Author Biography and His Supercommentary Tafsir

Sulayman ibn Umar ibn Mansur al-Ujayli al-Azhari, known as al-Jamal, was a prominent Egyptian Shafi'i scholar who flourished in the eighteenth century CE (approximately twelfth century AH). He was associated with Al-Azhar mosque-university in Cairo, the leading institution of Sunni Islamic scholarship, and taught there for much of his scholarly career. His epithet 'al-Jamal' distinguished him from other scholars of his generation.

Al-Jamal was a prolific author who produced works across multiple disciplines of Islamic scholarship, but his most enduring contribution is the tafsir commentary known as Al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyyah bi-Tawdih Tafsir al-Jalalayn li-d-Daqaiq al-Khafiyyah (The Divine Openings: Clarifying the Tafsir of the Two Jalals Regarding Its Hidden Subtleties), usually called Tafsir al-Jamal or Al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyyah.

This work is a supercommentary (hashiyah) on Tafsir al-Jalalayn — the famous concise Quran commentary composed jointly by Jalal ad-Din al-Mahalli (who completed roughly half the work before his death in 864 AH) and Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti (who completed the remainder). Tafsir al-Jalalayn had become the most widely memorized and studied brief tafsir in the Islamic world, used as an introductory text in madrasas from Morocco to Indonesia. Its brevity and elegance made it ideal as a first full commentary for students.

Al-Jamal's hashiyah on Tafsir al-Jalalayn fulfilled the need that such a concise work inevitably creates: students and scholars needed expanded explanation of the compressed formulations, resolution of apparent difficulties, and additional grammatical and rhetorical analysis. Al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyyah provided this while also adding its own substantive contributions in the areas of Arabic grammar and Quranic sciences.

The work runs to four large volumes in modern printed editions and remains a standard reference alongside Tafsir al-Jalalayn itself in traditional Islamic education, particularly in Egypt, the Levant, and South and Southeast Asia. Its enduring role in the madrasa curriculum across multiple continents and several centuries testifies to the exceptional quality of al-Jamal's scholarship and the genuine need it filled. Students who work through Al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyyah alongside its parent text develop not only a thorough understanding of Tafsir al-Jalalayn but a comprehensive grounding in classical Arabic grammar, Quranic rhetoric, and the Ash'ari theological tradition that formed the intellectual backbone of Sunni Islamic education.