A Constitutive Work in the Qur’anic Exegesis Tradition of Sharh and Hashiya: Qutb al-Din al-Razi’s Sharh Mushkilat al-Kashshaf M. Taha Boyalık * Abstract: Al-Zamakhsharī’s al-Kashshāf is one of the most infuential works in the history of tafsīr (Qur’ānic exegesis). Its terse style, laconically refecting the accumulation of previous tafsīrs, and success in applying maʿānī methodology to the entire Qur’an caused this work to stand out. However, it only symbolizes the fraction of the science of Qur’anic exegesis during the muta’ākhkhirīn period. As the literature from the seventh/ thirteenth century onward, whenever this period’s significant scholars aspired to contribute to this field by using its methodology, instead of reconciling themselves to it, they preferred to write annotations on it, as well as al-Bayḍāwī’s Anwār al-tanzīl, to prevent themselves from replication. Among those who did so is Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī, whose Sharḥ Mushkilāt al-Kashshāf annotated the main text via linguistic and balāgha, such as ishtiqāq, ṣarf, naḥw, maʿānī, bayān, and badī‘. He pointed out subjects related to religion and reason in the main text whenever he considered it appropriate to do so. Tis work’s linguistic and literary aspects become more apparent because the discussion’s subject is a tafsīr text that contains a linguistic and literary content. Al-Rāzī’s goal is to expound upon the text’s Muʿtazilī views, rather than to criticize them. His annotation is one of the most infuential and frequently cited works in the field’s sharḥ and ḥāshiya traditions. After him, important annotators took into consideration and discussed his views. In their discussions, one regard see Al-Rāzī’s annotation as a source of those discussions. Given its status, al-Kashshāf deserves to be called the constitutive work of these two traditions in ʿilm al-tafsīr (the science of tafsīr). Tis article reveals this work’s constitutive feature and provides information about its content and methodology. Key Words: Te muta’ākhkhirūn period of Islamic thought / tafsīr, al-Kashshāf, Annotations of al-Kashshāf, Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Annotations of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s al-Kashshāf, Sharḥ Mushkilāt al-Kashshāf. * Assist. Prof., Istanbul 29 Mayıs University, International School for Islamic Sciences and Religion. Correspondence: mtboyalik@gmail.com ** Lecturer. Mardin Artuklu University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences. Boyalık, M. Taha. “Constitutive Work in the Qur’anic Exegesis Tradition of Sharh and Hashiya: Qutb al-Din al-Razi’s Sharh Mushkilat al-Kashshaf ”, Nazariyat 5/2 (November 2019): 143-166. Atıf© dx.doi.org/10.12658/Nazariyat.5.2.M0074en DOI http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5910-1269 Received 13 August 2019 30 August 2019 Accepted Translated by: Hakime Reyyan Yaşar **