Why Read Tafsir al-Mizan?

Anyone who sets out to study the Qur’an in English soon asks: which tafsir should I read? There are many fine commentaries, each with its own strengths. This page explains what sets al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān apart, and why so many students, teachers and scholars have made it their companion to the Qur’an.

The Qur’an explained by the Qur’an

ʿAllāmah Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (1904–1981) set himself one rule: to explain the Qur’an with the help of the Qur’an itself. In his Preface he observes that many exegetes had read the Book through the lens of their own school, whether of theology, philosophy or mysticism, so that, in his words, exegesis became “application”. The Qur’an calls itself “a clarification of all things” (), and he asks: “Far be it from the Qur’an to explain everything but not itself.”

So, verse after verse, the ʿAllāmah gathers the other verses that speak to the same subject and lets them explain one another. The reader learns not only what a verse means, but how to read the Qur’an: to hear, as Imam ʿAlī said, how “parts of it speak with other parts, and parts of it testify to other parts.” On this website you can see that method at work: the verse cross-references show, for any verse, every place in al-Mizan where it is brought in to explain another, and the verse map draws it as a flower: the verses that explain it on one side, and the verses it explains on the other.

Faithful to the teachers of the Qur’an

The ʿAllāmah held that this method is not new: it is the way of the Prophet and the Imams of his Household, the first teachers of the Qur’an. After his commentary on each passage he sets out the narrations reported from them, transmitted by both Shia and Sunni narrators, and examines them: which agree with the Qur’an, what they add, and how they are to be understood. The Index of narrations lists them all.

The great questions, answered in depth

Al-Mizan is not only a verse-by-verse commentary. Throughout the work the ʿAllāmah pauses to write a separate discussion where a subject calls for it: a discourse on the miraculous nature of the Qur’an, philosophical discussions, academic essays on marriage and on inheritance, discourses on repentance and on trust in God, and a study of the meaning of infallibility (ʿiṣmah), among more than 150 others. Many of them answer the questions that thoughtful readers ask today. The Index of discourses lists every one of them.

At the heart of the work, as the ʿAllāmah describes it, lies knowledge of God, His names and His actions; of the unseen world; of prophethood, revelation and religion; of the human being before and after this life; and of the stations of faith, sincerity and servitude. On the verses of law he is deliberately brief, leaving the details to jurisprudence (fiqh).

A work that shaped a generation

ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī was a jurist, a philosopher of independent views and a teacher of ethics who lived what he taught. His students included many of the leading scholars of the next generation, among them Murtaḍā Muṭahharī. Of all his works, al-Mizan is the one on which his standing in the Muslim world rests. Read more about the author.

Who is it for?

• Students of the Qur’an who want to understand a verse in the light of the whole Book.
• Teachers, religious leaders and speakers preparing a lesson or a talk on a verse or a theme.
• Readers new to Islam, or returning to it, who have deep questions about God, prophethood and the meaning of life.
• Scholars and researchers who need a careful, reasoned reading of the text, with its sources.

Read it free, in full, on this website

The complete English translation of al-Mizan, all 114 chapters of the Qur’an, is free to read here. The site is built to help you study it:

• Every verse at hand. Tap any verse reference to read the verse without leaving the page.
• Qur’anic Themes for each chapter, Key Debates, the verses on which al-Mizan examines and answers other interpretations at length, and Glimpses of al-Mizan, key insights of the commentary gathered by subject.
• Reading plans to work through the commentary step by step, and My Study for your own notes, highlights and collections of verses.
• A glossary of key terms and a Who’s who of the people named in the commentary.
• Tafsir Compare, which sets ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s reading of key verses beside other great Sunni and Shia exegetes.
• Links to Tafsīr al-Tasnīm of Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī, the ʿAllāmah’s student, wherever it explains the same verse.

Where to begin

If you are new to al-Mizan, you might start with:

• the ʿAllāmah’s Preface, where he explains his method;
• his commentary on Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, the opening of the Book;
• the creation of Adam and his appointment as vicegerent, 2:30–33;
• the Verse of the Throne, 2:255;
• the clear and the ambiguous verses, 3:7–9, where he explains how the Qur’an is to be understood.

Or take the tour of the website.