Tafsir-Maarif al-Quran of Mufti Muhammad Shafi An Approach

Abstract

Mufti Muhammad Shafi is counted amongst the leading ‘Ulama of Indo-Pak subcontinent who carried the banner of the pure religion in these lands and spent their lives and their strength in elevating it so that the caravan of Islam continues to proceed. Allah enabled him to serve Islam and the Muslims with every limb of his body, until his life became dependent on religion and its people. Mufti Muhammad Shafi has many beneficial works whose number surpasses one hundred, and according to Mufti Muhammad Rafi ‘Uthmani, the exact number of his books is 162, most of them in the Urdu language, on the sciences of Quranic exegesis, Hadith, Jurisprudence, Spirituality, Literature, Theology, social etiquettes and other topics. One of the greatest contributions of Mufti Muhammad Shafi is considered the writing of a very popular Tafsir known as Ma‘arif al-Quran. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the distinctive features of this important Tafsir which makes it different from other Tafasir.

Keywords: Tafsir, Darul Ulum Deoband, Fiqh, Islamic Religious Sciences

JEL Classification: Islamic, Quran, Exegesis