Fabricated Aḥadith in Tafseer of Surah Al-Taubah in Mafatiḥ -al- Ghayb (The Keys to Unknown): A critical Analysis

Abstract

Mafatiḥ - al- Ghayb (The Keys to Unknown) by Imam Fakhr-ul-Din-Al Rāzi (born 544-606, Ray Iran – died 1149- 1209, Iran) is a well known classical scholarly commentary of the Qur’ān, written in Arabic. The exegesis of  Imam Rāzi  explain each  passage of the Qur’ān by mentioning reports and narration (athar from the prophet, his companions (sahabah) and the immediate generations following  the companions (Tabi’un). Imam Al Rāzi accumulated a big treasure of explanatory tradition which is extracted from many books. He compiled all the reports and narrations that he could gather for each particular passage without concentrating  on their authenticity  which resulted in compilation of many weak, unauthentic and even fabricated reports chipped into his tafsir on which he kept silent. tafsir. The present article critically analysis the tafsir portion from Surah al Taubah and discusses the fabricated reports detected during the investigation.