Al-Kāfī fī al-Tafsīr, Lost Work of al-Sayyid al-Imām Abū al-Riḍā al-Rāwandī, and its Connection to the Qur’ān Manuscript 4129 in the Library of the Parliament (Tehran)

Manuscript No. 4129 of the Library of the Parliament in Tehran, which is dated Rajab 583/Oct. 1187, contains one of the most important works of Shiite Qur’ānic interpretation that have remained unknown. In the initial encounter with the MS, one finds its appearance different from other manuscripts of Qur’ān and tafsir. Though the library cataloguer has included it in the list of the Qur’āns and has only provided a simple description of its physical appearance, this MS should be considered a work composed of the text of the Qur’ān, details of the ten official variant readings, and the interpretation of the Qur’ān. Since this work has always been kept among the Qur’āns of the Library, no one has recognized the importance of its marginal annotations, which contain a very important hitherto lost Shiite tafsīr from the sixth/twelfth century. In recent years, I have studied these annotations carefully in order to prepare an accurate edition of the work. The present article introduces the manuscript and identifies its possible author, Ḍiyā’ al-Dīn Abū al-Riḍā Sayyid Faḍlullāh al-Rāwandī (alive in 571/1176). A unique feature of this work is its appendix on some points in Qur’ānic studies. It contains, among other things, the oldest critical analysis and refutation, by a Shiite scholar, of the narrative of Zayd b. Thābit’s collection of the Qur’ān in the reign of Abū Bakr.