Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān; Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad (1980)

Works of Reference

This work is based on the recension of Ḥafṣ bin Sulaymān al-Asadī, as it appears in the so-called “Royal Egyptian” edition of the Qurʾān, first published in Cairo in 1337 h. and regarded by Arab scholars as the most exact of all existing editions.

When referring in the explanatory notes to a particular Qurʾanic passage, the number of the sūrah is followed by a colon and the verse-number: e.g., 3:28 signifies sūrah 3, verse 28; similarly, 6:138–140 and 142 stands for sūrah 6, verses 138–140 and verse 142. (It should be noted that in the translation the verse-numbers – corresponding to those of the Cairo edition – have been placed within parentheses at the beginning of each verse, and not, as in the Arabic text, at its end.)

Inasmuch as many of the works mentioned below — and referred to in the explanatory notes — have been published in several editions, no useful purpose would have been served by indicating the edition utilized by the translator. As for works which exist in single or easily identifiable editions, the place and date of publication have been stated below.

The explanations of the classical Qurʾān-commentators referred to in the notes will be found, unless otherwise indicated, in the context of the particular author's commentary on the Qurʾān-verse under consideration. References to dictionaries relate – unless otherwise indicated – to the article dealing with the root-form of the word concerned.

Abū Dāʾūd, Abū Dāʾūd Sulaymān al-Ashʿath (d. 275 h.), Kitāb as-Sunan.
Asās, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar az-Zamakhsharī (d. 538 h.), Asās al-Balāghah.
Baghawī, Al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Farrāʾ al-Baghawī (d. 516 h.), Maʿālim at-Tanzīl.
Bayḍāwī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-Bayḍāwī (d. 685 or 691 h.), Anwār at-Tanzīl wa-Asrār at-Taʾwīl.
Bayhaqī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Bayhaqī (d. 458 h.), Kitāb as-Sunan al-Kubrā.
Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (d. 595 h.), Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid, Cairo n.d.
Bukhārī (Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī (d. 256 h.), Al-Jamiʿ aṣ-Ṣaḥiḥ.
Dārimī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ad-Dārimī (d. 255 h.), Kitāb as-Sunan.
Dārquṭnī (ʿAli ibn ʿUmar ad-Dārquṭnī (d. 385 h.), Kitāb as-Sunan.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, (1st ed.) Leyden 1913–38.
Fāʾiq, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar az-Zamakhsharī (d. 538 h.), Kitāb al-Fāʾiq fī Gharīb
al-Ḥadīth, Hyderabad 1324 h.
Fatḥ al-Bārī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 h.), Fatḥ al-Bārī bi-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Cairo 1348 h.
Ḥākim, see Mustadrak.
Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 h.), Al-Musnad.
Ibn Ḥazm, see Muḥallā.
Ibn Ḥibbān, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥibban (d. 354 h.), Kitāb at-Taqāsīm waʾl-Anwāʿ.
Ibn Ḥishām, ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ḥishām (d. 243 h.), Sīrat an-Nabī.
Ibn Kathīr, Abū ’1-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl ibn Kathīr (d. 774 h.), Tafsīr al-Quʾān, Cairo 1343–47 H.
Ibn Khallikān, Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Khallikān (d.681 h.), Wafāyāt al-Aʿyān wa-Anbāʾ Abnāʾ az-Zamān, Cairo 1310 h.
Ibn Mājah, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Mājah al-Qazwīnī (d. 273 or 275 h.), Kitāb as-Sunan.