ALTAFSIR.COM is a completely free, non-profit website providing
access to the largest and greatest online collection of Qur’anic
Commentary (tafsir or tafseer), translation, recitation and
essential resources in the world.
It was begun in 2001 by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic
Thought, Jordan. Today the website is fully operational in Arabic
and English and provides the original Arabic texts of 150 or more
books of Qur’anic Commentary, Interpretation and Explanation (tafsir
or tafseer), recitation (tajwid) tutorials and hadith collections,
and other fields, pertaining to the study of Qur’anic exegesis.
Translations of the meanings of the Qur’an are currently available
in 24 different languages, and in several cases more than one
translation is available. The site also includes audio Qur’an
recitations; resources on Qur’an syntax; resources on the Contexts
of Revelation (asbâb al-nuzûl); resources on the meanings of words
found in the Qur’an, and other works on the Qur’anic sciences. It
contains over a million pages of Qur’anic Commentary and
translation. Some of the texts presented here exist only as
manuscripts and have never previously been published in book form
despite their historical importance and influence. Altafsir.com is
thus a complete website for the study of the Qur’anic Sciences.
In addition to presenting the standard Classical and Modern
Commentaries on the Holy Qur’an (tafsir or tafseer) texts of all
eight schools of jurisprudence, the site also contains works of
various mystical, philosophical, linguistic and theological
currents. Moreover, the first time in one place, comparative studies
between the Shafi‘i, Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Ja‘fari, Zaydi, Ibadi
and Thahiri schools can be carried out complete with multi-screen
displays and search programs.
Through an enormous scholarly labour, each of the Qur’anic
Commentaries (tafsir or tafseer) has been typed in, word by word,
individually, and at least triple checked by different teams of
scholars—none have been scanned in—in order to make it possible,
through the use of the latest technology, to search and
cross-reference for single words or groups of words, hadiths, or
Qur’anic verses anywhere on website database.
The on-going third and final phase of Altafsir.com will see the
addition of English translations of a number of classical Qur’anic
commentaries (tafsir or tafseer) specially commissioned by the
project, by leading international translators. Prior to AlTafsir.com
no complete, unabridged quality translation of a Classical Qur’anic
Commentary (tafsir or tafseer) into English had ever been published!
AlTafsir.com has commissioned the translations of: (Suyuti and
Mahalli’s) Tafsir al-Jalalayn; the Tafsir of Ibn ‘Abbas; the
Asbab al-Nuzul of Al-Wahidi; the Tafsir of Al-Tustari; the
Tafsir of
Baydawi, and the Tafsir of Kashani into English; and the translation
of Tafsir, Al-Bahr Al-Madid for Ibn ‘Ajiba’, into English and French.
It has also commissioned a modern scientific Tafsir of the Qur’an by
Professor Usman Bakr of Malaysia. Future plans include the
translation into English of Nasafi’s Tafsir and of the great
tafsir,
Mafatih al-Ghayb, of Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi. All the translated
Qur’anic Commentaries are unabridged, and totally unchanged apart
from corrections in spelling or editing mistakes. AlTafsir.com never
adjusts or changes original works, even when they do not reflect the
opinions and beliefs of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic
Thought. The reader or scholar can make up their own minds. The
mission of Altafsir.com is to give them the complete resources to do
that, free of charge, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, anywhere in
the world, at the touch of a button.
Additional resources include a user-friendly interface for the study
and comparison of all the established variant readings (qira’at) and
tonal keys (maqams) of Qur’an recitation. For students of tajwid and
researchers alike, the differences between the Warsh, Hafs and other
modes of recitation are a mouse-click away, in the voices of the
Islamic World’s most beloved Qur’an reciters. The audio-video format
will aid users in memorizing the Qur’an and also in studying and
applying the rulings and variations in recitation styles.
Since 2006 Altafsir.com has also become the most popular and most
visited Qur’anic Commentary (tafsir or tafseer) website in the
world. It is a unique and invaluable Qur’anic studies resource that
facilitates a better understanding and appreciation of the Sacred
Text of the Islamic faith—the Holy Qur’an.
