Tafseer Soorah al-Hujurat

Tafseer Soorah al-Hujurat: A Commentary on the 49th Chapter of the Qur’an by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips takes on a surah built almost entirely around the social conduct that makes or breaks a Muslim community — gossip, spying on others, arguing, and bigotry among them — and works through it verse by verse.

How the Tafseer Is Built

Philips follows the method classical tafseer works use: explanations found within the Qur’an itself first, then the Sunnah and the historical circumstances surrounding each verse’s revelation, then the interpretations of Companions particularly known for tafseer — ’Abdullah ibn ’Abbas foremost among them, whom the Prophet ﷺ himself called “the interpreter of the Qur’an.” Grammatical explanations from the classical works round out the method. Throughout, Philips applies the derived meaning of each verse to problems Muslim communities actually face today, rather than leaving the commentary purely historical.

Where the Material Comes From

The core tafseer and its introduction to the science of tafseer began as course material Philips prepared for an Imam’s Training Course held by Dār al-Iftā in Trinidad in 1981; this edition is an edited and revised version of that course, with a two-page summary and hadith index added for easy reference.

Who This Book Is For

Serious students of the Qur’an working through a single surah in depth, and anyone who wants Surah Al-Hujurat’s guidance on social conduct explained rather than merely translated.

Also by Dr. Bilal Philips

• Usool at-Tafseer — the basic principles of Qur’anic interpretation
• Usool Al-Hadeeth — the science of hadith terminology and authentication
• Tafseer Soorah al-Hujurat — a verse-by-verse commentary on Surah 49
• The Fundamentals of Tawheed — the first English-language (not translated) study of Islamic monotheism