Questions on Tadabbure Quran by Maulana Islahi

[ignorantmuslim]

as salaamu alaikum,

Is the book Tadabbur-e Quran in Urdu only? No Arabic translation? (My arabic is better than my urdu)

And is there a softcopy available somewhere?

Jazakum Allahu khairan in advance for your help,

was salaamu alaikum,

[Wayfarer]

Assalamu alaikum,

I don't think it has been translated into Arabic although Imam Farahi who was the teacher and main inspiration for Maulana Islahi wrote some of his work in Arabic, though I wouldn't be able to tell you who has published what.

If you don't mind English, Volume I has been recently translated. It covers al-Fatiha and al-Baqarah and its full title is "Tadabbur-e-Qur'an - Ponderings over the Qur'an (vol I)."

Soft copy of smaller surahs in English:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sou...eVupKnLxYIaX_g

Hope that helps.

Wassalam

[ignorantmuslim]

jazakumAllahu khairan for your help!

[Abdullah11]

Can you give some info regarding the book

[Wayfarer]

Assalamu alaikum,

The thrust of the tafsir is the coherence of the Qur'an. Since not many 'ulama' had discussed the topic of the divine order of the Qur'an (according to Farahi and Islahi anyway) they felt it incumbent to delve into this since the importance of the order of the ayat and suwar is obviously of importance if Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) ordered them in a particular way.

Imam Farahi did have some associations with some of those affected by modernist tendencies in British India, such as Shibli Nu'mani, and even Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan. However Imam Farahi refused to translate the Urdu tafsir of the latter into Arabic due to its grave errors. Imam Farahi criticised the work of one of the British orientalists at the time (I think Thomas Arnold) who had tried to present Islam as the religion of peace, whilst Imam Farahi felt that this pacified the Muslims and made them forget about Jihad. The Imam did have some unorthodox positions, for example I think regarding ahad hadiths. However his command of Arabic was supposed to be one of a kind, and his tafsir overall has been hailed as one of the most important of recent times, and I know Shaikh Suhaib Hasan speaks highly of him. Shibli Nu'mani remarked, when the Imam passed away, that the Ibn Taymiyyah of our time had passed on to his Lord.

One of his main disciples, Maulana Ahsan Amin Islahi, took the Imam's principles and applied them to his own tafseer, as his teacher didn't complete his own. Islahi was heavily associated with Jamaat-i-Islami at its inception, but he, along with Israr Ahmed and Sh. Abdul-Ghaffar Hasan (Sh Suhaib's father) left as he wasn't comfortable with the political involvement of the party.

I have only started reading the tafsir, having completed the intro and now onto al-Fatihah. The links that he makes between the ayat and the overall theme of the surah are masha'Allah very impressive. It is obvious from his intro, however, that he has similar views regarding ahad hadith. However, he does hold the mashhur hadith to be as authentic as the mutawatir, and he has also stated that he would rather use ahad hadith than qiyas or pure speculation. I don't know where practically it may depart from Ahl al-Sunnah due to this, if in any place.

All this information is from various anecdotes from the internet, as well as what one brother with a background in Muslim History has told me.

You may find some information of the general approach from the articles of Muntansir Mir, e.g.:

Is The Qur'an A Shapeless Book?

WAssalam