DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Tafsir ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi

**yWleIJm4** · 04-02-2008, 03:59 PM

Mufti soofie saheb can Mufti please clarify this matter for us in further detail... I too am aware of many scholars who qoute the KITAAB tafsir ibn abbas and have heard many of them say that THE KITAAB is one of the most authentic tafsirs as they say IT IS DIRECTLY from ibn abbas (may allah be well pelased with him)

Jazakallah khair for the information but I have never heard of the Tafsir being called chain of lies and to my knowledge a lot of scholars have approved of this tafseer. Even Tafsir ibn Kathir said that Ibn Abbas RA was one of the best mufassareen.

Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Abbas

was probably the best Mufassir of the Quran. No one is doubting the authenticity of tafsir made by him, rather the discussion is concerning books published claiming to be written by or directly narrated from him.

The famous book known as Tafsir ibn Abbas is "Tanwir al-Miqbas".

It is narrated from Muhammad ibn Marwan as-Suddi, who narrates from Muhammad ibn as-Sa'ib al-Kalbi who narrates from Abu Salih who narrates from ibn Abbas

The entire Tafsir is narrated through this chain.

Lets analyse the chain:

1. Abu Salih never met Ibn Abbas

, yet he supposedly narrates this entire Tafsir from him!(Mizan al-I'tidal of ad-Dhahabi)
Abu Salih swore that he didn't narrate any Tafsir to Kalbi, the narrator from him. (Al-Jarh wa at-Ta'dil)

2. Muhammad ibn as-Sa'ib al-Kalbi is classified as a liar and as Matruk (abandoned) by the majority of the Mufassirin.
Hadhrat Sufyan at-Thawri says that Kalbi said to me: "Whatever I narrate from Abu Salih from Ibn Abbas is a lie!"

3. Muhammad ibn Marwan as-Suddi- He is accused of lies.

Here are statements of a few Ulama regarding this tafsir:

Imam Ahmed was asked: "Is it permissible to look at ie. read the Tafsir of Kalbi ?"
He replied: "No!" (Mizan al-I'tidal)

Allamah Suyuti mentions in al-Itqan that the chain of this tafsir is "Silsilah al-Kadhib"(Chain of lies).

Mufti Taqi saheb mentions the same in his Ulum at-Quran.

Similar statements can be found in at-Tafsir wa al-Mufassirun, al-Fawaid al-Majmu'ah etc.

See here , here and here for more details (in Arabic)
This is all regarding the famous "Tafsir ibn Abbas" called "Tanwir al-Miqbas".

As for the other lessser-known one, narrated by Ali ibn Abi Talha, it is acceptable, as mentioned by Imam Ahmed, ibn Hajr, Mufti Taqi etc.

As for:

I too am aware of many scholars who qoute the KITAAB tafsir ibn abbas

but I have never heard of the Tafsir being called chain of lies and to my knowledge a lot of scholars have approved of this tafseer

Sadly, most scholars are unaware of which books are reliable and which ones are not. Thus, one would find them quoting many different books which are totally unreliable.

The main cause for this is that very few institutions properly teach their students proper usage of books and the library. As a result, graduates are totally ignorant when it comes to books other than what they studied.

This is a huge problem in both our Madaris and the Arab world. While some effort is being made to correct this in the Arab Universities, our Madaris have yet to wake up and rectify thisweakness.

04-02-2008, 03:59 PM	#18
yWleIJm4 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 441 Senior Member	Mufti soofie saheb can Mufti please clarify this matter for us in further detail... I too am aware of many scholars who qoute the KITAAB tafsir ibn abbas and have heard many of them say that THE KITAAB is one of the most authentic tafsirs as they say IT IS DIRECTLY from ibn abbas (may allah be well pelased with him) Jazakallah khair for the information but I have never heard of the Tafsir being called chain of lies and to my knowledge a lot of scholars have approved of this tafseer. Even Tafsir ibn Kathir said that Ibn Abbas RA was one of the best mufassareen. Hadhrat Abdullah ibn Abbas was probably the best Mufassir of the Quran. No one is doubting the authenticity of tafsir made by him, rather the discussion is concerning books published claiming to be written by or directly narrated from him. The famous book known as Tafsir ibn Abbas is "Tanwir al-Miqbas". It is narrated from Muhammad ibn Marwan as-Suddi, who narrates from Muhammad ibn as-Sa'ib al-Kalbi who narrates from Abu Salih who narrates from ibn Abbas The entire Tafsir is narrated through this chain. Lets analyse the chain: 1. Abu Salih never met Ibn Abbas , yet he supposedly narrates this entire Tafsir from him!(Mizan al-I'tidal of ad-Dhahabi) Abu Salih swore that he didn't narrate any Tafsir to Kalbi, the narrator from him. (Al-Jarh wa at-Ta'dil) 2. Muhammad ibn as-Sa'ib al-Kalbi is classified as a liar and as Matruk (abandoned) by the majority of the Mufassirin. Hadhrat Sufyan at-Thawri says that Kalbi said to me: "Whatever I narrate from Abu Salih from Ibn Abbas is a lie!" 3. Muhammad ibn Marwan as-Suddi- He is accused of lies. Here are statements of a few Ulama regarding this tafsir: Imam Ahmed was asked: "Is it permissible to look at ie. read the Tafsir of Kalbi ?" He replied: "No!" (Mizan al-I'tidal) Allamah Suyuti mentions in al-Itqan that the chain of this tafsir is "Silsilah al-Kadhib"(Chain of lies). Mufti Taqi saheb mentions the same in his Ulum at-Quran. Similar statements can be found in at-Tafsir wa al-Mufassirun, al-Fawaid al-Majmu'ah etc. See here , here and here for more details (in Arabic) This is all regarding the famous "Tafsir ibn Abbas" called "Tanwir al-Miqbas". As for the other lessser-known one, narrated by Ali ibn Abi Talha, it is acceptable, as mentioned by Imam Ahmed, ibn Hajr, Mufti Taqi etc. As for: I too am aware of many scholars who qoute the KITAAB tafsir ibn abbas but I have never heard of the Tafsir being called chain of lies and to my knowledge a lot of scholars have approved of this tafseer Sadly, most scholars are unaware of which books are reliable and which ones are not. Thus, one would find them quoting many different books which are totally unreliable. The main cause for this is that very few institutions properly teach their students proper usage of books and the library. As a result, graduates are totally ignorant when it comes to books other than what they studied. This is a huge problem in both our Madaris and the Arab world. While some effort is being made to correct this in the Arab Universities, our Madaris have yet to wake up and rectify thisweakness.
	Quote