A collection of essays by leading scholars of the Qur'an and Qur'an commentary (tafsir), looking at the theoretical aims, practical methods, and contexts of tafsir from 2nd/8th-9th/15th centuries. The volume includes primary source material, in the form of editions and translations of the introductions to two works of tafsir.

A collection of essays by leading scholars of the Qur'an and Qur'an commentary (tafsīr), looking at the theoretical aims, practical methods, and contexts of tafsīr from 2nd/8th-9th/15th centuries. The volume includes primary source material, in the form of editions and translations of the introductions to two works of tafsīr.

[T]his is a highly valuable contribution to the field which stakes out the frontiers in tafsir studies. In doing so it shows the need to at reconstructing the exegetes' hermeneutics. It also shows that early dating of sources and concepts appears to be becoming more plausible, possibly indicating that linguistics has functioned as the necessary sustenance of tafsir