Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī: A Fourth/Tenth Century Shīʿī Commentary on the Qurʾan (Volume 1)

Tafsir al-¿Ayyashi is a fourth/tenth century commentary of the Qur¿an by the Shi¿i Imami exegete Abu al-Na¿r Mu¿ammad b. Mas¿ud al-¿Ayyashi (d. 320/932). Composed during the period of the Twelfth Imam's minor occultation (al-ghaybat al-¿ughra) it counts as one of the earliest surviving commentaries from the early phase of Imami Shi¿ism. Comprising several thousand traditions gathered from the Prophet Mu¿ammad and his household (ahl al-bayt) al-¿Ayyashi's tafsir provides an overall unique Shi¿i conception of Islamic sacred history as well as an early representation of Imami exegesis and commentary on the outer and inner meanings of the Qur¿an, the sacred scripture of Islam. This bilingual Arabic-English edition of al-¿Ayyashi's tafsir provides a complete translation in three volumes of a key text from the classical period of Imami Shi¿ism and offers an indispensable resource for specialists and non-specialists alike interested in the history of Qur¿anic exegesis. This multivolume translation includes a detailed introduction by Professor Meir Bar-Asher, who has written extensively on the history of Imami exegesis, as well as multiple indices that enable the reader to engage with the text as an ongoing tool for study and research.