Purposefulness of the Sūras of the Qur'an in Marāghī's Tafsīr

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

Aḥmad Muṣṭafā Marāghī is one of the eminent Sunni writers of interpretation (tafsīr). Throughout his dignified tafsīr, he talks about the purposefulness of the sūras; thus, professing to a relation between the āyas of a sūra. Regarding the relation between the āyas of a sūra, sometimes he relates the beginning of a sūra to its end and sometimes between āyas of the same context.
Concerning the relation between āyas of the same context, various types of relations are noticed in Marāghī's tafsīr: relation between two adjacent collections, relation between a collection and the last āya of the previous collection, relation between a collection and the middle part of the previous collection, relation between two separate collections, relation between a collection and several previous collection, etc.
Lexical relation, relation between cause and effect, epitomes and details, indication and signification, and descriptive, purposive, conceptual, and explicative relations are part of Marāghī's methodology concerning the relation among āyas of the Qur'an.
The late Marāghī has made use of the names of the sūras and their Medinan or Meccan origin to unveil the purpose of a sūra.
Similarly, he views the recognition of the Meccan and Medinan sūras as resulting from the notion of purposefulness of sūras, and regards the order of the āyas and the gradual revelation of the Qur'an as the fundamentals of the discourse.
One of the evident signs of Marāghī's belief in purposefulness of sūras of the Qur'an is his belief in the purposefulness of the Qur'an and āyas and employment of rather similar methods to achieve a purpose.