أثر البلاغة في الترجيح عند المفسرين

Athar al-Balaghah fi al-Tarjih 'inda al-Mufassirin

A specialised contemporary study by Dr. ʿAjjāj ʿAwdah Barghash examining the role played by Arabic rhetoric (balāghah) in determining and preferring one interpretation of a Qurʾānic verse over another. The work originated as the author’s doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Sharīʿah, University of Damascus, where it was submitted in 2017 under the supervision of Dr. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ḥājī.

The study focuses particularly on three major works of tafsīr: al-Zamakhsharī’s al-Kashshāf, al-Ṭībī’s Futūḥ al-Ghayb fī al-Kashf ʿan Qināʿ al-Rayb, and Abū al-Suʿūd’s Irshād al-ʿAql al-Salīm. Through these works, the author investigates how the mufassir’s understanding of maʿānī, bayān and badīʿ, and of the rhetorical structure of Qurʾānic discourse more generally, can function as an instrument of tarjīḥ: deciding which of several grammatically or semantically possible interpretations is most appropriate to the context and eloquence of the verse. The original academic study is accordingly catalogued under both the preferences of Qurʾānic exegetes and the influence of the Arabic language upon tafsīr.

The book thus brings together two important disciplines that are often studied separately: Qurʾānic rhetoric and the principles of exegetical preference (qawāʿid al-tarjīḥ). Rather than treating balāghah merely as a means of appreciating the literary beauty of the Qurʾān, it demonstrates its practical exegetical function in clarifying intended meanings, evaluating competing interpretations and understanding why leading mufassirūn preferred one explanation of a verse over another.

It is particularly valuable for advanced students and researchers of Tafsīr, Uṣūl al-Tafsīr, Balāghah, Qurʾānic Arabic and the methodologies of the classical mufassirūn.