al-Wahidi أبو الحسن علي بن أحمد الواحدي

Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi al-Naisaburi rahimahullah (d. 468 AH / 1075 CE) was a preeminent scholar of Qur'anic sciences from Naisabur (Nishapur) in Khurasan. He is celebrated for his mastery of the field of Asbab al-Nuzul - the occasions and circumstances of Qur'anic revelation - in which he considered himself uniquely qualified, famously remarking that understanding the tafsir of a verse is not possible without knowing its context of revelation. His work Asbab al-Nuzul is among the earliest and most authoritative books in this science and continues to serve as an indispensable reference in classical and contemporary tafsir scholarship. The work has been translated into English and published as part of the Great Commentaries on the Holy Qur'an series.