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.
Among the important matters covered in this volume are extensive commentary on the Āyat al-Kursī the greatest āyat in the Qur’an, the āyats on usury and the longest āyat in the Qur’an which regulates credit and debt, among the very last revealed to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the unparalleled āyats that conclude Sūrat al-Baqarah, and the passage from Sūrah Āl ‘Imrān that explicates the difference between āyats containing clear judgements and others that are open to interpretation. There is of course, the eponymous theme of the sūrah, the family of ‘Imrān: Maryam, her son ‘Īsā, Zakariyyā’ and his son Yaḥyā, peace be upon them all.
