Salafism in the Exegetical Approach of Jamal al-Din Qasemi Centered around Monotheism

Jamal al-Din Qasemi, the author of Tafsīr maḥāsin al-Ta’wīl, is an interpreter attributed to and popular for Salafism. His approach to such a discourse as broaching the subject of ijtihad and his widespread reference to the Salafis in his writings confirms this matter. However, his rather inconsistent approach to the Salafism concerning such subjects as Sufism and innovations in this respect can be taken into consideration. In respect to various thoughts and ideas that exist concerning the attribution of Jamal al-Din Qasemi to Salafism, the present research has examined his Tafsīr maḥāsin al-Ta’wīl with the descriptive-analytical method aiming at studying the interpreter's monotheistic thought and the degree of his thought's conformity with the Salafis so that one can talk with certainty about the interpretation to be Salafi or non-Salafi. The findings yielded from the research suggest that in the field of monotheism as the most important component asserted by the Salafis, he considerably conforms to the followers of this trend, to the extent that in explanation of the Divinity and Lordship monotheism and its essential concomitants he has commented quite consistent with the Salafis. However, in the field of attributive monotheism, contrary to the Salafis, he has inclined toward declarative attributes hermeneutics due to his tendency toward allegory and literary imagery and attachment to such interpreters as Zamakhsharī and Ālūsī.