Introduction by His Eminence Shaykh Abd Allāh ibn Abd al-Azīz ibn Aqīl
Praise be to Allah, who sent down the Book to His servant and placed no crookedness in it. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah bestow abundant blessings and peace upon him, his family, and his Companions.
To proceed:
In His wisdom and mercy, Allah sent down His Book as an explanation of all things and made it guidance and proof for this nation. He made it easy for remembrance, recitation, and every form of guidance: “We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember; so is there anyone who will be mindful?” He revealed it in a clear Arabic tongue and guaranteed its preservation and conveyance to all humanity. He appointed scholars to explain it and communicate both its wording and meanings to people, so that its guidance might be complete and its proof established.
Scholars have written extensively on the interpretation of the Glorious Quran, each according to the knowledge granted to him. Some interpret the Quran by the Quran; others interpret it through reports and transmitted narrations; others approach it through the various branches of the Arabic language; and still others focus on the verses containing legal rulings, among other approaches.
Our shaykh, the eminent scholar Abd al-Rahmān ibn Nāsir al-Sa'dī—may Allah have mercy on him—made an abundant contribution in this field through his commentary entitled Taysīr al-Karīm al-Rahmān fī Tafsīr Kalām al-Mannān (“The Facilitation of the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful in the Exegesis of the Words of the Munificent”). This commentary is written in an accessible style and conveys its points clearly. He composed it in a remarkably effective manner, using straightforward expressions free of obscurity and ambiguity. He is concerned with clarifying the intended meaning of each verse in concise and beneficial language, comprehensively covering every meaning or ruling contained in it, whether explicitly stated or implied. He does so without undue length, digression, stories, Israelite narratives, irrelevant opinions, or discussions of grammatical parsing, except in the rare instances where the meaning depends upon them. Instead, he concentrates on the intended meaning of the verse in clear language that every reader can understand, regardless of his level of learning. It truly possesses an effortless simplicity that is difficult to emulate: its meaning is understood simply by reading its words.
He devoted particular attention to firmly establishing the Salafi creed, directing hearts toward Allah, and deriving legal rulings, principles of legal theory, juristic insights, and many other benefits not found in other commentaries. He also took special care to interpret the verses concerning the divine attributes in accordance with the creed of the salaf, in contrast to some commentators who subject them to figurative reinterpretation.
Allah favored me by enabling me to hear some of this commentary directly from him during study circles at the main mosque in Unaizah. I was also among those who urged him to publish it. Only the fifth volume was printed during his lifetime, in 1375 AH, by the Salafi Press in Egypt. We subsequently consulted one another about printing the remainder, and I contributed to that effort while serving as a judge in Unaizah. The rest was printed after his death, in 1376 and 1377 AH.
Once the printing was complete, people circulated the commentary, read it, and taught it. We taught it to our brethren and to our sons among the students, and much good resulted. Mosque imams also read it to their congregations because of the clarity of its language. Other editions were subsequently printed, but none was entirely free of matters warranting comment or criticism.
Given the state of these editions and the people’s need for the commentary, our worthy son, Shaykh Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mu'allā al-Luwayhiq, a faculty member at the College of Sharia at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, undertook to print it in the margins of a Quran copy laid out with each juz’ comprising (20) pages, placing on every page the commentary relevant to it. He showed me the initial sample pages of this edition, and they greatly impressed and delighted me. I hope that this edition will be an excellent aid to understanding the Book of Allah Most High and to giving it due attention through recitation, memorization, and comprehension, because this arrangement brings its benefits closer to the Quran reader, owing to the ease of