RETRIEVING THE SENSES IN QUR’ANIC EXEGETICAL TEXTS: SHAYKH ABU AL-FUTUH RAZI’S PERSIAN QUR’AN COMMENTARY

Abstract

What is the relationship between Qur’an exegesis, ritual practice, and the formation of religious identities and communities? This is the central question this essay will address by focusing on the first Persian Qur’an commentary to have been composed by a Twelver Shi͑i scholar, Shaykh Abu al-Futuh al-Razi (d. 1131), titled The Cool Breeze of Paradise and Breath for the Soul (Rawd al-Jinan wa Rawh al-Janan fi tafsir al-Qur’an). In particular, I examine the mutually reinforcing dynamic between text and ritual in the curation of pre-modern Muslim publics. Through a close reading of Razi’s exegesis, I show the interaction of Qur’an exegesis, Shi͑i rituals of remembrance and the cultivation of distinct sensorial reactions and capacities – an important medium for the narration, transmission, and indeed determination of religious identities. I argue that Razi’s commentary served the dual role of “explanatory written text” and “oral ritual telling”, while establishing its authority in each of these contexts.