This article deals
with the ishārī interpretations in the unfinished
tafsīr of ‘Abd al-Rahman Jāmī (d. 898/1492)
is one of the versatile scholars of the 15th. century. This tafsīr,
written by ‘Abd al-Rahman Jāmī towards the
end of his life, includes the commentary of the part from sūrat al-Fātihah to
the 40th. verse of sūrat al-Baqarah. The tafsīr, that is there are
many manuscript copies in Turkey’s libraries have been subject to different
academic studies at home and abroad. In Turkey, Isam Islamoglu wrote master
thesis, named Molla Câmî ve Tefsirinden Fatihâ Sûresi in 1995 at the
University of Marmara. This study deals with the critical edition and analysing
of the part where is sūrat al-Fātihah was commented from the Tafsīr
of Mulla Jāmī. Furthermore there is doctoral thesis has been
completed by Walid Abdullah Fethullah in the Faculty of Islamic Sciences of
Baghdad University in 2013, under the name of Tafsīr al-Mulla Jāmī min sūrat al-Fātihah ilā al-‘āshira min sūrat
al-Baqarah. Although we do not have access
to this doctoral thesis of Walid Abdullah, it can be stated that he did not
deal with the whole tafsīr as its name suggests of the thesis. Another academic
study related to the Tafsīr of Mulla Jāmī was made by us within the scope of the project supported
by SEB-BAP 18-0168 by Amasya University and it contains a complete critical
edition and translation of the work. This study is currently under publication.
Another work on the tafsīr is an article by Sajjad H. Rizvi, entitled The
Existential Breath of al-Rahmān and the Munificent Grace of al-Rahīm: The
Tafsīr al-Fātiha of Jāmī and the School of Ibn ‘Arabī. The citations to be
made in this article will be based on the manuscript copy of the Corum
Provincial Public Library, 19 Hk 1252, which is a full and emended copy of the Tafsīr of Mulla Jāmī.
‘Abd al-Rahman Jāmī wrote a foreword to his tafsīr. However, he did not
mention a name for it’s in this foreword. Since the author does not explicitly
specify a name, it is seen that the appreciation and saving of the persons who
duplicated these manuscripts and made statements about the tafsīr, both at the
beginning and at the end of the manuscripts, are prominent in naming. When the
manuscript copies are examined, 11 different names are found for this tafsīr.
In this study, the name Tafsīr of Mulla Jāmī will be preferred for the work.
Although information about many different areas
can be found in the work of Jāmī, the information contained in the tafsīr is
mostly related to language, rhetoric and mysticism in accordance with the
purpose of the foreword of the author. In this study, it is aimed to determine
the subjects in which the ishārī interpretations in the Tafsīr of Mulla Jāmī
what focus on and the method followed in the presentation of these
interpretations. In terms of the explanations about the language in his work
and the subjects related to it, Jāmī also touches on the views of Zamakhsharī
(d. 538/1144) as well as the opinions of many different linguists and
commentators. In sūfī issues and his ishārī interpretations he brought to the
verses, traces of the tradition of Muhyi al-dīn Ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 638/1240) and
Sadr al-dīn Qunawī (d. 673/1274) can be found.
It is witnessed that Mulla Jāmī give a big role
to an expression of verses in the interpretation of verses. This does not mean
that he goes into detailed analysis of grammar and rhetoric in almost every
verse. On the contrary, he thinks that all the meanings that the verse can
carry as expression may be the will of Allah. According to him, all the
inferences from the expression, unless they are contrary to the sharia, reason
and kashf, are the meant of Allah. According to this idea, which the author deeds
from Ibn ‘Arabī and Qunawī, these meanings that are in the expression cannot
neglect. With the argument that the expression should be appropriate to its
speaker. Jâmî by transferring comprehensive knowledge of Allah to the
expression, accepts all the meanings of the verse correctly under certain
conditions. Relation to this feature which draws attention to the miraculous
aspect of the Qur'an, he also refuses to limit a verse via one of its possible
meanings.
Jāmī, which deal with mystical interpretations in
almost all verses, at the beginning of his tafsīr, presents these
interpretations by intertwined with other explanations. Along with the first
five verses of sūrat al-Baqarah, such interpretations are condensed at the end
of the verses’ commentary and are used to distinguish between the external
explanations of the verse and the interior signs. These interpretations are
located at the end of the verse, the author performs these comments in the form
of short explanations between the text of the verse. He does not use the
concept of tafsīr for these interior interpretations anywhere in his
work, but he uses the concept of tafsīr to explain the
linguistic-external dimension of the verse; He uses the concept of ta’wīl
continuously -exception of a few places- related to the ishārī meanings that he sees as
the interior meaning of the verse. There are also places where he directly
refers to these interpretations with the concept of ishārah. Thus, it
can be stated that Jāmī meticulously applied in his work the difference has taken
care between these concepts in the science of tafsir.
It is seen that the ishārī interpretations
throughout the work are written from the point of view of wahdat al-wujūd.
In this frame, there are many basic issues related to the idea of wahdat
al-wujūd. These include the following topics: al-a‘yān al-sābite,
al-insān al-kāmil, al-ta‘ayyn al-awwal, al-taayyun al-sānī, al-rabb al-hāss,
al-vach al-hāss, manifestations of divine names, al-fayz al-akdes, zāhir-bātın
separation, sayr ilallāh, sayr fillāh, fanā, bakā martaba al-fark, martaba
al-cem‘.
When these features and contents are
considered, it is seen that the Tafsīr of Mulla Jāmī occupies an
important place in academic studies in both the fields of tafsir and the Sufism.
