“And it was said, ‘Avaunt, ye tribe of the wicked!’ ”
X.—Commentaries on the Qurʾān.
In the earliest ages of Islām the expositions of the Qurʾān were handed down in the traditional sayings of the companions and their successors, but we have it on the authority of the Kashfu ʾz̤-Z̤unūn that one Qutaibah ibn Aḥmad, who died A.H. 316, compiled a systematic commentary on the whole of the Qurʾān. The work is not now extent.
Muslim commentaries are very numerous. Dr. M. Arnold (Islam and Christianity, p. 81) says there are no less than 20,000 in the Library at Tripolis.
The best known commentaries amongst the Sunnīs are those of:—
Al-Bag͟hawī, A.H. 515.
Az-Zamak͟hsharī, A.H. 604.
At-Tafsīru ʾl-Kabīr, A.H. 606.
Ibnu ʾl-ʿArabi, A.H. 628.
Al-Baiẓāwī, A.H. 685.