Within the classical Islamic tradition, the field of Qur'anic exegesis, more commonly referred to as tafsir, occupies a revered place among the traditional Muslim sciences. Although tafsir encompasses various approaches to the explication of the Qur’an and these include legal, theological, rhetorical, linguistic, mystical, literary, and philosophical treatments, it is the technical tools and methodologies applied in Qur’anic exegesis and the history of their development which make the discipline so unique in its Islamic context.
Given the significance of tafsir within the religious tradition, western academic scholars have devoted considerable attention to the field. This interest remains vigorous today and represents one of the key areas of research in modern Islamic studies. This collection of articles on tafsir provides a definitive overview of the tradition of tafsir in its early, medieval, and modern settings.
Tafsir: Interpreting the Qur’an includes works germane to the history and development of exegesis; materials which focus on the tradition’s great commentators and their commentaries; articles which look at the genres, themes and contexts of the tafsir tradition; research on exegetical ideas, sources, and constructs; and, finally, articles which examine the hermeneutic tools defined by scholarship for the explication of the sacred text. It is an essential work of reference destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital one-stop research resource.
Volume I: Tafsir: Gestation and Synthesis
Part 1: History and Development
1. Claude Gilliot, ‘Exegesis of the Qur’an: Classical and Medieval’, in J. McAuliffe (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an, Vol. II (E. J. Brill, 2001–6), pp. 99–124.
2. Fred Leemhuis, ‘Origins and Early Development of the Tafsir Tradition’, in Andrew Rippin (ed.), Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 13–30.
3. Dimitry Frolow, ‘Ibn al-Nadim on the History of Qur’anic Exegesis’, Wiener Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 1997, 87, 65–81.
4. Bruce Fudge, ‘Qur’anic Exegesis in Medieval Islam and Modern Orientalism’, Die Welt des Islams, 2006, 46, 2, 115–47.
5. E. A. Rezvan, ‘The Qur’an and its World: IX. The Triumph of Diversity: Muslim Exegesis’, Manuscripta Orientalia, 1999, 5, 2, 37–57.
6. Walid Saleh, ‘Marginalia and Peripheries: A Tunisian Historian and the History of Qur’anic Exegesis’, Numen, 2011, 58, 284–313.
Part 2: Dating Early Exegetical Texts
7. Claude Gilliot. ‘The Beginnings of Qur’ānic Exegesis’. In The Qur’an: Formative Interpretation. Edited by Andrew Rippin. Aldershot: Variorum, 1999. Pp. 1-27.
8. Kees Versteegh, ‘Grammar and Exegesis: The Origins of Kufan Grammar and the Tafsir Muqatil’, Der Islam, 1990, 67, 2, 206–42.
9. Kees Versteegh, ‘Zayd ibn Ali’s Commentary on the Qur’an’, in Y. Suleiman (ed.), Arabic Grammar and Linguistics (Curzon, 1999), pp. 9–29.
10. Andrew Rippin, ‘Studying Early Tafsir Texts’, Miszellen: Der Islam, 1995, 310–23.
11. Andrew Rippin, ‘Al-Zuhri, Naskh Al-Qur’an and the Problem of Early Tafsir Texts’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1984, 47, 8, 1–15.
12. Andrew Rippin, ‘Tafsir Ibn Abbas and Criteria for Dating Early Tafsir Texts’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 1994, 18, 38–83.
13. Harald Motzki, ‘The Origins of Muslim Exegesis. A Debate’, in Harald Motzki with Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort and Sean Anthony, Analysing Muslim Traditions Studies in Legal, Exegetical and Maghazi Hadith (E. J. Brill, 2010), pp. 231–303.
14. Herbert Berg. ‘Ibn 'Abbās in 'Abbasid-Era tafsīr’ In Occasional Papers of the School of 'Abbasid Studies, Cambridge 6-10 July 2002. Edited by James Montgomery. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Paris: Peeters, 2004, pp. 129-146.
15. Harald Motzki, ‘The Origins of Muslim Exegesis. A Debate’, in Harald Motzki with Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort and Sean Anthony, Analysing Muslim Traditions Studies in Legal, Exegetical and Maghazi Hadith (E. J. Brill, 2010), pp. 231–303.
Volume II: Tafsir: Theory and Constructs
Part 3: Procedural and Conceptual Devices
16. John Wansbrough, ‘Majaz al-Qur’an: Periphrastic Exegesis’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1970, 247–66.
17. Wolfhart Heinrichs, ‘Contacts Between Scriptural Hermeneutics and Literary Theory in Islam: The Case of Majaz’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 1992, 7, 253–84.
18. Haggai Ben-Shammai, ‘The Status of Parable and Simile in the Qur’an and Early Tafsir: Polemic, Exegetical and Theological Aspects’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 2005, 30, 154–69.
19. Issa Boullata, ‘Poetry Citation as Interpretive Illustration in Qur’an Exegesis: Masa-il Nafi Ibn al-Azraq’, in Wael Hallaq and Donald Little (eds.), Studies Presented to Charles J. Adams (E. J. Brill, 1991), pp. 27–40.
20. Leah Kinberg, ‘Muhkamat and Mutashabihat (Koran 3/7): Implications of a Koranic Pair of Terms in Medieval Exegesis’, Arabica, 1988, 35, 143–72.
21. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ‘Text and Textuality: Q.3:7 as a Point of Intersection’, in I. J. Boullata (ed.), Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’an (Curzon Press, 2000), pp. 56–76.
22. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ‘Qur’anic Hermeneutics: The Views of Tabari and Ibn Kathir’, in Andrew Rippin (ed.), Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 46–62.
23. Muhammad Abul Quasem, ‘Al-Ghazali’s Theory of Qur’an Exegesis According to One’s Personal Opinion’ (International Congress for the Study of the Qur’an, Australian National University, Canberra, 8–13 May 1981) (Australian National University), pp. 69–91.
24. Mesut Okumuş. ‘The Influence of Ibn Sīnā on al-Ghazzālī in Qur'anic Hermeneutics’ The Muslim World (2012:102.2.1), pp. 390-411.
25. Ulrika Mårtensson, ‘Through the Lens of Modern Hermeneutics: Authorial Intention in al-Ṭabarī’s and al-Ghazālī’s Interpretation of Q. 24:35’ Journal of Qur’anic Studies (2009:), pp. 20-48.
26. Kees Versteegh, ‘The Linguistic Introduction to Razi’s Tafsir’, in Petr Vavrousek and Petr Zemanek (eds.), Studies on Near East Languages and Literatures (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 1996), pp. 589–603.
27. Hartmut Bobzin, ‘Notes on the Importance of Variant Readings and Grammar in the Tafsir al-Galalayn’, ZAL, 1985, 15, 33–44.
28. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ‘Assessing the Israiliyyat: An Exegetical Conundrum’, in S. Leder (ed.), Story-telling in the Framework of Non-fictional Arabic Literature (Harrassowitz, 1998), pp. 345–69.
29. Roberto Tottoli, ‘Origin and Use of the Term Israiliyyat in Muslim Literature’, Arabica, 1999, 46, 2, 193–210.
30. Walid A. Saleh, ‘A Fifteenth-Century Muslim Hebraist: al-Biqa’i and his Defense of Using the Bible to Interpret the Qur’an’, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, 2008, 83, 3, 629–54.
31. Andrew Rippin, ‘The Designation of "Foreign" Languages in the Exegesis of the Qur’an’, in Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Barry D. Walfish, and Joseph W. Goering (eds.), With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 437–43.
32. Andrew Rippin, ‘The Function of "Asbab al-nuzul" in Qur’anic Exegesis’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1988, 51, 1, 1–20.
33. David Powers, ‘The Exegetical Genre nasikh al-Qur’an Wa-manukhuhu’, in Andrew Rippin (ed.), Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’an (Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 117–38.
34. Suleiman A. Mourad. ‘The Revealed Text and the Intended Subtext: Notes on the Hermeneutics of the Qurʾān in Muʿtazila Discourse as Reflected in the Tahḏhīb of al-Ḥākim al-Ǧišumī (d. 494/1101).’ In Islamic Philosophy, Science, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honor of Dimitri Gutas. Eds. Felicitas Opwis & David Reisman. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2012. Pp. 367–395.
35. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ‘ Ibn Taymiya Treatise on the Principles of Tafsir’, in John Renard (ed.), Windows on the House of Islam: Muslim Sources on Spirituality and Religious Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 35–43.
36. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Ibn al-Jawzi’s Exegetical Propaedeutic: Introduction and Translation of the (muqaddimah to Zad al-masir fi’ilm al-Tafsir) Alif, Journal of Comparative Poetics, 1988, 8, 101–13.
37. Yusuf Rahman, ‘Hermeneutics of al-Baydawi in his Anwar al-tanzil wa asrar al-ta’wil’, Islamic Culture, 1997, 71, 1, 1–14.
38. Y. Goldfeld, ‘Development of Theory on Qur’anic Exegesis in Islamic Scholarship’, Studia Islamica, 1988, 67, 5–27.
39. Gregor Schwarb, ‘Capturing the Meanings of God’s Speech: The Relevance of Usul al-fiqh to an Understanding of Usul al-Tafsir in Jewish and Muslim Kalam’, in M. M. Bar-Asher et al. (eds.), A Word Fitly Spoken: Studies in Mediaeval Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an Presented to Haggai Ben-Shammai (Jerusalem, 2007), pp. 111–56.
40. Peter Heath, ‘Creative Hermeneutics: A Comparative Analysis of Three Islamic Approaches’, Arabica, 1989, 36, 173–210.
Volume III: The Scholarship of Tafsir
Part 4: Commentators and Commentaries
41. Nabia Abbott, Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri II: Qur’anic Commentary and Tradition (University of Chicago, 1967), pp. 92–106.
42. Mehmet Akif Koc, ‘A Comparison of the References to Muqatil b.Sulayman (150/767) in the Exegesis of al-Tha’labi (427/1036) with Muqatil’s own Exegesis’, Journal of Semitic Studies, 2008, 53, 1, 69–101.
43. Kees Versteegh, ‘The name of the Ant and the call to Holy War: Al-Daḥḥāk b. Muzāḥim's commentary on the Qur’ān’ In The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam. Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki. Edited by Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, Kees Versteegh and Joas Wagemakers. Leiden: Brill, 2011, pp. 279-299.
44. Ulrika Martensson, ‘"The Persuasive Proof": A Study of Aristotle’s Politics and Rhetoric in the Qur’an and in Tabari’s Commentary’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 2008, 34, 363–420.
45. Walid A. Saleh, ‘The Last of the Nishapuri School of Tafsir: Al-Wahidi (d. 468/1076) and his Significance in the History of Qur’anic Exegesis’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2006, 126, 2, 223–43.
46. Norman Calder, ‘Tafsir from Tabari to Ibn Kathir: Problems in the Description of a Genre, Illustrated with Reference to the Story of Abraham’, in G. Hawting and A. Sharif (eds.), Approaches to the Qur’an (Routledge, 1993), pp. 101–40.
47. Meir Bar-Asher, ‘The Qur’an Commentary Ascribed to Imam Hasan al-Askari’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 2000, 24, 358–79.
48. Azim Nanji, ‘Shi’i Isma’ili Interpretations of the Qur’an’ (International Congress for the Study of the Qur’an, Australian National University, Canberra, 8–13 May 1981) (Australian National University), pp. 39–49.
49. Kristian Sands, ‘On the Popularity of Husayn Va’iz-I Khashafi’s Mavalib-I aliyya: A Persian Commentary on the Qur’an’, International Society for Iranian Studies, 2003, 269–83.
50. Suleiman Mourad, ‘The Survival of the Mu’tazila Tradition of Qur’anic Exegesis in Sunni and Shi’i tafasir’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2010, 12, 83–108.
51. Suleiman A. Mourad. ‘The Muʿtazila & their tafsīr tradition: A Comparative Study of Five Exegetical Glosses on Qur’an. 3.178’. Part of a research paper from a monograph to be published by Mourad which studies the work of al-Jishumī, 2012, pp 1–21.
52. Manfred Götz. 'Māturīdī and his Kitāb Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān', In Qur’an: Formative Interpretation edited by Andrew Rippin, pp. 181-214. This is a translation of Gotz, Manfred. ‘Maturīdī und sein Kitāb Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān’, Der Islam, (1965:41), pp. 181–215.
53. Jacques Jomier, ‘The Qur’anic Commentary of Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi: Its Sources and Its Originality’ (International Congress for the Study of the Qur’an, Australian National University, Canberra, 8–13 May 1981), pp. 93–111.
54. Gerhard Bowering, ‘The Major Sources of Sulami’s Minor Qur’an Commentary’, Oriens, 1996, 35, 35–56.
55. Jamal Elias, ‘Sufi Tafsir Reconsidered: Exploring the Development of a Genre’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2010, 12, 41–55.
56. Nicholas Heer, ‘Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s Esoteric Exegesis of the Koran’, in Leonard Lewisohn (ed.), The Heritage of Sufism, Vol. I (Oneworld, 1999), pp. 235–57.
57. Annabel Keeler, ‘Sufi Tafsir as a Mirror: al-Qushayri the murshid in his Lata’if al-isharat’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2004.
58. Sajjad H. Rizvi, ‘The Existential Breath of al-raḥmān and the Munificent Grace of al-raḥīm: the Tafsīr Sūrat al-Fātiḥa of Jāmī and the school of Ibn ʿArabī’. Journal of Qur'anic Studies (2006:8.1), pp.58-87
59. Jules Janssens, ‘Al-Kindi: the Founder of Philosophical Exegesis of the Qur’an’ By: Ya’qub b.Ishaq’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2007, 9, 2, 1–21.
60. Jules Jannsens, ‘Avicenna and the Qur’an: A Survey of His Qur’anic Commentaries’, Mélanges de l’Institut Dominicain d’études orientales, 2004, 25–6, 177–92.
61. B. T. Lawson ‘Qur’ān Commentary as Sacred Performance: the Bāb’s tafsīrs of Qur’ān 103 and 108, the declining day and the abundance," in Der Iran um 19 Jahrhundert und die Enstehung der Baha'i Religion. Edited by Johann-Christoph Bur gel & Isabel Schayani. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 1998, pp.145-58.
Volume IV: Tafsir: Topics, Themes, and Approaches
Part 5: Topics and Themes of Exegesis
62. Anthony Johns, ‘Solomon and the Horses: The Theology and Exegesis of a Koranic Story, Sura 38 (Sad): 30–33’, Institut Dominicain d’Etudes Orientales du Caire: Melanges, 1997, 23, 259–82.
63. Andrew Rippin, ‘The Muslim Samson: Medieval, Modern and Scholarly Interpretations’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2008, 71, 2, 239–53.
64. Mahmoud M. Ayoub, ‘Literary Exegesis of the Qur’an: The Case of al-Sharif al-Radi’, in Issa J. Boullata (ed.), Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur’an (Curzon, 2000), pp. 292–309.
65. Toby Mayer. ‘Shahrastānī on the Arcana of the Qur'an: a Preliminary Evaluation’. Journal of Qur'anic Studies (2005:7.2), pp. 61-100
66. Andrew J. Lane, ‘You Can’t Tell a Book by its Author: A Study of Muʿtazilite theology in al- Zamakhsharī’s (d. 538/1144) Kashshāf.’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (2012:75.1), pp. 47-86.
67. Uri Rubin, ‘Meccan Trade and Qur’anic Exegesis (Qur’an 2: 198)’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1990, 3, 421–8.
68. Stefan Wild, ‘The Self-Referentiality of the Qur’an: Sura 3: 7 as an Exegetical Challenge’, in Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Barry D. Walfish, and Joseph W. Goering (eds.), With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003), pp. 422–36.
69. Gerhard Bowering, ‘The Light Verse: Qur’anic Text and Sufi Interpretation’, Oriens, 2001, 36, 113–44.
70. Brannon Wheeler, ‘Moses or Alexander? Early Islamic Exegesis of Qur’an 18: 60–65’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1998, 57, 3, 191–215.
71. Mohammed Rustom, ‘Forms of Gnosis in Sulami’s Sufi Exegesis of the fatiha’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 2005, 16, 4, 327–44.
72. Gordon Nickel, ‘Early Muslim Accusations of Tahrif: Muqatil ibn Sulayman’s Commentary on Key Qur’anic Verses’, in David Thomas (ed.), The Bible in Arab Christianity (Brill, 2007), pp. 207–23.
73. Jane McAuliffe, ‘Christians in the Qur’an and Tafsir’, in J.Waardenburg (ed.), Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 105–21.
74. Thomas E. Burman, ‘Tafsir and Translation: Traditional Arabic Qur’an Exegesis and the Latin Qur’ans of Robert of Ketton and Mark of Toledo’, Speculum, 1998, 73, 3, 703–32.
75. Robert Morrison, ‘Discussions of Astrology in Early Tafsir’, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 2009, 11, 2, 49–71.
76. Karen Bauer. "I Have Seen The People’s Antipathy To This Knowledge": The Muslim Exegete And His Audience, 5th/11th–7th/13th Centuries.’ In ‘ The Islamic Scholarly Tradition: Studies in History, Law, and Thought in Honor of Professor Michael Allan Cook.’ Edited by M. A. Cook, Asad Q. Ahmed, Behnam Sadeghi, Michael Bonner, pp. 293-314.
Part 6: Modern Developments in Exegesis: Interpretation and Hermeneutics
77. Farid Esack, ‘Qur’anic Hermeneutics: Problems and Prospects’, Muslim World, 1993, 83, 2, 118–41.
78. Abdullah Saeed, ‘Some Reflections on the Contextualist Approach to Ethico-Legal Texts of the Quran’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2008, 71, 2, 221–37.
79. Erik Ohlander, ‘Modern Qur’anic Hermeneutics', Religion Compass (Blackwell, 2009).
80. Massimo Campanini, ‘Qur’anic Hermeneutics and Political Hegemony: Reformation of Islamic Thought’, Muslim World, 2009, 124–33.
81. Johanna Pink, ‘Tradition, Authority and Innovation in Contemporary Sunnī tafsīr: Towards a Typology of Qur'an Commentaries from the Arab World, Indonesia and Turkey.’ Journal of Qur’anic Studies (2010:12), pp. 56-82.
"The collection provides a vehicle for reflection on the state of the discipline and on the way in which the academic study of tafsīr has become structured... Shah’s critical acumen and depth of knowledge of the sources really shine through... The organisation of scholarship in the discipline strikes me as accurate and representative... Shah’s introduction adds great value to the collection both for its masterful overview of the genre and for the way in which it gives us a glimpse of how much remains to be investigated in order to provide a truly balanced historical overview of the endeavour of writing books of tafsīr." - Andrew Rippin, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, VOLUME XV ISSUE 2 2013.
