The Islamic Basmala

The Islamic Basmala

(= Bismillāh al-Raḥman al-Raḥīm).
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Stephen Lambden (UC-Merced)

THE BASMALA

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

IN PROGRESS 2009-10

STEPHEN N. LAMBDEN (UC-MERCED)

    The word basmala is an Arabic term of invocation indicative of the oft repeated Arabic Qur'ān formula Bismillāh al-Raḥman al-Raḥīm (cited above with pointing). It occurs before all 114 Surahs ("chapters") of the Qur'an except the ninth Surah al-Tawba (The Surah of Repentance = Q.9). More than a billion pious Muslims repeat it in obligatory Qur'an rooted and other devotions five or more times a day. It is used in countless ritualistic and semi-ritualistic circumstances throughout the Muslim world. Its pious recitation is believed to be a source of blessing and sanctification. Numerous extra-qur'anic Islamic devotional and other literatures and communications are headed by the basmala. It is without doubt the most centrally important religious invocation in the Islamic world wherein it is chanted and written under numerous circumstances. Many hundreds of learned commentaries have been written on the basmala in all the languages of Islamic civilization including, for example, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.

The basmala is made of three or four (or more words counting the two occurrences of definite article = ال    separately as they are prefixed to two Arabic words) :

(1-2)
ب meaning " In" and prefixed to the word "Name" (= 2):

(2)    = ب + اسم = بسم , the word "Name" (=   اسم ) with its first vowel letter "a" ا elided or absent due to the prefixing of the letter ب "B" meaning "In"

(3)   الله = Allah   the personal name of the God of all in the Qur'an; linguistically probably itself a contraction of the words ال al = "the" + اله = "God" / "the God".

(4) al-Raḥman = الرحمن = (prefixed with the definite article ال  = al. ).

(5) al-Raḥmīn =   الرحيم   = A + L+ R+ Ḥ+ Y + M  (prefixed with the definite article  ال = al. ).

This basmala as an Arabic sentence is thus composed of a succession of five or more words (with repetition) which are made up of nineteen letters which may be spelled out as follows:

ب س م ا ل ل ه ا ل ر ح م ن ا ل ر ح ي م

As transliterated the list of letters is as follows:

(1) B + (2) S + (3) M + (4) A + (5) L+ (6) L + (7) H +(8) A + (9) L + (10) R + (11) Ḥ + (12) M + (13) N + (14) A + (15) L+   (16) R + (17) Ḥ + (18) Y + (19) M.

بسم   (Bism) is composed of 3 letters = B ب + S س + M م = letters 1-3

الله   (Allah) is composed of 4 letters:   A+L+L+H = letters 4-7.

     الرحمن (al-Rahman) is composed of 6 (2+4) letters = A + L (= ال ) + R+ Ḥ + M + N = letters 8-13

الرحيم (al-Rahim) is composed of 6 (2+4) letters = A + L (= ال ) + R+ Ḥ + Y + M = letters 14-19.

Select Islamic works and Commentaries.

Most commentaries on the Qur'ān contain detailed interpretations and notes on the basmala, often extending for many pages and incorporating a large numbers of expository traditions (hadith). Shi`i thinkers and philosophers, Islamic mystics and Sufis had a special interest in the deeper meanings of the basmala. Its nineteen component letters and individual words are sometimes expounded in great detail. The key words Allah ("God") Rahman ("Mercful") and Rahim ("Compassionate") are defined and their interrelationships explored in the light of Arabic grammar, theology and the extensive hadith literatures incorporating sayings attributed to Muhammad and, for his Shi`i Imami followers, the (Twelver or other) Imams.

    In the paragraphs below some of the key expounders of the basmala will be selectively named and their exegetical works listed. Some notes on their exegesis of the basmala will be gradually added and a few paragraphs translated from the Arabic, Persian or other sources listed. Further down this Webpage are

(1) A compilation of select Sunni and Shi`i hadith about the basmala

(2) Chronologically arranged bibliographies of key basmala commentators and their pertinent writings extending from the origins of Islam, the times of the Prophet and such figures as `Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40/661) and Ibn `Abbas (d.68/687), until the 19th-20th century;

(3) Early Shi`i-Shaykhi Islamic sources expounding the basmala and

(4) Modern, largely 20-21st century Islamic and western academic commentaries and articles upon aspects of the basmala, followed by

(5) an Appendix listing select post-Islamic 19th-20th century Babi-Baha'i commentaries upon the basmala.

(1) A compilation of Sunni and Shi`i hadith about the basmala

ADD HERE

(2) Islamic exegetes of the basmala and their key works on this subject.

Ibn `Abbās, `Abd-Allāh (d. c. 68/687) [attributed to]

Paternal fīrst cousin of Muhammad and 'Father of Tafsir'.. Veccia Vaglieri, L. ``Abd Allāh b. al-'Abbās.' in EI² 1:40-1. Cf the Tafsir of al-Fīrūzābādī.

Tafsīr Ibn `Abbās.. Şaḥīfa `Alī b. Abī Ṭalḥa `an Ibn `Abbās fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-Karīm. Beirut: Mu'assat al-Kutub al-Shaqāfīyya. 1411/1991. *

Tanwīr al‑miqbās min tafsīr Ibn `Abbās. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1412/1992 (664pp.). *

A number of versions of the (reconstituted) Tafsīr   of Ibn `Abbās are known such as that entitled Tanwīr al‑miqbās min tafsīr Ibn `Abbās. At the very beginning of one printing of this Tafsīr the following Jewish-Christian rooted ḥadīth is cited relative to the first word بِسْمِ (bism) of the first qur’ānic basmala,

"The "B" (al bā’) is the Beauty-Splendor of God (bahā’ Allāh), His delight (biḥjat), His Adversity (bilā’), His grace (baraka) and the commencement of his Name al-Bārī` (The Creator) ..." ADD HERE (Tanwīr, 1412/1992 p. 3)

ADD HERE

al-Baṣrī, Ḥasan = Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d.110/728).

A "towering fīgure in Islamic thought" (Mourad 2006:3). See Ibn al-Nadim, Fihrist, 202; Sezgin GAL I: 592; Mourad, 51ff...

تفسير الحسن البصري
Tafsīr al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. 2 vols. ed. Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Raḥīm. Cairo : Dār al-Hadīth, 1992.
Tafsīr Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. 2 vols. Ed. Dr. Muhammad `Abd al-Rahman. Cairo: Dār al-Haramayn. n.d. [1992]. *

Tafsīr al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, 2 vols. ed. and comp. Dr. Muhammad `Abd al-Rahim, Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, (1535)1412 /1992. *

Ja'far al-Ṣādiq (d.145/765) - the sixth (twelver) Shī`ī Imam.

An important though little studied major fountainhead of Imami Shī`ī hadith and Tafsīr traditions treasured by Sufī s and others.

"Editions of separate Qur’an commentaries are available for Ja`far al-Sādiq (Nwyia, 1968a), Nūrī (Nwyia, 1968b), Ibn`Atā’ (Nwyia, 1973, pp. 23–182) and Hallāj (Massignon, 1968, pp. 359–412). These four tafsīrs have been reproduced (with Nwyia’s original French introductions to his editions of the commentaries by Ja`far al-Sādiq and Ibn ‘Atā’ translated into Persian) in Pūrjavādī (1369, pp. 1–292)... " (Rostom, Mohammed in `Forms of Gnosis in Sulamī’s Sufi Exegesis of the Fātiha' in Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 16, No. 4 (October 2005), p. 336. fn.4.

al-Tafsīr al-Sūfī li'l-Qur'ān `ind al-Ṣādiq... Beirut: Dār al-Andalus, 1979. 272pp.*

Kāmil al-Tafsir al-Sufi al-`Irfani li'l-Qur'an. ed Dr. `Ali Za`ur. Paris: Dar al-Bouraq, 272 + iv pp. N.d.*

Kitab al-Taqsim fi Ta`bir al-Hulm (Tafsir al-nafsi al-jasadi wa'l-sufi al-akhlaqi lil-hulm wa'l-ramz wa'l-muqaddas. ed Dr. `Ali Za`ur. Paris: Dar al-Bouraq, 2004. 497pp. *

Muqātil ibn Sulayman (d. Basra 150 /767).

= Abū’l-Ḥasan Muqātil ibn Sulayman ibn Basir al-Azdī al-Balkhī [al-Khurāsānī]

Ibn al-Nadim, 179; Ta'rikh Baghdad XIII: 161,3; Sezgin GAS 1:36-7. Possibly a Zaydī (Shī`ī) commentator and theologian.

تفسير مقاتل بن سليمان

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān, 5 vols. ed. 'Abdullah Maḥmud Shiḥāta, 5 vols. Cairo, 1969 .*

Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulayman. Edited by 'Abdallah Mahmūd Shihāta. 5 vols. Cairo: al-Hay'ah al-Mişriyyah al-'Āmmah lil-Kitāb, 1979.
Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān. Ed. `Abd‑Allāh Maḥmūd Shiḥāta . 4+1 vols. Cairo: 1979‑1988.*

al-Tafsīr, ed. 'Abdallāh Maḥmūd Shihāta, 5 vols., Cairo 1980-7

Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān. 5 vols. ed. 'Abdullah Maḥmud Shihāta. Beirut: Mu`assat al-Tārīkh al-`Arabī. 1423/2002.*

Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān. ed. `Abd-Allāh Maḥmūd Shiḥāta 5 vols. Beirut: Mu`assat al-Tārīkh al-`Arabī. 1423/2003. •

Tafsīr Muqātil b. Sulaymān. ed. Ahmad Farid Mazidi 3 vols. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1423/2003 (1504pp.).

al-Ishāra wa'l-nazā'ir fī'l-qur'ān al-karīm li-Muqātil b. Sulaymān al-Balkhī. ed. 'Abdullah Maḥmud Shihāta. Beirut: Dār al-Gharīb 2001.



al-Ashbāh wa'l-nagaïr' fī’ l-Qur'ān al-karīm, ed. 'Abdallāh Maḥmūd Shihāta, Cairo: al-Hay`at al-Miṣriyyat al-`Amma li'l-Kitab, 1395/1975.

al-`Askarī, al-Ḥasan ibn `Ali (d. c. 260/874).

The 11th Imam of the twelver Shi`ites and the alleged father of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi.

See Brockelmann, GAL 1:333; Goldziher, Richt., 278; Gacek, ALB 1996:201.

تفسيرالإمام العسكري

Tafsīr al-`Askari. Mss. Brit. Mus. Or. 5582. Check.

Tafsīr al-`Askari. Tehran Lithograph 1268/1851-2. ?

Tafsīr al-`Askari, in the Margins of Tafsir al-Qur'an of `Ali Ibn Ibrahim al-Qumi. Lithograph [Tabriz?] by Hasan ibn Muhammad Amin al-Karamrudi. al-Tabrizi. Karkhanah-i Ahmad Aqa and `Ali Aqa Ramadan 1315/1898. (pp.332+21). See Gacek ALB 1996: Nos.361 and 362.

Tafsīr al-`Askari. Lucknow: ?.

Tafsīr al-`Askari [attributed to the 11th Imam Ḥasan] al-`Askarī. Qumm: ADD., 1409/ 1988-9.10410

URL = http://www.ahl-ul-bait.org/newlib/Quran/Al_Emam_Al_Askari/index1.htm

al-Ḥallaj : al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr / Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj (executed. 309 /922)

حقائق التفسير او، خلق خلائق القرآن والاعتبار : Ḥaqāʼiq al-tafsīr aw khalq khalāʼiq al-Qurʼān wa-al-iʻtibār. Cairo:
Maktabat Madbūlī, 2006.
Tafsir in Massignon, 1968, pp. 359–412

ADD

al-Ṭabarī, Abū Ja`far Muhammad b. Jarīr, (d. 310/923)

EI² vol. X: ADD;

        A massive, early Sunni Tafsīr work that has been of foundational importance for many subsequent Qur'ān commentators.

Jāmi` al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān. On the margins: Al-Nīsâburī, Gharā'ib al-Qur'ān wa ragā'ib al-Furqān]. 30 vols. in 10 and an index vol. Ed. Muhammad al-Zahri al-Ghamrawï. Cairo: Matba`at al-Maymaniyya, 1321/1903. Includes in margin the commentary of Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Nishabūrī

Jāmi’ al-bayān fî tafsīr al-Qur’ân. 30 vols. in 12 [Cairo] Bulaq: Amriyya, 1323-29/1905-1911. Includes in margin the commentary of Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Nishaburi.

Jami' al-bayan `an tajwĩl al-Qur'an. 30 vols, in 12. Edited by Muṣṭafa al-Saqqā. Cairo: Muṣṭafa al-Bābī al-Halabī, 1373-6/1954-7.

Jāmi' al-bayān fī ta'wīl al-Qur'ān. 15 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1408/1988.
*

Jāmi' al-bayān fī ta'wīl al-Qur'ān. 12 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-'Ilmīyah, 1992.
*

al-Ayyāshī = Abū'l-Nadr Muhammad ibn Mas`ūd ibn al-Ayyāsh al-Sulami al-Samarkandi (d. c. 320/932)

Early Shi`i Tafsīr. See Brockelmann GAL ADD+ GAL-S ADD. EI² 1:794-5 art. B. Lewis;

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān. ed. Hashim al-Rasul al-Maḥallātī. 2 vols. Qumm: Chapkhanah-yi `Ilmiyya. 1380-1/ Tehran 1380/1961. *

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān. ed. Hashim al-Rasul al-Maḥallātī. 2 vols. Beirut: Mu`assat al-A`la. 1380-1/ 1411/1991. *

Tafsīr al-Ayyāshī, 2 vols. Beirut: ADD., XXXX/200X

al-Qummī, Abū al-Ḥasan `Ali ibn Ibrahim (d. c. 307/919 or 329/941)

Tafsir al-Qur'an of `Ali Ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi. Lithograph [Tabriz?] by Hasan ibn Muhammad Amin al-Karamrudi. al-Tabrizi. Karkhanah-i Ahmad Aqa and `Ali Aqa Ramadan 1315/1898. (pp.332+21). Has the Tafsir of the 11th Imam Ḥasan al-`Askarī in the margin. See Gacek ALB 1998: Nos. 361 and 362.

Tafsīr al-Qummi, ed. al-Sayyid Tayyib al-Musawi al Jaza 'iri, 2 vols. Najaf: Matba'at al-Najaf, 1386/1966..

Tafsīr, ed. Tayyib al-Mūsāwī al-Jazā'irī, 2 vols., Najaf : Maktabat al-Huda, 1387/1967

Tafsīr al-Qummi, ed. Tayyib al-Mūsāwī al-Jazā'irī, 2 vols., Beirut: XXX., 1968.

Tafsīr al-Qummi. Edited by al-Sayyid Ţayyib al-Jazā'irī. 2 vols. Qumm: Mu'assasah Dār al-Kitāb lil-Tibā'ah wa al-Nashr, 1404/1984.

Tafsīr al-Qummi, 2 vols. Qumm: Dal al-Hujjat, 2005. 883pp. ISBN: 9649658823.

al-Sulamī, Abū `Abd al-Rahman Muhammad ibn al-Ḥusayn (d. 1021 CE).

Sufi from Nishapur.

Majmu`ah-yi Athar-i Abi `Abd al-Rahman Sulami...ed. Nasr Allah Purjavadi. Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr-i Danishgahi, 1368/1989.

www.al-ilmiyah.com
   info@al-ilmiyah.com.
Majmū`a-yi āthār Abū `Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, vol. 1, ed. Naṣr Allāh Pūrjavādī . Tehran: Markaz-i Nāsher-i Dāneshgāhī).

The Minor Qur’ān Commentary of Abū `Abd ar-Raḥmān Muhammad b. al-Ḥusayn as-Sulamī, ed. G. Böwering . Beirut: Dār el-Machreq 1995.

Tafsīr al-Sulaymī wa huwa haqā'iq al-tafsīr. 2 vols. ed. Sayyid `Imran. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1321/2001. ISBN 2-7451-3164-8. This edition is apparently "based on late and corrupted" mss. (Rostum 2005: 336 fn.3).

... ابن عبد البر القرطبي

Abī ʻAmr Yūsuf ibn ʻAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Barr al-Qurṭubī =

Ibn ʻAbd al-Barr, Yūsuf ibn ʻAbd Allāh (c. 978-1071 CE).

الإنصاف فيما بين علماء المسلمين في قراءة "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم" في فاتحة الكتاب من الاختلاف

al-Inṣāf fī-mā bayna ʻulamāʼ al-Muslimīn fī qirāʼat ‪"‬bismillāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm‪"‬ fī Fātiḥat al-Kitāb min al-ikhtilāf. ed. ʻAbd al-Laṭīf ibn Muḥammad al-Jīlānī al-Maghribī. al-Riyāḍ : Aḍwāʼ al-Salaf, 1417/ ‬1997,‬ 341pp.

al-Tustari, Muhammad b. `Abdullah Sahl., (d. 283/986). Early Sufī Tafsīr.

Tafsīr al-qur'ān al-aẓīm. Cairo: Dār al-kutub al-`Arabiyya al-kubrā, 1329/1911*

Tafsir al-Qur'an al-`Azim: Shaykh al-`Arifin al-Imam al-Tustari, al-mutawaffā 283 H. Beirut (?): al-Dar al-Thaqafiyah lil-Nashr; al-Tab`ah, 2002. ISBN-10: 9773390578 + ISBN-13: 978-9773390570. (319pp.).

al-Ṭūsī = Abi Ja'far Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067). Major Shi`i Qur'ān Commentator

al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān, 10 vols. Najaf: al-Matba'ah al-'Ilmiyah, 1376-1383.

al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān. Edited by Ahmad Habib Qaşîr al-'Āmilī. 10 vols. Beirut: Dār ihya' al-Turāth al-'Arabi, n.d.

al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qur'ān (The Clarifīcation of Qur'ān Commentary). 10 vols., .ed. Ahmad Ḥabib Qasir al-`Āmilī, Maktab al-A`lam al-Islami,   Dār al-Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi 1409/1988. *

Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir Ibn al-Qaysarāni (d. 507/1113),

ابن القيسراني، محمد بن طاهر،

مسألة التسمية = Masʼalat al-tasmiyah; bayna al-fuqahāʼ wa'l-muḥaddithīn wa'l-qurrā ̄. ed. ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAlī Murshid (?). Cairo: Maktabat al-Tābiʻīn, 1992?.

Maybudī, Rashīd al-Dīn Abu al-Fadl (d. after 520/1126) Persian Tafsir writer.

Kashf al-asrār wa ʿuddat al-abrār, ed. `Alī Asghar Ḥikmat. Tehran: Intishārāt Dānishgāhī, 1952-1960.

See 4th ed., Tehran, 1361 Š./1982, vol. 1 : 4ff, etc.

al-Rāzī = Shaykh Abū ’l-Futūḥ al-Rāzi (fl. between 480- 525 AH = 1087-1131 CE).

Teacher of the Shi`i thinkers Ibn Shahrashūb and Ibn Babuya. Early Qur'ān commentator in Persian, possibly a contemporary of Zamakshari (d.538/1144) whose Mu`tazilite orientation may have influenced him. See Storey sec. I no.6; art. H. Masse, EI² Vol.1:120...

Rawḥ al-jinān wa-rūḥ al-janān fī Tafsīr al-Qur'ān, 20 vols., ed. Dr. Muhammad Jafar Yahaqqi + Dr. Muhammad Mihdi Nassih. Mashhad : Intisharat-i Astan-i quds-i Razawi. 1371-5/1992-6. *

al-Shahrastānī, Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karīm (b. c. 469 [479]-542 = c. 1086-1153).

Mafatīḥ al-Asrār wa Maṣābīḥ al-Abrār [Persian Facsimile editon in 2 vols. covering Sūrat al-Fatiha and Baqara Q. Surahs 1-2]. Tehran: Markaz-i Intishār-i Nushakh-i Khaṭṭī ( = Centre for the Publication of Manuscripts). Facsimile edition of the Unique Manuscript at the Library of the Islamic Consultative Assembly or Bunyād-i Farhang-i Irān. Introduction by `Abd al-Husayn Ha'iri and Indices by Parviz Akhka'i, 1989 CE/1409 AH/1368Sh. (Vol. 1 = 26pp +1-240 pp. + vol.2 = pp. 241-434 + Index = pp. 869-913).
* Hugely important partially extant Persian Tafsir dating to 540/1145.
Tafsīr al-Shahrastānī, Mafatīḥ al-Asrār wa Maṣābīḥ al-Abrār, [Keys to the Mysteries and Lamps for the Pious] ed. Muhammad `Alī Ādharshab. Tehran: Iḥyā-i Kitāb, Daftar-i Nashr-i Miras-i Maktub, 1997.
*
al-Ṭabrisī [Tabarsī] = Abū `Alī al-Faḍl ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṭabrisī (d. 548 /1154).

An Imami Shi`i commentator and a Mu`tazalite in matters of theology. His Majma` al-Bayan was completed in in June 1142 (see EI² art Kohlberg).

Majma' al-bayān fī tafīr al-Qur'ān. 6 vols. Mat`ba`at Saydā' [Sidon, Lebanon]: Maṭba`at al-`Irfān, 1333-56/1914-37.

R
ep. 1914> 4 Vols. Qumm : al-Maktabat Shihab al-Din al-Husayni, Ayat-Allah al-Mar`ashi al-Najafī   *

Majma' al-bayān fī tafīr al-Qur'ān, intr. Muḥsin al-Amīn al-Ḥusaynī al-'Āmilī, 30 vols, in 6, Beirut 1380/1961

Majma' al-bayān fī tafsīr al-qur'ān, 6 vols. Beirut: Dār Maktabat al-Ḥayat, 1380. *

al-Rāzī, Muhammad ibn `Umar, Abū al-Su`ud Muhammad ibn, Muhammad Fakhr al-Dīn (d. 606/1209 )

G. C. Anawati, 'Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī' EI² vol. 2:751-5

تفسير مفاتيح الغيب ، التفسير الكبير

Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb al-mushtahir bi'l-Tafsīr al-kabīr, ? vols. Cairo, 1286/1869.

al-Tafsīr al-kabīr... 8 vols. Bulaq: xxxxx., 1279-1289/ 1862-1872.

al-Tafsīr al-kabir (The Extensive Commentary), (3rd printing) Beirut: Dār al-Ihya al-Turath al-`Arabi, 32 vols in 16. n.d. *

Tafsīr-i kabir-i Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, Persian trans. `Ali Asghar Ḥalabi, Tehran : Intishārāt-i Aṣāṭīr , 1371/XXX. / vol. 4 1378/ 1999. only*

أحكام البسملة وما يتعلق بها من الأحكام والمعاني وإختلاف العلماء

Aḥkām al-basmalah wa-mā yataʻallaqu bi-hā min al-aḥkām wa-al-maʻānī wa-ikhtilāf al-ʻulamāʼ
. Būlāq, Cairo : Maktabat al-Qurʼān, 1988.
Ahkam al-basmala : wa ma yata`allaq bi-ha min al-ahkām wa-al-ma*ānī wa-ikhtilāf al-*ulamā'. ed. Majdī al-Sayyid Ibrāhīm' Bulaq-Cairo: Maktabat al-Qur'an, XXXX/1988. 78pp.

Sharh asma' Allah al-husná lil-Razi : wa-huwa al-kitab al-musammá lawami al-bayyinat sharh asma' Allah Ta`alá wa'al-sifat. ed. Sa`d, Taha `Abd al-Ra`uf, Cairo: Maktabat al-Kulliyyat al-Azhariyya, 1396/ ADD. 396pp.

Traité sur les Noms Divins, trans and commentary M. Gloton, 2 vols. Paris: Devy, 1986.
*

Lawāmi` al-bayinnāt fī asmā' Allāh wa'l-ṣifāt (The Perspicuous Brilliances regarding the Names of God and the Attributes"). This work contains a section on the ism Allāh al-a`ẓam

Sirr al-maktum fī mukhaṭabāt al-nujum ("The Sealed Mystery about the addressers of the Stars"), a work about Talismans and astral magic including reference to the 7 sigla constituting the al-ism al-a`zam or Mightiest Name of God.

Sāḥirat al-ṭarf fī al-istiʻādhah wa'l-basmalah wa'l-ism wa'l-ḥarf   ed. Muḥammad Muḥammad Fahmī ʻUmar. al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah : Maktabat Dār al-Zamān, 2006.

Muḥyi al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī (b. Murcia 560/1165- d. Damascus 638/1240).

The "Great Shaykh" (al-Shaykh al-Akbar), the Sunnī central figure in Islamic mysticism. He had a tremendous, foundational influence upon the Sufī and Shi`i mystical and exegetical worlds. There is a great deal of Tafsīr in the numerous works of Ibn al`Arabī especially his massive magnum opus the al-Futuḥāt al-Makkiyya ("Meccan Disclosures") and his well-known Fusūs al-Ḥikam ("Bezels of Wisdom").

al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya, Cairo, 1329/1911,/ Beirut: Dar Sadir ADD vol.

al-Fuṭūḥāt al-Makkiyya. Ed. O. Yaḥyā. Cairo:al-Hay`a al-Miṣriyya al-`Amma li’l-kitāb. 1972 (ongoing 14+ vols.),1405/1985.

Les Illuminations de La Mecque. The Meccan Illuminations. al-Fuṭḥhât al-Makkiyya. Textes choisis / Selected Texts présentés et traduits de l'arabe en français ou en anglais sous la direction de Michel Chodkiewicz, avec la collabo- ration de William C. Chittick, Cyrille Chodkiewicz, Denis Gril et James W. Morris. Ouvrage publié avec le concours de The Rothko Chapel. Paris: Sindbad, 1988.

The Tafsīr commonly printed under Ibn al`Arabi's name is actually the work of his disciple `Abd al‑Razzāq al‑Kashānī (d. 1330?). e.g. -- as also below on al-Kashani

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm. 2 Vols . Edited by Mustafa Ghalib. Beirut: Dār al-Andalus, 1399/1978 . *

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm [ Tafsīr Ibn `Arabi on cover ], 2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-'Ilmiyya, 1422/2001.*

Insha Kitāb Inshā’ al-dawā’ir. `Ālam al-Fikr. n.d.

Haji Bektash [Ḥājī Bektāš] Vali (d. c. 669/1270).

Besmele Tefsiri (Tefsit-i Besmele). Ankara: Basvulu Kitaplari,1993    48pp. [Turkish] *

Besmele tefsiri : şerh-i besmele by Hacı Bektaş Veli; Hamiye Duran Book Ankara : Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, 2007.

al-Qurṭubī, Abū 'Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Anṣarī, (d. 671/1273)

al-Jāmi` li-ahkām al-Quran, 20 parts in 10, Cairo, 1369/1950.
al-Jāmi' li-aḥkām al-Qur'ān, 20 vols. Cairo: Dār al-Kātib al-'Arabi, 1387/1967..

al-Jāmi' li-aḥkām al-Qur'ān, 21 vols. in 11, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, n.d. (c. 1408/1988.)

Aisha Bewley; Abdalhaqq Bewley (ed.) trans.

Tafsir Al Qurtubi: Classical Commentary of the Holy Qur'an (vol. 1) Surah al-Fatiha and Surat al-Baqara, 2004.

trans.ISBN: 1870582225 ; Sohail Nakhooda (cover design) Publisher: Dar al-Taqwa (2003) Pages: 787 Binding: Hardback
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al-Bayḍāwī = Qaḍī ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Bayḍāwī (d. c. 700/1300). Sunnī commentator.

Brockelmann, GAL Supp. 1: no. 27 pp. 738-732; Riddell, `al-Baydawi' in Leaman, Q-Enc.116-118.

انوار التنزيل واسرار التأويل

al-Kāshānī [al-Qāshānī], `Abd al-Razzāq (d. 730/1330)

An important Persian fīgure in the school of Ibn al-`Arabi (see above) and the author of around forty fīve Arabic and Persian works including several Arabic writings centered on the allegorical-mystical exegesis of the Qur'ān or portions thereof. He wrote a treatise on the inner meaning of the basmala.

His Tafsīr is commonly printed under Ibn al`Arabi's name. Thus:

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm, 2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Yaqzah al-'Arabiyya, 1387/1967.

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-Karīm. 2 Vols . Edited by Mustafa Ghalib. Beirut: Dār al-Andalus, 1399/1978 . *

Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-karīm lil-Shaykh al-akbar... al-`Allāmah Muḥyi al-Dīn Ibn al-`Arabī, ed. Mustafa Ghālib, 2 vols., 3rd printing, Beirut, 1401/1981.

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-karīm [Tafsīr Ibn `Arabī on cover ], 2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-'Ilmiyya, 1422/2001.*

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Tafsīr Ayat al-Kursī (Commentary on the Throne Verse) (Q.2:256). mss.

Tafsīr Sūrat al-Jumu`ah (Commentary on the Surah of the Congregtion" ) [Q.62]. mss.

Risālah fī ta`wīl al-basmala ("Treatise on the Inner sense[s] of the Basmalah"). mss.

Majmu`a-yi Rasā'il Muṣannāfāt, Shaykh Kamal al-Din `Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (died 736 L.H.) edited by Majid Hadizadeh. Tehran: Āyene-yi Miras, 2000. (771pp.). Contains an over 250 page introduction on `Abd al-Razzaq and his writings followed by the publication of more than 16 of his Persian and Arabic writings.

Lory, Pierre.

Les Commentaires ésotériques du Coran d’aprés `Abd al Razzâq al Qâshânî. Paris: Les Deux Océans. 1980 *

Rashīd al-Dīn [Ṭabīb] Faḍl Allāh Hamdānī (d. 718/1348)

A learned and polymathic Jewish convert to Islam and one time physician to various Mongol Sultans. Rashīd al-Dīn is best known as a world historian though he wrote much in Persian and Arabic on a variety of subjects. His writings include sometimes lengthy Persian treatises on Qur'anic verses.

لطائف الطوائف = Latā'if al-haqa'iq ("The Subtleties of Realities") Persian. Introductory note by Iraj Afshar, edited and again introduced by Ghulam Riḍā Ṭāhir. 2 vols. 2nd edition Tehran : Danishgah-i Tihran, 2535/1976. Only partially extant is Rashid al-Din's compendium of `Nineteen Treatises' commenting upon Qur'anic verses and related subjects including the basmala (No.1 ) and the `exposition on the reality of the Mi`rāj' (No. 10) and `On the Prophet Shu`ayb and Commentary on the Surat al-Kawthar' (No. 12), (see Lata'if vol. 2 pp.5-6).

Miftāḥ al-Tafasir ("Key to the Qur'an Commentaries-Tafsirs"),(see Lata'if vol. 2:16-21).

Ibn Kathīr = 'Imād al-Dīn Abū 'l-fīḍā' Ismā'il ibn 'Urnar ibn Kathīr (701-774 AH = 1302-1373 CE).

ابن كثير، إسماعيل بن عمر

Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Azīm. 7 Vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fīkr, 1389/1970.

Tafsīr al-Qur'ān al-'azīm, ed. 'Abd al-'Azīz Ghunaym et al, 8 vols., Cairo 1390/1971 4 vols., Cairo n.d.; repr. Beirut 1980

Tafsīr al-qur'ān al-'azim, 7 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Fīkr. 1389/1970.* - Vol. 7 of this edition has as an appendix Ibn Kathir's Faḍā'il al-Qur'ān.

Tafsīr al-qur'ān al-'azim, ed. `Ali Muhammad al-Bijawi 2 (?) vols. Cairo: Dār Ihya al-Kutub al-`Arabiyya,. 1398/1978.

Tafsīr al-qur'ān al-'azīm, 1 vol. ed. Beirut : Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1420 / 2000.*

Tafsīr al-qur'ān al-'azīm, ed. Riyād : Dār al-Salām, 1420/2000. (1536pp.)

al-Jili [Gilani], `Abd al-Karim ibn Ibrahim (d c. 831/1428).

See Brockelmann GAL., II 254-5

Kitab al-Kahf wa'l-Raqim fi Sharh Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Egypt [Cairo]: Khānjī 1326/1908. 33pp.

al-Kahf wa'l-Raqim fi Sharh Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Ḥaydarābād, al-Dakan, al-Hind : Maṭbaʻat Dāʼirat al-Maʻārif al-Niẓāmīyah, 1336/ 1918.

al-Kahf wa'l-Raqim fi Sharh Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Ḥaydarābād : Maṭbaʻat al-Maʻārif, 1340/1921-2. Ḥaydarābād, al-Dakan, al-Hind : Maṭbaʻat Dāʼirat al-Maʻārif al-Niẓāmīyah, 1336/ 1918.

al-Basmalah bayna ahl al-ibarah wa ahl al-isharah. Yata dammanu al-ba hth ardan wa-naqdan li-kitab al-Kahf wa al-raqim fi sharh bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. ed. Ibrahim Basyuni, al-Hayah al-Misriyya al-Ammah lil-Kitab, 1972. 140pp.

al-Kahf wa'l-Raqim fi Sharh Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. [Urdu Trans. +Comm.] mutarjamah Muḥammad Taqī Ḥaidar; ; ma muqaddamah va sharh Urdu az Shāh Muḥammad Vahājuddīn Kākorvī. Lahore: al-Kitab, [reprint of the 1915 ed.] 1977. 4,416pp..

al-Kahf wa'l-Raqim fi Sharh Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. 4th ed. Hayderabad: Da`irat al-Ma`arif., 1406/1985.

al-Kahf wa'l-Raqīm fī Sharḥ Bismillah al-Raḥman al-Raḥim. Rep. al-Maktabat al-Maḥmūdiyya al-Tijariyya. Cairo: al-Jami` al-Azhar, [n.d.] 32pp.*

al-Kahf wa-al-raqīm fī sharḥ bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm ; wa-yalīhi Marātib al-wujūd wa-ḥaqīqat kull mawjūd ; wa-yalīhi Nasīm al-saḥar ʻĀṣim Ibrāḥīm al-Kayyālī al-Ḥusaynī al-Shādhilī Darqāwī. : Beirut : Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2004.

Besmele'nin şerhi : elkehf verrakıym fı̂ şerhı̂ bismillâhirrahmânirrahim by ʻAbd al-Karīm ibn Ibrāhīm Jīlī; ̆ M Yulug [Turkish] İstanbul : Kitsan Yayınları, 1997.

al‑Insān al‑kāmil fī ma`rifat al‑awākhir wa'l‑awā'il. 2 vols in 1. Cairo: Mustāfa al‑Bābī al‑ḥalabī, 1375/1956. *

Atlagh, Ridha

   `Le Point et la-Ligne, Explication de la Basmala par le science des lettres chez `Abd al-Karim al-Gili (m. 826 h.)' in Bulletin D'Etudes Orientales, Sciences Occultes et Islam. vol. XLIV (1992), Damascus, 1993, pp. 161-190. *

Jabir Clément-François

Un commentaire ésotérique de la formule inaugurale du Qoran : "Les mystères cryptographiques de Bismi-Llâhi-r-Raḥmâni-r-Raḥim" : précédé d'une introduction générale á la non-dualité dans lésotérisme islamique. Beirut: Les Éditions Albouraq, 2002. ISBN: 2841611612 9782841611614

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn Bahā' al-Dīn al-`Āmilī = Shaykh Bahā'ī (953-1030 = 1547-1621 CE)

تفسير عين الحيوة   Tafsir `Ayn al-Ḥayat ("The Commentary of the Wellspring of Life"). in mss.

العروة الوثقى al-`Urwat al-Wuthqā' ("The Firm Handle"), A Tafsīr work seems only to have been a few times partially printed:

al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá [fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd] in Rasa'il al-Shaykh Baha' al-Din Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn `Abd al-Samad al-Harithi al-ʻĀmili. XXX: Hajj Shaykh Ahmad Shirazi, Tehran [?]: Lithograph, 1319/1901[3], pp. 386-410

al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá [fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd] in Rasa'il al-Shaykh Baha' al-Din Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn `Abd al-Samad al-Harithi al-ʻĀmili. Qum: Maktabat Baṣīratī / Intishārāt-i Baṣīratī, 1398/ 1978. pp. 386-410.

al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá : tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd by Bahāʼ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn ʻĀmili. Qum : Dār al-Qurʼān al-Karīm, 1412/ 1992.

al-ʻUrwah al-wuthqá fī tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd... Qum : Qum: Būstān Kitāb, 1422 /2001.

علوم قرآنى
`Ulūm Qur'ānī. ("On The Qur'anic Sciences") , in mss..

حل الحروف القرآنيه Ḥall al-ḥurūf al-Qur'ān ("On the status of the Qur'anic [Isolated] Letters"), in mss.

Mss. UCLA Qayeni Coll. No. 21. "Shaikh Baha'i (Baha' al-Din Muhammad al-Amili, universal scholar and wazir of Shah 'Abbas the Great, died 1030 / 1621): "Sharh suwar al- Qur'an" (Coranic commentaries); Arabic; varying, always well legible script w. red titles. Main body of text pp.29-318. Beginning, end, margins and pasted-in notes w. a wide variety of marginalia. - Semi-leather binding w. painted ornaments in orange and blue. - 397 pages of text; 14 l/p (main body of text); 190x125 mm. Scribe: Abu Turab Salim b. Rashid. Dated (pp. 47, 318, 369): 1110 and 1117 / 1698 and 1705." See
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/url/colls/mideast/qayeni.htm

Baḥrānī, Sayyid Hāshim b. Sulaymān al-Baḥrānī (d. 1107/1695-96),

Safavid period Shi`i exegete.

Kitāb al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-qur’ān. Completed 1097/1686 dedicated to Shah Sulayman, 4 vols. Qumm 1394/1974.

2nd ed. Ed. Mashmud ibn Ja`far al-Musawi al-Zarandi, + Naji-Allah ibn Karim-Allah al-Tafrishi al-Bazarjani + Muhammad ibn Mirza `Ali Akabr, Tehran: Chapkhanah Aftab, + 3rd edition.

al-Burhan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an, 5 vols. Qum: Mu`asesah-yi Matbu`at-i Isma'iliyyan, n.d. Repr. Beirut 1403/1983

Kitāb al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān, ed. Mahmud b. Ja'far Mūsawī al-Zarandī et al., 4 vols., Tehran 1375/1995.

Kitāb al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān,ed. Introduction by Muhammad Mahdi al-Āṣifī, 10 vols.. Beirut: Mu'asasat al-Bi'thah, 1419-1421/1999-2000.*

Ibn Taymiyyah = Taqi al-Din, `Abū 'l-`Abbās Aḥmad ibn `Abd-Allāh al-Halim (d.728/1328).

Muqaddima fī uṣūl al-tafsīr. Riyadh 1382/1962 + Beirut 1392/1972;

Muqaddima fī uṣūl al-tafsīr. ed. `Adnan Zarzur, Kuwait: Dār al-Qur'ān al-Karim 1391/1972.

Muqaddima fī usul al-Tafsīr [Treatise on the Principles of Tafsīr]. trans. McAuliffe, Jane, D. in J. Renard ed. 1998

Int. Tafsīr `Introductory Treatise on the Principles of Tafsīr’, trans. McAuliffe, Jane, D. in J. Renard ed. 1998

Tafsīr al-Kabīr, ed. `Abd al-Rahman `Amira, 6 vols. Dār al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, n. d. [1990s?]. *

Tafsīr Sūrat al-Nur, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyya, 1404/1983 (188pp.)*

Tafsīr Sūrat al-Nur, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Arabi, 1413/1993 (140pp.) *

al-Suyūṭī = Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Suyūṭī (d. c. 849-911 AH =1445-1505 CE).

الإتقان في علوم القرآن =

Al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur’ān

al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur'ān, Cairo: Azhariyya Press, 2 vols. 1318/ 1900.*

al-Itqān fī `ulūm al-Qur'ān. al- Maktaba al-Assrya, 2006.

Al-Durr al-manthūr fī tafsīr al-ma'thūr

تفسير الجلالين

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Maḥallī + Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī.

al-Durr al-Manthūr fī 'l-Tafsīr al-Mānthūr. 6 vols. in 3. Qum: al-Maktabat Shihab al-Din al-Husayni, Ayat-Allah al-Mar`ashi al-Najafī , n.d. c. 1377/1957 (+1404/1983).

Sharĥ al-Isti'ādha wa’l-Basmala. (In mss. ?)

Mīzān al-Madalah fī Sha'n al-Basmalah. (In mss. ?)

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al-Kāshānī = Mullā Muḥsin Fayḍ al-Kashānī, (d.1091/1680).

تفسير الصافي

al-Ṣāfī Tafsīr kalām Allāh al-wāfī Lithograph calligraphed by Muhamnad Riḍā ibn Amīr ibn `Abd-Allāh al-Ṭayyib al-Khwānsārī , 1282/1865-6. Printed in Persia by Muhammad Baqir al-Khwānsārī al-Tihrani in 1286/1869 (495pp.) . See Brockelmann GAL Supp. II:584; Tehrani, al-Dhari`a 15 (19); Gacek ALB [1996] No. 307 p.166.

al-Ṣāfī fī Tafsīr kalām Allāh al-wāfī Lithograph 1283/1866. (folio, 494pp.) As above?

Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī ed. Husayn al-A`lami, Beirut: Mu`assasat al-A`lami, 1379/1959.

al-Ṣafī fī tafsīr kalām Allāh al-wafī, ed. Husayn al-A'lamī, 5 vols., Beirut: ADD., 1399/1979. *

Tafsīr al-ṣāfī. 5 Vols., ed. Shaykh Ḥusayn al-A`lam. Mashhad: Sa`āda. n.d.*

al-Huwayzī = `Abd `Alī ibn Jum`ah al-`Arūsī al-Ḥuwayzī (d. 1112/1700), Shī`ī Tafsīr

[Tafsīr ] Nūr al-thaqalayn ("Commentary expressive of the Light of the Twin Weights")

Kitab Tafsīr Nūr al-thaqalayn. 5 vols. ed. Hashim al-Rasuli al-Maḥalatti. Qum: al-Matba`ah al-`Ilmiyya, 1383-5/1963-5

Kitab Tafsīr Nūr al-thaqalayn. 5 vols. ed. Hashim al-Rasuli al-Maḥalatti. Qum: al-Matba`ah al-`Ilmiyya, 1383-5/1963-5

Kitāb Tafsīr nūr al-thaqalayn, 8 vols. ed. `Ali `Ashūr. Beirut: Mu`assasat al-Tarīkh al-`Arabī, 2001. *

al-`Ālūsī = Abū al-Thanā' Shihāb al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn `Abd-Allāh Baghdādī al-`Ālūsī (d.1270/1854).

An important`Alid Sunni scholar and commentator of 19th century Baghdad.

Ruh = Rūḥ al-ma` ānī fī Tafsīr al- Qur'ān al- 'azīm wa al-sab' al-mathānī, ("The Spirit of the Meaning in the Commentary upon the Mighty Qur'ān") 30 vols, in 15, Cairo 1345/1926.

Rūḥ al-ma` ānī fī Tafsīr al- Qur'ān al- 'azīm wa al-sab' al-mathānī, Cairo: Dār al-Zayni lil-Tiba`ah wa'-l-Nashr, c. 1346/ 1927 [1930]?.

Rūḥ al-ma` ānī fī Tafsīr al- Qur'ān al- 'azīm wa al-sab' al-mathānī, Cairo: Mu'assasat al-Halabåi lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzåi, XXXX/1964.

Rūḥ al-ma` ānī fī Tafsīr al- Qur'ān al- 'azīm wa al-sab' al-mathānī. (= rep. of   Cairo: Idarat al-Tiba`ah al-Munairiyah, Cairo, ca. 1353.) 31 vols. in 16 Dār al-Ihya al-Turath al-`Arabī, XXX/ 1970.

Rūḥ al-ma`ānī fī tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-`azāīm wa-sab` al-mathānī, Cairo, 1353; reprint 30 vols. in 15, Beirut, 1405/1985.

Rūḥ al-ma` ānī fī Tafsīr al- Qur'ān al- 'azīm wa al-sab' al-mathānī, 30 vols, in 15 + Index vol. 16. Dār al-Kutub al-`Ilmiyyah, 1415/ 1994.*

Select Early Shi`i- Shaykhī Commentaries on the Basmala.

Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsā'ī (d. Medina, 1241/1826)

Tafsīr Sūrat al-tawhīd wa āyat al-nūr . This was written in reply to Sayyid Muhammad Bakā' and printed within vol.1 of the Jawāmi` al-kalim,

Tafsīr Sūrat al-tawhīd 2nd ed. in Majmū`a al-rasā'il al-ḥikma' (2nd ed.) Kirmān: Maṭba`at al-Sa`āda, 1379/ 1960. pp.1-16. *

trans. Stephen Lambden (forthcoming) URL: http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/SHAYKHISM/AL-AHSA'I.htm

Jawāmi` al kalim. (= JK. ) 2 vols. Tabrīz: Muhammad Tāqī Nakhjavānī, 1273/1856-7 . Vol.1 / i, ii and iii and 1276 /1859-60 = vol. 2/i and ii. *

Sharḥ al `arshiyya. 2 vols. 2nd. ed. Kirmān: Sa`adat. n.d.

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Rashtī, Sayyid Kāzim (d. Karbala, 1259/1843).

= Sayyid Kazim Ibn Sayyid Qāsim Muhammad Kāẓim al-Hāshimi.. al-Ḥusaynī...

The Persian born second head of al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism) after Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsā'ī (see above). Qajar period Persian mystical philosopher and exegete.

شرح آية الكرسي من السيد كاظم بن السيد قاسم الحسيني الرشتي

[Tafsir] Sharḥ āyat al-kursī ("Commentary on the Throne Verse", Q. 2:254). 19th cent. lithograph edition (not seen).

Mss contained, for example, in SOAS (London) No. 1141 [unpaginated] Item 8.  [fols. XXX] (see Ibrahimi, Fihrist No. 270 p. 331). Rashti claims at the outset to be giving a deep mystico-philosophical exegesis expressive of the ta`wīl ("allegorical") and of the bāṭin ("Interior dimension") of this Qur'ānic verse. This work is an extended several hundred page very complex exegesis- eisegesis of the Throne Verse. It commences as follows:

الحمد لله الذي اجلي افئدة العارفين لتجليات ظهوره و انار قلوب السالكين لاشراقات نوره و شرح صدور العالمين لتشعشع لمعات بدوره و الصلوة علي سيدنا محمد الذي به استقر عرشه و كرسيه و هو الاسم الذي استقر في ظله فلايخرج منه الي غيره و هو الاسم الاعظم المكنون و النور الانور المخزون به نورت الانوار و به ظهرت الاسرار و به اشرق النور من صبح الازل و به وجدت الموجودات ما قل و جل و علي آله و اصحابه شموس الهدي و بدور الدجي و اعلام التقي و ذوي النهي و اولي الحجي و كهف الوري و ورثة الانبياء عليهم صلوات الله ما دامت الارض و السماء .

"Praised be unto God Who shed the splendor of His radiance upon the inmost hearts of the mystic knowers so as to actualize the disclosure of the orient lights of His theophany. He set ablaze the hearts of the mystic wayfarers through the orient splendors of His Light and explicated the inner retreats [bosoms] of all the worlds for the purpose of dazzlingly illuminating the radiances of His cyclic schemata.

And blessings be upon our Master [the Prophet] Muhammad through whom He settled down upon His Throne (`arsh) and His Seat (kursi) for he is the Name through the shadow of which eyes were solaced. Wherefore there did not emerge from before me aught save what is of Him for he [Muhammad] is the Hidden, Mightiest Name (al-ism al-a`zam) and the Light of Lights treasured up, the very one through whom the Lights found illumination. Through him were mysteries disclosed and Light irradiated from the Dawn of Eternity (subḥ al-azal). And through him did all existence fīnd realization.... " (trans. Lambden).

ADD Kirmani Shaykhi Website

Extract in the Persian translation of Henri Corbin, En Islam Iranian Tehran ADD.

Risālah for Mirza `Ali Ṭabīb Hindī containing responses to questions about the basmalah. Unpublished mss. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 265.

Risālah for Mulla Muhammad `Ali Shahir Bujdali on some of the mysteries of the Basmalah. Unpublished mss. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 266

.Risālah for Mulla Muhammad `Ali Shahir Bujdali on some of the mysteries of the Basmalah. Unpublished mss. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 267

Risālah in exposition of the Point ( • ) of the Letter "B" ((ب ) of the Basmalah. Unpublished mss. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 269.

Risālah in exposition of some aspects of the Basmalah. Unpublished mss. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 270..

Risālah in exposition of the exegetical modes (maqāmāt) of the outer (ẓāhir) and inner (bāṭin) as well as the allegorical (ta`wil) senses of the Qur'ān and of the ahkbar or traditions of the people of the House [of the Prophet]. Old Lithograph edition. See Fihrist of Sayyid Kazim and Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.330 No. 272

Risālah-i Yawmiyya on the [Qur'ānic and related references to the] creation of the heavens and the earth in four - eight or six days. See Ibrahimi, Fihrist p.331 No. 271.

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البسملة

SELECT 19TH-21ST CENT. MODERN ISLAMIC SOURCES AND WESTERN ACADEMIC ARTICLES ON THE BASMALA



`Abd al-Hayy, Muhammad

= Abī al-Ḥasanāt Muhammad `Abd al-Ḥayy ibn Muhammad `Abd al-Ḥalīm al-Laknawī al-Hindī ; .

Ihkām al-qan*tarah fi ahkām al-basmalah (Muāllafāt mujaddid al-miāh al-thālithat āshrah al-Hijrīyah), ed. *Salāh Muhammad Sālim Abu al-Ḥājj. . Amman: Muāssasat al-Risālah, 2002. 239pp.

ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ismāʻīl Abū Shāmah

Kitāb al-basmalah. ʻAdnān ibn ʻAbd al-Razzāq al-Ḥamawī. Abū Ẓaby/ al-Majmaʻ al-Thaqāfī, 2004. ISBN 9948011112 9789948011118.

Kitāb al- Basmalā ed. ʻAdnān Ibn ʻAbd al-Razzāq al-Ḥamawī. ADD: Abū-Ẓabī al-Maǧmaʻ at̲-T̲aqāfī, 2004.

Alim, Ahmad


حكم البسملة في الصلاة = Hukm al-Basmala fi al-salah. ed. Alim, Abd al-Salam Muhammad Sharif, Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1993..1993. 96pp.
Ayoub, Mahmoud

The Qurʾan and Its Interpreters, vol. 1. Albany: SUNY Press 1984, pp. 46-47.

ʻAzīzi, Muḥammad Rāmiz ʻAbd al-Fattāḥ

Tafsīr min ayy al-dhikr al-ḥakīm : tafsīr maʻná al-istiʻādhah wa-al-basmalah wa-tafsīr Surāt al-Fātiḥah wa-Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt Amman : M.R.ʻA.al-F. al-ʻAzīzī, 2006.

Azharī, Yūsuf ibn Ismaʻīl Saʻīd al-Ṣaftī al-Mālakī Azharī

Nuzhat al-ṭullāb fīmā yataʻallaq bi'l-basmalah min fann al-iʻrāb. Cairo: Maktabat al-Thaqāfah al-Dīniyya, 2007.

Basyūni, Ibrāhīm

البسملة بين أهل العبارة وأهل الإشارة

al-Basmalah bayna ahl al-ʻibarah wa-ahl al-isharah. [Cairo] al-Hayʼah al-Misriyah al-ʻammah lil-Kitab, 1972.

Bilgiç, Ziya Güzel, Rag b Güven, Erman

Hattlar ve aç klamalaryla besmele albümü. Istanbul: Osmanl Yaynevi, 1991. 112 pp., 16 p. of plates

Carra de Vaux [L. Gardet],

“Basmala,” in EI². vol.1: 1084-5.

Efe, Ahmet

Besmele gül*seni. Konya: Sanat Yaynlar,  ADD 53pp.

Gharawi, Muhammad

الاسم الأعظم، او البسملة والحمدلة = al-Ism al-aʻẓam, aw al-Basmalah wa-al-ḥamdalah

al-Ism al-aʻẓam aw, al-Basmalah wa'l-ḥamdalah by Muḥammad Gharawī Beirut : Manshūrāt al-Aʻlamī lil-Maṭbūʻāt, 1982.

al-Ism al-a`zam, aw al-Basmala wa'l-ḥamdala. Beirut : Mu`assasat al-A*lami, 1403/1982. 280pp.*

al-Ism al-a`zam, aw al-Basmala wa'l-ḥamdala. Beirut + Qum: Mu`assasat al-A*lami / Maktabat Firuzabadi, 1998. 280pp.

Ghaylān, ʻAbd al-Salām bin Muḥammad bin Aḥmad

al-Daʻwah ilá Allāh bi-afḍāl bi-ism Allāh. [Rabat] : Ghaylān, 1994.

Harati, Muhammad Mahdi

Tajalli-i hunar dar kitabat-i Bism Allah = Wuduh al-fann fi kitabat al-Basmalah : Farsi-`Arabi-Ingilisi. Mashad: Mu'assasah-i Chap va Intisharat-i Astan-i Quds-i Razavi ba hamkri-i Bunyad-i Pizhuhishha-yi Islami; 50. Persian, Arabic, and English. [Manifestation of art in writing Bismila (sic.)]. 1367/ XXXX, [Bibliography: pp. 493-494]. 500pp.

Tajallī-i hunar dar kitābat-i Bism Allāh = Wuḍūḥ al-fann fī kitābat al-Bismilah : Fārsī-ʻArabī-Ingilīsī. Mashhad : Muʼassasah-ʼi Chāp va Intishārāt-i Āstān-i Quds-i Raz̤avī, 1367/ 1988.

Ḥāzimī, al-Ḥasan ibn Khālid,

Risālah fī ḥukm al-jahr bi-al-Basmalah wa'al-isrār ed. ʻAlī Muḥammad Abū Zayd Ḥāzimī Jāzān, [Saudi Arabia] : Nādī Jāzān al-Adabī, 198??.

Ḥusaynī, Aḥmad

al-Risālah al-mawsūmah bi-tibyān al-taʻlīm fī ḥukm ghayr al-mabdūʼ bi-Bism Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm Miṣr : al-Maṭbaʻah al-Yamaniyya, 1324/ 1906.

Ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq.

Kitāb Sharḥ Ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq ʻalá Muqaddimat shaykh al-Islām fī al-kalām ʻalá al-basmalah wa-al-ḥamdalah. [Egypt] : Muḥammad Ḥifnī wa-Maḥmūd al-Shamūtī, 1317/1899.

Ibn Sawdah, Aḥmad ibn al-Ṭālib

Takmīl taḥrīr al-maqāl fī al-basmalah li-ḥasm māddat al-qīl wa-al-qāl fī al-masʼalah. [Morocco] : c. 1893?

Ibn al-Ṣiddīq, Ahmad

al-Istaʻādhah wa-al-ḥasbalah min man saḥḥaḥ ḥadīth al-basmala. 2nd ed. Damascus: Dār al-Baṣāʼir, 1985.

al-Ṭuruq al-mufaṣṣalah li-ḥadīth Anas fī iftitāḥ qirāʼat al-Fātiḥah bi-al-Basmalah : wa-yalīhi, Wasāʼil al-tarjīḥ al-murtaḍá lil-qawl bi-anna al-fātiḥah [i.e. fāʼitah] ʻamdan lā tuqḍá. ed. ? Adnān Zahhār Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2003.

Ishaq, Ya'qub Muhammad

al-Basmalah khayr wa-barakah. ed. 'Adil Batrawi, Jeddah-Riyadh. Dar al-Qiblah lil-Thaqafah al-Islamiyah ca. 1990.

Islāmī, Abū al-Faz̤l, et. al.

Juzʼīyat al-basmalah min al-Qurʼān wa-ḥukmuhā fī al-ṣalāh by Abū al-Faz̤l Islāmī; Ṣāʼib ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd; Ahl Ul Bayt (AS) World Assembly. Lajnat al-Buḥūth wa-Ajwibat al-Shubuhāt. Qum : al-Majmaʻ al-ʻĀlamī li-Ahl al-Bayt, 1422/2001.

Ismāʻīlʹpūr, ʻAlī

Āyah-i sharīfah-i Bismillāh dar farhang-i Islāmī. [Tehran?] : Mufīd, 1375/1997?. (Persian).

Jannūn, Maḥammad ibn Muḥammad

Hādhā Taqyīd nafīs wa-tadqīq wa-taʼsīs sammāhu Tazayyud al-taḥrīr fī al-intiṣār li-man basmala fī al-farīḍah min kull ʻālim niḥrīr. [Morocco] : Maṭbaʻat Aḥmad ibn al-Ṭayyib al-Azraq, 1312/ 1894.

al-Jarrāḥ Shāfiʻī, Abū al-Ḥasan ʻAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr

Kitāb Kashf al-astār al-musabbalah wa-tabyīn al-awhām al-musalsalah : al-wāqiʻah fī risālat ʻAbd al-Ḥayy al-Kattānī al-musammāt bi-al-Raḥmah al-mursalah fī shaʼn ḥadīth al-basmala. ed (?) ʻAbd al-Ḥayy ibn ʻAbd al-Kabīr Kattānī. [Morocco] 1910?. (in World cat.)

Lāḥim, Sulaymān ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʻAbd Allāh

. اللباب في تفسير الاستعاذة والبسملة وفاتحة الكتاب /

al-Lubāb fī tafsīr al-istiʻādhah wa-al-Basmalah wa-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb. al-Riyāḍ : Dār al-Muslim, 1999. 464pp..

Lāzim, Nāṣir

al-Qawl al-manʻūt bi-tafṣīl al-basmalah wa-al-qunūt. Kuwayt : Maktabat al-Ṣaḥwah, c.1407?/ 1986?

MārghinīI al-Tūnisī, Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad

Hādhā sharḥ Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Mārghanī al-Tūnisī : al-musammá bi-al-Nujūm al-ṭawāliʻ ʻalá al-Durar al-lawāmiʻ fī aṣl maqrā al-Imām Nāfiʻ li-Abī al-Ḥasan ʻAlī al-maʻrūf bi-Ibn Barrī ; wa-yalīhi risālat al-Qawl al-ajlá fī kawn al-Basmalah min al-Qurʼān awlā, li-muʼallif al-sharḥ al-madhkūr ; wa-bi-hāmishihi Sharḥ al-Muqaddimah al-Jazarīyah al-musammá bi-al-Fawāʼid al-mufhimah fī sharḥ al-Muqaddimah ; wa-risālat Taḥrīr al-kalām fī waqf Ḥamzah wa-Hishām, kilāhumā li-Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī ibn Yālūshah al-Tūnisī al-Sharīf. ed. Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī Ibn Yālūshah [al-Ḥāḍirah al-Tunisīyah : al-Maṭbaʻah al-ʻUmūmīyah, 1322 / 1904.

النجوم الطوالع على الدرر اللوامع في اصل مقرا الامام نافع

al-Nujūm al-ṭawāliʻ ʻalá al-Durar al-lawāmiʻ fī aṣl maqraʼ al-imām Nāfiʻ. al-Dār al-Bayḍāʼ : Dār al-Ṭibāʻah al-Ḥadīthah, 198??.

Manṭiqi,̄ Nayyarah Aʻẓam

Tafsīr-i bismillāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm. Tehrān : Sīmīnʹqalam : Qalam-i Zan, 1378/ 2000.

Mukhtār Marzūq ʻAbd al-Raḥīm

السبل المذللة إلى أسرار وفوائد البسملة

al-Subul al-mudhallilah ilá asrār wa fawāʼid al-bismillah. [Cairo] : ??. 1999.

Niyazi, `Abdu'lfettah ibn Huseyin Adanavi,

el-Faraidiye. "A mid-19th century treatise on the besmele (basmalah) and its meaning. Rococo illumination, f. 2v." (Brit. Lib. Cat.). In Ottoman Turkish, [Istanbul?] 1261/1844-5.

Padwick, Constance Evelyn

The Basmala... add

Philippe Gignoux + Algar, Hamid

`Besmellah' in EIr. ADD HERE : Philippe Gignoux i. Origin of the formula & Algar, Hamid, ii. In exegesis, jurisprudence, and cultural life.

`BESMELLĀH, Islamic formula meaning “in the name of God,” more fully Besmellāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm “in the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” that stands at the head of every sūra of the Koran (except sūra 9). The formula is also known as basmala or tasmīa...".

Ph. Gignoux,

“Pour une origine iranienne du bi’smillah,” in Pad nām ī yazdān, Paris, 1979, pp. 159-63

Qādrī̄ Qādir ʻAlī,

Tafsīr-i āyat-i Bismillāh. Urdu Publisher: Kalkatah : Mat̤baʻ-yi Qādiriyah 1280/ 1864.

Sabbān, Muhammad ibn Ali

الرسالة الكبرى في البسملة

al-Risalah al-kubrá fi al-Basmala.   ed. Fawwaz Ahmad Zamarli + Habib Yahyá al-Mir. Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-`Arabi, 1995, 176pp.

al-Risālah al-kubrá ʻalá al-basmalah : bi-hāmishuhā al-Risālah al-musammāh Iḥrāz al-saʻd bi-injāz al-waʻd bi-masāʼil ammā baʻd. Madīnat Naṣr, al-Qāhirah : Dār al-Baṣāʼir, 2006.

Schimmel, A

Islamic Calligraphy, Leiden: Brill, 1970, (pp. 3, 16-19).

The Mystery of Numbers, New York/ Oxford: OUP., 1993

Shatti, Hasan

Risālah fī al-Basmalah al-sharīfah. Damascus : Maṭbaʻat Rawḍat al-Shām, 1328/ 1910.

Jaʻfar Subḥānī

al-Basmalah : juzʼīyatuhā wa-al-jahr bi-hā ʻalá ḍawʼ al-Kitāb wa-al-Sunnah. Qum : Muʼassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1421/ 2000.

سيوطي. Suyūṭī, Aḥmad ʻAbd Allāh Bājūr

حسن التعهد في أحاديث التسمية في التشهد

Ḥusn al-taʻahhud fī aḥādīth al-tasmīyah fī al-tashahhud. Cairo : al-Dār al-Miṣrīyah al-Lubnānīyah, 1996.

al-Ṭabāṭabā'ī = Sayyid Muhammad Ḥusayn al-Ṭabāṭabā'ī (d. 1981). Iranian Shi`i philosopher and exegete.

al-Mizan fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān. Tehran: ADD 1366/1947.
al-Mīzān fl tafsīr al-Qur'ān. 20 vols. Beirut: Mu'assasat al-A'lamī lil-Maţbu'at, 1394/1974.
al-Mizan fī tafsīr al-Qur'ān, 20 vols. Beirut: Mu 'assat al-A'lami li al-Matbu'at, 1394/1974. *
al-Mizan : fī Tafsīr al-Qur'ān The al-Mizan Website, 1999 : http://www.almizan.org/

http://www.almizan.org/

Rizvi, Sayyid Saeed Akhtar, trans. al-Mizan: An Exegesis of the Qur'ān. 5 vols. Teheran: WOfī s, 1983- .

Tahirulqadri, Muhammad

Tasmiyat al-Qur'an : tafsir-i Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. Lahore: Markazi Idarah-yi Minhajulqur'an : Milne ka patah, Hamid aind Kampani, 1981. 160pp.

al-Zabīdi, ̄Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Murtaḍá

Radd ʻalá ma abī al-ḥaqq wa-iddaʻā an al-jahr bi-al-basmalah min sunnat Sayyid al-Khalq ; Aḥmad Kuwaytī. al-Riyāḍ : Dār al-Rāyah, 1991.

Zurqāni,̄ Ibrāhīm ʻAbd Allāh.

Hādhihi Risālah fī al-basmalah wa-maʻahā jumlat rasāʼil fī al-tawḥīd wa-al-istighfār wa-al-istighābāt wa-ghayruhā. np.nd.

Appendix :

Select 19th-20th century Post-Islamic Babi-Baha'i commentaries upon the basmala.

Sayyid `Ali Muhamamd Shirazi, the Bab (1819-1850 CE).

Tafsīr [Ḥurūf al-] Basmala (= Bismillāh al-Raḥman al-Raḥīm). TBA Ms. 6014C fols. 301-370..

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Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri, Baha-Allah (1917-1850 CE)

Tafsir Basmala. On the basmalah and its component letters, etc.

Tafsir on Q. 68:1a including the letters of the basmala, the isolated letter ن nūn) and verse 1a , "By the Pen!"

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`Abbas Effendi, `Abd al-Baha' (1844-1921CE).

Tafsir Basmala/ Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. Makatib-i Hadrat-i `Abdu'l-Baha' Vol.

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