Author’s Note

The author (Jalalu’d-Din as-Suyuti) said, “This is the end of my continuation and completion of the commentary of the Noble Qur’an that was written by the Shaykh and imam, the precise scholar, Jalalu’d-Din al-Mahalli ash-Shafi’i, may Allah be pleased with him.

I applied myself to completing it and directed my attention to important points which will prove beneficial, Allah willing. I wrote within the amount of time appointed for the one spoken to (Musa)[i.e. forty nights] and made it a means to obtain the Gardens of Bliss. In fact it isderived from the book which it is intended to complete and on which I relied in dealing with the ambiguous ayats. May Allah have mercy on a man who looks with a fair eye at it and finds an error in it and then informs me of it. I have said:

“I praise Allah, my Lord,

if He guides me when I bring something

to light in spite of my powerlessness and weakness.

Whatever errors I have made, I will reject.

Whatever is accepted is for me, even if it is only a letter”

 

If I did not tum my attention to any errors attributed to my predecessor, it was because I know that I am unable to delve into those matters. In any case I pray that Allah will grant benefit from this work and use it to open closed hearts, blind eyes and deaf ears. Whoever is blind in this world, is blind in the Next World. May Allah provide him with guidance to the Path of the Truth, success and awareness and realisation of the fine points of Allah’s words, and by it may He make us “among those whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets, the men of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. What an excellent company such people are!” (4:68)

He finished writing in on Sunday 10 Shawwal 370, having started it at the beginning of Ramadan in the same year. He finished a fair copy of it on Wednesday 6 Safar 371. Shaykh Shamsu’d-Din Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Khatib at-Tukhi said, “My friend, the scholar Shaykh Kamalu’d-Din al-Mahalli, the brother of our Shaykh Jalalu’d-Din al-Mahalli, may Allah have mercy on them both, reported to me that he saw his brother, Shaykh Jalalu’d-Din, in a dream. In front of him was our friend, the scholar, Shaykh Jalalu’d-Din as-Suyuti, the author of this continuation of his work. The Shaykh took this continuation in his hands and looked through it and said to its author, ‘Which of them is better: my composition or yours? He added, ‘Look,’ and pointed out certain places in it. It was as if he was indicating places in it to which he objected with gentleness. Whenever the author of this continuation was shown something, he answered it while the shaykh was smiling and laughing.”’

Our Shaykh Jalalu’d-Din ‘Abdu’r-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr as-Suyuti, the author of this continuation, said, “What I believe and am certain of is that what Shaykh Jalalu’d-Din al-Mahalli, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote in his portion is better than my writing on several levels. How could that not be the case when what I wrote here is clearly derived from his work? As for that which was in the dream above, perhaps by it the Shaykh was indicating the few places in which I differed from him regarding a few very slight points. I do not think that there can be more than ten instances of that.

“One example is that the Shaykh said concerning Surat Sad: ‘The Ruh is a subtle body by which the human being is given life when it penetrates it.’ I followed him at first and mentioned this definition in Surat al-hijr. Then I turned from it by the words of the Almighty, “They will ask you about the Ruh. Say: “The Ruh is my Lord"s concern. You have only been given a little knowledge.” (17:85) It is explicit, or close to being explicit, in saying that the Ruh (the Spirit) is part of Allah’s knowledge which we do not know, and therefore it is more appropriate to refrain from defining it. This is why Shaykh Taj’ud-Din ibn as-Subki said in Jam’ al-Jawami’: Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not speak about the Ruh and therefore we refrain from doing so.’

“Another point is that the Shaykh said in Surat al-Hajj, ‘The Sabaeans are a sect of the Jews. I mentioned that in Surat al-Baqara, and added, ‘or Christians’ to set out a second view. That is something that is known, especially among our colleagues, the fuqaha. In al-Minhaj we find: ‘The Samaritans among the Jews and the Sabaeans among the Christians disagree about the basis of their din.’ In the commentary on al-Minhaj,ash-Shafi’I, may Allah be pleased with him, stated that the Sabaeans are a sect of the Christians.

“I do not recall a third position. It is as though the Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him, was indicating the like of this point [in my dream]. Allah knows best which is correct, and all returns to Him.”