[Author's Introduction]

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. There is no power and no strength except by God. May God bless Muhammad and his family.

The Shaykh, the Imam, the Hafiz, Abu Muhammad—son of the Imam, the great Hafiz, Abu Hatim—Muhammad ibn Idris al-Razi, may God have mercy on him and be pleased with him, said:

Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and may God bless Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and all his family.

A group of my brothers asked me to produce a concise interpretation (Tafsir) of the Qur'an using the most authentic chains of narration (asnad), while omitting the paths, supporting evidences, variant readings, and historical accounts, as well as the chronological placement of the Surahs. They requested that we focus solely on producing the interpretation itself, without including anything else, investigating the interpretation of the verses such that we do not leave any letter of the Qur'an for which there is an interpretation without extracting it.

I complied with their request, and in God is success, and in Him we seek help, and there is no power and no strength except by God.

I have endeavored to extract this using the most authentic reports in terms of chain of narration (isnad) and the most accurate in terms of text (matn). If I find an interpretation from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, I do not mention with it any of the Companions who provided the same. If I find it from the Companions and they are in agreement, I cite it from the highest-ranking among them using the most authentic chains, and I name those who agree with them while omitting the chains.

If they are in disagreement, I mention their disagreement and cite a chain of narration for each one of them, and I mention those who agree with them while omitting the chains. If I do not find it from the Companions and I find it from the Successors (Tabi‘un), I apply the same methodology to what I find from them as I mentioned regarding the example of the Companions, and I do the same for the Successors of the Successors (Atba‘ al-Tabi‘in) and those who followed them. May God make this purely for His sake and make it beneficial.

As for what we mentioned from Abu al-‘Aliyah in Surat al-Baqarah without a chain of narration, it is what:

‘Isam ibn Rawwad al-‘Asqalani narrated to us, [from] Adam, from Abu Ja‘far al-Razi, from al-Rabi‘ ibn Anas, from Abu al-‘Aliyah.