View source for Aims, Methods and Contexts of Qur'anic Exegesis (Book report)

The title is book about the aims, Methods and Contexts of Qur'anic Exegesis  in the 2nd/8th–9th/15th C., edited by Karen Bauer published by Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2013.<ref>https://www.iis.ac.uk/publication/aims-methods-and-contexts-quranic-exegesis-2nd8th-9th15th-centuries</ref>

=Abstract=
Medieval interpretations of the Qur'an often serve as points of reference for Muslim thought; yet Qur'an commentaries were shaped not only by the Qur'an itself, but also by their authors' ideological viewpoints, their theories of interpretation, their methods, and the conventions of the genre. This volume is the first to focus solely on the complicated relationship between exegetes' theoretical aims, their practical methods of writing, and the historical and intellectual contexts of Qur'an commentaries (tafsīr). Experts in various aspects of the Qur'an and its interpretation have contributed essays, spanning the 2nd/8th to the 9th/15th centuries, the period in which the commentarial tradition developed and flourished. They emphasise the ways in which geography, human networks, hermeneutical systems and genre boundaries affected the writing of these texts. This volume offers fresh analytical perspectives and addresses new methods for the study of tafsīr. It also provides resources for scholars, by including editions and translations of the introductions to al-Basīt of Abū'l-Ḥasan 'Alī al-Wāḥidī (d. 486/1076) and the Tahdhīb fī Tafsīr al-Qur'ān of al-Ḥākim al-Jishumī (d. 494/1101), as well as translated selections from the introduction to the tafsīr of 'Abd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. 736/1336). The detailed studies in this volume will help scholars and students alike to comprehend accurately the purpose and content of Qur'an commentaries individually and as a genre. 

=Aim of Qur’anic interpretation=
According to the exegetes, the central aim of the genre of Qur’anic interpretation (tafsir al-Qur’an) is to uncover and explain the meaning of the Qur’an; but for readers the central question about tafsir is the extent to which it creates and reads meanings into the text. This volume is dedicated to the study of tafsir as a genre.
 
The chapters in this volume illustrate that the study of context, genre constraints, and hermeneutics is important because tafsir represents not the one true understanding of the Qur’an, but rather a certain type of understanding and certain types of knowledge about the Muslim sacred Book. By examining tafsir as a genre, with attention to the authors’ aims, methods, sources and context, we can gain a clearer understanding of what they were saying, why they were saying it in particular ways, and how this process both uncovers and creates meaning in the text of the Qur’an.

Each section in the book responds to a particular type of question about the genre of tafsir. The chapters in Section One, ‘The Aims of Tafsir’, explore the exegetes’ stated methods of interpretation in their introductions. In their introductions, exegetes state their aims and discuss their methods, and in doing so they explain what, for them, constitute the appropriate sources through which the words of the Qur’an are mediated, thereby exposing the general aims of the genre.

=Section One=
Two of the chapters in Section One, by Walid Saleh and Suleiman Mourad respectively, include editions of important introductions: one by Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali al-Wahidi (d. 486 AH/1076 CE) and one by al-Hakim al-Jishumi (d. 494 AH/1101 CE). The introduction to the commentary of ‘Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. 736 AH/1336 CE) is also translated here by Feras Hamza. This section provides not only analysis, but also primary sources for those interested in the aims and methods of tafsir.

=Section Two=
Section Two of the volume is dedicated to the study of exegetes’ sources and methods. Thus, while Section One examines the exegetes’ theories, and how they claimed to uncover the meaning of the Qur’an in their works of tafsir, Section Two describes how exegesis works in practice: by mediating the Qur’an’s words through specific sources such as hadiths, exegetes can transform the apparent sense of the text.

The analysis in works of exegesis written in the fourth/tenth to ninth/fifteenth centuries tends to focus on grammar, hadiths, lexicology and the legal application of verses. The exegetes say that they are using these tools to uncover what is already in the text; but for outside observers, or exegetes from a rival school of interpretation, some methods entail reading meaning into the text, as well as taking meaning from it. As the essays in Section Two show, the exegetes’ interpretive methods were complex and influenced by a myriad of different factors. These included, but were not limited to, local and regional influences, ideological beliefs and intellectual interests, responses to previous works in the tradition, and the need to produce a work that fulfilled a certain communal and didactic function and reflected the learning and authority of its author.
In this section, the study of methods and sources is intertwined. Roberto Tottoli, Andrew Rippin, Stephen Burge and Robert Gleave each study the way that exegetes use different types of narratives and hadiths. Narratives and hadiths are used to bring meaning to the Qur’anic text: Rippin shows, for instance, how the use of the occasions of revelation (asbab al-nuzul) creates a historical context for the Qur’an’s verses, providing meaning not apparent in the text itself. Tottoli examines the use of hadiths in the two literary genres of tafsir and hadith; genre boundaries influenced the hadiths used in each type of work. Burge looks at how Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH/1505 CE) uses hadiths to create different modes of exegesis. And Gleave analyses hadiths attributed to the Shi‘i imams in order to highlight the imams’ interpretative methods. In all of these cases, the study of the sources of exegesis cannot be disentangled from the study of the methods of exegesis, and the exegetes use these sources and methods to take particular meanings from, and read meanings into, the text of the Qur’an.

Other essays focus on exegetes’ intellectual context. Martin Nguyen examines the way that previous exegeses influence the work of Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465 AH/1072 CE), which, in turn, reveals Qushayri’s own learning and exegetical authority. Tariq Jaffer describes the philosophical method of exegesis in the work of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606 AH/1209 CE), a method borrowed from outside the genre of tafsir and imported into it by Razi in order to expound his own interests through the Qur’an. Ludmila Zamah examines the way that one particular concept, that of the ‘apparent’ or ‘literal’ meaning (zahir), is used in exegesis.

=Section Three=
The chapters in Section Three, ‘Contextualising Tafsir’, are dedicated to the context of tafsir and methods for the study of the genre. Claude Gilliot takes an in-depth look at one author in the genre, al-Dahhak b. Muzahim al-Hilali (d. 106/724), and in particular his connections and influence. Michael Pregill examines how we may date a work of exegesis by placing it in conjunction with other works of the period. Each of these essays undertakes a kind of archaeological research into tafsir, examining the full context of a particular exegete or work. Gilliot and Pregill use a wide lens to examine minute details, and in doing so they help us to understand more about the factors influencing the genre as a whole, whether that be in its social and intellectual context, or its methodological one.

While tafsir has sometimes been viewed as the genre that explains the full range of Muslim understandings of the meaning of the Qur’an, the chapters in this volume shed light not only on how varied Muslim understandings are, but also on the specific types of understanding that were meant to be conveyed in these texts, whether that be grammatical, philosophical or historical.


=Contents in detail=
==The Aims of Tafsīr==

1: Feras Hamza: Tafsīr and Unlocking the Historical Qur'an: Back to Basics?

2: Karen Bauer: Justifying the Genre: A Study of Introductions to Classical works of Tafsīr,

3: Walid A. Saleh: The Introduction to al-Wāḥidī's al-Basīt: An Edition, Translation and Commentary

4: Suleiman A. Mourad: Towards a Reconstruction of the Mu'tazilī Tradition of Qur'anic Exegesis: Reading the Introduction to the Tahdhīb of al-Ḥākim al-Jishumī (d. 494/1101) and Its Application

==Methods and Sources of Tafsīr==

5: Robert Gleave: Early Shi'i Hermeneutics: Some Exegetical Techniques Attributed to the Shi'i Imams

6: Andrew Rippin: The Construction of the Arabian Historical Context in Muslim Interpretation of the Qur'an

7: Roberto Tottoli: Methods and Contexts in the Use of Hadiths in Classical Tafsīr Literature: The Exegesis of Q. 21:85 and Q. 17:1

8: Martin Nguyen: Letter by Letter: Tracing the Textual Genealogy of a Sufi Tafsīr

9: Tariq Jaffer: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's System of Inquiry

10: Ludmila Zamah: Master of the Obvious: Understanding Ẓāhir Interpretations in Qur'anic Exegesis

11: Stephen Burge: Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, the Mu'awwidhatān and the Modes of Exegesis

==Contextualising Tafsīr==

12: Claude Gilliot: A Schoolmaster, Storyteller, Exegete, and Warrior at Work in Khurāsān: al- Ḍaḥḥāk b. Muzāḥim al-Hilālī (d. 106/ 724)

13: Michael E. Pregill: Methodologies for the Dating of Exegetical Works and Traditions: Can the Lost Tafsīr of Kalbī be Recovered from Tafsīr Ibn 'Abbās (also known as al-Wādiḥ)?

==Bibliography==

=Notes=