Two New Upcoming Academic Books on Tafsir

Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History: Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre (Qur'anic Studies) 

How and when did Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) emerge as a literary genre of its own? To what extent was it influenced by other disciplines, such as law, theology, or philosophy? How did different political or theological agendas shape works of tafsir, and in what ways did the genre develop over time and in different regions? These are some of the major questions which this book seeks to address.

This book constitutes the first comprehensive attempt at describing the genre of Qur'anic exegesis in its broader intellectual context. Its aim is to provide a framework for understanding the boundaries of tafsir and its interaction with other disciplines of learning, as well as the subgenres and internal divisions within the genre. It discusses the emergence of the genre in the beginnings of Islamic history and the changes and potential ruptures it has experienced in later times, the role of hadith, law, language, philosophy, theology, and political ideology for the interpretive process, the regional dimension, the influx of modernist ideas and the process of writing tafsir in languages other than Arabic.

Among the fifteen authors who have contributed to the volume are leading scholars in the field as well as young researchers, which makes for a unique and fresh perspective on a field that has long been reduced to its instrumental value for understanding the Qur'an. Covering the time from the formation of Qur'anic exegesis until the present, it is a valuable resource for advanced students and scholars in the field. 

Product Details Series: Qur'anic Studies
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 5, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 019870206X
ISBN-13: 978-0198702061

Aims, Methods and Contexts of Qur'anic Exegesis (2nd/8th-9th/15th Centuries) (Qur'Anic Studies) 

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 (tafs=ir). 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 tafs=ir. It also provides resources for scholars, by including editions and translations of the introductions to al-Bas=it of Ab=u'l-Hasan 'Al=i al-W=ahid=i (d. 486/1076) and the Tahdh=ib f=i Tafs=ir al-Qur'=an of al-H=akim al-Jishum=i (d. 494/1101), as well as translated selections from the introduction to the tafsir of 'Abd al-Razz=aq al-K=ash=an=i (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. 

Product Details Series: Qur'Anic Studies
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 1, 2014)
Language: English
 ISBN-10: 0199670641
ISBN-13: 978-0199670642

Kufi tip to Basit Iqbal's booklist