Abstract:
Tafsir, the classical exegesis of the Quran, represents a cornerstone of Islamic intellectual and literary tradition. Rooted
in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and elaborated by early scholars, tafsir provides interpretive insights into Quranic
verses through historical, linguistic, theological, and jurisprudential lenses. Among the most authoritative and influential works in this tradition is Tafsir al-Tabari, a comprehensive commentary compiled by Muhammad Ibn Jarir al-Tabari in the 9th century CE.
Despite the foundational role of such works in the Islamic heritage, they remain largely underrepresented in structured, semantically annotated digital forms. This paper introduces SemanticTafsir, an OWL ontology and an RDF-based knowledge graph designed to semantically model Tafsir al-Tabari and support its exploration as a rich cultural and intellectual resource. The ontology captures the structural, thematic, and referential components of the text, including Quranic verses, layered commentary, embedded hadith, narrator chains, and interpretive themes. Developed using established ontology engineering methodologies, SemanticTafsir reuses and aligns with external vocabularies including SemanticHadith, Schema.org, and DBpedia to ensure semantic coherence and interoperability within the broader Linked Data ecosystem. Our core contribution lies in automating the semantic transformation of TEI-encoded tafsir manuscripts into a knowledge graph that preserves both the literary structure and scholarly nuance of the original work. The pipeline produces RDF representations that support advanced querying, cross-referencing, and thematic exploration, enabling users to navigate complex exegetical relationships at scale. We evaluate the ontology in terms of logical consistency, ability to resolve competency questions, and representational fidelity. The resulting knowledge graph is accessible via SPARQL endpoint and supports multilingual and semantically rich querying for scholars in Islamic studies, cultural heritage research, and digital humanities. By bridging classical Islamic exegesis with Semantic Web technologies, SemanticTafsir contributes to the digital preservation, accessibility, and scholarly engagement with a core component of global cultural heritage.
The ontology and knowledge graph are openly available at: https://github.com/A-Kamran/SemanticTafsir
