Overview of the book "Quranic reflection - comment on 31 verses of Surah Al-Kahf"

Abstract

Tafsir, or commentary on the Glorious Quran is one of the major disciplines of the Islamic sciences. We find it delivered in the Albanian Islamic literature from its beginnings, through the works of Albanian Muslim scholars and intellectuals who aim to bring the Quranic meanings
in the mother tongue.
Beyond the Quranic translations, in Albanian literature, genuine commentators of the Quran were offered to benefactors of the Islamic book in Albanian language. Characteristic of these comments by Albanian imams is that they do not include the entire Quran, but specific parts of it, limiting themselves to those surahs or groups of surahs that find wider use in the daily life of
a believer, such as the last ten surahs, Juzi Amme or surah like “Al-Fatiha”, Al-Mulk, Al-Kehf “, etc.
Surah Al-Kahf is at the core of one of the most recent works in the field of Quranic exegesis in the Albanian language, by the researcher and professor of Islamic sciences, Dr. Ziber Lata. The book entitled “Quranic Reflections: Surah Al-Kahf, The Inhabitants of the Cave”, published in the city of Dibra in 2021. Spread over 270 pages of A5 format, is the work made by Dr. Ziber Lata which deals with only a part of Surah Al-Kahf, 31 verses which narrate the story of the “cave dwellers”as it is known in Islamic literature.
The author sets out in book’s introduction the premise on which he bases his study. According to him, the Quranic meanings are inexhaustible and, as such, the possibility of their continuous discovery is not closed. Therefore, the study approach he has chosen for compiling the tafsir of Surah Al-Kahf is in function of this premise and the aim that the main feature of the treatment is not repetition, but re-reading. This approach is based on a comprehensive analysis of the Quranic text, treating linguistically and stylistically every letter, word or sentence of the Quran, in order to discover the possible meanings hidden in them. At the same time, the author tries to analyze the internal connections  that exist between the elements of surah Al-Kahf, such as its connection with verses in other suras, highlighting the cohesion and completeness of the Quranic guidance, in function of the comprehensive spiritual, ideological and material orientation of the man in his earthly journey to eternal life.