Al-Suyuti and his book "Lubab al-Nuqul fi Asbab al-Nuzul" (The Core of Transmissions on the Reasons for Revelation)

Abstract

The study highlights one of the works authored on the occasions of revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl), with the aim of extracting the historical content pertaining to the events of the Prophet’s biography during both the Meccan and Medinan periods. The book under consideration is Lubāb al-Nuqūl fī Asbāb al-Nuzūl by Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH / 1505 AD). The importance of this book lies in the fact that its author followed in the footsteps of earlier scholars in this field, most notably al-Wāḥidī al-Nīsābūrī (d. 468 AH / 1076 AD) and Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH / 1449 AD). What distinguishes al-Suyūṭī’s work is its conciseness and its deliberate exclusion of all material unrelated to the circumstances surrounding the revelation of Qur’anic verses.