Marwīyāt Abī Muslim Muḥammad b. Baḥr al-Iṣfahānī fī t-tafsīr (The Qurʾānic Exegetical Traditions of Abū Muslim Muḥammad b. Baḥr al-Iṣfahānī: A Critical Study and Compilation)

By Wael Abbas

This study presents the Qurʾānic exegetical traditions (marwiyyāt) of the Muʿtazilite scholar Abū Muslim Muḥammad b. Baḥr al-Iṣfahānī (d. 322/934), compiled from the following commentaries: al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān by Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067), al-Tahdhīb fī al-tafsīr by al-Ḥākim al-Jushamī (d. 494/1101), Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān by Abū ʿAlī al-Ṭabrisī (d. 548/1153), and al-Tafsīr al-kabīr (also known as Mafātīḥ al-ghayb) by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210). This work originally constituted the second volume of a doctoral dissertation in Islamic Studies submitted to Goethe University Frankfurt, which was examined by the eminent scholar Prof. Gregor Schoeler and Prof. Dr. Ömer Özsoy.

The work is prefaced by a concise study introducing Abū Muslim and exploring the possible historical contexts that might account for the loss of his independent tafsīr. It also addresses previous scholarly attempts to reconstruct his exegetical work. This is followed by an analytical study of the collected traditions, in which a number of novel methodological approaches specific to this field are employed. Finally, the study concludes by outlining the editorial methodology applied in extracting, organizing, and presenting the reconstructed corpus.