al-Zamakhshārī, Abuʾl-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar

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al-Zamakhshārī, Abuʾl-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar (1075–1144 (AH 467–538)). Muslim grammarian and Qurʾān commentator. He was born in the Khwārizm province of N. Persia, where, apart from a period of study in Mecca, he spent most of his life. His commentary on the Qurʾān, al-Kashshāf ʿan Ḥaqāʾiq Ghawāmid al-Tanzīl (The Unveiler of the Truths of the Sciences of Revelation), takes each verse, phrase by phrase, and gives an interpretation which goes back to the theological rationality of the Muʿtazilites. At the same time, al-Zamakhshārī's linguistic interests allowed him to make many points about the rhetorical and literary beauty of the Qurʾān, and this endeared the commentary to subsequent generations.

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al-Zamakhshārī, Abuʾl-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar

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al-Zamakhshārī, Abuʾl-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar