Introduction to the Tafsir of Tabari. Translation from Arabic and Commentary. Part Three: the Names of the Qur’ān and the Concepts of Surah and Ayah

Abstract

This publication is the fi nal part of the commented translation into Russian of the Introduction (muqaddimаh) to the tafsir “Jami’ al-bayan fi ta’wil al- Qur’ān” (The Comprehensive Exposition of the interpretation of the Qur’ān) by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (839–923). This part contains sections devoted to the names of the Qur’ān, the concepts of surah and ayah. The fi rst of them contains the four main names of the holy scripture of Islam — qur’ān, furqān, kitāb and dhikr, their etymology is defi ned on the basis of pre-Islamic poetry and statements of early Muslim authorities. The following section describes the classifi cation of suras into groups — s even long (sab‘ ṭiwāl), of hundred ayahs (mi’ūn), repeated (mathānī) and divided into parts (mufaṣṣal). The last section talks about the origin of the concepts of surah and ayah.