Abd al-Rahmān al-Sa‘dī—may Allah have mercy upon him—made corrections to it, indicating that he had read it. It comprises (177) pages, with approximately (31) lines on each page.

Volume Three

This volume was copied by two scribes. The first began by copying twelve pages, but his handwriting is poor and his errors are numerous. The shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—therefore wrote in his own hand on the second page: “The handwriting on the opening pages of this volume is poor. Please take care when correcting them.” The remaining pages, through to the end of the volume, were then copied in another hand, better than the first. Neither scribe’s name was recorded in this volume.

It comprises (152) pages, with (31) lines on each page. Its beginning and end correspond to those of the same volume in the first copy.

Volume Four

This volume is in the hand of Shaykh Sulaymān al-Hamad al-Bassām. Shaykh Abd al-Rahmān al-Sa‘dī—may Allah have mercy upon him—made some corrections to it in his own hand. It comprises (103) pages, with (28) lines on each page, and its beginning and end are the same as in the first copy.

Volume Five

This is the volume that the shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—initially sent for printing.

The shaykh wrote in his own hand the introduction that was printed with this volume when it first appeared in print. I have reproduced it in the margin of this edition at the beginning of the commentary on Sūrat al-Kahf. This volume was copied from the handwriting of the shaykh and author—may Allah have mercy upon him—but the copyist’s name does not appear on it. The shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—also appended to it Some Principles of Tafsīr and An Explanation of General Terms That Occur Frequently in the Quran and Need to Be Known. These are in the shaykh’s own hand—may Allah have mercy upon him—and I have included them as a supplement at the end of the tafsīr in this edition.

At the end of the volume is an index of its contents, followed by a transcription of the letter sent by the shaykh—may Allah have mercy upon him—to Shaykh Muhammad Nasīf—may Allah have mercy upon him. It is dated 30/2/1374 AH, and the text of the letter may be found in this introduction. This volume comprises (214) pages, with (30) lines on each page. It begins with the commentary on Sūrat al-Kahf and ends with the conclusion of the commentary on Sūrat al-Naml, followed by Some Principles of Tafsīr and an explanation of the Most Beautiful Names.

Volume Six

This volume is in the shaykh’s hand—may Allah have mercy upon him. It begins at the opening of Sūrat al-Qasas and ends with the conclusion of the commentary on Sūrat al-Sāffāt. It comprises (154) pages, with between (25–28) lines on each page. Its beginning and end correspond to those of the same volume in the other copy.

Volume Seven

It is in the hand of Shaykh Sulaymān ibn Hamad al-Abd Allāh al-Bassām—may Allah have mercy upon him—and comprises (122) pages, with (22) lines on each page. Its beginning and end correspond to those of the same volume in the other copy.

Volume Eight

It is in the shaykh’s hand—may Allah have mercy upon him—and comprises (201) pages.

It begins with the opening of the commentary on Sūrat al-Hujurāt and ends with the commentary on Sūrat al-Nās.

Thus, this copy consists of eight volumes, whereas the other copy consists of nine volumes.