Nouman Ali Khan has a gift to simplify the complexity of the Qur’an in such a beautiful way that the message of the final sacred book resonates with people in everyday life. He provides a full concise commentary of the Qur’an on his popular Bayyinah TV website. It requires a monthly subscription of $11 Dollars a month.
I am subscribed to Bayyinah TV and am going through all of the chapters of the Qur’an. I have decided to start releasing my notes. They cover every verse in the Qur’an based on Ustaadh Nouman’s commentary. Frequently, especially outside of the 30th juzz, there are verses that Ustaadh Nouman does not cover or does not provide sufficient commentary on, in which case, I refer to books of beginner level Qur’anic exegesis (tafseer) to derive the meaning. In such cases, I label them by giving either the name of the book or the author’s name at the end of the sentence in brackets. Some of these other sources include:
- al-Mukhtasar fee al-Tafseer
- Muhammad Ali Sabuni’s tafseer
- al-Tafseer al-Muyassar
- Tafseer Sa’adi
- Syed Iqbal Zaheer’s tafseer
- And sometimes a few others
The first two are usually the most I use as additional references because the intent of these notes is to keep them short and simple. There are also times when I don’t find Ustaadh Nouman’s commentary satisfying and favor other scholars’ tafseer over him. In such cases, I do not note down Ustaadh Nouman’s commentary but just the explanation mentioned in other books of tafseer.
I initially began this project in order to build a reference for every verse in the Qur’an for myself and with hopes of using the notes to go over the complete tafseer of the Qur’an with my kids as well insha’Allah. I wanted to be able to go to any verse in the Qur’an and understand its general meaning and quickly derive the lessons it holds. Now, I not only want to do this for myself but want others to benefit from it as well.
As for why I chose Nouman Ali Khan, then reasons are as follows:
- He simplifies many of the complex issues in a verse in an efficient manner
- For the vast majority of the time, he sticks to the mainstream Sunni understanding of the Qur’an
- He summarizes many points of classical tafseer scholars in our history
- He delves into grammar and word meanings to produce some really nice gems which helps increase the beauty of the Qur’an in the listener’s mind. This is extremely difficult to do in a foreign language yet he pulls it off
- He does a wonderful job showing aspects of coherence in the Qur’an
- He connects the verses to our modern everyday life and how to implement the message even today
Please note that I did not write down every single detail that Ustaadh Nouman provided for the verses but only that which I personally found intriguing and to highlight the basic message of the verse. I am still going through the lectures and editing the notes so I will release each chapter as soon as I complete it insha’Allah. The list below is what I have completed so far.
These notes are free so please take advantage of them and I hope you can use them to build a strong relationship with Allah’s final book. Please help share this page with your family and friends if you find it beneficial.
I initially began with al-Fatihah and al-Baqarah but then decided it would be better to start from the back of the Qur’an, at least until Surah al-Qaf, after which, I will begin from Surah al-I’mran. I am currently working on the rest of the chapters. As soon as I have them finalized, they will be available as well insha’Allah. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Update:Â I have had several people contact me requesting update on the rest. I try to upload one chapter a month but sometimes it could take longer due to other obligations in my life. Please understand that it takes time to listen, write down, and revise the notes before final publication. Sometimes I have to refer to other books if Ustaadh Nouman is not very clear on certain verses, sometimes completely skipping them without explanation, or if at times his commentary does not make sense to me. In short, I am trying to go as fast as I can with the time that I have available.
Latest Upload: Surah Al-Hashr (Sep 4, 2023)
TO KEEP UPDATES ON NEW SURAHS AND OTHER THINGS RELATED TO MY BLOG, PLEASE JOIN MY TELEGRAM CHANNEL
For those interested in the methodology of tafseer, I would recommend reading my notes on principles of tafseer which goes over how tafseer is produced by scholars.
List of Tafseer Notes Completed
- Al-Fatihah
- Al-Baqarah
- Al-Hashr
- Al-Mumtahanah
- As-Saf
- Al-Jumu’ah
- Al-Munafiqun
- Al-Taghabun
- Al-Talaq
- Al-Tahrim
- Al-Mulk
- Al-Qalam
- Al-Haqqah
- Al-Ma’arij
- Nuh
- Al-Jinn
- Al-Muzzammil
- Al-Muddathir
- Al-Qiyamah
- Al-Insaan
- Al-Mursalat
- An-Naba’
- An-Nazi’at
- ‘Abasa
- Al-Takwir
- Al-Infitar
- Al-Mutaffifeen
- Al-Inshiqaq
- Al-Buruj
- At-Tariq
- Al-‘A’la
- Al-Ghashiyah
- Al-Fajr
- Al-Balad
- Ash-Shams
- Al-Layl
- Ad-Duhaa
- Ash-Sharh
- Al-Teen
- Al-‘Alaq
- Al-Qadr
- Al-Bayyinah
- Az-Zalzalah
- Al-Qar’iah
- Al-‘Adiyaat
- At-Takathur
- Al-‘Asr
- Al-Humazah
- Al-Fil
- Quraysh
- Al-Ma’un
- Al-Kawthar
- Al-Kafirun
- An-Nasr
- Al-Masad
- Al-Ikhlaas
- Al-Falaq
- Al-Naas