Tafsir Al Mizan Vol 11

1. The late al-‘Allãmah as-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn at-Tabãtabã’ī (1321/1904 – 1402/1981) – may Allãh have mercy upon him – was a famous scholar, thinker and the most celebrated contemporary Islamic philosopher. We have introduced him briefly in the first volume of the translation of al-Mīzãn.

2. al-‘Allãmah at-Tabãtabã’ī is well-known for a number of his works of which the most important is his great exegesis al-Mīzãn fītafsīri 'l-Qur’ãn which is rightly counted as the fundamental pillar of scholarly work which the ‘Allãmah has achieved in the Islamic world.

3. We felt the necessity of publishing an exegesis of the Holy Qur’ãn in English. After a thorough consultation, we came to choose al-Mīzãn because we found that it contained in itself, to a considerable extent, the points which should necessarily be expounded in a perfect exegesis of the Holy Qur’ãn and the points which appeal to the mind of the contemporary Muslim reader. Therefore, we proposed to al-Ustãdh al-‘Allãmah as-Sayyid Sa‘īd Akhtar arRadawī to undertake this task, because we were familiar with his intellectual ability to understand the Arabic text of al-Mīzãn and his literary capability in expression and translation. So we relied on him for this work and consider him responsible for the English translation as al-‘Allãmah at-Tabãtabã’ī was responsible for the Arabic text of al-Mīzãn and its discussions.

4. We have now undertaken the publication of the eleventh volume of the English translation of al-Mīzãn. This volume corresponds with the first half of the sixth volume of the Arabic text. With the help of Allãh, the Exalted, we hope to provide the complete translation and publication of this voluminous work. In the first volume, the reader will find two more appendices included apart from the two which are to appear in all volumes of the English translation of al-Mīzãn: One for the authors and the other for the books cited throughout this work.