Comparison of Wahidī's exegesis and Celāleyn exegesis

Interpretation activities to understand and explain the Holy Qur'an better, goes back to the time of Prophet Muhammed. Over time, these activities have developed and gained a systematic identity. In this study, we compared the al-Wajēz fī Tafsīr al-Kitāb al-Azīz of Abu'l Hasan Ali b. Ahmed b. Muhammed al-Wahidī and Tafsīr al-Celāleyn of Abu Abdillah Celāl ad-Dīn al-Mahallī and Abu'l Fadl Celāl ad-Dīn al-Suyutī. Wahidī and his works have not been studied in our country except from some limited efforts and it is also seen that there isn't any separate study on al-Wajēz. Therefore, we aimed to make a comparative assessment between Tafsīr al-Celāleyn which has been taught in madrasahs for a long period of time and its main source al-Wajēz. This study under the title of "Comparison of Wahidī's Exegesis and Celāleyn Exegesis" is consisted of an introduction and three main chapters. In the first chapter, we examined the life, scientific personality, works and the characteristics of his interpretations. In the second chapter, the two works are studied from the aspect of their riwayah and dirayah (narrative and rational) methods and also analyzed the methods of interpreting the Qur'an with ayats, sunnah, recitation and sayings of sahaba and tabi'un as well as asbab an nuzul. In addition to that, we mentioned the extent to which the glossators included the sciences of wording, sarf and nahv. Moreover we examined the fıqh and kalam aspects of the interpretations and explained the views of the glossators within this context. In the third chapter, the interpretations are studied from the aspect of Qur'anic sciences and compared as to which topics the authors gave more space. Among these subjects, we mentioned naskh–mensuh, muhkam and mutashabih (Clear and Ambiguous Verses), al-huruf al-muqatta (detached letters), ghareb al Qur'an, mubhamat al Qur'an and al-wujuh wa al-nazair. Furthermore, we examined whether the Tafsīr al-Celāleyn was under the influence of its main source al-Wajēz and from which aspects the two works resemble and diverge. Consequently, even though it is seen that Tafsīr al-Celāleyn was influenced by al-Wajēz, the latter is still richer than Tafsīr al-Celāleyn when considered to include the information from the sciences of recitation, sarf and nahv.