Editorial Conventions

Structure and method

The present edition presents the Arabic text of Fī Riyāḍ al-Tafsīr in the Warsh ʿan Nāfiʼ rasm, the orthographic standard of North and West Africa in which the tafsīr was delivered, with an English translation on facing pages. The edition is structured in seven volumes, each corresponding to one of the seven manzils, the weekly Qurʾānic recitation cycle that Niasse himself practised and celebrated in verse. He enumerated the opening sūra of each manzil in verse and invoked two of the Qurʾān's names, al-Furqān (the Criterion) and al-Jamʼ (the Joining):

Al-Fātiḥah, al-Māʾida, Yūnus, al-Isrāʾ,
al-Shuʿarāʾ, al-Ṣāffāt, Qāf, thus it is clarified.
He who joins the Criterion with the Joining
completes a full recitation of the Criterion.

This structure reflects fidelity to the Shaykh's own relationship to the Qurʾān. Qurʾānic audio is presented per verse using the recitation of Maḥmūd Khalīl al-Ḥuṣarī (1917–1980) in the Warsh riwāya. The Warsh rasm is the standard of the Qurʾān as recited and taught in the Tijānī tradition, and it differs in certain orthographic details from the Ḥafṣ rasm more familiar to readers outside it.

Digitisation and display

The Arabic text was digitised from the printed ten-volume edition. The compiled edition presents the commentary as continuous Arabic prose with footnotes interspersed throughout each lesson section. For readability, this edition separates the body text — Niasse's commentary — from the footnote block, the compiler's documentary apparatus. The body text appears in the Shaykh's Tafsīr panel; the footnotes in the Critical Apparatus beside it.

The lesson structure follows the compiler's ten-volume organisation: each lesson corresponds to a session of oral delivery. The site presents all fifty-six lessons, covering the Qurʾān from al-Fātiḥa through al-Nās (Q. 1:1–114:6).

Footnote markers

The compiler's footnotes are marked inline in the Arabic text with superscript numbers ^[n]. Each marker is a link that opens the corresponding entry in the Critical Apparatus, where the full footnote appears in Arabic with an English citation header. The same markers appear in the translated lessons, where the translation preserves the footnote numbering of the Arabic source.

The apparatus has been classified by subject genre — Hadith Sciences, Tafsīr, Theology, Sufism, Fiqh, Linguistics, History — a classification not present in the printed Arabic text and an original editorial contribution of this digital edition. It covers all fifty-six lessons, 1,997 footnotes in all; the classification of the later lessons is still being reviewed. Browse it at Footnotes.

The apparatus throughout preserves all of Niasse's original scholarly citations — to the hadith collections, to al-Suyūṭī's al-Itqān, to al-Ghazālī, to Ibn ʿArabī — traced to their canonical sources. Translator's notes are added only where necessary and are marked as distinct from the Arabic compiler's footnotes.

Verse ranges and volume references

The verse range given for each lesson (Q. 2:6–25, for instance) has been verified against the ten-volume structural document prepared for this edition and, for Volumes 1–5 (Lessons 1–30), against the physical printed volumes. Volume and page references cite the ten-volume compiled edition, and page numbers are given for all ten volumes.

The translation

The English translation is by Amadu Kunateh and currently covers Lessons 1–5; the complete bilingual translation is under review for publication with an academic publisher. It proceeds from a commitment to scholarly precision and readability. The register is formal academic prose that preserves the oral cadences of the original — its directness, its rhythmic repetitions, and its transitions between legal analysis and spiritual address. Technical terms are retained in Arabic on first occurrence, with English equivalents in parentheses, and thereafter used in transliteration.

Three translation choices warrant explicit statement. First, the Basmala is rendered “By Allāh's Name, The Entirely Merciful, The Especially Merciful,” preserving the theological distinction between al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm that Niasse himself elaborates at length. Second, ʿabd is translated “slave” throughout, as the more precise rendering of the term's theological weight — the relationship of complete ontological submission that ʿabd carries in Niasse's usage. Third, al-ḥamdu lillāh is rendered as two words, “al-ḥamdu lillāh (The Praise is for God),” preserving both the Arabic formula and its syntactic structure.

Transliteration and honorifics

Arabic transliteration follows IJMES conventions throughout. Following the name of the Prophet, the ligature ﷺ (ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, “may Allāh's peace and blessings be upon him”) stands in the English text for whatever form the Arabic gives; the Arabic itself is left exactly as the compiled edition prints it, whether spelled out or contracted, and is not emended to match. Following the names of Companions and recognized saints, r.a. (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu/ʿanhā, “may Allāh be pleased with him/her”) is retained in abbreviated form. ʿAlayhi al-salām, after the names of prophets other than Muḥammad, is left as the Arabic has it. Qurʾānic citations are given as Q. followed by chapter and verse. Technical Arabic terms are given in transliteration on first occurrence with an English equivalent in parentheses; thereafter in transliteration only.

Citation

How to cite this edition, its copyright, and its version history are on the About page. Any passage you save on the site carries its own citation.