“The priceless work written by ‘The neighbor of Allah’”

Among the great thinkers whose names have been eternally inscribed in the history of medieval Eastern science and enlightenment, Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Umar al-Khwarizmi al-Zamakhshari (1075–1144) holds a distinguished place.

Zamakhshari’s masterpiece, Tafsir al-Kashshaf (“The Revealing Commentary”), is widely renowned in the scholarly world as one of the most celebrated commentaries on the Noble Qur’an. This work is regarded as a priceless jewel not only within the Islamic tradition of Qur’anic exegesis but also in the broader history of world philosophy and linguistics.

In al-Kashshaf, Zamakhshari examines every verse not only in terms of meaning but also through a deep analysis of its grammatical and semantic layers.

In composing this work, the author drew inspiration from the rich intellectual legacy of all major fields of knowledge of his time — tafsir and hadith, jurisprudence and Qur’anic recitation, literature and poetry, as well as the ethical and enlightenment traditions. This multifaceted scholarship elevated al-Kashshaf into one of the most authoritative Qur’anic commentaries in the Islamic world.

The Historical Manuscript

A copy of the work transcribed in 823 AH / 1420 CE by Abdurrahman ibn Abu Bakr stands as a rare example of Arabic calligraphic art. “Every line, every dot, every ornament of this manuscript reflects the refined aesthetic taste of the Islamic manuscript tradition,” notes Rustam Jabborov, the Center’s academic secretary.

Historical sources record that Zamakhshari authored al-Kashshaf over the course of three years in Mecca. According to German orientalist Carl Brockelmann, around one hundred manuscript copies of this work are preserved in libraries around the world, and more than twenty commentaries and marginal notes have been written on it. Today, a precious manuscript of al-Kashshaf occupies an honorable place in the “First Renaissance Period” exhibition at the Islamic Civilization Center in Uzbekistan.