Gateway to the Qur'anic Sciences :
Based on Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an,
*[A5] Paperback - 146 pages, New,
by Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti [d.911h],
Translated by Omar Husain,
Published by Turath.

Description :


Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, describes in the Qur'an as the 'guidance to mankind, and the Criterion (of right and wrong)' (2:185). Islamic scholars have therefore sought to explain the sciences associated with correctly understanding the revelation. This discipline has come to be known as 'ulum al-Qur'an, or 'sciences of the Qur'an,' and includes many subjects, such as the nature and order of revelation, explanations of the types of expressions used in the revelation and how the sacred text is to be correctly recited.


Imam Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote one of the leading comprehensive manuals on 'Ulum al-Qur'an, entitled Al-Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an. The text translated here is a summary by Salah ad-Din Arqahudan of many major topics covered in the Itqan.





Imam Jalal al-Din as-Suyuti: `Abd al-Rahman ibn Kamal al-Din Abi Bakr,  Jalal al-Din al-Misri al-Suyuti al-Shafi`i al-Ash`ari, also known as Ibn al-Asyuti (849-911), the mujtahid imam and renewer of the tenth Islamic century, foremost hadith master, jurist, Sufi, philologist, and historian, he authored works in virtually every Islamic science.


Born to a Turkish mother and non-Arab father and raised as an orphan in Cairo, he memorized the Qur'an at eight, then several complete works of Sacred Law, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and Arabic grammar; after which he devoted himself to studying the Sacred Sciences under about a hundred and fifty shaykhs.  A giant among contemporaries, he remained alone, producing a sustained output of scholarly writings until his death at the age of sixty-two. He was buried in Hawsh Qawsun in Cairo.






Table of Contents :


---Publishers Preface,
---Editor's Introduction.


Chapter [1]. Etiquette and Virtues,
---The Names of the Noble Qur'an
---Sciences Derived from the Qur'an,
---Virtues of the Qur'an,
---Incitement to Recite the Qur'an,
---Frequency and Completion of Recitation,
---Warnings of Punishment for Forgetting the Qur'an,
---Etiquette or Reciting the Qur'an,
---The Best of the Qur'an and the Most Eloquent Verses.

Chapter [2]. The Qur'an and the Language of the Arabs,
---Non-Arabic Words in the Qur'an,
---That which was Revealed in a non-Hijazi Dialect,

Chapter [3]. The Qur'an and Sacred Revelation,
---Is the Qur'an Created (makhluq)?
---How the Noble Qur'an Descended,
---The Wisdom behind Gradual Revelation,
---How the Revelation Descended,
---The Revelation,
---How the Revelation was Received.

Chapter [4]. History of the Qur'an,
---Makki and Madani surahs,
---The First Revelations of the Qur'an,
---The Last Revelations of the Qur'an,
---The Compilation and Order of the Qur'an,
---The Number of Chapters, Verses, Words and Letters of the Qur'an,
---The Chapters of the Qur'an,
---Divisions of the Qur'an,
---Intervals (fawasil) between the Verses.

Chapter [5]. Reasons of Revelation, and the Benefit of Knowing Them,
---Verses whose Rulings came After the Verses were Revealed, and Verses which Preceded their Rulings,
---That which was Revealed Gradually, and that which was Revealed at Once,
---That which was Revealed to some Prophets, and that which was Revealed exclusively to Prophet Muhammad, ?, and no-one before him,
---Verses that were Revealed on More than One Occasion.

Chapter [6]. The Qur'anic Script,
---The 'Seven Styles' (sab'at ahruf),
---The 'Uthmani script of the Qur'an and the 'Seven Styles,'
---The Writing and Lettering of the Qur'an,
---Etiquette of Writing the Mushaf,

Chapter [7]. The Recitations,
---Memorisers (huffaz) and Narrators of the Recitations,
---Valid and Inauthentic Recitations,
---The Benefits and Types of Differences in Recitation.

Chapter [8]. The Learning and Memorising of the Qur'an,
---How the Mushaf is Preserved,
---Conditions of Ijazah ('licence') from a Shaykh.

Chapter [9]. Decisive and Allegorical Verses,
---Can Allegorical Verses be Interpreted with Knowledge, or does only Allah have Knowledge of them?
---What is the Wisdom in Revealing Allegorical Verses?
---The 'Disconnected Letters' at the Beginning of Chapters,
---Problems and Confusion concerning Apparent Contradictions in the Qur'an.

Chapter [10]. Exegesis and the Exegetes,
---Tafsir and Ta'wil,
---Conditions and Etiquette of an Exegete (Mufassir),
---The Companions and Qur'anic Exegesis,
---Ranks of the Exegetes.

Chapter [11]. Abrogation in the Qur'an,
---The Abrogator (Nasikh) and the Abrogated (Mansukh),
---Three Types of Abrogation occur in the Qur'an,
---How do we know the Abrogated Verses?

Chapter [12]. Grammatical States,
---Grammatical States,
---Uncommon Expressions (Gharib).

Chapter [13]. The Miracle of the Qur'an,


Chapter [14]. Various Styles of the Qur'an
---Non-Explicated (Mujmal) and Explicated (Mubayyan) Expressions,
---Literal Expressions (Haqiqah) and Metaphor (Majaz),
---Indirect Expressions (Kinayah),
---Limitation (Hasr) and Specification (Takhsis),
---Allah's Ways of Address,
---The Specific ('Amm) and the General (Khass) Verses,
---Unconditional (Mutlaq) and Qualified (Muqayyad) Verses,
---The Explicit (Mantuq) and Implied (Mafhum) Verses,
---Obscure Matters (Mubhamat) in the Qur'an,
---Similitudes in the Qur'an,
---Oaths in the Qur'an,
---Argumentation in the Qur'an,
---Homonyms (Wujuh) and Unicity (Naza'ir).







More works of Imam al-Suyuti,
More on the Qur'anic Sciences,

*Dimensions : 21.5 x 14cm.