ABU BAKR AL-JASSAS’S METHOD OF INTERPRETING THE QURʾAN THROUGH THE QURʾAN
Keywords:
al-Jassas, Aḥkam al-Qurʾan, tafsir, interpreting the Qurʾan through the Qurʾan, thematic interpretation, mawḍūʿī, Hanafi school, Ibn Kathīr.Abstract
This article analyzes the method of the Hanafi exegete Abu Bakr al-Jassas
(d. 370/981) of interpreting the Qurʾan by means of the Qurʾan in his commentary Aḥkam
al-Qurʾan. It distinguishes two categories of this method – deriving the lexical meaning
of a word or phrase from other verses, and the thematic (mawḍūʿī) gathering of verses
related to a single subject – and illustrates each with examples from the commentary.
The article argues that, having lived some four centuries before Ibn Kathīr, al-Jassas
was among the earliest exegetes to employ this method systematically.
