wikishia:Featured Article/2016/49

Tafsir Furat al-Kufi (Arabic: تفسير فُرات الکوفي) is written in Arabic, and is considered to be al-tafsir bi al-riwaya. It was authored by Abu l-Qasim Furat b. Ibrahim b. Furat al-Kufi, a scholar, a hadith narrator, and an exegete of Shi'a in the second half of the third and the beginning of the fourth centuries. The author has merely assembled the verses of Qur'an which were revealed about the Shi'a Imams (a). This book is one of the most noteworthy Shi'a exegeses. This exegesis is organized sequentially and is set according to the sequence of suras. However, Furat al-Kufi has brought the verses which, in his view, are related to Shi'a thoughts and deserved Imams (a).

Since the fourth century, many great Shi'a scholars have regarded Furat and his book reliable and narrated hadiths from it. Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Ahmad b. al-Walid, who was one of the masters of al-Shaykh al-Saduq, has narrated hadiths from Furat in his book Fadl Ziyarat al-Husayn (a), so has al-Hakim al-Haskani, a Sunni scholar, in his book Shawahid al-tanzil. Later on, muhaddiths such as al-'Allama al-Majlisi and al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili regarded Furat and the hadiths of his book very reliable. Afterwards, later scholars referred to his book and narrated hadiths from it.

This book consists of 775 hadiths relating to exegesis of the Qur'an. The majority of hadiths are from Imams (a), in second place from Sahaba, and after that Tabi'un. In this book, only the verses which had hadiths along with them as revelations were brought. These hadiths primarily talk about Shi'a beliefs and notions. Accordingly, the unlikely (ba'id) or immediate (qarib) interpretation of these verses is offered.Read more...