Tafsir & Ta'wil

Now we know that over the centuries since the days when Muhammad was with us and able to explain the Qur'an in person,

there have been vast numbers of people in every age writing commentaries on the Qur'an.

That means tens of thousands of commentaries,

so where on earth should we begin?

Well, perhaps by taking a part of the Qur'an with which we are familiar,

and looking around to see what has been said about it.

And we soon find out that there are only so many commentaries that get passed on down through the years,

only so many that clarified and informed, and refocussed their readers perceptions and understandings in ways that lit up their minds and times.

Those are the ones that are most likely to be readily available

in reference books and translations.

So we have our works of tafsir,

but where in the Qur'an do we want to begin?

Well, begin at the beginning is what people say,

so why don't we start with Fatihah?

Of course, with Fatihah there must be whole libraries of tafsir devoted to just this one surah,

but let's just see what we find.

Or if you prefer, we could start with Ikhlas.

It is said to be worth a third of the Qur'an,

so there's probably been a number of libraries written about that surah as well.

That would also seem to be quite a good place to start,

a place where so much of the Qur'an is concentrated in just a few short ayats,

a good place don't you think?

The Opening

Sincerity