Al Misbah ul Munir Tafsir Ibn e Kathir - Urdu - 6 Volumes Set

This is Tafsir Ibn Kathir in Urdu, in the edition known as Al-Misbah al-Munir (المصباح المنیر تہذیب وتحقیق تفسیر ابن کثیر). This Darussalam set gives the whole tafsir in six hardcover volumes, checked and cleaned of weak narrations. If you want one full tafsir at home in Urdu, it is a sound first choice.

What makes Tafsir Ibn Kathir different

Scholars have always explained the Quran in two broad ways. One is tafsir by reasoning (tafsir bir-ra'y). The other is tafsir by transmitted reports (tafsir bil-ma'thur), which explains the Quran using the Quran itself, the authentic Hadith of the Prophet, and the statements of the Companions and their students. From the earliest generations, this second method was treated as the most reliable, and it is the method Imam Ibn Kathir follows.

In practice, that means Ibn Kathir first looks for another verse that explains the one in front of him. Then he brings the Hadith that bear on it, then what the Companions and the Successors said. Where scholars disagree, he sets out the views and says which he thinks is stronger. The result reads less like one scholar's opinion and more like a guided tour of how the early Muslims understood each verse. The Egyptian hadith scholar Ahmad Muhammad Shakir called it the best tafsir he had seen after al-Tabari's.

What Al-Misbah al-Munir changed

The full original, written in Arabic, is very long and includes some narrations that later scholars judged weak, as well as Israiliyyat (reports taken from Jewish and Christian sources). Darussalam had a team of scholars, supervised by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri, author of The Sealed Nectar, to produce a refined edition. They:

• removed weak and fabricated narrations
• removed the Israiliyyat
• traced the remaining Hadith to their sources and checked them
• kept Ibn Kathir's own explanation and his order of evidence

The Arabic edition was published as Al-Misbah al-Munir fi Tahdhib Tafsir Ibn Kathir. This set is its Urdu translation, so an Urdu reader gets the same verified text that underlies Darussalam's Arabic and English editions.

The Urdu translation

The tafsir itself was translated into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Khalid Saif. The Urdu translation of the Quranic verses is by Hafiz Salah-ud-Din Yousaf, author of Tafsir Ahsan-ul-Bayan, and Maulana Abdul Jabbar. Darussalam's research and translation department in Lahore then revised the work, with Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri and Hafiz Abdul Matin among the supervisors. The language is standard modern Urdu, written for families and general readers rather than only for scholars.

About Imam Ibn Kathir

Imad al-Din Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir was born around 701 AH (1300 CE) near Bosra in Syria and spent most of his life in Damascus, where he died in 774 AH (1373 CE). He studied under Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Dhahabi and followed the Shafi'i school. He is known for two major works: this tafsir, titled Tafsir al-Quran al-Azim, and al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, a history running from creation to his own time. His tafsir is known for its careful handling of Hadith and its caution toward Israiliyyat, which is part of why the abridgment could keep so much of it.

Edition details

Who this set suits

It is written for Urdu-speaking readers, and the UAE has a large Urdu-speaking community. It works well as a family's main tafsir at home, for daily reading after the Quran, for imams and teachers preparing a dars, and for students who want a trusted reference without reading classical Arabic. The six-volume size makes it practical to keep on a shelf and pick up one volume at a time.

Related books

Readers in English can buy the same abridged tafsir as Tafsir Ibn Kathir in English (10 volumes). For a word-by-word understanding of the Quran in Urdu before moving to a full tafsir, see Maani ul Quran Word for Word. For Hadith in Urdu, Hadaya tul Qari is a 10-volume Urdu commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. For a shorter English tafsir of the last three parts of the Quran, try Tafsir as-Sa'di (Parts 28, 29 and 30). You can browse more in the Tafseer and Quran collections.

Frequently asked questions

What is Al-Misbah al-Munir?

Al-Misbah al-Munir (المصباح المنیر تہذیب وتحقیق تفسیر ابن کثیر) is Darussalam's abridged and verified edition of Tafsir Ibn Kathir. A team of scholars supervised by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri prepared it in Arabic, removing weak and fabricated narrations and the Israiliyyat while keeping Ibn Kathir's explanation. This set is its Urdu translation.

Is this the complete Tafsir Ibn Kathir?

It covers the whole Quran, from Surah al-Fatihah to Surah an-Nas, but it is an abridged edition. Weak narrations, fabricated reports and Israiliyyat have been taken out, so it is shorter than the full original while keeping Ibn Kathir's method and conclusions.

Who translated this Urdu edition?

The tafsir was translated into Urdu by Maulana Muhammad Khalid Saif. The Urdu translation of the Quranic verses is by Hafiz Salah-ud-Din Yousaf and Maulana Abdul Jabbar. Darussalam's research department in Lahore revised it, under the supervision of Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri and Hafiz Abdul Matin, among others.

Who was Imam Ibn Kathir?

Imad al-Din Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir was born around 701 AH (1300 CE) near Bosra in Syria and died in Damascus in 774 AH (1373 CE). He was a Shafi'i scholar and a student of Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Dhahabi. Besides his tafsir, he wrote the history al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah.

How many pages and volumes are in the set?

Six hardcover volumes of about 775 pages each, size 17x24 cm. The ISBN is 9789960991917.

Is it suitable for someone who is not a scholar?

Yes. The abridgment makes it far more readable than the full Arabic original, and the Urdu is written for general readers. It also suits daily reading, one passage at a time. Readers who want to learn the meaning of each Quranic word first can start with Maani ul Quran Word for Word.

Is there an English version?

Yes. Darussalam's English Tafsir Ibn Kathir in 10 volumes is based on the same abridged Arabic edition and is available at Darussalam UAE.

How long does delivery take in the UAE?

Orders dispatch from Sharjah. Standard delivery takes 2 to 4 working days, and delivery is free on orders over AED 300, so this set ships free. The six volumes together weigh close to 8 kg.