Exegetes of Nishapur: A Preliminary Survey of Qur'anic Works by Ibn Ḥabīb, Ibn Fūrak, and ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

This article provides a preliminary study of three previously unstudied Qur'anic works, each of which has been ascribed to an important fifth/eleventh-century member of the Shāfiʿī elite of Nishapur. Previous studies have documented the importance of the city in the formation of the classical tafsīr tradition, with special attention paid to al-Thaʿlabī (d. 427/1035) and his student al-Wāḥidī (d. 468/1076). Nevertheless, other important Nishapuri personalities demonstrating a wide range of interests have yet to receive proper coverage. By examining the bio-bibliographical records and the extant texts, I introduce three important Nishapuri scholars as exegetes and outline the nature of their contributions. The first work is an ʿulūm al-Qurʾān text written by Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥabīb (d. 406/1016) the famed Qur'an scholar who marks the beginning of the Thaʿlabī-Wāḥidī lineage of exegetical development. Then follows the tafsīr of the Ashʿarī theologian Ibn Fūrak (d. 406/1015), of which only a part survives. The third and final work is another tafsīr, which has been attributed to Ibn Fūrak's Ashʿarī colleague Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī (d. 429/1037).

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Publication Title

Journal of Qur'anic Studies

Published Citation

Nguyen, Martin. "Exegetes of Nishapur: A Preliminary Survey of Qur'anic Works by Ibn Ḥabīb, Ibn Fūrak, and ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī." Journal of Qur'anic Studies 20.2 (2018): 47-73. https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2018.0337.

DOI

10.3366/jqs.2018.0337

Peer Reviewed

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