ZAMAKHSHARĪ, AL- (AH 467–538/1075–1144 CE), fully Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar al-Zamakhsharī; Muslim philologist and Qurʾān commentator. Born in Khorezm in northern Persia, al-Zamakhsharī traveled little outside his native province except for several years spent studying and writing in the holy city of Mecca. He was a native Persian speaker, but he believed strongly in the superiority of the Arabic language and excelled in Arabic philology. According to various historical records, he wrote some fifty works; thirty of these are known to exist today, a majority of which have been published in the original Arabic. Most of these works deal with the Qurʾān or the Arabic language in general.

Al-Zamakhsharī's major work, and the one for which he is most famous, is his book of Qurʾān interpretation (tafsīr), Al-kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmi...