Its opening reads:

“In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Commentary on the interpretation of the words of the Most High: ‘O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord and a healing for what is within the breasts’ [Yūnus: 57] …”

Its ending reads:

“This is the end of the commentary on Surah al-Naml and the end of Part Three. At the beginning of Part Four, it is followed by the beginning of Surah al-Qasas. It was completed on Wednesday, the last day of the blessed month of Shawwāl, in the year 1147—one thousand one hundred and forty-seven—by the servant most in need of Allah Most High, Salāmah ibn al-Hājj Salāmah ibn al-Hājj Hijāzī … May Allah forgive him, his parents, its owner, whoever finds and corrects a flaw in it, and all Muslims. Amen, amen, amen. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Completed.”

It comprises 552 folios, each page ruled in between

(40–45)

lines.

2—A photographic copy from the British Library:

This is the third volume of the original manuscript mentioned previously, which was photographed from al-Qarawiyyīn University in Fez.

It is a section written on gazelle parchment in the late fourth century AH. It comprises 77 medium-format folios, each page ruled in between

(22–27)

lines. It begins midway through verse 57 of Surah al-Baqarah and ends with verse 102 of the same surah.

On the recto of its first folio is written:

“Volume Three of The Comprehensive Exposition of the Interpretation of the Verses of the Criterion, authored by Abū Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī—may Allah have mercy upon him.”

Above it is written:

“It contains, from the words of Allah—Exalted is He—in al-Baqarah, from: ‘Eat of the good things We have provided for you’

[al-Baqarah: 57]

to the words of the Most High: ‘Had they believed and been mindful of Allah, a reward from Allah would have been far better’

[al-Baqarah: 103].”

To its left is written:

“Praise be to Allah. In the possession of the servant of Allah, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Salām …”