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Comptes rendus / Reviews of books: The Formation of the Classical

Tafsîr Tradition: The Qur'ân Commentary of al-Tha'labî: By Walid A. Saleh
Leiden: Brill,2004. x + 267 p
Atif Khalil
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 2006 35: 610
DOI: 10.1177/000842980603500332

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What is This?
610

1’6dition propos6e par Massignon, tout en tenant compte des modifications propo-
sees par Mustafi Shaybi. Cette dernière edition est la plus lisible, avec une vocalisa-
tion et une ponctuation am6lior6es (86). Dans sa r6vision, Ruspoli d6gage 114
pieces, vingt de plus que celles choisies par Massignon (voir 84, n. 2), et bonifie sa
traduction a l’aide de 1’6dition de Wazin.
La seconde partie (93-393) pr6sente la traduction de Ruspoli du Dazuan. Cette
derniere est divisee en deux sections, la premi~re comprend la traduction du Dazuan
lui-même (93-235) et la seconde inclut des notices et des commentaires du Dazuan
(237-393). Cette compilation comporte 1’essentiel de la th6osophie d’al-Hall5j, ou
la quete de l’origine est continuellement pr6sente dans une dialectique opposee -
tternel/temporel, Cr6ateur/cr6ature, Seigneur (Rabb)/vassal (ma7&dquo;b), Seigneur
(Mawld) /serviteur (‘abd), Vrai/moi, Monde divin (Lahut)/monde humain (nâsüt),
etc. -

afin d’atteindre la contemplation liberatrice (254).

Le volume se termine par une liste collig6e par Ibn Nadim dans son Fihrist al-
’ul1im (395-399), ou il enumere quarante-huit ouvrages attribu6s a al-Hallaj. Une bi-
bliographie ainsi que des indexes sont inclus afin de faciliter la consultation des per-
sonnages et des references bibliques et qur’aniques. 11 s’agit d’un ouvrage
compl6mentaire au travail monumental de Louis Massignon (La Passion de Hallâj,
4 vols, Paris, Gallim ard, 1975).

Diane Steigerwald
California State University (Long Beach)

The Formation of the Classical Tafsîr Tradition: The Qur’ân Commentary of al-
Tha’labî
By Walid A. Saleh
Leiden: Brill,2004. x + 267 p.

This monograph is an expanded and revised version of the author’s PhD dissertation.
The purpose of Saleh’s scholarly project is to unearth from obscurity one of the
most influential figures of the Quranic exegetical (tafsir) tradition. By doing so he

attempts to fill a major lacuna in the field of Quranic studies, one in which Tha’labi’s
(d. 1035 CE) creative genius and impact on the later tafsir tradition has been virtually
ignored. This neglect was due in part to the misguided belief that saw Tabari (d. 923
CE) as the main architect of the tradition and which, in Saleh’s words, relegated
&dquo;what came after him to the role of a mere variation on what he managed to achieve&dquo;
(10).
Despite Tabari’s indisputable influence, modem scholars, Saleh (University of
Toronto) informs us, have tended to confuse the genealogical nature of exegetical

history with redundancy and stagnation. This in turn has prevented them from dis-
cerning the truly innovative ways in which post-Tabari Quran commentators shaped
and reformulated the tradition. Tha’labi has in particular been overlooked because
of the widely accepted, but once again mistaken, position that very few develop-
ments took place in tafsir in the two centuries separating Tabari from Zamakhshari
(d. 1144). Saleh makes a strong case to take Tha’labi’s role in the tradition seriously,
not only because he meticulously documents, through verse-by-verse comparative (or
what he calls &dquo;macro&dquo;) analyses, the extent to which he influenced later giants such
as Qurtubi (d.1272) and Zamakhshari, but also because of the virtually unprece-

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 611

dented manner by which he was able to integrate various strands of Islamic cul-
ture-scholarly and pietistic-into tafsir, thereby inaugurating a truly encyclopedic,
almost ecumenical, approach to Quranic exegesis, (but one nonetheless constrained
by dogma).
However, as Saleh observes,Tha‘labi’s encyclopedic approach to tafsir-in some
ways its Achilles heal-combined with unfortunate historical-political circumstances
revolving around Shiite-Sunni sectarian strife, would eventually work against the
popularity of his magnum opus, Kashf wa-al bayan ’an tafir al-Qur’an. This, because
Tha’labi included Shiite material in his commentary, most notably that which
addressed the privileged status of ahl al-bayt, the family of the Prophet Muhammad,
that was not, in his estimation,contrary to Sunni dogma. He did this, in Saleh’s view,
also for polemical reasons: to neutralize threatening Shiite ideas by absorbing them
into mainstream Sunnism. Ironically, Shiite authors would later use this very same
Shiite material in Tha’labi, by then a major Sunni authority, against the Sunnis them-
selves, a tactic that would eventually lead Ibn Taymiyya (1328 CE) to launch a cam-
paign against the integrity of Tha‘labi’s commentary from which it would never fully
recover. However, by then his work had already left an indelible mark in the tafsir tra-

dition.
Saleh’s work is divided into seven chapters that provide a comprehensive
overview of Tha’labi’s life (chap. 1), his disputed relationship with Islamic mysticism
(chap. 2), an outline of his thought and hermeneutical method (chap. 3-6), and
his subsequent impact (chap. 7). Since a study of the Kashf as a whole would have
been too daunting a project, Saleh prudently restricted himself to analyzing the
introduction and his commentary of the final 30th section of the Quran. Consider-
ing the fate of the Kashf, it is no surprise that our author had to rely on manuscripts.
(In the postscript he draws attention to an edition, though poorly edited, that was
published in Beirut around the same time he completed the book). Anyone who has
dealt with medieval Arabic manuscripts can appreciate the time and energy he must
have put into this laborious task. Apart from the philological rigor he brings to his
interpretations, his reasoning throughout the work is sound. His analytic acumen is
matched by his exhaustive research, evidenced by the breadth and range of sources
that are utilized, spanning both modern Western and traditional Islamic scholar-
ship. All things considered, it would not be an overstatement to suggest we have
before us one of the finest works in the field of Quranic studies in English.

Atif Khalil
University of Toronto

From Sermon to Commentary: Expounding the Bible in Talmudic Babylonia

Eliezer Segal
Waterloo,ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005. v + 164 p.

In this book Eliezer Segal (University of Calgary) combines his talents for popular
insight and critical-scholarship. He packs 30 chapters of tantalizing exploration
within all of 120 pages. The bibliographic material of each section is generally tucked
into 2 pages of notes or less. What connects these units are the debates of biblical exe-
gesis attributed, in the Bavli, to two 3rd-century masters, Rav and Shmuel. He invites
the reader to ponder these bewildering debates driving his analysis on one supposi-

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