil al-’Irfaan fee ’Uloom al-Qur'ân by Shaykh Muhammad ’Abd al-Adheem az-Zarqaanee; al-Madhkhal li Dirasaat al-Qur'ân al-Kareem by Muhammad Aboo Shahmah; and the two books, both of which are entitled Mabaahith fee ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, one by Dr Subhee Saalih and the other by Dr Mannaa’ al-Qattaan Unfortunately, there does not seem to be great interest in English circles concerning this topic Other topics, such as hadeeth and fiqh, have been given greater attention [11] In English, the only work present [12] is Ahmed Von Denffer's book, ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân: An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur'ân [13] It is a useful book in that it presents a summary of many concepts of ’Uloom Al-Qur'ân, and is meant for a young adult audience However, probably due to the nature of the audience, the author does not go into great detail