The reliability of Muqatil b. Suleiman's tafsir narratives -textcomparison with narrative of Ali b. Abu Talha-

Ali b. Abu Talha (d.143/760) wrote or had written one of the first written texts on tafsir. This tafsir page is important in that it is the most reliable among the isnads which reached Ibn Abbas. Being the first complete tafsirs in the history of tafsirs, Muqatil b. Suleiman's (d.150/767) Tafsir al-Kebir is also at an utmost importance. It is also of great value thanks to its proximity to the revelation period and thus, it gives information about the early tafsir texts. Indeed, no work can be considered independently of its author and period, and the fact that Muqatil b. Suleiman lived in a quite turbulent era in terms of politics and creed brings to mind the question of how justified the criticisms directed to the commentator are. In fact, the accusations and criticisms about Muqatil caused his interpretations to be ignored and not valued for a while. It is seen that the understanding of the Ahl al-Hadith, which was both politically and scientifically directedat that time, was the basis for these criticisms. Because it is seen thatthe criticisms are gathered around two main reasons: Muqatil's intertwining with politics and the method he adopted while writing his interpretation. As a matter of fact, it is noteworthy that he met with the caliphs of his time and took part in political-creed debates. The way and method he followed in his interpretation was in the opposite direction of the understanding of the period. Muqatil's taking an unconventional way by mostly not using isnad has been so different from both the conventional style of the commentator and tafsir narrations by Ahl al-Hadith. In addition, it is seened that Muqatil differs from the common understanding of transmission in his time, as well as his own unique way of writing commentaries. First of all, his interpretation of the whole Quran, his devotion to the narration as well as blending it with wisdom, and his frequent reference in İsrâiliyat as a reason for the revelation and in the description of indefinite expressions are striking. Based on aforementioned datas, in the first part of our study, we questioned the authenticity of the page attributed to Ali b. Abu Talha. In addition, we examined whether the accusations about Muqatil being a Mujassima, Murjiah or Zaydi have any counterpart in the tafsir work, taking into account the reasons. Also, we evaluated these allegations within the conditions of the region and period in which he lived. Apart from his use of İsrailiyat, it is seen that the aforementioned accusations are periodic and political criticisms that have no counterpart in his interpretation. In the second part, aiming to determine the reliability of Muqatil, we compared his works to Ali b. Abu Talha's narratives, which are the most reliable isnad attributing to İbn Abbas, and Muqatil b. Suleiman's tafsir narratives in his work Tafsir al-Kebir. As a result, we came to the conclusion that Muqatil b. Suleiman's tafsir and Ali b. Abu Talha narratives are highly similar. However, as Mukâtil was more advanced in literally devotion to narration than Ali b. Abu Talha, there were some differences as well. Furthermore, comparing some similar verses with the Tabari's narrations led us to conclude that Muqatil b. Suleiman is in accord with the tradition of tafsir narration. Based on this, Ali b. Abu Talha and Muqatil b. Suleiman's commentary materials may possibly belong to the same source. Therefore, Muqatil b. Suleiman's tafsir's narrations do belong to the tradition of tafsir transmission. It isconcluded that the discussions about the reliability of his reports stem from the evaluation of the hadith transmission tradition criteria. Moreover, the accusations against him are based on a specific political-religious ideology.