Manhaj al-sadiqin (book)

Manhaj al-sadiqin (book)

Bibliographical Information
Author	Fath Allah Kashani
Original title	مَنْهَجُ الصّادقين فى إلْزامِ الْمُخالِفين
Language	Persian
Series	10 vol.
Subject	exegesis
Genre	hadith
Published	1351 Sh./1972-3

Manhaj al-ṣādiqīn fī ilzām al-mukhālifīn (Arabic: مَنْهَجُ الصّادقين فى إلْزامِ الْمُخالِفين) is a Shiite exegesis of the Qur'an written by Mulla Fath Allah Kashani in 988/1580-1 in Persian. It was the only Persian exegesis of the Qur'an for a while. The author discussed various issues of theology, jurisprudence, Arabic literature, and the like, but he was mostly concerned with the citation of hadiths from Ahl al-Bayt (a) in this book. Thus, some people have considered it as a hadith-based exegesis of the Quran.

Author

Main article: Fath Allah Kashani

Mulla Fath Allah was the son of Mulla Shukr Allah Kashani. He was a great scholar, jurist, researcher, theologian, and exegete of the Qur'an, and a prominent Shi'a figure in late 10th/16th century. Mulla Fath Allah was a student of 'Ali b. Hasan al-Zawari, through whom he transmitted hadiths from al-Muhaqqiq al-Karaki. He was a prominent figure in the government of Tahmasp I, the Safavid king. He specialized in all common religious disciplines, particularly in the exegesis of the Qur'an. He wrote many books most of which are in Persian. Mulla Fath Allah Kashani died in 988/1580-1.

Title and its Reason

In his al-Dhari'a, Agha Buzurg Tihrani refers to the book as Manhaj al-sadiqin fi tafsir al-Qur'an al-mubin wa ilzam al-mukhalifin, but in the preface of the book, Mulla Fath Allah himself writes: "since the main aim and the highest goal of this selection is to clarify the path of truthful Imams (a) by obvious arguments and to convince opponents (ilzam al-mukhalifin) by overwhelming proofs, it was named "Manhaj al-sadiqin fi ilzam al-mukhalifin" (path of the truthful in convincing opponents).

Motivation for Writing

According to the author, his motivation for writing the book was to produce a Persian exegesis of the Qur'an in a non-boring style, nor too lengthy neither too brief, along with the Imami beliefs, including hadiths from Ahl al-Bayt (a).

Method of Exegesis

In his exegeses of Qur'anic suras, Mulla Fath Allah has followed a uniform order. He first talks about whether the Sura in question is Makki or [[Madani], and then he talks about the numbers of its verses, its names, the divine rewards for reciting the sura, its relevance, the occasion of revelation, and then exegetical issues.

Structure

Manhaj al-sadiqin is a comprehensive exegesis of the Qur'an like Rawd al-jinan, that is, it provides an exegesis of the whole Qur'an, it discusses different aspects of the Islamic culture, and presents different issues in light of Qur'anic verses.

The author wrote a preface prior to his exegesis of Qur'an 2 (Sura al-Hamd) consisting of 10 chapters in which he talks about the preliminaries of Qur'anic exegesis and Qur'anic sciences:

• Chapter 1: names of the reciters of the Qur'an

• Chapter 2: names of the Qur'an, the meaning of sura and verse.

• Chapter 3: the most accurate view regarding the number of Qur'anic verses, and the point of knowing this

• Chapter 4: the meaning of tafsir (exegesis) and ta'wil (interpreting away)

• Chapter 5: a clarification of the hadith according to which the Qur'an was revealed on seven letters …

• Chapter 6: an explanation of exegesis (al-tafsir bi l-ra'y)

• Chapter 7: on the Integrity of the Qur'an

• Chapter 8: the Qur'an was already compiled in the period of the Prophet Muhammad (s)

• Chapter 9: on the miracle of the Qur'an

• Chapter 10: hadiths encouraging people to learn and recite the Qur'an.

Sources of the Book

In his exegesis of the Qur'an, Mulla Fath Allah Kashani cited the exegetical views of al-Baydawi, Zawara'i, al-Zamakhshari in his Kashshaf and al-Tabrisi in his Majma' al-bayan as well as al-Shaykh al-Tusi's al-Tibyan, Abu l-Futuh al-Razi's exegesis, and Tafsir al-Jurjani known as Gazur. He also cited some mystical remarks by well-known Sufis, such as al-Qushayri and al-Sulami. He also cited hadiths in Shi'a and Sunni sources.

Summary and Publication

The author himself has summarized the book under Khulasa al-manhaj.

It was repeatedly printed and published. It was lasted published in ten volumes as edited by Abu l-Hasan Sha'rani during 1340-41 Sh./1961-2 -1963-4, and later it was published in ten volumes in 1351 Sh./1972-3 in Tehran as edited by 'Ali Akbar Ghaffari with the preface and footnotes of Abu l-Hasan Murtadawi.