He said...

He said, “I was looking forward to spring and summer because in these two seasons the nights are short and I would study and write at night and sleep in the day time.” Then, about his exegesis he stated, “First, I performed much research and enquiry regarding the hadīths in “Bihār al-Anwār”, so I could have a publication regarding hadīth. Later, I endeavored much to synthesize Qur’anic verses with hadīth until I concluded that I should write an exegesis.

However, I thought because the Qur’an is an unending sea, if I attempted to address the entirety I might not be successful. Therefore, I picked out all the divine names and attributes and Qur’anic verses regarding eschatology and similar issues and wrote seven independent books on seven subjects.

Later I became occupied in interpreting the Qur’an and now fourteen volumes of the exegesis have been completed and published.” This is what the master said on that day, and later, praise be to Allah, the Exalted, he was successful in completing “Tafsīr al-Mīzān” in twenty volumes in the span of twenty years. At the end of his exegesis, he recorded the completion date…