Traces of Ahl al-Bayt in Shahristani's Tafsir, Mafatih al-Asrar

Abstract

Shahristani is a one of the important intellectuals and statesmen of the Great Seljuks, versatile scholar who has written works in many fields. Toward the end of his life, he wrote his tafsir called Mafatih al-asrar and Mesabih al-abrar, which can be considered as supra-sectarian/school, but he did not live long enough to finish the tafsir. When his tafsir is examined, it is seen that he presents views in accordance with the Ahl as-sunnah and Shia.The subtitles of his tafsir, his thoughts on the reason for revelation, the relationship between the ayah/verses, parable, fiqh, qiraat/recitation, morphology, syntax, semantics, tafsir and lexicon, all these are largely similar to the style and content of the narrations and interpretations of Ahl as-sunnah. Shahristani mostly makes use of Sunni scholars in the relevant issues. However, it differs from Ahl as-sunnah with the deep interpretations he makes for the verses in the titles of asrar, which is the most original part of his tafsir: the interpretations close to the Shiite thought system. For this reason, various opinions have been put forward about his sectarian belonging.Although Shahristani's generating of esoteric-hurufi interpretations in the interpretation of some verses, attributing deep meanings to the verses, creating salutation sentences by attributing the concepts of the Qur'an to people, and using them in line with Ismaili terminology by attributing symbolic meanings to some of them, have been interpreted that he is Batiniyya-Ismailism, it is very difficult to give a definite opinion on this matter. However, it is possible to attribute this method - as Mustafa ozturk stated- to the use of Ismailism terms as an instrument in order to give a philosophical depth to the Akhbari line of Imamiyya. Because the identity he revealed in his commentary is a Shiite-Imami-Akhbari identity rather than a Batiniyya-Ismailism.In the introduction, Shahristani gives special importance to their opinion by clearly stating that the interpretations and ta'vils he has made on the titles of asrar are not the source of information, but the imams of the Ahl al-bayt. In this way, it is possible to find many narrations and opinions reflecting their views in his interpretation. He also opposes self-conceived interpretations of the Qur'an (tafsir bi'l-ra'y) and argues that the one who explains it with his own view makes a mistake whether he explains it correctly or not. Throughout his commentary, he concentrates on the scientific knowledge of Hazrat Ali and his Ahl al-bayt in the titles of asrar and interprets the Qur'an by referring to the narrations coming from them. The companion to whom he consulted the most is Hazrat Ali, whom Shia considers innocent and the first imam. After that, Ja'far al-Sadiq is one of the people Shahristani refers most as he makes interpretations compatible with the Shia school.When we look at the academic studies on Shahristani's Mafatih al-Asrar, it is seen that many of those have been carried out in different fields. However, it is also seen that there is no study on the traces of Shia or Ahl al-bayt, and Shiite interpretations found in his tafsir. As it is known, every commentator follows a unique method while processing the narrations in his book. In this regard, the main question of our study is, What is the main purpose of Shahristani's reference to Ahl al-bayt imams and Shia sources while interpreting the verses? Throughout the study, the answer to this question is sought, and the strengths and weaknesses of his interpretation are scrutinized through the findings, and some evaluations are made about the sectarian identity of the author. In the study, the asrar sections are centered and the traces of the Ahl al-bayt are examined with examples. The method of using Shia narration sources in the commentary of Shahristani, who is distinguished by his scientific knowledge. The interest and knowledge of Shia hadiths are examined in the essay by making a general assessment about the Shia narrations used in his commentary.