The Foundations of Hakim Tirmizi's Exegetical Thought

Hakim Tirmizi- Hadith Scholar, Jurist, and Quran commentator in the 3rd century A.H (9th century AD)- is one of pioneers of theoretical mysticism ('Irfan) in the Islamic World. He is celebrated among the majority Sunni Muslims by his famous work on Hadith called Nawādir al-Usūl, while he is famous among Muslim scholars as a prominent mystic and theosophist. It could be understood by studying his diverse books and essays that he had tried to localize and theorize the ancient Iranian and non-Iranian spiritual methods of conduct on the basis of Islamic sources of morality (i.e. Quran and Hadith). Although most of Islamic scholars incline to rely on the Hadith as their main reference for their moral and theological doctrines, he treats the Quran as an important source of moral conduct and refers to it as a source of his doctrines approximately equal to his references to Hadiths. Apparently his glossary on Quran has not been remained. However we can find his commentary notes everywhere in his works. His hermeneutical thought, his noteworthy recommendations for some problematic verses, his innovative methods of interpretation, and his semi-linguistic analysis of some Quranic words has been seldom reviewed. This study aims to be the first step in the field.