Ayıntabi Mahmad Efendi’s Tafsīr al-Tibyān: Is it An Original Composition or A Translation?

Tafsīr al-Tibyān is a well-known Qur’ānic exegesis in the language of Ottoman Turkish written by ‘Aynṭābī Meḥmed Efendi, one of the Ottoman scholars of XVIIth century, upon the request of Sultan Meḥmed the Fourth. Tibyān has been widely considered to be a translation of Khiḍr b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī’s al-Dimashqī’s al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān in Arabic into Turkish. However, it does not seem a translation of al-Azdī’s tafsir when it is compared. Besides, there is a serious confusion in the sources and library records about Tafsīr al-Tibyān. There is some discussions about the author of the tafsīr, the ascription of the translation to its translator and the translator’s identity, whether Tafsīr al-Tibyān is an original composition, a translation or an annotated and reorganized mixture of a composition and translation. Seeking answers to these questions, the present paper tries to make clear whether Tafsīr al-Tibyān is a translation of al-Azdī’s al-Tibyān, or not.