TAFSIR

(Arabicexplanation) the science of explanation of the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, or of Qur'anic commentary. So long as Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was alive, no other authority for interpretations of the Qur'anic revelations was recognized by Muslims. Upon his death, however, commentaries were needed because the text, when it achieved written form, lacked historical sequence in the arrangement of materials, suffered from ambiguity of both text and meaning, showed a variety of differing readings, was recorded in a defective script, and even contained apparent contradictions. Many Muslims in the early period sought to explain the Qur'an on the basis of pure personal speculation, known as tafsir bir-ra'y, and such interpretation, though generally disapproved, has persisted down to the present time. Others explained or embellished Qur'anic passages using stories drawn from Christianand especially from Jewishsources (Isra'iliyyat). To counter the arbitrariness of such interpretation, in the fourth Islamic century (10th century AD) there emerged the religious science called 'ilm al-tafsir, a systematic exegesis of the Qur'anic text, which proceeds verse by verse, and sometimes word by word. Over time this science developed several methods and forms of its own. The Hungarian scholar Ignz Goldziher traced the development of tafsir through several stages. In the first, or primitive, stage, Muslims were concerned principally to establish the proper text of the Qur'an. The second stage, known as traditional tafsir, featured explanations of Qur'anic passages based upon what the Prophet himself or his companions said these passages to mean. It relied, therefore, upon the traditions (Hadith) or reports of the sayings of Muhammad and his immediate associates. As Muslims sought to establish their identity as a religious community and to define their doctrinal stance, there arose a dogmatic type of tafsir. The Qur'an was interpreted by various sectarian groups to establish their own peculiar doctrinal positions; notable among them were the Mu'tazilah, so-called rationalists, who insisted that interpretation (ta'wil) of the Qur'an must conform with reason. Sufis (Muslim mystics) and Shi'ites with esoteric inclinations also practiced ta'wil, departing sharply from a purely external analysis. (See Batiniyah.) A British scholar, John Wansbrough, classified tafsir literature according to its form and function. He distinguished five types, which he held to have appeared in roughly the following chronological order: attempts to supply a narrative context for passages, efforts to explain the implications for conduct of various passages, concern with details of the text, concern with matters of rhetoric, and allegorical interpretation. The monumental commentary compiled by the historian at-Tabari (838/839923) assembled all the traditional scholarship that had been produced until his time. It remains the most basic of all tafsirs. Subsequent commentaries of note include those by az-Zamakhshari (10751143), ar-Razi (11491209), al-Baydawi (d. 1280), and as-Suyuti (14451505). Commentaries continue to be compiled at the present time; Muslim modernists, for example, have used them as a vehicle for their reformist ideas.