The Qur’an with Cross-Reference

Published by: De Gruyter, Berlin, 2022, 683pp. ISBN: 9783110779158.

Using the Qur’an to interpret the Qur’an has long been acknowledged as one of the best ways of interpreting and analysing the Qur’an, and often subsumed under the appellation tafsir al-Qur’an bi’l Qur’an. This approach in certain cases was directly highlighted as the best form of Qur’anic interpretation of which the most explicit and earliest proponent is Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyyah in his Muqaddimah fi Usul al-Tafsir. In a chapter entitled the ‘best way of interpretation’ he explicitly states: “the best way to interpret the Qur’an is through the Qur’an.” A more modern and popular figure who also deals with this approach is Hamid al-Din al-Farahi (d. 1930) whose ideas are encapsulated in the important work of his student Amin Ahsan Islahi (d.1997) and his Taddabur-i Qur’an. The Qur’an with Cross-References seeks to contribute within this paradigm and provide the first English work that provides cross-references to the entire Qur’an. From this angle, this work will be an important reference work for scholars who seek to analyse a particular theme of the Qur’an and draw upon verses that are cross-referential...