Tafsir al-Qurtubi Vol. 2: Juz’ 2: Sūrat al-Baqarah 142 – 253

The tafsīr of al-Qurṭubī is perhaps one of the most compendious of them all and is certainly among the most famous. As its title, al-Jāmi' li Aḥkām al-Qur'ān - The General Judgments of the Qur'an, suggests, its main focus is on the rulings and judgments to be found in the Qur'ān. However, in the course of doing that, al-Qurṭubī examines all the relevant sciences necessary, such as the ḥadīth pertaining to the āyahs, events in the sīrah, what the Companions, their Followers and other noted people of knowledge said about the āyahs, essential aspects of Arabic etymology, syntax and usage, copiously illustrated by examples, and much more.

In this volume, the author continues through the second juz'(two ḥizbs) of Sūrat al-Baqarah, stopping to examine aḥkām/judgments in greater detail including the changing of the qiblah, ḥajj, retaliation, fasting, wills and bequests, menstruation, marriage and divorce, fighting in the Way of Allah, Ṭālūt and Jālūt, and lending Allah a generous loan, a list, however, which hardly does justice to the range of subject matter and depth of treatment of this extraordinary work.