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

'''''Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān''''' (Arabic: {{ia|البرهان فی تفسیر القرآن}}) is one of the most important Shi'ite narrative exegesis of the [[Qur'an]] by [[al-Sayyid Hashim al-Bahrani]]. The author has discussed  different issues like [[Islamic sciences]], stories, nabawi [[hadith]]s (hadiths that narrated from the [[Prophet (s)]]) and the virtues of [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]]. Al-Bahrani was an [[Akhbari]] and his exegesis was written in an Akhbari manner. Some of the exegetists have criticized his work.

Al-Sayyid Hashim al-Bahrani, well known as '''al-'Allama al-Bahrani''' was one of the [[jurist]]s, [[Muhaddith|traditionalist]]s and [[Shi'a]] exegetists in 11th/17th century and early 12th/18th century.

"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 understandable for you by this book. … I have gathered narrations from valid and authentic hadith collections whose compilers are among trustworthy 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 hadiths as well. I also mentioned some hadiths from [['Abd Allah b. al-'Abbas|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. he wrote the [[chain of transmitters]] and the hadith of Sunnis at the end of each chapter.

He considered his book as a statement of the [[Ta'wil]] of the verses of the Qur'an and by Ta'wil, he meant  the hadiths that are narrated from [[infallibles]]. He also mentioned the virtue of infallibles. He didn't add any comment on the hadiths but in his long introduction, he presented his views and analysis on the exegetical theories. There is another introduction for this book by [[Abu l-Hasan Sharif al-'Amili al-Isfahani]] (d. 1138/1725 or 1140/1727) under the title ''[[Mir'at 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 [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)|'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 and Mansukh]], [[Muhkam and Mutashabih]], [['Am and Khas]], [[Taqdim and Ta'khir]] but he didn't present any definition about these terms. Thus, he began to start the exegesis. The atmosphere of the book is proving the rightfulness of Ahl al-Bayt (a) and introducing the virtues of them.

:"Despite his ample efforts in al-Burhan exegesis, there are some unauthentic and distorted [[hadith]]s which convey ideas of exaggeration ([[al-Ghuluw]]). It is more likely that the author didn't mean to refine [[unauthentic hadith]]s 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 exegetical approach of [[Ahl al-Bayt (a)]]. Without completing all the three steps, it is not possible to benefit from the exegetical hadiths of Ahl al-Bayt (a)."

:"[[Al-Sayyid Hashim al-Bahrani]] is one of the accomplished [[Muhaddith|traditionalists]] who gathered hadiths. He didn't present any idea about the acceptance, rejection or compromise of the hadiths that are against reason or other narrations. "

:"The author is one of the [[Akhbari]]s who believes that interpreting [[Qur'an]] is permissible only through the hadiths of Ahl al-Bayt (a) and interpretation through reasoning, [[ijtihad]] and spiritual taste is forbidden."

# Manuscript of the library of [[holy shrine of the Imam al-Rida (a)]] in [[Mashhad]], no 83-91

# 'Isma'iliyan institute, published in 5 Volumes, [[Qom]]

# Al-Wafa institute, published in 4 volumes, [[Beirut]]

# 'Islammiya bookstore, in 5 volumes, [[Tehran]]

# Al-Risala institute, on 1403 AH

# Bi'that institute, in 5 volumes, Tehran, with an introduction of al-Shaykh [[Muhammad Mahdi al-Asifi]]