Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Dhahabī is among the Sunnī scholars who in his Al-Tafsīr wa al-Mufassirūn dealt with tafsīr (exegesis) and its methodology along with introduction of exegetical books of the Islamic sects, which induced reviewing Imāmiyya traditional interpretations and determining the status of the exegetical traditions of the infallible Imams (A.S.). He believes that many fabrications and interpolations have found their way into the Imāmiyya exegetical traditions, with the "distortion traditions" being of this type. The traditions of the Shī‘a infallible Imams do not have any exceptional validity and are similar to other sayings and works of the tābi‘īn (Successors to the Prophet's(S.A.) companions). al-Dhahabī, in his classification of exegetical methods, regards Imāmiyya traditional exegesis as among the invalid type and believes that the baṭnī exegetical traditions (i.e., those transmitted through generations of the same family) concerning the Qur'anic verses are also invalid and have been merely used to prove the authority of the Imams of Imāmiyya. In the present paper, the viewpoints of al-Dhahabī in relation to the above issues are critically reviewed and responded as to their falsehood.
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