Tafsir: Interpreting the Qur'an (Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies) - Hardcover

9780415580748: Tafsir: Interpreting the Qur'an (Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415580749 ISBN 13: 9780415580748

Publisher: Routledge, 2012

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.

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Review

"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.

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