The Superiority of Ibn Kathir's Tafsir over Ibn al-Jawzi's Tafsir
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Question:
Some Islamic writers criticize Ibn Kathir heavily and prefer Ibn al-Jawzi in some expositions. What is your opinion?
Answer:
Ibn Kathir's tafsir is a great tafsir, a Salafi tafsir, following the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community. It is distinguished by its attention to hadiths, tracing their chains, and attributing them to their sources. I do not know of any comparable work. It is a great book, with no counterpart in terms of its attention to interpreting the Qur'an with verses and hadiths. However, some other tafsirs surpass it in their attention to meanings and recitations.
As for interpreting the Qur'an with the Qur'an, and attention to the Salafi creed, and attention to hadiths; I do not know of any comparable work, neither by Ibn al-Jawzi nor by anyone else. And Ibn al-Jawzi has errors in creed.
The presenter : This is what Ibn al-Jawzi says.
The Shaykh : No, it is Ibn al-Jawzi, not Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.
The presenter : Yes.
The Shaykh : His tafsir is a beneficial tafsir, but Ibn Kathir's tafsir is distinguished over it in many ways—as mentioned earlier—and is also distinguished over other tafsirs. Yes.
The presenter : May Allah reward you with good.
Some Islamic writers criticize Ibn Kathir heavily and prefer Ibn al-Jawzi in some expositions. What is your opinion?
Answer:
Ibn Kathir's tafsir is a great tafsir, a Salafi tafsir, following the methodology of the people of the Sunnah and the community. It is distinguished by its attention to hadiths, tracing their chains, and attributing them to their sources. I do not know of any comparable work. It is a great book, with no counterpart in terms of its attention to interpreting the Qur'an with verses and hadiths. However, some other tafsirs surpass it in their attention to meanings and recitations.
As for interpreting the Qur'an with the Qur'an, and attention to the Salafi creed, and attention to hadiths; I do not know of any comparable work, neither by Ibn al-Jawzi nor by anyone else. And Ibn al-Jawzi has errors in creed.
The presenter : This is what Ibn al-Jawzi says.
The Shaykh : No, it is Ibn al-Jawzi, not Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.
The presenter : Yes.
The Shaykh : His tafsir is a beneficial tafsir, but Ibn Kathir's tafsir is distinguished over it in many ways—as mentioned earlier—and is also distinguished over other tafsirs. Yes.
The presenter : May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.