There Are Many Books Of Tafseer, Which Tafseer Do You Advise (Us) To Read ? – Shaykh Fawzan

[4] Question:

Noble Shaikh, there are many books of tafseer, so which tafseer do you advise (us) to read. May Allaah reward you well.

[4] Answer:

The books of Tafseer are many, all praise be to Allaah. This is from the blessings of Allaah. However, these books of Tafseer vary – amongst them are those that are long and in depth and those that are short and abridged, as well as those that are free from errors and those that contain errors, particularly in matters of Creed.

What I advise my brothers from amongst the youth to read is the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer for it is the greatest of tafseers and the one that uses the best way and method (for interpreting the Qur’aan) in spite of it being abridged. This is since he (i.e. Ibn Katheer) has interpreted the Qur’aan using the Qur’aan first, then by using the Prophetic Sunnah, then with the statements of the Salaf, and finally by using the requisites of Arabic, the language in which it was revealed. So it is a precise and reliable tafseer.

There is also the tafseer of Al-Baghawee and the tafseer of Ibn Jareer At-Tabaree, which is a comprehensive and all-inclusive tafseer. These tafseer books are trustworthy. There is also the tafseer of Shaikh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan As-Sa’adee, which is an excellent tafseer using simple expressions which contain tremendous knowledge.

As for the remaining tafseer books, they are good in some aspects, however they have errors in them, especially in matters of Creed. It is not proper for anyone to read these types of tafseer books except for the person that is proficient in knowledge to the point that he is able to take the good from it and avoid its errors. But as for the beginner, he is not able to do this, so he must take from the tafseer books that do not contain dangers and errors, such as the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer, the Tafseer of Al-Baghawee and the Tafseer of Al-Haafidh Ibn Jareer. All of these books of tafseer are valuable and excellent, all praise be to Allaah.