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What are the books of Tafsir that scholars have warned against, and which ones clarify the Israʼiliyyat in Tafsir?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The books of Tafsir that the Sunni scholars warn against are those that contain numerous doctrinal deviations, or rely purely on opinion (ra'y), or frequently depend on weak, fabricated, or Isra'iliyyat narrations without critical examination. An example is Tafsir al-Kashshaf by Al-Zamakhshari — though a linguistically proficient person can benefit from it while avoiding its pitfalls.

There are many Tafsir works free from these defects, including: Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim by Ibn Kathir and its abridgments, and Taysir al-Karim al-Rahman fi Tafsir Kalam al-Mannan by Sheikh Al-Sa'di. Among the books that clarify Isra'iliyyat in Tafsir works is Al-Isra'iliyyat wal-Mawdu'at fi Kutub al-Tafsir by Dr. Muhammad Muhammad Abu Shahba.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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