Question:
We have heard of a book of Tafseer that has been ascribed to ibn Abbaas called “Tanweer al-Miqbaas Min Tafseer ibn Abbaas”. Is this book authentic, and can we take Tafseer from it?

Answer:
This book has been written by a scholar called ‘al-Fairooz Abaadee’. He is a famous scholar who also had other books he wrote, some of which are very important to the scholars and students of knowledge, however, he was not a scholar of Hadeeth nor was he really well versed in its science. So he collected narrations related to tafseer of the Qur'an from bin Abbaas from the most weakest chain. He chose the path of:

3) Al-Sudde (the small one) Muhammad ibn Marwaan
Who narrates from
2) Al-Kalbee
Who narrates from both
1) Abu Sa’eed and abu Saalih
0) Who both narrate from bin Abbaas

So as one can see, we have three levels or stages of narration taken by the narrations found in this book. At level 1 and 2 we have major problems, but for the sake of being brief, I’ll just talk about two of the narrators.

Al-Kalbee
His name is:
محمد بن السائب بن بشر بن عمرو بن عبد الحارث بن عبدالعزى الكلبي أبو النضر الكوفي
Muhammad ibn al-Saab ibn Bishr, ibn ‘Amr ibn Abdul-Haarth ibn Abdul-Uzza al-Kalbee, also known as Abu al-Nadhr, and he was from Kufa.

I will mention some of the things mentioned about him by the scholars of ‘Criticising, and Praising’

قال معتمر بن سليمان عن أبيه كان بالكوفة كذابان أحدهما الكلبي
Mu’tamir ibn Sulaimaan narrated from his father, “There were two liars in Kufa...One of them was al-Kalbee”

وقال الدوري عن يحيى بن يعلى المحاربي قال قيل لزائدة ثلاثة لا تروي عنهم ابن أبي ليلى وجابر الجعفي والكلبي قال أما ابن أبي ليلى فلست أذكره وأما جابر فكان والله كذابا يؤمن بالرجعة وأما الكلبي وكنت أختلف إليه فسمعته يقول مرضت مرضة فنسيت ما كنت أحفظ فاتيت آل محمد فتفلوا في في فحفظت ما كنت نسيت فتركته.
Al-Darer said narrating from Yahoo ibn Yawl al-Muhaaribee saying:
“It was said to Zaaidah: ‘Three [people] you must not narrate from is ibn Abee Laylaa, Jabber al-Ju’fee, and al-Kalbee. As for ibn Abee Laylaa, then I don't remember him. As for Jabber, then he is, by Allaah, a liar that believes in re-incarnation. As for al-Kalbee, then I was once with him, and I heard him say:
“I was once sick, and I had forgotten what had memorised. So I went to one of the family members of the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه و سلم and they spat in my mouth, and [then after that] I memorised what I had forgotten”, so I left him’”

وقال أبو عاصم زعم لي سفيان الثوري قال قال الكلبي ما حدثت عن أبي صالح عن ابن عباس فهو كذب فلا ترووه.
Abu ‘Aasim said that Sufyaan al-Tawree told him that al-Kalbee said to him:
“What I have narrated to you from abu Saalih upon ibn Abbaas was a lie, so dont narrate it.”

As you can see from this narration, that Abu Saalih found on level 1 and al-Kalbee can be found in level 2. We already have a problem establishing we al-Kalbee just admitted, that on that chain, he lied.


وقال علي بن الجنيد والحاكم أبو أحمد والدارقطني متروك
Ali ibn al-Junaid, al-Haakim abu Ahmad and al-Daaraqutnee [said about al-Kalbee that he is] abandoned.

وقال الجوزجاني كذاب ساقط
Al-Jawzajaani said: “a vile liar”

وقال ابن حبان وضوح الكذب فيه أظهر من أن يحتاج إلى الاغراق في وصفه روى عن أبي صالح التفسير وأبو صالح لم يسمع من ابن عباس لا يحل الاحتجاج به
Ibn Hibbing said: “The clarity of his lies are clearer than to need any details in its description. He narrated from Abu Saalih tafseer, but abu Saalih never heard narrations from ibn Abbaas. It is not permissible to used him as a proof”

وقال الساجي متروك الحديث وكان ضعيفا جدا لفرطه في التشيع وقد اتفق ثقات أهل النقل على ذمه وتركه الرواية عنه في الاحكام والفروع قال الحاكم أبو عبد الله روى عن أبي صالح أحاديث موضوعة
Al-Saajee said: “abandoned in hadeeth, and he was extremely weak due to his excess in his shi’ism. The people of transmission have all agreed on criticising him and leavning his narrations in rulings. Al-Haakim said that he narrates fabricated hadeeth from Abu Saalih.

That is some of what can be said about al-Kalbee

As for the next narrator, Abu Saalih, then we have the following information.

Abu Saalih
His name was:

باذام ويقال باذان أبو صالح مولى ام هانئ بنت أبي طالب.
Baathaam, and some said his name was Baathaan, Abu Saalih, Mawlaa Umm Haani. Bint Abu Taalib
(Mawlaa is when a person or one of their ancestors was freed from slavery. Once freed from slavery, they would be ascribed to the family of the one who freed them. So if the one who was freed was Umm Haani. We would say mawlaa umm Hanna..)


وقال أحمد كان ابن مهدي ترك حديث أبي صالح
Ahmad said: “ibn Mahdee used to leave the hadeeth of Abu Saalih”

وقال أبو حاتم يكتب حديثه ولا يحتج به
Abu Haatim said: “You can write down his hadeeth, but you cant use them as a proof”

وقال النسائي ليس بثقة
Imam an-Nasaa.ee said “He is not reliable”.

وقال ابن عدي عامة ما يرويه تفسير وما أقل ماله من المسند وفي ذلك التفسير ما لم يتابعه عليه أهل التفسير ولم أعلم احدا من المتقدمين رضيه.
Ibn ‘Adee said: “Most of what he narrates is Tafseer, and how little does he narrated with a chain! In the tafseer he narrates, is what no other supported him in from the people of Tafseer, and I dont know anyone from the early scholars who were happy with them.

وقال ابن المديني عن القطان عن الثوري قال الكلبي قال لي أبو صالح كلما حدثتك كذب
Ibn al-Madeenee said narrating from al-Qatar who narrated from al-Thawree: “al-Kalbee said: ‘Abu Saalih said to me that everything I have narrated is a lie’”


وقال ابن حبان يحدث عن ابن عباس ولم يسمع منه.
Ibn Hibbaan said that [Abu Saalih] narrated upon ibn Abbaas but never heard from him.

Conclusion
As you can see, the book “Tanweer al-Miqbaas min tafseer ibn Abbaas” is far from being from the accepted books of tafseer. We advise those who are not well versed in the sciences of Tafseer, or Usool, to use the simplified reliable books of tafseer, like Tafseer al-Sa’dee, or Abridged Tafseer ibn Katheer, or Zubdatul Tafseer.

Jazaakallaahu khairan for your time, any comments, corrections or additions are welcome below.

Assalaamu alaikum