Abstract
Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan is considered the first Malay Qur’anic commentary authored by Muhammad Said ibn Umar. It is recognized as the second tafsir work has a complete 30 constituents or juz of the Qur’an in Malay language after the masterpiece of Abdul Rauf al-Singkili, Tarjuman al-Mustafid. However, some aspects of Muhammad Said’s background are still vague, due to limited data and information. His work did not remark by Western scholars in their studies on the history of Malay Islamic literature and thus, results in it being less well known. Therefore, this article aims to introduce Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan and to provide a descriptive analysis of its significance to the Malays in Malaysia, especially during the early 20th century. The study demonstrates that the contribution of Muhammad Said in the tafsir of Qur’an is significant in increasing the tafsir literacy level of the Malay Muslim community in the country. The tafsir was produced by referring to numbers of primary references therefore reflects the ability of Muhammad Said in filtering, synthesizing interpretations from various sources and presenting it in a style which is distinctive and significantly for Malay Muslim readers.
Highlights
Tafsir literature was one of the branches in Islamic studies that began to gain significant attention from scholars of Malaysia in the early 20th century
It turns out that the publication of Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan has a significant role in filling the vacuum in tafsir literature as well as fulfilling the needs of the Muslim community, especially the Malays, for a Malay language manuscript to help them understand the meaning of the Qur'an and to appreciate it
Among the factors being criticized by researchers in regard to Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan are the status of the hadith, and the validity of the narratives used by Muhammad Said in his commentary
Summary
Tafsir literature was one of the branches in Islamic studies that began to gain significant attention from scholars of Malaysia in the early 20th century. Among the earliest Malaysian scholars to contribute to this field is Muhammad Said ibn Umar (D., 1932) His tafsir book, Tafsir Nur al-Ihsan was identified as the first Malay tafsir work in Malaysia. Other researchers analyzed his work from the perspective of tafsir knowledge and methodology, such as the method and his technique in interpreting, the influence of other tafsir scriptures, and authenticity of hadith and the content validity of this tafsir work (Ismi, 2003; Hamza, 2005; Mahamah, 2007; Azhan, 2012; Sholah & Nizam, 2013) Based on these studies, several arising issues were identified such as the ambiguity of the life of Muhammd Said ibn Umar, the authority of his tafsir in regards to the originality of the work, and the influence of Isra’iliyyat narratives and the status of hadith quoted in his work
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