Dr Stephen Burge, Research Associate in the Institute鈥檚聽Qur鈥檃nic Studies Unit, attended theannual meeting of the聽, held in Arizona, USA, from 14-17 March 2014.
The Mamluk scholar and polymath Jalal聽al-Din聽al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH/1505 CE) described in one of his works how, having read Badr聽al-Din al-Zarkashi鈥檚 Kitab al-Burhan fi 鈥榰lum al-Qur’an, he came to the conclusion that his first effort on the Qur鈥檃nic Sciences, namely, Kitab al-Tahbir fi鈥榠lm al-tafsir, needed to be improved. Al-Suyuti鈥檚 Kitab Itqan fi鈥榰lum al-Qur鈥檃n was his intellectual response to this rare occurrence of self-criticism. Whilst the Itqan remains an important work in the Qur鈥檃nic Sciences (鈥榰lum al-Qur鈥檃n), it remains understudied and his al-Tahbir has received little attention. The Tahbir was itself an adaptation of another work on the Qur鈥檃nic studies by al-Bulqini.
Dr Burge鈥檚 paper presented a comparative analysis of al-Suyuti鈥檚聽Tahbir听补苍诲听Itqan, alongside al-Zarkhshi鈥檚聽Burhan, exploring how they differ in form and content, what al-Suyuti gleaned and adapted from the聽Burhan, and how the material in the聽Tahbir聽was improved upon in the聽Itqan.
The paper first provided a general survey of these works, looking at their structures, chapter divisions, contents and their use of sources. It then provided a detailed analysis of case studies, focusing on the opening chapters of both works dedicated to the occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul).
Dr Burge concluded that the聽罢补丑产颈谤听was used by al-Suyuti as a base from which his聽Itqan聽was improved and expanded.
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