Biography of Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Qurṭubī, the author of this commentary

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Farh (the rāʾ is quiescent and the ḥāʾ is the plain, undotted letter) was an Anṣārī, Khazrajī, Andalusian scholar from Córdoba and a renowned exegete of the Qur’an. He was counted among Allah’s righteous servants—learned, insightful, devout, and detached from worldly pursuits, wholly preoccupied with matters that lead to the Hereafter. His hours were filled with spiritual focus, worship, and writing.

His writings: He produced a large Qur’anic commentary in twelve volumes entitled The Compendium of the Rulings of the Qur’an and the Clarifier of What It Contains of the Sunnah and the Verses of the Criterion. It is one of the most distinguished tafsirs and among the most beneficial. In it he omitted stories and historical narratives, substituting instead the legal rulings of the Qur’an, the derivation of proofs, variant readings, grammatical analysis, and discussions of abrogating and abrogated verses—this is the very commentary now before us.

Among his other works are: al-Asnā fī Sharḥ Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā; al-Tadhkār fī Afḍal al-Adhkār—composed on the model of al-Nawawī’s al-Tibyān yet more complete and richer in knowledge; al-Tadhkirah fī Umūr al-Ākhirah; Sharḥ al-Taqaṣṣī; and Qamʿ al-Ḥirṣ bi’l-Zuhd wa’l-Qanāʿah wa Radd Dhull al-Suʾāl bi’l-Kutub wa’l-Shafāʿah.

Ibn Farḥūn remarked, “I have not come across a work better than it in its field.” He also authored a didactic poem collecting the names of the Prophet—may blessings and peace be upon him—and produced other useful treatises and notes besides these. Free of pretension, he would walk about in a single garment with a simple cap upon his head.

The author of Nafḥ al-Ṭīb states that he was among those who left al-Andalus.