Qur'anic Hermeneutics

Al-Tabrisi and the Craft of Commentary

Bruce Fudge

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136819919
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

The work of the twelfth-century Shi'ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma' al-bayan, is one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur'an, and is still in use today. This work is an in-depth case study of Islamic exegetical methods and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam.

Drawing on a wide variety of sources including unpublished manuscripts, the author examines how exegesis serves to construct, maintain and defend the status of the Qur'an as scripture and to uphold certain ideological agendas, among them the notion of the literary and rhetorical supremacy of God's revelation in Arabic. Focusing on the genre and process of Qur'anic exegesis itself, he treats Qur'an interpretation as part of a category of religious practice recognizable from the history and comparative study of religion.

Written in clear and accessible style, Qur'anic Hermeneutics makes Qur'anic exegesis intelligible to specialists in Islam as well as those interested in scripture and its interpretation in general. As such, it will be a valuable reference to scholars of Islamic studies, religion and scripture.

1 The genre of scriptural commentary in Islam

Qur

n commentary (tafs

r, pl. taf

s

r) is a genre whose origins reach back to the earliest years of Islam and continues to the present day, as Muslims (and even some non-Muslims) continue to read and compose works of qur

nic interpreta-tion. In this chapter, as in the whole of the present work, we are concerned with the genre before the twentieth century. In addition to the duration and persistence of tafs

r, we may note the size of individual works: most of the works in the genre are voluminous, as commentaries of ten or twenty volumes are more the rule than the exception. Ostensibly, the purpose of tafs

r is to provide a correct understand-ing of the meaning of the Qur

n’s verses. That the central text of the Islamic religion, the unmediated word of God in Arabic and the final decisive revelation to His prophet Mu

ammad, should be the object of careful scrutiny is hardly surprising. Moreover, the ideas of both holy scripture and its interpretation or commentary are familiar from many other religious traditions, with the most obvious parallel being biblical exegesis.

This familiarity is evident when one peruses the well-known commentary Majma

al-bay

n of Ab

Al

al-Fa

l b. al-

asan al-

abris

(d. 548/1154). This tafs

r work displays various other qualities that allow us to further define or describe the nature of commentary on the Qur

n. It appears to be a multi-faceted affair, comprising all kinds of material from various areas of Islamic learning. It appears to tolerate a variety of interpretation, or at least to accept differences of opinion and method (within certain limits, at least). Citations from earlier authori-ties are abundant; some of these are from the time of the Prophet and the first Muslim generations, while others are renowned scholars of more re...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Quranic Hermeneutics
• Routledge studies in the Quran
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowlegments
• Abbreviations and conventions
• 1 The genre of scriptural commentary in Islam
• 2 Al-Ṭabrisī: A twelfth-century exegete of Khurāsān
• 3 Language and knowledge in Majmaʿ al-bayān
• 4 Commentary and qurʾānic narrative
• 5 Qurʾānic hermeneutics and the Muʿtazila
• Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Index