Tafsir al-Qurtubi - Vol. 1: Juz’ 1

The tafsīr of al-Qurṭubī is perhaps one of the most compendious of them all and is certainly among the most famous. As its title, al-Jāmi' li Aḥkām al-Qur'ān - The General Judgments of the Qur'an, suggests, its main focus is on the rulings and judgments to be found in the Qur'ān. However, in the course of doing that, al-Qurṭubī examines all the relevant sciences necessary, such as the ḥadīth pertaining to the āyahs, events in the sīrah, what the Companions, their Followers and other noted people of knowledge said about the āyahs, essential aspects of Arabic etymology, syntax and usage, copiously illustrated by examples, and much more.

In this volume, the author examines the Fātiḥah in great depth, and then works through the first juz' (two ḥizbs), stopping to examine linguistic matters, aḥkām/judgments in greater detail, covering, for example, īmān, establishment of the ṣalāt, zakāt, hypocrisy, the Tribe of Israel, the creation of Adam and Ḥawwā', caliphate, abrogation, and including the pivotal story of the sacrifice of the cow by the Tribe of Israel.