Selections From Akram Khans Tafsirul Quran

Maulana Muhammad Akram Khan’s tafsir is an excellent work in every respect. It bears similarities with Muhammad Asad’s tafsir titled The Message of the Qur’an. Maulana Akram Khan can be said to be the Asad of South Asia in the field of tafsir though we cannot assert that they met or knew each other. Some might not approve of his rationalist style of exegesis. However, the reader of his commentary must acknowledge that every opinion in his tafsir is buttressed by strong textual and circumstantial evidences. He has used in his tafsir both hadith material and rational arguments extensively, as the reader will find in this book. This summarized version of his tafsir will help people understand the ideas of this great writer and thinker of Islam with regard to the Qur’an. This book presents some salient features of Maulana Akram Khan’s Tafsirul Qur’an, which he wrote spanning most of his active life as an intellectual and writer. A legendary figure in Muslim Bengal, Akram Khan wrote this tafsir in Bangla when there was no such work in the language. It is true that there were few translations and short commentaries before that; but this is the first full-length tafsir of the Qur’an produced in the Bangla language in a true sense. In this work we have tried to present some selective sections of his tafsir, particularly those parts which reflect his in-depth research on the Qur’an and where he has given different views from those of early mufassirun (exegetes) and upheld minority views (even rare views). Our intention is to give the readers who do not know Bangla an access to this superb, scholarly work. Moulana Muhammad Akram Khan was among the topmost scholars of former Bengal of the last few hundred years. He was the President of the Bengal Muslim League before the partition of the sub- continent, a remarkable Islamic scholar and an eminent journalist. Above all, he was the writer of a path-breaking biography of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and of the commentary of the Qur’an, as he was a scholar of Muslim history and literature. His Mostafa Charit, a biography of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), clearly demonstrates the profundity of his ability as a researcher. There he analyzed the life of the Prophet in the light of reliable historical materials and accepted only those facts that have been verified. Conversely, he excluded those materials which appeared contrary to reason. He rebutted Orientalist critiques of the Prophet’s life and, this context, he examined some traditions attributed to the Prophet and analyzed their texts. Based on the principles of examining texts (matn) of hadith, laid down by the usuliyyun (scholars of Islamic jurisprudence), he regarded some of them as unacceptable. All may not agree with his ideas, but his work significantly facilitates more critical analysis and helps us rethink about many widely-held views. Moreover, his book on the social history of Muslim Bengal is an unparalleled contribution.