Lessons in the fundamentals of Tafsir

Dr. Assist. Sulaiman Al-Tayyar. Thank you, our Lord, oh Lord of Glory, for the blessings You have bestowed upon me, countless blessings. And I ask You to bless my times, and to fill them with obedience and righteous deeds. I thank You, O You who guided me to walk this path, and made me among the servants of Your Noble Book. So all praise is due to You at all times. I thank You for what You granted me of knowledge of this Holy Book, and for making easy for me some of its sciences that I never dreamed of, so all praise, thanks, and grace are due to You. You give to whom You will, and withhold from whom You will. I thank You, my Lord, for Your success in helping me to transmit what You bestowed upon me of these sciences, and for making easy for me the recording of what I was able to do from what You granted me. And I ask You to grant me success in completing my scientific projects, and to accept them with good acceptance. And I send peace and blessings upon Your noble Messenger, the master of all people, blessed in the worlds, who taught his nation their religion, leaving them on the clear path, and did not leave them to anyone else in clarifying the religion. Then praise and send peace upon the noble family and the great companions who carried the religion and spread it in the worlds, for they were the most understanding people, and the most deserving of the Book in action and knowledge. As for what follows: God has blessed me with the publication of this book in the year 1413 AH, and now I am in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 1431 AH, reordering the pages of the book anew, and adding some comments that do not alter the original essence of the book; for if I had intervened with modifications, it would have changed its face. So I decided to leave it as it is, and perhaps God will facilitate for me the writing of another, larger book in which I include my additions to this noble science. Thanks and appreciation: I cannot omit in this occasion to thank everyone who helped me in producing this version, especially my dear brother Abdullah bin Mahiya Al-Shitawi, who reviewed it and added some helpful tables. My work on this version: First: I was keen to clarify the pages of the previous edition, because it remained circulated for over seventeen years, which benefits the reader in matching the pages of this edition with the previous one, and I have placed it between brackets like this []. Second: I corrected some scientific issues as much as I could. Third: I was keen to mention references for the ideas I presented, expanded in my other books, as well as what I came across outside my books. Fourth: After this introduction, I dedicated what has been issued from books related to the fundamentals of Tafsir so that the reader can benefit, and I will be keen to organize them according to printing. And after that, I ask Allah to grant me success in goodness wherever I am, to benefit me and the reader with what is in this book, and to guide me to the straight path. O Lord, forgive me, my parents, and my family members. Indeed, You are the All-Hearing, the Responding.