Ibn Barrajān’s Exegetical Methodology in “Tanbīh al-Afhām”

One of the prominent exegeses of the Islamic West is the book Tanbīh al-Afhām ilā Tadabbur al-Kitāb al-Ḥakīm wa Ta'arruf al-Āyāt wa al-Naba’ al-‘Aẓīm by Ibn Barrajān, the mystic and the Andalusian exegete in the sixth century AH. The purpose of this article is to review Ibn Barrajān’s exegetical methodology in his book. The present article is done on the basis of documentary, descriptive-analytical method and with regard to the methodological issues of Qur’anic exegesis. Findings show that the exegesis of the Qur’an from Ibn Barrajān’s view is the discovery of the exoteric and esoteric meanings of the verses. Such discovery requires spiritual growth and the purification of the exegete’s soul. Tanbīh al-Afhām is a discontinuous sequential (accordance to the revelation order) and Ijtihādī exegesis that uses the methods of the interpretation of the Qur’an by the Qur’an and traditional-base (ma’thūr), containing mystical and Ash’arite theological tendencies. In Tanbīh al-Afhām, Ibn Barrajān focuses on the types of evidences for understanding the verses, the verbal and nonverbal continuous and discontinuous evidences. In explaining the meaning of verses, he quotes from Sunni hadith collections, as well as he brings forth and criticizes other exegete’s opinions and then reports some verses from Testaments.