AN ANALYSIS OF THE METHODS RELATING TO THE COMMENTARY ON THE QUR’ANIC VERSES EMPLOYED IN “TAHSIL NAZAIR AL-QUR’AN”

Abstract

This article analyzes the methods that al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi

employed in commenting on Qur’anic words in his work “Tahsil nazair al-

Qur’an,” within the genre of “wujuh wa nazair” (the multiple aspects and

analogues of Qur’anic vocabulary). Drawing on the studies of a number of

scholars among them Abd al-Muhsin al-Husayni, Husni Zaydan, Paul Nwyia,

Hind Shalabi, Salwa M. al-Awa, Khalid Zahri, and Süleyman Kaya the article

shows that al-Tirmidhi’s method differs from that of other authors who wrote

in this genre: rather than treating a single word as bearing several unrelated

meanings, he holds that all the “aspects” (wujuh) of a word return to a single

basic meaning rooted in the word itself. The article also examines al-Tirmidhi’s

own analytical procedures and his distinction between tafsir and ta’wil.