Is al-Suyuti's al-Itqan an abridgement of al-Zarkashi's al-Burhan?

Al-Zarkashi's (d. 794 AH) al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an and al-Suyuti's (d. 911 AH) al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an resemble each other in many chapters, as Ali Ali Luqm notes in his foreword to al-Burhan. ¹ Writers differ on how to describe the relation between them.

As Layla Muhammad Mas'ud's thesis quotes the introduction to al-Itqan, al-Suyuti first wrote al-Tahbir fi Ulum al-Tafsir, then thought of writing a full book that would enumerate everything, believing himself alone in this, until he heard that al-Zarkashi had written a rich book on the subject; he sought it out, was delighted with it, his resolve grew, and he wrote al-Itqan, arranging its types "more fittingly than the arrangement of al-Burhan". ^{2 3}

Abu al-Fadl al-Dimyati says al-Burhan is broader and more comprehensive than al-Itqan, that whoever reads both finds that al-Suyuti abridged al-Burhan, and that abridging earlier books is the dominant feature of al-Suyuti's works. ⁴

The thesis finds that al-Suyuti built most of his chapters on al-Burhan and took about seventy-three types from it, often making a question that al-Zarkashi treats in one section into a type of its own, adding examples and evidence, and adding the names of those who wrote after al-Zarkashi. ³ It lists five types found only in al-Zarkashi — morphology; which wording is finer and more eloquent; using verses in books, letters and sermons; the necessity of mass transmission; and the Sunna's support of the Book — and types found only in al-Suyuti, among them what was revealed in agreement with the words of some Companions, what was revealed to earlier prophets, seeking short and long chains in its transmission, and the sciences derived from the Qur'an. ^{5 6}