اختلافی تفسیر کے تناظر میں جامع البیان عن تأویل آی القرآن ازامام جریر طبری ﷫کا تحقیقی جائزہ

“An Analytical Study of Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān by Imām al-Ṭabarī in the Context of Interpretive Differences”

Abstract

Qur’anic tafsīr constitutes a central and indispensable branch of Islamic scholarship, serving as the primary means through which the meanings and implications of the Divine Revelation are explored. A salient feature of this discipline is the diversity of interpretative approaches among exegetes, which emerges from a variety of factors, including linguistic and rhetorical nuances, variant Qur’anic readings, multiplicity of asbāb al-nuzūl (occasions of revelation), and divergent narrational or juristic orientations. Rather than indicating contradiction, such diversity reflects the vast semantic scope of the Qur’an and the intellectual richness of Islamic scholarship. This study initially outlines the concept, categories, and underlying causes of exegetical differences, before presenting a critical examination of Imām Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī’s (d. 310 AH) Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān. The analysis demonstrates that al-Ṭabarī not only collated the various opinions of earlier scholars but also evaluated them through a rigorous process of argumentation and evidence-based reasoning, ultimately privileging the view he deemed most persuasive. Selected examples from Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī illustrate the operation of these differences, with particular attention to linguistic analysis, variant readings, revelatory contexts, and juristic tendencies. The study concludes that Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī transcends the role of a mere repository of transmitted reports; rather, it represents a methodologically sophisticated and critically reasoned corpus. It thus constitutes a foundational source for understanding the phenomenon of interpretative diversity in Qur’anic exegesis and for appreciating the epistemological structure upon which exegetical discourse is built.