الجانب الصوفي في تفسير روح المعاني

Abstract EN

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 own stance on Islamic mysticism.

The article, written in a manner that draws on al- £Al¢us³’s own stylistic devices, aims among other things to reproduce the climate of opinion that prevailed at the time as well as the character and personality of al-£Al¢us³ himself.

The analysis gives special attention to Ibn ‘Arab³, as al-£Al¢us³ seems to have found in him, in many respects, a kindred spirit.

Al-£Al¢us³ is, however, not just another bewitched admirer of Ibn ‘Arab³’s.

For despite the Andalusian master’s dazzling command of Arabic and his verbal artistry, al-£Al¢us³’s perspicacity and his uncommon touch with common sense never depart him.

He has both the courage and wit to criticize Ibn ‘Arab³ or to fault him where he finds him errant or swept away, by a heavy dose of mystic euphoria, from the path of shar³‘a or reason.

His criticisms are