TAFSIR AL-QURTUBI

The publication of the tafsir of the verses of Ahkam by al-Qurtubi (610–611 H/1214 CE–671 H/1273 CE) ranks as a major event in current Qur’anic scholarship. This Maliki scholar was born in Cordova, Muslim Spain, though he later moved to and settled in Cairo, Egypt. Aisha Bewley has made a mark as a competent translator of several Arabic texts into English, including Qadi [Iyad’s al-Shifa, Imam Malik’s al-Muwatta’ and al-Nawawi’s Riyad al-Salihin. More importantly, she has also translated the Qur’an into English, together with her gifted husband, AbdalHaqq Bewley, under the title of The Noble Quran (1999). Since the work under review is the English translation of al-Qurtubi’s tafsir, Aisha Bewley has used her earlier Qur’an translation in this version. It is hard to figure out whether al-Qurtubi would have endorsed her version which appears in this work ascribed to al-Qurtubi. In the absence of al-Qurtubi’s own translation, Bewley did not have any other option. However, this important clarification should have been made in the “Translator’s Note” (p. viii).