The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation
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| Author | Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi |
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| Original title | أنوار التنزيل وأسرار التأويل |
| Translator | Gibril Fouad Haddad |
| Country | Shiraz, Persia |
| Language | Arabic Edition & English Translation based on 14 manuscripts, 12 commentaries, & 16 editions. |
| Subject | Qur'anic Exegesis |
| Publisher | Beacon Books |
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Publication date
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July 17, 2016 |
| Pages | 902 pages |
| ISBN | |
| The Tafsir of al-Baydawi is regarded by the Sunnites as the most authoritative. | |
Anwar al-Tanzil wa-Asrar al-Ta'wil ("The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation") (Arabic: أنوار التنزيل وأسرار التأويل), better known as Tafsir al-Baydawi (Arabic: تفسير البيضاوي), is one of the most popular classical Sunni Qur'anic tafsir (exegesis) composed by the 13th-century scholar al-Baydawi (d. 685 AH).
Anwar al-Tanzil contains the most concise analysis of the Qur'anic use of Arabic grammar and style to date and was viewed early on as a foremost demonstration of the Qur'an’s essential and structural inimitability (i'jaz ma'nawi wa-lughawi) in Sunni literature. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and significant, because of its fame and influence. Many commentaries have been written on Baydawi's work. According to Gibril Fouad Haddad, this work “became and remained for seven centuries the most studied of all Tafsirs,” and it is to be regarded as “the most important commentary on the Qur'an in the history of Islam.”
This work became standard in the Muslim world, receiving many super-commentaries and commonly being studied in madrasa courses on Quranic interpretation, and was one of the first Quran commentaries published in Europe (1846 – 48).
The commentary begins with a short opening, in which the author praises the value of interpreting the verses of the Qurʼan and argues that Qurʼanic exegesis is at the head of all sciences. The author then gives the name of his work, before launching into the explanation of al-Fatihah (The opening), the first chapter of the Qurʼan.
This work is based on the earlier work of al-Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf (The unveiling) . That work, which displays great learning, has Mu'tazilite views, some of which al-Baydawi has amended, and some omitted. This work is also based on al-Raghib al-Isfahani's Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an and his tafsir, as well as, al-Tafsir al-Kabir (or Mafatih al-Ghayb) by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.
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