Hidir b. Abd al-Rahman al-Azd？ and Introduct？on and Evaluat？on Of His Interpretation al-Tibyan fi Tafseer al-Qur’an

Qur’anic Interpretation is an attempt to explain and interpret the kalam (speech) of Allah. The activities on Interpretation began in the time of the Prophet, then the sahaba (companions of the Prophet), the tabiin (those who were the students of the sahaba) continued these activities, resulting in a great number of works on Qur’anic Interpretation. While some of these works include only a part of Qur’an, some deal with all the Qur’an. Similarly, some of the works are short and condense; on the other hand, some are long and detailed. Interpretation can done either through the narrations transmitted from the Prophet, sahaba and tabiin, or through Israiliyyat (narratives originating from Jewish and Christian traditions), or through information obtained from a variety of science in Islamic tradition. One who used these two approaches to pen a Qur’anic Interpretation is Hidir b. Abd al-Rahman al-Azdi, who died in 1301 in Dimashq. Al-Azdi deals with the Qur’an from the beginning to the end in his Interpretation, entitled as al-Tibyan fi tafsir al- Qur’an. He, however, interprets only the words and verses which, to him, need to be explained. Therefore, his Interpretation is short, but contains sufficient information regarding the verses. In the process of interpretation, he provides a summary of what the previous Qur’anic commentators wrote on the related verses