al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Quran (The Compendium of the Legal Rulings of the Quran) by Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Qurtubi (d. 671 AH / 1273 CE) is one of the most authoritative and comprehensive legal tafsir works in the classical Islamic tradition, spanning 20 volumes. Its primary objective is to systematically extract, analyze, and elaborate on the ahkam (legal rulings) embedded in the Quran, presenting and evaluating the positions of the major legal schools, particularly the Maliki, Shafii, and Hanafi, alongside careful attention to transmitted narrations, Arabic language, and theological matters. The manhaj is predominantly fiqhi: Qurtubi treats each verse as an occasion for rigorous legal analysis, discussing points of ijma (consensus) and ikhtilaf (scholarly disagreement) across the madhahib with notable thoroughness and impartiality for a Maliki scholar. Qurtubi was an Andalusian scholar who settled in Egypt; He is Ashari and his madhhab is Maliki. The work is universally regarded as indispensable for scholars of Islamic legal theory and Quranic legal interpretation, and is a standard reference across the Sunni scholarly tradition. More...