Resource: List of Famous Qur’anic Tafasir Works – Shi’a, Sunni and Zaydi

Below is a list of some of the most famous and well known Qurʼānic Exegeses (Tafāsīr) that have been written throughout history. The list has been compiled using a book titled An Introduction to the History of Tafsīr and Commentators of the Qurʼān by Ḥusayn ʿAlawī Mehr, translated into English by Shaykh Ḥamīd Waqār. The book is a decent read and gives brief, yet salient points about all the important tafāsīr works that have been written until recent times. I have also tried to locate the actual books online and have hyper-linked them with their titles for most of the tafāsīr.

SHīʻī TAFĀSĪR

Tafsīr	Author	Demise	Style	Language	Size	Notes
Tanwīr al-Miqbās min Tafsīr b. ʿAbbās	Ibn ʿAbbās	687 AD	Traditional	Arabic	1	Tafsīr compiled by Muḥammad b. Yʿaqūb Fayrūzʼābʼādī
Ṣaḥīfah ʿAli b. Abi Ṭalḥah ʿan Ibn ʿAbbās fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Karīm	Ibn ʿAbbās	687 AD	Traditional	Arabic	1	Tafsīr compiled by Rāshid ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Rajjāl
Gharīb al-Qurʼān Fī Shiʿr al-ʿArab	Ibn ʿAbbās	687 AD	Q & A and Poetic	Arabic	1	Questions asked by Nāfiʿ b. Azraq and answered in Arabic poetry
Tafsīr al-Qumī	ʿAli b. Ibrāhīm al-Qumī	4th Century	Traditional	Arabic	2	Authenticity debated. Book is combined with Tafsīr of Abū al-Jārūd
Tafsīr Furāt al-Kūfī	Abū al-Qāsim Furāt b. Ibrāhīm Kūfī	4th Century	Traditional	Arabic	1	Has 775 narations - about 530 verses explained
Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī	Muḥammad b. Mas'ūd Samarqandī	320 AH	Traditional	Arabic	2
Tafsīr al-Nuʿmānī	Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Jʿafar	360 AH	Traditional	Arabic	1	Book is quoted at the beginning of Biḥār al-Anwār Volume 90
Tafsīr al-Imām al-ʿAskarī	Muḥammad b. Qāsim Astarʼābʼādī	350 AH	Traditional	Arabic	1	Until 283rd verse of Sūrah al-Baqarah - authenticity debated
Ḥaqāʼiq al-Taʼwīl fī Mutashābih al-Tanzīl	Sayyid Raḍī	406 AH	Ijtihādī - theological & literary	Arabic	1	Author of Nahj al-Balāghah
Tafsīr Shaykh al-Mufīd	Shaykh Mufīd	413 AH	Ijtihādī	Arabic		Compiled by Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī Ayāzī
Amālī of Sayyid Murtaḍa	Sayyid Murtaḍa	436 AH	Theological	Arabic	1	79 sections in the book
Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān	Shaykh Ṭūsī	468 AH	Ijtihādī - Theological	Arabic	10
Ḥaqāʼiq al-Tafsīr	Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Sulamī	412 AH	Traditional - Mystical	Arabic	4	He was a Sufi from Nīshāpūr
Majmaʿ al-Bayān	Abū ʿAli Faḍl b. Ḥasan Ṭabarsī	548 AH	Ijtihādī - Theological & Literary	Arabic	10	A correcting, editing and addition to Tafsīr al-Tibyān of Shaykh Ṭūsī
Rawḍ al-Jinān wa Rūḥ al-Janān	Abū al-Futūḥ al-Rāzī	556-560 AH	Ijtihādī - Theological, Mystical & Literary	Farsi	20
Fiqh al-Qurʼān	Quṭb al-Dīn Saʿīd b. ʿAbdullah al-Rāwandī	573 AH	Traditional & Analytical	Arabic	2
Mutashābih al-Qurʼān	Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAli b. Shahrʼāshūb al-Māzandarānī	558 AH	Ijtihādī - Analytical & Literary	Arabic	2
Nahj al-Bayān ʿan Kashf Maʿānī al-Qurʼān	Muḥammad b. Ḥasan Shaybānī	Around 640 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5
Tafsīr al-Balābil al-Qalāqil	Abū al-Makārim Maḥmūd b. Ḥasanī Wāʿiẓ	7th Century AH	Traditional & Theological	Farsi	3
Tafsīr al-Muḥīt al-Aʿẓam	Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī	787 AH	Thematic - Mystical & Sufism	Arabic	4
Jilāʼ al-ʼAdhhān wa Jalāʼ al-ʼAḥzān	Abū al-Maḥāsīn Jurjānī	8th Century AH	Ijtihādī - Theological & Literary	Arabic	10	Summary of Rawḍ al-Jinān
Sʿad al-Suʿūd	Sayyid b. Ṭāwūs	665 AH	Ijtihādī	Arabic	1
Manhaj al-Ṣādiqīn fī Ilzām al-Mukhālifīn	Shaykh Fatḥallāh Kāshānī	988 AH	Traditional - Ethical & Mystical	Farsi	10
Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī	Shaykh Fayḍ Kāshānī	1091 AH	Traditional - Mystical	Arabic	5
Al-Burhān fī al-Tafsīr al-Qurʼān	Sayyid Hāshim Baḥrānī	1107 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5
Nūr al-Thaqalayn	ʿAbd ʿAli b. Jumuʿah al-ʿUrūsī al-Ḥuwayzī	1112 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5
Tafsīr Kanz al-Daqāʼiq	Muḥammad b. Riḍā Mashhadī Qumī	1125 AH	Traditional with Explanations	Arabic	14
Zubdah al-Bayān fī Aḥkām al-Qurʼān	Muqaddas Ardabīlī	993 AH	Jurisprudential	Arabic	1
Tafīr al-Qurʼān al-Karīm	Mullā Ṣadrā	1050 AH	Philosophical & Mystical	Arabic	7
Al-Wajīz - Tafsīr al-Shubbar	Sayyid ʿAbdullāh Shubbar	1242 AH	Ijtihādī - Traditional	Arabic	1
Partūʼī az Qurʼān	Sayyid Maḥmūd Ṭāliqānī	1399 AH	Ijtihādī - Intellectual & Social	Farsi	6
Al-Qurʼān wa al-ʿAql	Sayyid Nūr al-Dīn Ḥusaynī ʿIrāqī	1341 AH	Rational	Arabic	3
Bayān al-Saʿādah fī Muqāmāt al-ʿIbādah	Sulṭān Muḥammad Gunābādī	1327 AH	Mystical	Arabic	4
Al-Ālāʼ al-Raḥmān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān	ʿAllāmah Muḥammad jawād Balāghī	1352 AH	Ijtihādī	Arabic	2
Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Karīm	Sayyid Muṣṭafā Khumaynī	1397 AH	Ijtihādī - Intellectual & Social	Arabic	5
Tafsīr al-Mīzān	ʿAllāmah Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʼī	1402 AH	Ijtihādī - Explaining Qurʼān by the Qurʼān	Arabic	20
Tafsīr Namūneh	Nāṣir Makārim Shīrāzī & coauthors	Alive	Ijtihādī - Social & Literary	Farsi	27
Min Waḥī al-Qurʼān	Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍlullāh	2010 AD	Social & Spiritual Training	Arabic	11
Al-Kāshif	Muḥammad Jawād Mughnīyah	1400 AH	Social	Arabic	7
Al-Furqān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān bi al-Qurʼān wa al-Sunnah	Muḥammad Ṣādiqī Tehrānī	2011 AD	Ijtihādī - Explaining Qurʼān by the Qurʼān	Arabic	30
Al-Tafsīr al-Atharī al-Jamiʿ	Muḥammad Hādī Mʿarifat	2007 AD	Traditional with Explanations	Arabic	30
Makhzan al-ʿIrfān	Nuṣrat Amīn	1403 AH	Ijtihādī - Mystical & Philosophical	Farsi	15
Tafsīr Nūr	Muḥsin Qarāʼatī Kāshānī	Alive	Traditional with Explanations	Farsi	10
Tafsīr Tasnīm	Jawādī Āmulī	Alive	Ijtihādī - Mystical & Philosophical	Farsi	60
Tafsīr Rāhnumā	Hāshimī Rafsanjānī	2017 AD	Thematic	Farsi	20

SunnĪ TAFĀSĪR

Tafsīr	Author	Demise	Style	Language	Size	Notes
Maʿāni al-Qurʼān	Yaḥyā al-Farrāʼ	210 AH	Literary	Arabic	3
Majāz al-Qurʼān	Abū ʿUbaydah	208 AH	Literary	Arabic	2
Naẓm al-Qurʼān	Abū ʿUthmān Jāḥiẓ	255 AH	Literary	Arabic
Tafsīr Jamiʿ al-Bayān fī Taʼwīl al-Qurʼān	Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr Ṭabarī	310 AH	Traditional	Arabic	12
Tafsīr al-Musnad	ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad b. Idrīs (Abū Ḥātim Rāzi)	327 AH	Traditional	Arabic	12
Tafsīr Baḥr al-ʿUlūm (Samarqandī)	Abū Layth Samarqandī	373 AH	Traditional	Arabic	3
Maʿāni al-Qurʼān	Abū Isḥāq Zajjāj	311 AH	Literary	Arabic	5	Etymological and grammatical tafsīr
Al-Nakt fī Iʿjāz al-Qurʼān	Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā Rummānī	386 AH	Theological	Arabic
Taʼwīlāt al-Qurʼān (Ahl al- Sunnah)	Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad b. Muḥammad Māturīdī	333 AH	Theological	Arabic	10	Founder of the Māturīdī sect. Tafsīr is of Sūrah Munāfiqūn till end, and beginning till end of Sūrah Baqarah
Al-Kashf wa al-Bayān	Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad al-Thaʿlabī	427 AH	Traditional & Ijtihādī	Arabic	10	Paid attention to 14 dimensions (v1, p 16)
Al-Wasīt fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Majīd	Abū al-Ḥasan Wāhidī Nayshābūrī	468 AH	Traditional	Arabic	4
Al-Nakt wa al-ʿUyūn	Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad Ḥabīb Māwardī Baṣrī	450 AH	Traditional	Arabic	6	Author was Shāfiʿī
Al-Muḥarrir al-Wajīz	Ibn ʿAṭiyyah Andalusī	543 AH	Traditional	Arabic	1	First author to dismiss Isrāʼīliyyāt, and author was strong in Dirāyah
Tafsīr al-Qurʼān	Abū al-Muẓaffar Samʿānī	489 AH	Traditional & Literary	Arabic	6	Author was Shāfiʿī
Laṭāʼif al-Ishārāt	Abū al-Qāsim b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Hawāzīn Qushayrī Nayshābūrī	465 AH	Mystical	Arabic	3
Tafsīr b. Abū Muslim Isfahānī	Muḥammad b. ʿAli Abū Muslim Isfahānī	459 AH	Literary	Arabic	24	Muʿtazalī
Al-Kashhāf	Jārullāh Zamakhsharī	538 AH	Literary & Theological	Arabic	6
Maʿālim al-Tanzīl	Abū Muḥammad b. Masʿūd Baghawī	516 AH	Traditional with Explanations	Arabic	8
Zād al-Masīr fī ʿIlm al-Tafsīr	Abū al-Faraj b. Muḥammad al-Jawzī	597 AH	Traditional-Analytical & Literary	Arabic	9
Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿIddah al-Abrār	Abū al-Faḍl Rashīd al-Dīn Maybudī	530 AH	Mystical	Farsi	10	Originally written by Khājah ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī (d. 481)
Tafsīr Kabīr (Mafātīh al-Ghayb)	Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī	606 AH	Ijtihādī - Theological & Philosophical	Arabic	32
Al-Jamiʿ li Aḥkām al-Qurʼān	Abū ʿAbdullāh Qurṭubī	761 AH	Ijtihādī - Literary & Jurisprudence	Arabic	24
Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Taʼwīl	Abū al-Khayr b. Bayḍāwī Shīrāzī	685 AH	Ijtihādī - Literary	Arabic	4
Madārik al-Tanzīl wa Haqāʼiq al-Tʼawīl	Ibn Maḥmūd Nasafī	710 AH	Ijtihādī	Arabic	5
Lubāb al-Tʼawīl fī Maʿāni al-Tanzīl	ʿAlāʼ al-Dīn al-Khāzin	725 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5
Gharāʼib al-Qurʼān wa Raghāʼib al-Furqān	Ḥasan b. Muḥammad Qummī Nayshābūrī	730 AH	Ijtihādī - Philosophical, Mystical & Theological	Arabic	6	Dispute whether he was Shīʿah or Sunnī
Al-Baḥr al-Muḥīṭ fī al-Tafsīr	Abū Ḥayyān Andalusī Gharnāṭī	745 AH	Ijtihādī - Literary	Arabic	10
Tafsīr al-Qur'an al-Aẓīm	Abū al-Fidāʼ b. Kathīr Damishqī	775 AH	Traditional	Arabic	4
Al-Jawāhir al-Hisān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān	ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Thaʿālabī	876 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5
Al-Nazm al-Durar fī Tanāsūb al-Āyāt wa al-Suwar	Burhān al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan Baqāʼī	885 AH	Mystical	Arabic	22
Taʼwīlāt al-Najmiyyah fī Tafsīr al-Ishārī	Najm al-Dīn Asadī	654 AH	Mystical	Arabic	4
Durr al-Manthūr fī al-Tafsīr bil al-Maʼthūr	Jalāl al-Dīn Suyūtī	911 AH	Traditional	Arabic	17
Rūh al-Bayān	Shaykh Ismāʿīl Haqqī Burūsawī	1127 AH	Mystical & Literary	Arabic	10
Fatḥ al-Qadīr	Muḥammad b. ʿAli b. Shawkānī	1250 AH	Traditional	Arabic	5	Author was born in a Zaydī family, but later became a Sunnī
Rūh al-Maʿānī	Shahāb al-Dīn Ālūsī Baghdād	1270 AH	Ijtihādī	Arabic	15
Bayān al-Maʼāni ʿala Ḥasab Tartīb al-Nuzūl	ʿAbd al-Qādir Mullāh Hawīsh	1398 AH	Chronological with Explanations	Arabic	6	Chronological tafsīr
Tafsīr al-Ḥadīth	Muḥammad ʿIzzah Nāblusī	1400 AH	Chronological with Explanations	Arabic	10	Chronological tafsīr
Al-Jawāhir fī Tafsīr al-Qurʼān al-Karīm	Ṭanṭāwī Jawharī	1357 AH	Intellectual	Arabic	20
Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʼān	Sayyid Quṭb	1386 AH	Social & Scientific	Arabic	6	Translated into English as In the Shade of the Qur'an
Al-Manār	Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAbduh & Sayyid Rashīd Riḍā	1323 & 1354 AH	Social & Scientific	Arabic	12
Maḥāsin al-Taʼwīl	Jamāl al-Dīn Qāsimī	1332 AH	Social	Arabic	17
Tafsīr al-Murāghī	Aḥmad Muṣṭafā Murāghī	1371 AH	Social	Arabic	10
Aḍwāʼ al-Bayān fī Īḍāḥ al-Qurʼān bi al-Qurʼān	Muḥammad Amīn Shanqītī	1393 AH	Explaining Qurʼān by the Qurʼān	Arabic	10
Tafsīr al-Qurʼān li al-Qurʼān al-Karīm	ʿAbd al-Karīm Khaṭīb	1396 AH	Ijtihādī - Explaining Qurʼān by the Qurʼān	Arabic	16
Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr	Ibn ʿ Āshūr	1393 AH	Ijtihādī - Social & Literary	Arabic	15
Zahrah al-Tafasīr	Muḥammad Abū Zahrah	1394 AH	Social	Arabic	10
Tafsīr al-Munīr	Wahbah al-Zaḥīlī	Alive	Ijtihādī - Social	Arabic	16
Al-Asās fī al-Tafsīr	Saʿīd Ḥawwī	1989 AD	Social	Arabic	16
Tafsīr al-Shaʿrāwī	Muḥammad Mutawallī Shaʿrāwī	1411 AH	Social	Arabic	15

ZaydĪ TAFĀSĪR

Tafsīr	Author	Demise	Style	Language	Size	Notes
Tafsīr al-Tahdhīb	Jushamī	494 AH	Theological	Arabic	8

Sayyid Ali

Sayyid Ali studied in the seminary of Qom from 2012 to 2021, while also concurrently obtaining a M.A in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London in 2018. In the seminary he engaged in the study of legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophy, eventually attending the advanced kharij of Usul and Fiqh in 2018. He is currently completing his Masters of Education at the University of Toronto and is the head of a private faith-based school in Toronto, as well as an instructor at the Mizan Institute and Mufid Seminary.

14 thoughts on “Resource: List of Famous Qur’anic Tafasir Works – Shi’a, Sunni and Zaydi”

Ibraheem

July 1, 2014 at 10:47 pm

what is the meaning of “traditional” tafseer?
Aal-e-Imran

July 1, 2014 at 10:57 pm

Where the author simply quotes the ahadith in regards to a verse(s).
abdul samad

May 14, 2015 at 2:27 pm

as salam alaikum, brother, i need to find some of thats in english, im from brasil, and start to learn arabic about 5 months, i cant read yet!!! please help me!!
jazaka Allahu kheir
inam

July 31, 2016 at 3:36 pm

http://www.tafheem.net/tafheem.html
Sana

April 2, 2017 at 2:22 pm

Salam

I am looking for Tafseer Ibn Abu Muslim Isfahani (Muhammad ibn Ali Abu Muslim Isfahani). The provided link(http://library.tafsir.net/book/4527) is for Abu Zakaria Yahya ibn Ziyad fur Tafseer.
Can any please help me to find Abu Muslim Isfahani Tafseer?
Pingback: How to Better Understand and Study Hadith | Shafaqna English
Hussaini Abdulslam

April 30, 2017 at 11:03 pm

salam alaikum, Did Sheik Dahiru Usman Bauchi Nigeria is best among the peoples that are quranic tafseer?
Pingback: List of Famous Qur’anic Tafaseer (Exegeses) Throughout History | Shafaqna English
Abdul Quddus

July 18, 2017 at 2:13 am

Assalamu’Alaikuim,

I am also looking for Tafseer Ibn Abu Muslim Isfahani (Muhammad ibn Ali Abu Muslim Isfahani). The provided link (http://library.tafsir.net/book/4527) given above is incorrect.

Can anyone advise how to find Abu Muslim Isfahani Tafseer?
Abdul Quddus

July 18, 2017 at 2:17 am

Salam

@Sana,

I am also looking for the the Tafseer by Ibn Abu Muslim Isfahani. If you have any information, please let me know.

JazakAllahu Khairan
Haleem

July 21, 2017 at 6:03 pm

السلامُ علیکم و رحمۃ اللّٰہ و برکاتہ
I wish to downloads latest tafseer of holy Qura’an in urdu in PDF format kindly suggest which author’s easy urdu latast tafseer is available on line or in PDF formate
Noval Ch

July 23, 2017 at 6:35 am

Waalaikumsalam.
I just upload it.
Hope you enjoy it.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7JRkvH5Hn8tTXlFM1NGcEgzT2c
Abder Rahman Abu Musa

September 28, 2017 at 8:57 am

You didnt list ibn Kathir?!?!
Astaghfir Allah
Sultan Manzoor Ansari

October 8, 2017 at 1:44 am

Mosa
I also shocked about ibn e kathir.
Tafseer Ibn e Kathir is very famous tafseer.

Biography
writer of ibn e kathir

His full name : Abū l-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar ibn Kaṯīr (أبو الفداء إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير), with the honorary title of ʿImād ad-Dīn (عماد الدين “pillar of the faith”). He was born in Mijdal, a village on the outskirts of the city of Busra, to the east of Damascus, Syria, around about AH 701 (AD 1300/1)[citation needed]. He was taught by Ibn Taymiyya and Al-Dhahabi.

Upon completion of his studies he obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine certain questions of heresy.[5] He married the daughter of Al-Mizzi, one of the foremost Syrian scholars of the period, which gave him access to the scholarly elite. In 1345 he was made preacher (khatib) at a newly built mosque in Mizza, the home town of his father-in-law. In 1366, he rose to a professorial position at the Great Mosque of Damascus.[5][11]

In later life, he became blind.[9][11] He attributes his blindness to working late at night on the Musnad of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in an attempt to rearrange it topically rather than by narrator. He died in February 1373 (AH 774) in Damascus. He was buried next to his teacher Ibn Taymiyya.[12]