Esoteric interpretation of stories of the Qur'an in "Ruh al-Bayan"

Esoteric interpretation, an important component of the Islamic thought, has a special place in tafsir (exegesis of the Qur'an) and Sufi learning, despite heated criticism. These criticisms are mainly related to the exemplary stories that take up one third of the Qur'an. Indeed, Sufi states and positions are largely associated with, or evidenced using, the stories in the Qur'an. Parallelism between the Qur'an's presenting these stories and the way Sufis narrate the stories of saints and other religiously prominent figures has been instrumental in Sufis' attaching special significance to the stories of the Qur'an. The fact that these stories are intended to give lessons or messages instead of providing information has paved the way for Sufis to use them in explaining or justifying the concepts and teachings of Sufism. In this study, we examined the esoteric/Sufism-centered interpretations of the Qur'an's stories in the tafsir Ruh al-Bayan, with emphasis on esoteric meanings of these stories. In this context, we chose Ruh al-Bayan as it was written by Ismail Hakki Bursevi, who made significant contributions to the exegesis of the Qur'an with his esoteric interpretations. Ruh al-Bayan is a voluminous work which is characterized not only as an esoteric interpretation of the Qur'an, but also as an exegesis using both traditional sources (riwaya) and independent rational reasoning (diraya). We analyzed the Qur'an's stories as interpreted in this tafsir, and tried to convey the meanings and messages implied in these stories. Keywords: Esoteric Tafsir, Qur'an's Stories, Ismail Hakki Bursevi, Ruh al-Bayan.