Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam.

• Author: Lawson, Todd

Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam. By KRISTIN ZAHRA SANDS. Routledge Studies in the Quran. London: ROUTLEDGE, 2006. Pp. viii + 196.

This fine contribution to Sufi tafsir studies provides a reliable and well-written guide to many of the major works of that tradition and raises a number of important questions, especially about the categories with which we are accustomed to thinking about Islam. This is as it should be, because it suggests that this was in fact part of the project of the authors whose works are so ably analyzed in this book. These authors and the exegetic and hermeneutic issues with which they worked and obviously struggled wished to provide an alternative to the burgeoning culture of what might be thought the normative tradition of Qur'an commentary. It is also clear from the analysis offered here that these same authors wanted to remain faithful to this very same tradition. The result of such dynamic tension is the remarkable and instructive creativity that is so admirably traced and illuminated in the pages of the book at hand.

The book is made up of two parts. Part I, "Hermeneutics," organizes the discussion into five sections or principles/presuppositions. Chapter one (pp. 7-13) presents the argument that the Quaran is the repository of all knowledge, supported with hadiths from Ibn Mas'ud, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and Ja'far alSadiq (in that order). Chapter two (pp. 14-28) deals with Qur'an 3:7, which has been worried into the status of pious truism not only by generations of mufassirun and others, but also (by now) several generations of post-enlightenment scholars. Here the basic point is that the Qur'an contains two types of verses: A) those that are utterly clear and easy for anyone to understand (muhkamat), and B) those that are not so transparent because they can mean a number of things (mutashabihat), either all at once or otherwise. Chapter three (pp. 29-34) treats the relationship between interpretation of the Qur'an and the private spiritual or mystical experience of the reader (hudur al-qalb). Chapter four (pp. 35-46) is on the variety of interpretations available to such readers during the classical period. Chapter five (pp. 47-63) discusses the polemics and apologetics arising from the idea and practice of "Sufi Qur'anic Interpretation."

Part II, "Commentary," is divided into four sections (chapters 6-9). Chapter six (pp. 67-78) discusses a group of eight Muslim authors under the rubric "Sufi...