Sohaib Saeed, “Surat al Anʿam Q 6 as Mufassir and Mufassar” скачать в хорошем качестве

Sohaib Saeed, “Surat al Anʿam Q 6 as Mufassir and Mufassar”

This paper was presented at the conference 'The “Seven Long Ones” (al-Sabʿ al-Ṭiwāl): Approaches to Surahs 2–7 and 9', held at Pembroke College, Oxford (24-25 March 2025). The event was organized as part of the project 'Qur’anic Commentary: An Integrative Paradigm', which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 771047). As a late Meccan surah which incorporates a wide range of themes, al-Anʿām (Q 6) is a useful case study of interactions within the Quranic text: both diachronically – such that its verses may refer back to earlier ones, or be explained or modified by later ones – or synchronically, as is often the case in tafsīr works. Muslim exegetes have long made use of the principle that “the Qur’an explains itself”, which – if we adopt the same expression of agency – means that al-Anʿām is both a mufassir (active) of various Meccan passages and mufassar (passive) by Medinan ones. This paper is based on a thorough study of the whole surah through the eyes of exegetes who gave explicit focus and priority to the intratextual principle: tafsīr al-Qurʾān bi-l-Qurʾān. Beyond their citations of other Qur’anic passages as thematic parallels, or as evidence for a theological or juristic point, we pay special attention to the aspects of textual interaction which have a bearing on chronology. These include claims of abrogation concerning ten of its verses by later ones, half of which are said to have been cancelled by the “Sword Verse”. There are two verses in other surahs which appear to reference verses in al-Anʿām; and one verse of al-Anʿām makes explicit allusion to an earlier passage. Based on this, we consider the possibility of a mutually referential relationship between al-Anʿām and al-Nahl (Q 16). Moreover, there appears to be a relationship with Luqmān (Q 31) established by two hadith reports which cite verses from the latter as explanation. As well as questions of chronology, our treatment of the most famous example (in which ẓulm in Q 6:82 is explained by shirk in Q 31:13) appeals to internal aspects of al-Anʿām to question the common presentation of this citation and its significance.