A Few Notes on Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dihlawī’s Tafsīr ʿAzīzī
Tafsīr Fatḥ al-ʿAzīz is the full title of the work, though it is also known by an alternate name, Bustān al-Tafāsīr, and more popularly referred to as Tafsīr ʿAzīzī. Its author is Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Muḥaddith al-Dihlawī. This tafsīr is a distinct and independent composition of Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, which he dictated during a period of severe illness and physical weakness. It is among his most well-known exegetical works. Only four volumes are extant: the first two covering the beginning of the Qurʾān and the final two covering the concluding sections. Like many of his other works, this tafsīr was composed in Persian. The work remains incomplete.
The first two volumes comprise the commentary on Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and the first eighty-four verses of Sūrat al-Baqarah. The final two volumes contain commentary on the last two juzʾ of the Qurʾān, each forming a separate volume. These portions have been published multiple times.
From the introduction to the tafsīr, it becomes evident that a student of Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Shaykh Muṣaddiq al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh, had urged him to undertake the work, and it was he who transcribed the dictation. This process was completed in the year 1208 AH / 1793 CE.
It is commonly held that the tafsīr remained unfinished and that only those portions which were published represent what was originally composed. However, Maulānā ʿAbd al-Ḥayy states that the tafsīr originally existed in several large volumes, the majority of which were lost during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Due to the severity of his illness and the deterioration of his eyesight, Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz dictated several of his works, including this one.
The original language of the text is Persian, and it has gone through several editions. The available volumes have been translated into Urdu by various scholars. This invaluable work possesses numerous distinctive features. It represents the distilled essence of earlier exegetical traditions, capturing their finest insights. It is a treasury of spiritual realities (ḥaqāʾiq) and deeper meanings (maʿārif), and a peerless example of rhetorical and conceptual excellence. In addition to incisive refutations of the opponents of Islam, the work also encompasses a wide array of both rational and transmitted sciences.
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References:
1. ʿAbd al-Ḥayy, Nuzhat al-Khawāṭir, vol. 7, pp. 273–274.
2. Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Tafsīr Fatḥ al-ʿAzīz, vol. 1, p. 3, Maṭbaʿ Ḥaydarī, Bombay, 1294 AH.
3. ʿAbd al-Ḥayy, Nuzhat al-Khawāṭir, vol. 7, p. 273.
4. Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dihlawī, ʿUjālat al-Nāfiʿah, Jāmiʿah Rabbāniyyah Ashfāqiyyah, Ankhōlī Belpākonah, Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
