A Critical Edition and Analysis of Ebüssu？d’s Ma？āqid al-？irāf fī awwal sūrat al-Fat？ min al-Kashshāf

Ebüssu？d (d. 982/1574), who is famous for his fatwās (legal opinions), also has outstanding works in the field of exegesis. Among them is his commentary titled Ma？āqid al-？irāf fī awwal sūrat al-Fat？ min al-Kashshāf. Ebüssu？d wrote the commentary as a review of Zamakhsharī’s (d. 538/1144) exegesis, al-Kashshāf, focusing on the “Chapter of Victory” (sūrat al-Fat？). This is more detailed than the relevant section in Ebüssu？d’s own exegesis, Irshād al-？aql al-salīm. The most salient characteristic of the commentary is that it contains rejections and criticism of Zamakhsharī’s opinions. Ebüssu？d was appointed as a military judge (kazasker) of Rumeli in 1537. He accompanied Suleyman the Magnificent on his expedition to the west (945/1538). He also participated in the campaigns of Moldovia, Buda and Estergom. He led the first Friday prayer in Buda after its conquest on 2 September 1541. According to sources, particularly Katip ？elebi (d. 1067/1657), he wrote the commentary during the campaign to Northern Hungary (950/1543). According to sources, a number of scholarly sessions took place between Suleyman and Ebüssu？d during the campaign to Northern Hungary. In these sessions, Ebüssu？d discussed al-Kashshāf with the sultan, and since they were on a campaign of conquest, they discussed the “Chapter of Victory” in particular. Along with the sessions, Ebüssu？d wrote his Ma？āqid explaining the controversy between the Mu？tazila and the Sunnis on the issue of “human actions” (af？āl al-？ibād). This study contains a close examination of Ma？āqid and a critical edition of the text. I accessed nine manuscripts of Ebüssu？d’s commentary. Among these, the copy in the Library of Budayriyya in Jerusalem is the author’s draft. Since it contains the record of ownership and the date of writing, I adopted it as my master copy and used ISAM’s principles for critical editions. Ebüssu？d belonged to the Ottoman tradition of exegesis and was closely interested in Zamakhsharī’s ideas. He tried to understand Zamakhsharī within his own context and evaluate consistencies among his ideas. He endeavored to explain Zamakhsharī’s interpretation and exegesis on the “Chapter of Victory” by taking into consideration principally the outputs of Arabic syntax and logic and more particularly the principles of theology (al-Kalām) and logic. While doing this, however, he never compromised or diverged from the Sunni perspective. Major subjects of Ma？āqid al-？irāf are the following: 1. Past tense (khalq al-af？āl) to distinguish the reality and metaphor: Both Zamakhsharī and Ebüssu？d understood the verb