الجانب الصوفي في تفسير روح المعاني

أكرم علي حمدان

Abstract

This article is an attempt to assess the contribution of al-£Al¢us³ to the science of Koranic exegesis. His work is at once erudite and extraordinary original, all the more for his rare combination of a traditionalist, salafi religious orientation with a spiritual, mystic temperament of the highest order. In fact, his tafs³r, as this article shows, abounds with the views, dicta and mystic states of the Sufis. At first sight, then, al-£Al¢us³ appears to be, in both academic and spiritual terms, a paradoxical character. Hence much of the article is devoted to probing this apparent contradiction, trying to disentangle the complex strands of al-£Al¢us³'s thought and the influences that have contributed to shaping his religious and intellectual outlook. The comments al-£Al¢us³ makes on Sufis and his references to them are closely examined with a view to determine his