Al-Burhan fi tafsir al-Qur'an (book): Difference between revisions

Sayyid Hashim al-Bahrani, well known as ‘Allama al-Bahrani was one of the faqihs, hadith transmitters and Shi'a exegetist in 11th century and early 12th century.

Al-‘Allama al-Bahrabi has gathered many hadiths that are narrated from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) in the book. He states in his preface:

“This book will help you know about many secrets of the Qur'an. Some of the religious sciences, stories, life of prophets and the virtues of Ahl al-Bayt (a) will be clear for you by this book. … I have gathered valid and trustworthy hadiths from hadith collections whose compilers are from authentic scholars. I have narrated most of the hadiths from Shi'a transmitters but in the case that Sunni hadiths were in correspondence with Shi'a's or in the case that a hadith of Sunnis was about the virtues of Ahl al-Bayt (a), I used their hadith as well. I also mentioned some hadith from Ibn ‘Abass in interpreting Qur'an because he was pupil of Imam ‘Ali (a). “

Al-‘Allama al-Bahrani in al-Burhan sufficed to mention the hadiths and he wrote the chain of transmitters and the hadith of Sunnis at the end of each chapter.

He consider his book as a statement of the Ta'wil of the verses of the Qur'an and by Ta'wil, he means the hadiths that are narrated from infallibles and mentioned the virtue of them. He didn't add any comment on the hadiths but in his long introduction, he presented his views and analysis on the interpretational theories. There is another introduction for this book by Abu l-Hasan Sharif al-‘Amili al-Isfahani (d. 1138 AH or 1140 AH) under the title Mirat al-anwar wa mishkat al-asrar.

Al-‘Allama al-Bahrani presented his ideas on interpretation and Qur'anic quests in 16 chapters in introduction. He believed that the Qur'an exclusively should be interpreted by Imams (a). Even though that his notion of interpretation is close to Ta'wil, in the 6th chapter, he expressly prevented other people to interpret the Qur'an. In the 15th chapter, he stated some points on the unity of the Qur'an and ‘Itrat. He also emphasized on the inward meaning of Qur'an and on the belief that its knowledge is in the hand of Ahl al-Bayt (a). In the last chapter, he mentioned some of the sources of the book and introduced some terms like Nasikh wa Mansukh, Muhkam wa Mutashabih, ‘Am wa Khas, Taqdim wa Ta'khir but he didn't pose any definition about these terms. Thus, he begin to enter to the exegesis. The atmosphere of the book in proving the rightfulness of Ahl al-Bayt (a) and introducing the virtues of them.

# Al-Tafsir al-‘ayyashi

# Qurb al-asnad, by ‘Abd allah b. Ja'far al-Himyari

# Al-‘Irashad, by al-Shaykh al-Mufid

# Al-‘Ikhtisas, by al-Shaykh al-Mufid

# Al-‘Amali by al-Shaykh al-Mufid

# The book of ‘Ali b. Ja'far that contains his questions from Imam al-Kazim (a)

# ‘Ilal al-sharayi', by al-Shaykh al-Saduq

# ‘Uyun akhbar al-rida, by al-Shaykh al-Saduq

# Thawab al-‘amal wa ‘iqab al-a'mal, by al-Shaykh al-Saduq

# Al-‘Istibsar, by al-Shaykh al-Tusi

# Al-‘Amali, by al-Shaykh al-Tusi

# Khasa'is al-‘a'ima, by al-Sayyid al-Radi

# Al-Manaqib al-fakhira fi al-‘itra al-tahira, by al-Sayyid al-Radi

# Ta'wil al-ayat al-bahira fi al-‘itra al-tahira, al-Shaykh Sharaf al-Din al-Najafi

# Ma anzal min al-qur'an fi ahl al-bayt (a), al-Shaykh Muhammad b. ‘Abbas b. Marwan b. Mahyar, well-known as Ibn Juham

# Tuhfa al-‘ikhwan, by Sayyid b. Tawus

# Al-Manaqib, by Muhammad b. ‘Ali b. Shahr Ashub

# Al-‘Ihtijaj, by al-Shaykh Ahmad b. ‘Ali b. Abi Talib al-Tabrisi

“Despite his ample efforts in al-Burhan exegesis, there are some unauthentic and distorted hadiths which convey ideas of exaggeration (al-Ghuluw). It is more likely that the author didn't mean to refine unauthentic hadiths or he meant but it wasn't enough. He has used the sources that are accused for being distorted and has narrated some hadiths that have unreliable chain of transmitters and incoherent content. So, it can be concluded that al-Burhan is a beneficial scholarly effort for researchers who are familiar with the texts and are knowledgeable about reliable and coherent hadiths and are able to differentiate between authentic and unauthentic hadiths. The fact that this book contains some unauthentic hadiths doesn't mean that it is a worthless book but it is like Bihar al-anwar by al-‘Allama al-Majlisi which has some unauthentic hadiths, but given this quality, it is a great work that is a huge help to Shiite library. However, gathering the hadiths is the first step and after that, the second step begins which is refinement the hadiths and differentiating the authentic and unauthentic narrations.  The third step is to extract general rules and fundamentals of the interpretational approach of Ahl al-Bayt (a). Without completing all the three steps, it is not possible to benefit from the interpretational hadiths of Ahl al-Bayt (a).”

Sayyid Muhammad ‘Ali Ayazi:

# ‘Isma'iliyan institute, published in 5 Volumes, Qom

# ‘Islammiya bookstore, in 5 volumes, Tehran