Early period tafsir al-Ishari on ahqam verses –Examples of al-Tustari, al-Sulami, and al-Qushayri

The addressees of the Holy Qur'an have been attempting to understand it since its revelation to the Prophet. Sufis, who became more visible in the Islamic society from the Hijri second century onwards, have also tried to understand the revelation on the axis of their own perspectives. In this study, the interpretations of the early Sufi interpreters, al-Ṭustari, al-Sulami and al-Qushayri, regarding ahqam verses are analyzed. Their interpretations are presented in a descriptive manner, and in this framework, it is aimed to determine their methods of interpreting ahqam verses and the sources they relied on. In addition, it is also aimed to reveal the contribution of these interpretations to the science of tafsir in the context of the relationship between ahqam and akhlaq. In the first part of the thesis, the nature, method, and value of tafsir al-Ishari, and the understanding of ahqam verses in terms of ishari interpretation and literal interpretation are presented. In this part, a general information about the understanding of ishari interpretation is provided and how ahqam verses are understood in the Islamic scholarly tradition is discussed. In the second part, the sources used by the early Sufi interpreters in their interpretations and the method they followed in their transition from zahiri interpretation to ishari interpretation are analyzed. The third part is devoted to the description of the commentaries of the early ishari interpretations of ahqam verses. Here, their approaches to ahqam verses are presented and their tafsir are evaluated in terms of declarative interpretation. As a result, it is observed that the early Sufi interpreters used both zahiri and ishari method in the interpretation of ahqam verses and acknowledged the zahiri meaning and rulings of ahqam verses. It is found that some of the ishari interpretations have some problems in terms of both source and methodology. In addition, it is concluded that these interpretations are generally successful in evaluating ahqam verses from a moral point of view and in drawing rulings from them, that they contribute to the understanding of ahqam verses, and that they offer new horizons for the human mind in comprehending the inner dimension of the ruling.