Bismihi Ta’la
Assalam o alaikum
br. Achtung, have you had a chance to read over the tafsir done by the late Tabatabai? It will offer altogether a very different perspective on how the Shia view the tafsir of the Quran, or for that matter any school of thought.
Let me know, where you are residing and maybe we can send you the 8 vols that cover only the first 3 suras to the tafsir of the noble Book. We will be bringing the Arabic tafsir (27 vols in all) on line insha 'Allah on the DILP http://www.al-islam.org/organizations/dilp.
Regards
– Ali Abbas
Salam,
I have never actually read a Qur'an with Shia tafsir. I rely heavily upon Abdullah Yusuf Ali's tafsir. Its unfortunate that others are not as readily available. I would like to see the Qur'an with a Shia tafsir, it would give me another perspective.
My problem with Shia is that it seems to me they are too heavily reliant on hadith literature. The same can be said about Sunni's at times. Having a Qur'an with a Shia tafsir would be useful to understanding the Shia beliefs for someone like me, who is highly skeptical of the hadith literature. Are there other Qur'anic tafsir's done by Shiah? Thanks for the info!
Achtung ;)
Bismihi Ta'la
Assalam o alaikum
Appreciate your prompt response.
Actaully, I am somewhat surprised with your comments, but here is what I have to state. I can say that the Shias rely more on an understanding of the Quran through the Quran, although with the help of hadith, but with the provision that the hadith agrees with the Quran.
The commmentary of the late Tabatabai is very unique, since he does the tafsir of the Quran through the Quran: a principle expounded, stressed and encouraged by the Prophet and the noble Imams (peace be upon them).
If you can locate the tafsir of the late S.V Ahmed Ali, it will give you a flavor of what I am referring to. And then another book, titled Essence of the Quran, by Pooya Yazdi.
I can e mail you a book titled 'The Quran in Islam', by the late Tabatabai, so you can get a perspective of Shia tafsir (of course others are invited to write to me in person at [email protected]).
Give me a mailing address and I can mail you some books, insha 'Allah!
Regards
-- Abbas Ali
Salam,
Thanks AliAbbas. I have actually read portions of the Qur'an which are translated in this manner and I agree, it is the best way to translate the Qur'an. The Qur'an does translate itself - I've seen many powerful arguments which are based on this understanding of the Qur'an. At times Yusuf Ali too relies on this way of translation - referring to other text in the Qur'an to explain words and meanings. But there are gaps in his tafsir, areas which could be better explained.
There is a Qur'an on line which a group has begun to translate in this manner. They rely solely on the Qur'an for translation, allowing the Qur'an to translate itself. The movement itself may be considered by some to be controversial and the work is in Arabic.
The problem with translations often is that the one doing the translation is invariably influenced by the environment in which he is working and by his own normative views. Abdullah Yusuf Ali's version has been accused by many as being too closely "in-line" with the Saudi "Ulama", while Muhammad Asad's translation is accused of being too progressive. We should be skeptical of the translations as well as the Hadith, for there maybe some truth to these arguments. The best understanding of the Qur'an I'm sure comes from the original Arabic, which brought tears to the listeners eyes.
That being said, I'd really like to read Tabatabai's tafsir. It would be nice to have one Qur'an which you could hold in your hand, which was translated in this manner. You can email me Tabatabai's book at the email indicated in my profile (just click on "who" above). Thanks in advance brother!
Achtung ;)
Salam,
Ali, I got the Qur'an, I'll start to read it shortly. Thanks again, I appreciate that!
Achtung ;)