— al-Shinqitee —
-Name of the Mufassir:
He is Muhammad al-Ameen ibn Muhammad Mukhtar, al-Jankee, al-Shinqitee. He began his studies under his uncle and sought knowledge from the scholars of his native Mauritania, where he became a well-known judge and scholar. He later traveled to Mecca to perform Hajj where his extensive knowledge was recognized and he was appointed as a teacher in al-Masjid al-Nabawi in al-Madinah. He continued to teach and be a member of scholarly committees in Saudi Arabia until his death. He died in the year 1393Ah/1973 CE, and left behind a number of important written works, especially in the fields in tafsir and usool al-fiqh.
Note: al-Shinqitee died before completing his entire tafsir. He reached the end of surah al-Mujaadilah (58), and then his student ‘Atiyyah Saalim completed the rest of the tafsir from surah al-Hashr until the end of surah al-Nas (114).
-Name of the Book:
Adhwaa’ al-Bayaan fee Eedhaah al-Qur’an bi’l-Qur’an [أضواء البيان في إيضاح القرآن بالقرآن]
-General Description of the Book:
As the title suggests, al-Shinqitee’s tafsir is focused on explaining the Qur’an first and foremost by means of the Qur’an itself. In his introduction to this work, he identified focusing on this method of tafsir as the first of two main objectives that he had in authoring this book, with the second objective being to explain the fiqh matters and rulings contained in the Qur’an. In addition to these two stated areas of emphasis, Adhwaa’ al-Bayaan also offers benefits related to Usool al-Fiqh, the sciences of the Arabic language, and commentary and engagement with previous works of tafsir.
With that being said, this work of tafsir does not attempt to explain every ayah, but rather explains a collection of ayaat in each surah that lend themselves to the main themes of the book. In many cases, one ayah which contains a particular topic or theme may act as the jumping off point for a detailed discussion of that theme which would gather and discuss a number of relevant ayaat on the topic, without explaining the same material in each place that it occurs.
The author was a salafi scholar. Among his other works was a valuable risaalah entitled Manhaj wa’l-Diraasaat li-Ayaat al-Asmaa’ wa’l-Sifaat explaing the methodology of properly understand Allah’s names and attributes. Another short work of his which he would reference in his tafsir dealt with the prohibition of interpreting the Qur’an metaphorically. Both of these topics are also covered in his tafsir.
-Stance regarding isnaads (chains of narration):
al-Shinqitee would generally include a source for a hadeeth or athar without mentioning the chain of narration. However, as his work gave priority to explaining the Qur’an by means of the Qur’an itself, he would generally only mention ahaadeeth when a sufficient explanation could not be found in the Qur’an.
When the author did mention chains of narration, he would also provide a clarification on the authenticity of the hadeeth. In some cases, he would weaken the fiqh position of a certain madhhab based on the weakness of the hadeeth used to support that position.
-Stance regarding Fiqh (legal) Rulings:
Although al-Shinqitee was initially trained in the Maaliki madhhab, he did not show favoritism towards it or any other school of jurisprudence. In the introduction to his tafsir, al-Shinqitee explained that he sought to select the fiqh position which was most supported by the evidence without prejudice towards any madhhab or personality. At times, the author would diverge into detailed and extensive discussions of ancillary topics, such as related fiqh issues not directly addressed in the ayah at hand or detailed discussions of Usool al-Fiqh.
-Stance regarding Qiraa’aat (different recitations):
The author limited himself to discussions of the seven well-attested recitations, and did not rely upon odd recitations in his explanations.
-Stance regarding Israa’eeliyyaat (Judaeo-Christian traditions):
This work does not include Israa’eeliyyaat narrations.
-Stance regarding poetry, linguistic analysis, grammar, etc.:
The author would devote attention to linguistic issues in various places throughout his tafsir as was needed to accomplish his two main objectives. These discussions could involve the principles of language use, definitions, morphology, grammar, and illustrative examples from poetry as needed to elucidate the topic at hand.
القول المختصر المبين في مناهج المفسرين لمحمد بن حمد الحمود النجدي
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See also: Recommended Books of Tafsir