Mawlana Yaqub-i Charkhi And His tafsir

The author of the tafsir work, which we examine as an analysis study, is Ya'qub al-Charkhi (d. 851/1447), an important representative of the Naqshbandi order. He is an author who has written many works in the fields of tafsir, Sufism, jurisprudence, and other areas. Among these works, the most well-known are his single-volume Persian tafsir covering Surah Al-Fatiha and the last two juz, Neynama, Risala-i Unsiyya, and Risala-i Ebdaliyya. Ya'qub al-Charkhi's full name and title are Mawlana Ya'qub b. Osman b. Mahmud b. Muhammad b. Mahmud al-Ghaznawi, Charkhi, Serrezi, and he is known as Mawlana Ya'qub al-Charkhi. The mentioned work is a combination of both riwayah (narrative) and ishari (allegorical) tafsir, written in a mix of verse and prose. The work, which gained fame in its time and was translated into Turkic (Central Asian) of the 16th and 17th centuries and recently into Urdu, from its original Persian manuscript, is known as Tafsir-i Ya'qub al-Charkhi. In the preface of his tafsir, the author explains that he wrote his work at the request of some friends and disciples. The author also notes in almost every surah's tafsir that his work was written in a sermon style. The topics covered in the tafsir mainly revolve around the effort to reflect Islam in practical life, religious etiquette, sect, Sunnah, and community. The handwritten manuscript in our possession was compared with other printed and existing manuscripts worldwide, and the differences, tafsir understanding, and methodology were discussed in our study. While examining and evaluating Ya'qub al-Charkhi, his tafsir, and its impact from an academic perspective, our references primarily consisted of his works and authors close to his era.