Review of The Role of Muqātil Ibn Sulaymān in Forming Exceptional Verses

Muqātil ibn Sulaymān (d. 2nd century AH) is the oldest commentator who extensively quoted exceptional verses, so that he became known as one of the main narrators of such verses in next centuries. He did not mention his exegetical masters while living in different cities such as Marv and Basra. As a result, his interpretive school, masters, and method of learning are ambiguous. Based on various evidence, this research proves that his original interpretive school was in Iraq, especially Basra. Moreover, he did not learn interpretations from his masters in an auricular way; therefore, he did not mention their names. In addition, among the Iraqi and Hejazi masters, he mostly was influenced by Qatada and then Kalbī in his commentary, and so he received the idea of excepting verses from them. The discovery of Muqātil’s method shows that he always issued fatwā on the exception of many verses, relying on external evidence, especially the causes of revelation in which he had great confidence, and incorrect historical presuppositions. According to the evidence, the idea of   denying any connection between the Prophet (PBUH) and the People of the Book during Mecca era, the migration of the Prophet (PBUH) to Medina before Muslims, the occurrence of jihad only in Medina, and the tolerant dealing with polytheists only before the migration were the most important hypotheses of Muqātil, through which he excepted many verses.