I decided to change the way we write tafsir in English.

🧵 You may know that I have translated from the tafsir of Imam Razi and others (Ibn Juzayy is on the way). I learned how to do this as excellently as possible. But I have grown in dissatisfaction at the whole idea of transposing an Arabic science into a foreign language directly.

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“Spooked zebras”?
An enquiry into the language, readings & translation of Q. 74:50
كأنهم حمر مستنفِـَرة Before we get into the meaning of mustanfirah/mustanfarah, let’s clarify what species we have here. The exegetes clarify it is “wild donkeys/asses”, also called onagers. Though the term حمر الوحش is nowadays used for zebras, those weren’t known to the Arabs of the time.

I was reticent but don’t mind saying something on واستغفر لذنبك if my understanding matters to anyone. Please don’t read on if it doesn’t :)

https://twitter.com/Kunta_Kinte786/status/1476477125142233088

Already in the thread, I shared a few things from the mufassireen which get at the various angles of the question. What I’ll say here is based on 2 or more of those answers.

I am begging people who get people to repeat the Shahada after them (especially if they do it on video dressed as an Azhari) to please get the wording right!

أشهد ألّا (أن لا) إله
Not “anna lā”! Anna أنّ needs to have an ism, like you see clearly in the second half:

وأشهد أنّ محمداً ﷺ رسولُ الله

So in theory, it’d make sense to say:

Publishers sent me a complimentary copy of this Qur’anic Encyclopædia by Dr M. Tahir-ul-Qadri – may Allah reward them! I’ll share brief first impressions, then say a little on a theological/exegetical issue that caught my eye. After vol. 1 which is a detailed contents list, there are two parts. Vols. 2-5 present individual ayat under thematic subheadings with translation. This could be suitable for looking up topics, or going through systematically in addition to reading a standard mushaf/translation.

The Quranic Ayah
transcendent between disputants

🧵 Some people asked me to comment on a particular use of a particular ayah by a particular group to support their particular doctrine. And I intend to do that, iA. But I feel that taking a few steps back is helpful before diving in.

Who called out to Maryam from below?

فنادىٰها من تحتها There are two opinions in tafsir regarding the caller in Q. 19:24: either it was the angel Jibrīl or the baby ʿĪsā (peace be on them all). Both fit the context quite reasonably:

It’s great to bring the epigraphic and historical linguistic evidence to the table alongside the poetic citations and insights of the philologist-exegetes.

https://twitter.com/SafaiticBlog/status/1428622611089666050

Along with the more evident reading of aḥwā as adjective for ghuthā’, Ālūsī notes an opinion that it’s a circumstantive for al-marʿā:

أخرج المرعى (فجعله غثاء) أحوى

I was preparing something on Q 18:77 and took a look through commentaries on the “wall on the verge of collapsing” which al-Khaḍir set upright. So here’s a thread about majāz…

یُرِیدُ أَن یَنقَضَّ The ascription of irādah to the wall (literally “wanting to collapse”) is one of the most famous examples of figurative speech in the Qur’an, in which the wall is personified, and “wanting” means it is *about to* crumble to pieces.