Seerah al-Zamakhshari — Mahmud ibn 'Umar al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144 CE): The Khwarazmian Mu'tazili Whose Tafsir al-Kashshaf Is Universally Acknowledged as the Greatest Work of Arabic Linguistic-Rhetorical Quranic Commentary, Whose Theological Positions Were Widely Criticized While His Linguistic Analysis Was Equally Widely Used and Adapted

Seerah al-Zamakhshari (سِيرَةُ الزَّمَخشَرِيّ; full name: Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn 'Umar al-Zamakhshari al-Khwarazmi; born 467 AH / 1075 CE in Zamakhshar, a village in Khwarazm [modern Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan]; died 538 AH / 1144 CE in Jurjaniyya, Khwarazm; a Mu'tazili theologian and one of the greatest Arabic linguists and grammarians of the medieval period; spent extended periods in Mecca [where he earned the honorific 'Jar Allah' — Neighbor of God]; his context: the 12th century CE was the era of the Seljuk Turkish empire's dominance; al-Zamakhshari lived in Khwarazm, a province of Persian-speaking Central Asia; he was not an Arab by origin but became one of the greatest masters of classical Arabic; the major work: al-Kashshaf 'an Haqa'iq Ghawamid al-Tanzil wa-'Uyun al-Aqawil fi Wujuh al-Ta'wil [The Unveiler of the Realities of the Obscurities of the Revelation and the Sources of Views on the Aspects of Interpretation]: the full title reflects the ambition; the Kashshaf is the pre-eminent work of linguistic-rhetorical Quran commentary; its method: al-Zamakhshari analyzes every verse for [1] Arabic vocabulary and etymology; [2] grammatical analysis [i'rab — syntactic parsing]; [3] rhetorical analysis [balaghah — metaphor, simile, ellipsis, emphasis, etc.]; [4] stylistic analysis; [5] coordination with other Quranic verses; and [6] theological interpretation [where his Mu'tazili positions are explicit]; the Mu'tazili theology in the Kashshaf: al-Zamakhshari was an open and committed Mu'tazili; his tafsir reflects Mu'tazili positions on [1] the createdness of the Quran [against the Sunni orthodoxy of uncreated Quran]; [2] divine justice and the obligation on God to reward obedience and punish disobedience; [3] the denial of physical attributes to God; [4] the denial of intercession [shafa'a]; Sunni criticism and response: [1] the Sunni scholars could not ignore the Kashshaf — its linguistic and rhetorical analysis was simply the best available; [2] they produced 'corrective' commentaries on the Kashshaf, the most famous being Ibn al-Munir's al-Intisaf [The Vindication] written in the margins of the Kashshaf text — responding to al-Zamakhshari's Mu'tazili interpretations point by point while accepting his linguistic analysis; [3] al-Baydawi [d. 1286 CE] wrote Anwar al-Tanzil as a revised Sunni edition of al-Kashshaf — preserving the linguistic methodology while removing or correcting the Mu'tazili theology; al-Baydawi's tafsir is the most-taught classical tafsir in many traditional Islamic education contexts; other works: Asas al-Balagha [The Foundation of Rhetoric]: a dictionary of Arabic metaphors and idiomatic expressions; still used in classical Arabic education; al-Mufassal [The Detailed]: a comprehensive Arabic grammar; al-Fa'iq fi Gharib al-Hadith: a lexicon of unusual hadith vocabulary; the personality: al-Zamakhshari was known for his proud and sometimes abrasive character; had a physical disability [lost a leg]; produced a large volume of work despite this; his Mecca period produced devotional poetry that survives; legacy: the Kashshaf is still read and taught for its linguistic analysis; no subsequent work of Arabic Quranic linguistics has superseded it for the depth of its rhetorical analysis) is the Islamic literary tradition's greatest Arabic stylist as Quranic commentator.