Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Kay Ann Taylor / This study explored Islamophobia and Muslims’ religious experiences in the Midwest. Its purpose was to propose a new theory named Critical Muslim Theory. The research methodology was autoethnography (me, the researcher) in concert with discovering in-depth experiences and narratives of nine Muslim participants (five Muslim females and four Muslim males) in dealing with Islamophobia. Religion became the centrality of Critical Muslim Theory in replacing race (as in Critical Race Theory) while centralizing other oppressions Muslims experience through intersections with religion and law, religion and gender, and religion and race. Critical Muslim Theory represents six basic tenets, namely: (a) Islamophobia is endemic and pervasive, (b) Critical Muslim Theory is critical towards how the dominant society views Islam and Muslims, (c) Islamophobia is a social construction, (d) Legal basis, (e) Intersectionality, and (f) Storytelling and counterstories reveal the oppression and pain of Muslims. An historical context was established for Muslims in the United States of America, although more research needs to be contributed to this area. Instances of interest convergence also were present, however, more research in this area is needed. One recommendation from this research suggests combating ignorance through education and establishing a pure relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims through dialogue for understanding. This study further proposes Muslim Double Consciousness as an area for future research. This topic was of interest due to proposing the theory, its further research and development, and the potential for Critical Muslim Theory to stand on its own as a methodology.

This is a study of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s al-Durr al-manthūr fi-l-tafsīr bi-l-ma’thur (The scattered pearls of tradition-based exegesis), hereinafter al-Durr. In the present study, the distinctiveness of al-Durr becomes evident in comparison with the tafsīrs of al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373). Al-Suyūṭī surpassed these exegetes by relying entirely on ḥadīth (tradition). Al-Suyūṭī rarely offers a comment of his own. Thus, in terms of its formal features, al-Durr is the culmination of tradition-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ma’thūr). This study also shows that al-Suyūṭī intended in al-Durr to subtly challenge the tradition-based hermeneutics of Ibn Taymīyah (d. 728/1328). According to Ibn Taymīyah, the true, unified, interpretation of the Qurʼān must be sought in the Qurʼān itself, in the traditions of Muḥammad, and in the exegeses of the earliest Muslims. Moreover, Ibn Taymīyah strongly denounced opinion-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ra’y). By means of the traditions in al-Durr, al-Suyūṭī supports several of his views in contradistinction to those of Ibn Taymīyah. Al-Suyūṭī’s traditions support the following views. First, opinion-based exegesis is a valid supplement to tradition-based exegesis. Second, the early Muslim community was not quite unified. Third, the earliest Qur’ānic exegetes did not offer a unified exegesis of the Qur’ān. Fourth, Qur’ānic exegesis is necessarily polyvalent since Muslims accept a number of readings of the Qur’ān, and variant readings give rise to various interpretations. Al-Suyūṭī collected his traditions from a wide variety of sources some of which are now lost. Two major exegetes, al-Shawkānī (d. 1250/1834) and al-Ālūsī (d. 1270/1854), copied some of these traditions from al-Durr into their Qur’ān commentaries. In this way, al-Suyūṭī has succeeded in shedding new light on rare, neglected, and previously scattered traditions.

Figure majeure de l’histoire des relations coloniales franco-algériennes, l’émir Abdelkader est généralement présenté par ses compatriotes comme le modèle politique, militaire et religieux du résistant au colonialisme français du 19ième siècle. L’historiographie officielle algérienne en véhicule l’image du chef religieux qui a initié al-jihad de résistance conforme aux règles exotériques de la chari’ia. Il est décrit comme un guerrier loyal et magnanime, fin stratège, dont la défaite militaire a paradoxalement marqué la fondation de l’Algérie moderne en tant que Nation et État. La construction sociopolitique postcoloniale de ce mythe a permis de légitimer les différents régimes politiques, qui se sont succédé dans l’Algérie indépendante et qui ont toujours tenu, dans le cadre d’une lecture littérale de l’Islam. Ceci dans le but de taire la dimension spirituelle d’Abdelkader disciple, héritier et commentateur de l’œuvre du magister Magnus soufi, IbnʻArabî. Fascinés dès le début de l’occupation par cet adversaire hors du commun, les français, de plus en plus sécularisés, en ont érigé une image utilitaire, l’aliénant ainsi de ses compatriotes coreligionnaires et le découplant de sa foi islamique. Les mémoires concurrentes de l’ancienne puissance coloniale et de son ex-colonie, l’Algérie, ont généré plusieurs débats contemporains en ce qui a trait à l’écriture de l’histoire de la colonisation. Le personnage d’Abdelkader a été instrumentalisé par les uns et les autres. Deux évènements controversés de sa biographie sont devenus les objets d’une polémique souvent âpre et amère entre auteurs chercheurs algériens et français : l’adhésion de l’émir à la franc-maçonnerie française et sa séparation d’avec celle-ci. Nous allons présenter que la prémisse d’auteurs algériens, selon laquelle Abdelkader n’aurait pas pu adhérer au Grand Orient de France, pour cause d’incompatibilité doctrinale musulmane, est inconsistante. Nous essayerons de démontrer au contraire, que son initiation à la maçonnerie telle qu’elle s’était présentée à lui était en accord avec sa vision soufie et légaliste du dogme islamique. En nous basant sur le choix de la franc-maçonnerie française pour la laïcité au moment de la réception supposée de l’émir dans la fraternité, nous montrerons qu’il s’en éloigna pour des raisons de doctrine islamique. En effet, l’élimination de toute référence déiste des textes constitutifs du Grand Orient de France fut inacceptable pour le musulman qu’était Abdelkader, vaincu militairement mais raffermi spirituellement par sa proximité grandissante avec son maître spirituel IbnʻArabî. L’humanisme des francs-maçons français avait motivé une refondation basée sur les droits de l’homme issus de la révolution française. Tandis que celui de l’émir Abdelkader prenait sa source dans l’Unicité de l’Être, concept-cadre Akbarien de la compréhension de la relation de Dieu avec ses créatures. Nous allons montrer que les polémiques franco-algériennes sur les relations d’Abdelkader avec la franc-maçonnerie française, masquent un autre débat de fond qui dure depuis des siècles dans le monde musulman. Un débat opposant deux herméneutiques légalistes des textes islamiques, l’une exotérique s’incarnant dans l’œuvre du théologien musulman Ibn Taymiyya et l’autre ésotérique se trouvant au cœur des écrits du mystique IbnʻArabî. / A major figure in the history of Franco-Algerian colonial relations Emir Abd-el-Kader is usually presented by his countrymen as the political, military and religious model of resistance to French colonialism in the 19th century. The official Algerian historiography conveys the image of Abd-el-Kader as the religious leader who launched a jihad resistance complying with the exoteric rules of sharî’a, loyal and magnanimous warrior, strategist, whose military defeat ironically marks the founding of modern Algeria as a nation and state. The postcolonial sociopolitical construction of this myth has helped to legitimize the different political regimes that have succeeded in independent Algeria that have under an exoteric reading of Islam, always silenced the spiritual dimension of Abd-el-Kader disciple-heir and commentator on the work of magister Magnus Sufi IbnʻArabî. Fascinated since the beginning of their colonization by this uncommon enemy the increasingly secularized French built a of Abd-el-Kader utilitarian image alienating his fellow countrymen. As this image took shape, it increasingly decoupled Abd-el-Kader from his Islamic faith. Competing memories between the former colonial power and its former colony have generated several contemporary debates in regard to writing the history of colonization. The character of Abd-el-Kader was exploited by all sides. Two controversial events of his biography have become the subject of often rough and bitter controversy between Algerian and French authors-researchers: the accession of the Amir to the French Freemasonry and his separation from it. In this thesis, we demonstrate that Algerian authors' premise that Abd-el-Kader could not have joined the Grand Orient de France because of a supposed incompatibility with Islamic doctrinal concerns is in contradiction with his initiation into Masonry as it was presented to him, when it was still in agreement with his legalistic and mystical vision of Islamic dogma. Basing our analysis careful periodization of the process of secularization of French Freemasonry during the period of the alleged reception of the Emir into the masonry, we show that he later withdrew from it for reasons of Islamic doctrine. The elimination of any deist reference in texts constituting the Grand Orient de France subsequent to Abd-el-Kader’s entrance could only make his participation eventually unacceptable as a Muslim defeated militarily but humanist spiritually strengthened by his growing proximity with his spiritual master IbnʻArabî. French Freemasonry had carried out an overhaul based on human rights stemining from the French Revolution, while Emir Abd-el-Kader is humanism had its source in the Unity of Being which is the Akbarian conceptual framework of understanding the relationship of God with its creatures. We show that Franco-Algerian controversies regarding Abd-el-Kader’s relations to French Freemasonry mask another substantive debate that has lasted for centuries in the Muslim world: that of two legalistic hermeneutics of Islamic texts, one exoteric embodied in the work of the famous Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyya and the other at the heart of esoteric writings of the mystic IbnʻArabî.

Cette recherche a été entreprise au milieu d'une polémique qui a affecté beaucoup de pays occidentaux, mais était particulièrement prédominante dans la province de Québec. Cette polémique, ancrée dans le processus de globalisation, est née des accommodements reliés aux différences culturelles et était principalement due à une crise d'identité sociale. Pendant cela, les médias ont été pris d’une frénésie qui a fait en sorte qu’une culture (culte) a été ciblée plus que d’autres : l'Islam. Une discussion sur le rôle et l’identité des femmes dans l'Islam (particulièrement les femmes en hijab) a suivi. Le but de cette étude est de voir comment les féministes occidentales et musulmanes pourraient créer une solidarité en dépit de ce qu'elles voient parfois comme des différences idéologiques insurmontables. Les méthodologies utilisées pendant la recherche étaient la théorie (post)coloniale et l’approche féministe, et le corpus de connaissances était interdisciplinaire pour ensuite construire une perspective complète de la problématique. La conclusion montre que la création de cette solidarité est essentielle pour assurer les droits et les libertés des femmes (la liberté de conscience y comprise). Un élément nécessaire à cette solidarité était le dialogue interreligieux et les conditions de base qui créent un dialogue réussi sont, entre autres, l’écoute active, « l’inclusivité » et l’ouverture d’esprit. Les dialogues interreligieux sont un outil important dans une société religieusement diverse, et connaitre l'autre est fondamental pour surmonter les obstacles et favoriser la compréhension. / This research was started in the midst of a heated controversy which was affecting many Western countries but was especially predominant in the province of Quebec. Having much to do with globalization, the controversy was specifically based on the accommodation practices related to cultural differences and was instigated primarily due to a social identity crisis. During the media frenzy the one culture that came up very regularly was Islam and with that came a discussion on women in Islam—especially those that wear the hijab, and their rights as citizens. The purpose of this study was to see how Christian feminists and Muslim feminists could create solidarity despite what they sometimes see as insurmountable differences in ideologies and practices. The methodologies used during the research were (post)colonial theory and feminist studies in order to guide the analysis and the research (the body of knowledge) took an interdisciplinary approach to be able to construct a holistic perspective of the argument. In the conclusion it was shown that creating this solidarity was essential to upholding women’s rights and freedoms (including freedom of religion). A necessary part of this solidarity was interreligious dialogue and the basic conditions that create a successful dialogue are activelistening, inclusion and open-mindedness amongst others. Interreligious dialogues are an important tool in a religiously diverse society and knowing the other is fundamental in overcoming obstacles and creating understanding.

Bien qu’on ait longtemps considéré le désespoir ou la souffrance comme un facteur de précipitation de l’expérience religieuse, aucune étude n’a été effectuée sur les liens entre une expérience d’abus sexuels et une conversion religieuse subséquente. Une revue de la littérature sur la dynamique religieuse des abus sexuels révèle deux paradigmes opposés : la religion comme ressource ou comme facteur de risque. De même, un examen des études sur la conversion indique trois dichotomies : un converti actif ou passif, une conversion soudaine ou progressive, et la conversion comme phénomène normal ou pathologique. Or, un recensement des témoignages anecdotiques de victimes d’abus sexuels qui ont subséquemment vécu une conversion suggère que l'interaction entre les deux événements est plus complexe. Pour dépasser ces dichotomies paradigmatiques, nous préconisons une approche narrative. Plus spécifiquement, nous utilisons le concept d’identité narrative développé par Paul Ricœur. Ce concept s’inscrit dans la dynamique ricœurienne de triple mimèsis, laquelle assure une fonction de liaison entre le champ pratique et le champ narratif. De façon générale, notre stratégie méthodologique consiste à déterminer comment, à partir d’éléments biographiques issus de la préfiguration (mimèsis I), le sujet configure son récit pour donner sens à son expérience (mimèsis II) et la refigure pour aboutir à une identité de survivant ou de converti (mimèsis III). Sept entrevues non directives ont été effectuées auprès de personnes qui ont subi des abus sexuels durant leur enfance et qui ont plus tard vécu une conversion religieuse dans le milieu évangélique. À partir de l'analyse en trois étapes mentionnée ci-dessus, nous évaluons la contribution positive ou négative des divers éléments narratifs et, surtout, de leur interaction à la construction de l’identité narrative du sujet. Nous en concluons que le rapport entre des abus sexuels subis durant l’enfance et une conversion ultérieure n’est pas si simple que la littérature pourrait le laisser soupçonner. La conversion peut s’avérer salutaire à la survie du sujet et contribuer à la guérison du traumatisme sexuel qu’il a subi. Toutefois, certains éléments religieux peuvent faire obstacle au processus de recouvrement. Ces éléments nocifs varient d’un sujet à l’autre, et ce qui est délétère pour l’un peut être bénéfique pour l’autre, selon la configuration du récit. / Although despair or discontent has long been thought to be a precipitating factor for religious experience, there has been no systematic investigation of the possible links between sexual abuse and religious conversion. A review of literature on the religious dynamics of sexual abuse reveals opposite paradigms: religion as risk factor and religion as resource. Likewise, a review of conversion studies reveals three such dichotomies: active or passive convert, sudden or gradual conversion, and conversion as normal or pathological. Anecdotal evidence from the literature suggests that the interaction between sexual abuse trauma and a subsequent conversion is more complex. To transcend these paradigmatic dichotomies, a narrative approach is advocated. More specifically, I use the concept of narrative identity as developed by Paul Ricœur. This concept relates to the Ricœurian notion of triple mimèsis, which links the practical and narrative fields. Starting from biographical elements from the narrative (mimèsis I), how does the subject configure his account to make sense out of his experience (mimèsis II) and refigure it to construct a survivor/convert identity (mimèsis III). Seven non-directive interviews were conducted with people who have suffered sexual violence during childhood and who subsequently experienced a religious conversion. From the aforementioned three-step analysis, the positive or negative contribution of the narrative elements – but mostly their interaction – to the subject’s narrative identity can be evaluated. We conclude that the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and a later conversion is not as simple as the literature would lead us to believe. Conversion can be beneficial to the subject’s survival and contribute to the healing of the sexual trauma. However, some religious elements can hinder the recovery process. These harmful elements vary from one person to another, and what is harmful for one can be beneficial for another, depending on the life story’s configuration.

In this study of the nineteenth-century German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen, I argue that Cohen’s revision of Kantian ethics and moral theology is permeated with concepts drawn from and logically contoured by his interpretation of Maimonidean rationalism and Jewish sources, more generally. Through an idealizing hermeneutic, Cohen normativizes certain philosophical problems in post-Kantian philosophy and addresses them under the title of "pantheism" and "positivism". Between both pantheism and positivism, Cohen’s idealism presents a middle path, which I describe as "prophetic idealism", or a philosophy of time and ideality that interprets history, law, and ethical normativity as future-oriented. In other words, "prophecy" intimates a methodological role for temporality in practical philosophy and introduces a new meaning for legality in ethics. Cohen therefore offers a philosophy of Judaism, as a philosophy of religion, by normativizing the idea of prophecy and making it a conceptual model for reason-giving, agency, legal norms and ethical action. By focusing upon the critique of both pantheism and positivism, this dissertation therefore argues that Cohen’s negotiations of nineteenth-century philosophical problems introduces a normative role for Judaism as a public philosophy and the argument concludes by suggesting that Cohen’s philosophy of Judaism is instructive for contemporary public philosophy.

In this study of the nineteenth-century German-Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen, I argue that Cohen’s revision of Kantian ethics and moral theology is permeated with concepts drawn from and logically contoured by his interpretation of Maimonidean rationalism and Jewish sources, more generally. Through an idealizing hermeneutic, Cohen normativizes certain philosophical problems in post-Kantian philosophy and addresses them under the title of "pantheism" and "positivism". Between both pantheism and positivism, Cohen’s idealism presents a middle path, which I describe as "prophetic idealism", or a philosophy of time and ideality that interprets history, law, and ethical normativity as future-oriented. In other words, "prophecy" intimates a methodological role for temporality in practical philosophy and introduces a new meaning for legality in ethics. Cohen therefore offers a philosophy of Judaism, as a philosophy of religion, by normativizing the idea of prophecy and making it a conceptual model for reason-giving, agency, legal norms and ethical action. By focusing upon the critique of both pantheism and positivism, this dissertation therefore argues that Cohen’s negotiations of nineteenth-century philosophical problems introduces a normative role for Judaism as a public philosophy and the argument concludes by suggesting that Cohen’s philosophy of Judaism is instructive for contemporary public philosophy.

This dissertation investigates how two fifth-century bishops of Rome, Leo I (440-461) and Gelasius (492-496) understood and opposed heresy. More specifically, by stressing the contested character of heresy and the at times optative nature of the bishop of Rome’s opposition to it, this dissertation hopes to provide a new perspective on how Leo and Gelasius imagined and justified the authority of the Apostolic See in an uncertain world. To accomplish this task, this dissertation considers Leo and Gelasius’ opposition to various different heresies and details the methods by which they were opposed. This will be done through an examination of the records of synods, Roman law, other contemporary narrative sources, but especially through the letters and tractates of Leo and Gelasius themselves, carefully read and considered in their fifth-century context. Furthermore, it is argued that the history of the development of the ideas of heresy and orthodoxy were profoundly connected with Rome’s emerging importance as a locus of authentic Christian teachings; the history of the bishops of Rome cannot be told without examining the history of heresy and orthodoxy and vice versa. Because orthodoxy and heresy were not tangible historical phenomena but rather were malleable categories that emerged as part of a wider discourse of Christian identity construction, the bishops of Rome were not in every case the unqualified enemies of heresy. Instead, their definition of heterodox belief and their opposition to religious deviance were complex, often qualified and always historically contingent. This study seeks to investigate the way in which Leo and Gelasius mobilized the language of heresiology in order to convince Christians in the Latin west and the Greek east, as well as the imperial authorities, that Rome’s interpretations were legitimate and binding.

Deux mouvements théologiques et culturels actuellement en croissance rapide suscitent un intérêt mondial, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari. Fondé par le Zulu prédicateur Isaiah Shembe pendant les années 1910, Ibandla lamaNazaretha prend son origine d’une église hiérarchique célébrant dans des temples extérieurs dans la province de KwaZulu-Natal et inclut maintenant un certain nombre de factions regroupées autour de la péninsule de l’Afrique du Sud. Le groupe des Rastafari, quant à lui, né en Jamaïque, a commencé comme une idéologie à plusieurs têtes qui a fleuri dans des zones éparses de l’île des Caraïbes. Il découle des interprétations d’une prophétie généralement attribuée à Marcus Garvey, concernant un roi devant être couronné en Afrique (circa 1920), et qui fut appliquée aux années 1930, avec le couronnement de Ras Tafari Makonnen comme Haile Selassie I, 225e empereur d’Éthiopie. Les adhérents et sympathisants de ces deux mouvements se comptent en dizaines de millions et ils exercent plusieurs types d’influences, tant aux niveaux politique, théologique, social que culturel, en particulier en Afrique et dans les Caraïbes aujourd’hui. Cette thèse soutient que les deux, Ibandla lamaNazaretha et les Rastafari, perpétuent un amalgame entre le « Naziréat » de l’Ancien Testament (Nombres 6:1-8) et le « Nazaréen » de l’évangile de Matthieu (2:23), à travers la dévotion à un seigneur contemporain: Haile Selassie I dans le cas du mouvement Rastafari et Isaiah Shembe dans le cas du mouvement Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Dans ce cadre théologique, à la fois les Rastafari et Ibandla lamaNazaretha ont réanimé les anciens rites de purification judaïques du naziréat jusque-là disparus, et les ont également adaptés, dans le contexte du messianisme, aux préoccupations postcoloniales de l’autochtonie. Grâce à la persistance de l’autochtonie, l’influence des idéaux indiens de résistance non-violente, et l’appropriation des différents thèmes bibliques, les deux mouvements africains noirs ont habilité avec succès leurs membres « dépossédés ». Ils l’ont fait par la création de communautés liminales, alors que des modes de vie agraires et auto-suffisants s’épanouissent en dehors des auspices d’une élite dominante : une herméneutique du nazaritisme unifie les diverses racines hybrides africaines, judaïques, chrétiennes, indiennes, et européennes. / Two rapidly growing theological and cultural movements currently sparking global interest are Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Founded by the Zulu preacher Isaiah Shembe during the 1910s, Ibandla lamaNazaretha originated as a hierarchical church order that worships at outdoor temples in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and currently comprises a number of splinter groups centralized around the Southern African peninsula. Rastafari, however, born in Jamaica, commenced as a multi-headed ideology that blossomed in scattered pockets across the Caribbean island and stemmed from the interpretations of a prophecy generally attributed to Marcus Garvey about a king to be crowned in Africa (circa 1920) as applied to the 1930 coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Ethiopia. Today, Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari comprise adherents and sympathizers numbering in the tens of millions and their presences connote varying degrees of political, theological, social, and cultural influence, especially in Africa and the Caribbean today. This dissertation argues that both Ibandla lamaNazaretha and Rastafari perpetuate a conflation between the “Nazirite” from the Old Testament (Numbers 6:1-8) and the “Nazorean” of Matthew 2:23 through the hailing of a contemporaneous saviour: i.e. Haile Selassie I for Rastafari and Isaiah Shembe for Ibandla lamaNazaretha. Within this theological framework, both Rastafari and Ibandla lamaNazaretha have provided renewed life to the long defunct Ancient Judaic purification rites of the Nazirite, but have also adapted them in the context of messianism for the benefits of Africanness and the postcolonial concerns of indigeneity. Thus, through the persistence of indigeneity, the influence of Indian ideals of peaceful resistance, and the appropriation of various biblical themes, both Black African movements have successfully empowered the dispossessed by creating liminal communities wherein expressions of agrarian self-reliance flourish outside the auspices of a subjugating elite; a hermeneutic of naziritism unifies the discernable African, Judaic, Christian, Indian, and European hybridic roots.

This is a study of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s al-Durr al-manthūr fi-l-tafsīr bi-l-ma’thur (The scattered pearls of tradition-based exegesis), hereinafter al-Durr. In the present study, the distinctiveness of al-Durr becomes evident in comparison with the tafsīrs of al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and Ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373). Al-Suyūṭī surpassed these exegetes by relying entirely on ḥadīth (tradition). Al-Suyūṭī rarely offers a comment of his own. Thus, in terms of its formal features, al-Durr is the culmination of tradition-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ma’thūr). This study also shows that al-Suyūṭī intended in al-Durr to subtly challenge the tradition-based hermeneutics of Ibn Taymīyah (d. 728/1328). According to Ibn Taymīyah, the true, unified, interpretation of the Qurʼān must be sought in the Qurʼān itself, in the traditions of Muḥammad, and in the exegeses of the earliest Muslims. Moreover, Ibn Taymīyah strongly denounced opinion-based exegesis (tafsīr bi-l-ra’y). By means of the traditions in al-Durr, al-Suyūṭī supports several of his views in contradistinction to those of Ibn Taymīyah. Al-Suyūṭī’s traditions support the following views. First, opinion-based exegesis is a valid supplement to tradition-based exegesis. Second, the early Muslim community was not quite unified. Third, the earliest Qur’ānic exegetes did not offer a unified exegesis of the Qur’ān. Fourth, Qur’ānic exegesis is necessarily polyvalent since Muslims accept a number of readings of the Qur’ān, and variant readings give rise to various interpretations. Al-Suyūṭī collected his traditions from a wide variety of sources some of which are now lost. Two major exegetes, al-Shawkānī (d. 1250/1834) and al-Ālūsī (d. 1270/1854), copied some of these traditions from al-Durr into their Qur’ān commentaries. In this way, al-Suyūṭī has succeeded in shedding new light on rare, neglected, and previously scattered traditions.