Biography
A foundational voice in Qurʾānic interpretation
Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was a cousin of the Prophet Muḥammad and one of the most influential learned Companions. Later Muslim tradition remembered him as Tarjumān al-Qurʾān, the “Interpreter of the Qurʾan,” and as a leading authority in exegesis, law, language, and the transmitted knowledge of the first Muslim generations.
Reports attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās became foundational to early tafsīr. They preserve explanations of Qurʾānic vocabulary, historical setting, legal meaning, prophetic narratives, and earlier scriptural traditions. His teaching legacy was continued through major early transmitters and exegetes including Mujāhid ibn Jabr, ʿIkrima, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, Ṭāwūs ibn Kaysān, and ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ.
No continuous tafsīr securely attributable to Ibn ʿAbbās survives as a book of his own composition. The Institute’s Tanwīr al-Miqbās project therefore distinguishes the later medieval compilation traditionally transmitted under his name from the much broader corpus of exegetical traditions attributed to him in earlier tafsīr works. The project translates Tanwīr while placing, verse by verse, a broad collection of Ibn ʿAbbās traditions with their isnāds in parallel, allowing readers to compare wording, transmission lines, and the development of interpretation.