Blog
Writing that helps you understand what you read.
Tafsir schools"And for every people is a guide" (Ar-Ra'd 7): how Sunni and Shia scholars read it
The verse in Surah Ar-Ra'd where God tells His prophet "you are only a warner", and the one point at issue: who is the guide in every people? Each tradition quoted from a work this site serves, agreements before disagreements, and no adjudication.
- Quranic themes
Verses about trusting in God (tawakkul) in the Quran
The root of tawakkul occurs in thirty-eight verses, and four fixed formulas carry most of them. The verses arranged by what they do - command, description, the words of prophets, and consequence - with both tafsir traditions on Ibrahim 12 and At-Talaq 3.
- Quran sciences
What the pause marks in the mushaf mean (meem, jeem, and the three dots)
The small symbols above the words of the mushaf are neither decoration nor vowels - each one is a ruling about stopping and continuing. Every mark explained on the text this site displays, with its number of occurrences counted, and the twenty-one places where stopping is obligatory.
- Stories of the Quran
The story of Ayyub (Job) in the Quran, scene by scene
Ayyub is named in only four verses, and his story sits in two passages: Al-Anbiya 83-84 and Sad 41-44. The scenes in the Quran's own order, what "the harm", "strike with your foot" and "a bunch of twigs" mean in both tafsir traditions, and what the Quran leaves out.
- Verses explained
"Indeed we belong to Allah": what Al-Baqarah 156 actually says
The words said at a calamity are not a prayer and not a condolence - they are an admission in two halves. Where the verse sits, what its wording does, how both tafsir traditions read it, and the threefold reward in the verse that follows.
- Surahs
Surah Al-Baqarah: the longest surah, and what it is actually about
286 verses across the first three juz and forty-eight mushaf pages. A section-by-section map of the surah, its opening verse with both tafsir traditions, the longest verse in the Quran, and how it closes.
- Quranic words
What does "al-hamd" mean, and how is it different from thanks?
The meaning of al-hamd, "praise", in the Quran and how it differs from shukr, "thanks" — "praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds", "praise is due to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth", and "if you are grateful, I will surely increase you" — read in al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan.
- Tafsir schools
The verse of wudu (Al-Ma'idah 6): how Sunni and Shia scholars read it
The verse that names washing, wiping and tayammum, and where the two traditions part over the feet and over one preposition - drawn from al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan, with the points of agreement before the points of difference, and no adjudication.
- Quranic themes
Verses about knowledge in the Quran, with the commentaries
Knowledge in the Quran — "are those who know equal to those who do not know?", "my Lord, increase me in knowledge", "Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees", and "only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge" — read in al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan.
- Quran sciences
How the Quran was collected: from revelation to mushaf
The Quran came down in pieces over twenty-three years. What the verses on its keeping and gathering say, read in al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan, and the stages the books of Quranic sciences report: memorisation and writing, then one mushaf, then copies sent out.
- Stories of the Quran
The story of Adam in the Quran, scene by scene
Adam's story scene by scene — the successor, the names, the prostration, the garden and the tree, the disobedience and the words — read in al-Tafsir al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan, with where they agree and where they differ.
- Verses explained
"Indeed I am near": what Al-Baqarah 186 says
A verse about answered prayer, set in the middle of the fasting verses and answered without an intermediary - read in Al-Tafsir al-Muyassar and in al-Safi and al-Mizan, with its words counted against the mushaf.
- Surahs
Surah Al-Waqiah: the surah that sorts everyone into three
Surah Al-Waqiah read in three commentaries - al-Muyassar, al-Safi and al-Mizan: the three groups and who the foremost are, the argument from what you already see, and "none touch it except the purified" - whether touching means the hand or knowledge.