Mufti Muhammad Shafi' wrote Maariful Quran in Urdu, which has alreadybecome a great reference for the layman and the scholar alike. Now itsEnglish translation supervised by his son Mufti Taqi Usmani, bringsthis great treasure to the English-speaking world

by Justice Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Ma'ariful-Qur'an is the name of a detailed Urdu commentary of the Holy Qur'an written by my father Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi'. He was one of the eminent scholars who served as a professor and as a grand Mufti of Darul-Uloom Deoband, the well-known university of the Islamic Sciences in the sub-continent of India. In 1943, he resigned from Darul-Uloom, due to his active involvement in the Pakistan movement, and when Pakistan came into existence, he migrated to Karachi where he devoted his life for this new homeland of the Muslims and served the country in different capacities. He also established Darul-Uloom Karachi, an outstanding institute of Islamic Sciences on the pattern of Darul-Uloom Deoband, which is regarded today as the biggest private institute of higher Islamic education in Pakistan.

He was a prolific writer who left behind him about one hundred books on different Islamic and literary subjects. Ma'ariful-Qur'an was the last great work he accomplished four years before his demise.

The origin of Ma'ariful-Qur'an refers back to the third of Shawwal 1373 A.H. (corresponding to the 2nd of July 1954) when the author was invited to give weekly lectures on the Radio Pakistan to explain selected verses of the Holy Qur'an to the general audience. This invitation was accepted by the author on the condition that he would not accept any remuneration for this service and that; his lectures would be broadcast without any interference by the editing authorities. The permanent title of this weekly program was "Ma'ariful-Qur'an" (The Wisdom of the Holy Qur'an) and it was broadcast every Friday morning on the network of Radio Pakistan.

This series of lectures continued for ten years up to the month of June 1964 whereby the new authorities stopped the programme for reasons best known to them. This series of lectures contained a detailed commentary on selected verses from the beginning of the Holy Qur'an up to the Surah Ibrahim (Surah no. 14).

This weekly programme of Radio Pakistan was warmly welcomed by the Muslims throughout the globe and used to be listened to by thousands of Muslims, not only in Pakistan and India but also in Western and African countries.

After the programme was discontinued, there was a flood of requests from all over the world to transfer this series in a book-form and to complete the remaining part of the Holy Qur'an in the shape of a regular commentary.

These requests persuaded the esteemed author to revise these lectures and to add those verses, which were not included in the original lectures. He started this project in 1383 A.H. (1964) and completed the commentary of Surah al-Fatihah in its revised form and started the revision of Surah al-Baqarah. However, due to his numerous involvements he had to discontinue this task, and it remained unattended during the next five years.

In Shawwal 1388 (1969) the esteemed author suffered from a number of diseases, which made him restricted to his bed. It was during this ailment that he restarted this work while on bed and completed Surah al-Baqarah in the same condition. Since then he devoted himself to the "Ma'ariful-Qur'an". Despite a large number of obstacles in his way, not only from the political atmosphere of the country and the difficult responsibilities he had on his shoulders in different capacities, but also from his health and physical condition, he never surrendered to any of them and continued his work with a miraculous speed until he accomplished the work in eight volumes (comprising of about seven thousand pages) within five years only.

After appearing in a regular book-form, Ma'ariful-Qur'an was highly appreciated and widely admired by the Urdu-knowing Muslims throughout the world. Thousands of copies of the book are still circulated every year, and the demand for the book is so increasing that it has always been a problem for its publisher to satisfy the demand to its optimum.

Cover: Hardback
Author: Mufti Muhammad Shafi
Publisher: Maktaba e Darul Uloom Karachi
Pages: 6068
Weight: 9720 (Gram)