Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- List of plates
- Editorial preface
- List of abbreviations
- Map Literary, political and religious centres in the ʿAbbasid period
- 1 Sunnī theology
- 2 Shīʿī theological literature
- 3 Ibāḍī theological literature
- 4 Quranic exegesis
- 5 The prose literature of Ṣufism
- 6 Philosophical literature
- 7 Arabic lexicography
- 8 Arabic grammar
- 9 Islamic legal literature
- 10 Administrative literature
- 11 Arabic biographical writing
- 12 History and historians
- 13 Faṭimid history and historians
- 14 Mathematics and applied science
- 15 Astronomy
- 16 Astrology
- 17 Geographical and navigational literature
- 18 The literature of Arabic alchemy
- 19 Arabic medical literature
- 20 Al-Kindī
- 21 Al-Rāzī
- 22 Al-Fārābī
- 23 Ibn Sīnā
- 24 Al-Bīrūnī and the sciences of his time
- 25 Al-Ghazālī
- 26 Christian Arabic literature in the ʿAbbasid period
- 27 Judaeo-Arabic literature
- 28 The translation of Greek materials into Arabic
- 29 Didactic verse
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Quranic exegesis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Epigraph
- Contents
- List of plates
- Editorial preface
- List of abbreviations
- Map Literary, political and religious centres in the ʿAbbasid period
- 1 Sunnī theology
- 2 Shīʿī theological literature
- 3 Ibāḍī theological literature
- 4 Quranic exegesis
- 5 The prose literature of Ṣufism
- 6 Philosophical literature
- 7 Arabic lexicography
- 8 Arabic grammar
- 9 Islamic legal literature
- 10 Administrative literature
- 11 Arabic biographical writing
- 12 History and historians
- 13 Faṭimid history and historians
- 14 Mathematics and applied science
- 15 Astronomy
- 16 Astrology
- 17 Geographical and navigational literature
- 18 The literature of Arabic alchemy
- 19 Arabic medical literature
- 20 Al-Kindī
- 21 Al-Rāzī
- 22 Al-Fārābī
- 23 Ibn Sīnā
- 24 Al-Bīrūnī and the sciences of his time
- 25 Al-Ghazālī
- 26 Christian Arabic literature in the ʿAbbasid period
- 27 Judaeo-Arabic literature
- 28 The translation of Greek materials into Arabic
- 29 Didactic verse
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Exegesis (tafsīr) forms one of the most extensive branches of Arabic prose literature. Developed over fourteen centuries, it provided the ideal vehicle for the expression of every shade of opinion adopted within Islam. Knowledge of the Qurʾān is indispensable for an understanding of Islam, but knowledge of the Qurʾān alone will not supply that understanding. Whereas the Qurʾān urged its first hearers to use their eyes and ears, but above all their minds in the pursuit of truth, the intellectual system that grew out of the Qurʾān was imbued with a spirit of conformity suspicious of every effort to act or think beyond the restraint of revelation. The definition of “revelation” gave Islam its distinct hue, while the identification as the source of knowledge of either Tradition, reason or intuition produced three broad exegetical approaches.
TRADITIONAL EXEGESIS
The individual pursues the right path if he adheres to “the way of the Muslims”, the straight path which the Qurʾān commanded men to follow, “not separate paths lest they take you by various routes away from the path of God”. Muslims were forbidden to imitate those who “divided into sects, falling into disagreement”. The role of the Prophet was central to Muhammad's concept of Islamic unity: “He who obeys the Prophet obeys God”; “He who disobeys God and His Prophet, transgressing the bounds God has set, will be cast into Hell.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Religion, Learning and Science in the 'Abbasid Period , pp. 40 - 55Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990