as follows: “None should expel another from their homes.”
- Another example is his statement—may Allah have mercy upon him: “That is, (And) We sent (to Midian), the well-known and renowned tribe, (Shuayb), and he commanded them.” The text was altered through additions until it read as follows: “That is: (And): We sent (to Midian), the well-known and renowned tribe, their brother Shuayb, who commanded them.”
Shortly thereafter, the shaykh wrote: “But they denied him,” and so Allah’s punishment seized them. This was altered to read: “But they denied him, and the earthquake seized them”—that is, Allah’s punishment. (1)
Such changes are extremely numerous. Some editorial interventions would, in principle, be acceptable because they were necessary or because of an error in the flow of the text—such as a masculine pronoun referring back to a feminine noun, an omission, or something similar. Yet although such intervention would in principle be acceptable, no notice was given of it, and the corrector did not indicate any of the changes.
The Fourth Observation:
Some sentences were corrected incorrectly—indeed, in an obviously erroneous manner. Examples include:
- In his commentary on the words of Allah Most High, “That is for those whose family does not reside near the Sacred Mosque,” the shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—said: “ ‘That is for those whose family does not reside near the Sacred Mosque’: that is, when he was a journey’s distance from it—the distance at which prayer may be shortened—or farther, or was customarily considered far from it. Such a person must offer the sacrificial animal.”
The alteration was astonishing: “from it” was changed to “at,” or “customarily” was changed to “Arafat.” The text therefore read: “When he was at a journey’s distance—the distance at which prayer may be shortened—or farther, or far away at Arafat, such a person must offer the sacrificial animal.” (2)
Every subsequent edition followed suit, copying this error.
- Some alterations were made without any apparent justification, or for a reason that existed only from the corrector’s perspective, without any indication that the text had been altered. An example is the following:
In his commentary on the words of Allah Most High, “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant,” to the end of the verse, the shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—said: “You have known him ever since he grew up among you: he can neither write nor read, yet he has brought you a Book which he claims is from Allah.” The word “claims” was changed to: “He informed you that it was from Allah.” (3)
The Fifth Observation:
Some obvious errors, such as the following:
In his commentary on the words of Allah Most High, “And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah—it is they who are the wrongdoers,” the shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—said:
“Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him except through repentance.” This is how it appears in both manuscripts, whereas the Salafi edition reads: “Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him through repentance.” (4) This is an egregious error, which the subsequent editions all repeated. (5)
Years after this edition appeared, another edition of the tafsīr was published through the al-Saīdiyya Foundation, which commissioned Professor