It has been about seventeen months now since I embarked on the journey of reading Maulana Maududi’s commentary of the Qur’an “Tafheem-ul -Qur’an”. It is Allah’s grace, without which no endeavor could ever take place. I’m thankful to my lord for giving me an opportunity to make this little effort for His book. In a Hadith Prophet (PBUH) says “when Allah wants to do good with some, He gives him Comprehension of Deen”, and ibn Abbas says that Prophet (PBUH) once embraced him and prayed, “O! Allah, give him the knowledge of the Qur’an.” It is thus a privilege to have gone through a commentary of the Qur’an.

Every now and then scholars of Islam have written translations and commentaries of the Qur’an in different languages, which helped average educated class of society and laymen, who couldn’t afford to read Qur’an directly on their own, to understand the word of God. In the last century a similar work was done by an Islamist ideologue Syed Abul A’la Maududi. He wrote a 6-volume translation and commentary of the Qur’an named “Tafheem-ul-Qur’an” (towards understanding the Qur’an), which soon became widely known. It was hard for me to choose a particular commentary of the Quran. Somehow, I chose the Tafheem, and there were ample reasons for that. Being a layman and having only a little acquaintance with religions and literature, I needed a commentary that would be easy to understand, relatable to my status quo and a commentary that could answer my questions in a non-conservative way; the Tafheem was adequate for me. In the preface of the book, the author concedes that he wrote this book for average educated people, especially for young people studying in high schools, colleges and universities. He also admits that his book is written in a simple language that does not need any sophisticated prerequisites. It is well said that Maulana Maududi has translated the Qur’an from pellucid Arabic to pellucid Urdu. One more reason to select this Tafseer was that it provides logical and scientific explanation of verses of the Quran and doesn’t exempt the condition of facing different issues in this modern era.
Tafheem-ul-Quran is a combination of orthodox and modern interpretation of the Quran that has deeply influenced modern Islamic thought. It is eloquently written and known for its notable style of writing. In Tafheem each chapter starts with an introduction or preface which includes its name, period of revelation, background and central idea; that gives an outstanding backdrop of the scenario it was revealed in. On each page under the Arabic text is the plain and eloquent translation written in Urdu and under that is the discourse and comments about the composition under discussion. The discourse mainly contains the elaboration and answers to the questions that may arise in the reader’s mind. In explaining a particular subject the author has taken the support of Hadith and the actions and sayings of companions. He has also sought help of widely accepted commentaries of the Quran and opinions of famous and great scholars of Islam. He has also taken support of the Bible to discuss some subjects, historical events. Besides this conventional approach Maulana has also provided scientific and logical explanations. To inculcate the subject of discourse, he has made use of maps, pictures and diagrams as well that elucidates the essays vividly. In jurisprudence the issues with difference of opinions, he has usually mentioned the four main schools of thought altogether and left it to the reader to opt and has also himself opined about the modern issues in jurisprudence.
Tafheem-ul-Quran encompasses all aspects of life. It presents the Quran as a complete workbook for man and presents Islam as the complete way of life. It criticizes the decadency of Muslims today, discusses the wrongness of alignment of Muslims with the modern philosophies and addresses different spiritual diseases that have affected Muslims today. It compares The Bible with the Quran and visualizes how the Bible has been maligned. It includes the debates regarding economics, sociology and politics and compares the modern politico-socio-economic philosophies, like Communism, Capitalism, with the Quranic philosophy and presents Islam inevitable to replace modern systems with.
Tafheem helped a lot to develop my philosophy of life and changed my perception about Islam and life. Many misconceptions perpetuating in my head got cleared and also planted new ideas. Starting in January 2020, with a routine of reading for not more than an hour daily, it took me about seventeen months to complete a reading of this commentary. During this period, I faced many challenges; handling my routine during exams, maintaining consistency and perseverance. But praise to Allah for keeping me steadfast, without His grace it could not have been possible. It would be worthy for everyone to go through this book at least once. I highly recommend this book to the students studying in high schools, colleges and universities to enhance their understanding of the Quran.

Email:-----------khalidmuzaffar3@gmail.com