The third: Additions that I inserted because the context required them and would not read properly without them. I placed these within square brackets and indicated them in the margin with the words: “An addition required by the context.”

To proceed: It should be noted that I did not provide source references for the hadiths in the book, because they are not numerous, and most of what he—may Allah have mercy upon him—quoted is from Sahīh al-Bukhārī and Sahīh Muslim. Nor did I prepare detailed indexes, because the kind of index that would be genuinely useful is a thematic index of the book’s faith-related, educational, behavioral, scholarly, and similar benefits. Viewed from this perspective, the book would require an extremely extensive and lengthy index, which a person seeking benefit can dispense with simply by reading the book itself. As for detailed indexes of verses, hadiths, notable persons, tribes, and the like, the nature of a tafsīr does not indicate any need for them. If such indexing were undertaken for this tafsīr, it would merely be a form of needless excess and over-elaboration.

To proceed: The effort I have devoted to this work took three years, during which I collated the tafsīr in full three times. I strove to publish it in the most complete form possible. I could not have accomplished this were it not for the grace of Allah—Glorious and Exalted is He. To Him belongs all praise, first and last, outwardly and inwardly.

Thereafter, my thanks go to everyone who assisted me in bringing out this tafsīr in any way. I mention in particular the two eminent and learned scholars, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Sālih al-Uthaymīn and Shaykh Abd Allāh ibn Abd al-Azīz ibn Aqīl; my esteemed father, Shaykh Muallā al-Luwayhiq; and the distinguished shaykhs Dr. Abd al-Razzāq ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Badr, who helped me obtain the second manuscript (B) of the tafsīr and offered valuable observations that assisted me in ensuring the accuracy of the work; Dr. Khālid al-Sabt, whose telephone calls first prompted me to undertake the work on the tafsīr anew; Shaykh Sālih al-Habdān; Shaykh Abd al-Rahmān al-Rājihī; and Shaykh Muhammad al-Khudayrī. I also thank the brothers who worked with me on the collation, devoting a great deal of time to it and making an unforgettable effort to assist me: Shaykh Idrīs Hāmid Muhammad, Shaykh Traoré Mamadou, and Brother Faysal ibn Tala al-Mutayrī. To them all, I offer my thanks and gratitude, together with my prayers that they be granted success and right guidance.

I ask Allah to forgive whatever shortcomings occurred, and I seek His aid, for He alone is the One whose help is sought.

All praise belongs to Allah, first and last. May Allah send prayers, peace, and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

Written by:
Abd al-Rahmān ibn Muallā al-Luwayhiq al-Mutayrī

after the night prayer on the night of the twenty-eighth
of Dhu al-Qadah, 1419 AH