Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr

Abstract

Examining Tafsir Ibn Kathir is an excellent way to understand the great theological debates of medieval Islam and offers a window onto how Islam was conceptualized in the modern world. Ibn Kathir’s Qur’anic commentary –the commentary on the great Qur’an (Tafsir al-qur'an al-'az·im, popularly Tafsir Ibn Kathir) – is often understood to be a product of his relationship with Ibn Taymiyya and an outgrowth of the latter’s Introduction to the principles of Tafsir (Muqaddima fi usul al-tafsir). However, Ibn Kathir’s commentary is more an outcome of a larger theological struggle between the scholastic theologians (Ash'aris) and “the traditionalists” (ahl al-hadith) that raged in the eighth/fourteenth century. Ibn Kathir, in comparison, maintains a “moral theology” or a “theology of praxis” that was not interested in delving into the debates around god’s attributes but rather focused on the divine responsibilities placed on the believer.