Qur'anic Hermeneutics: Al-Tabrisi and the Craft of Commentary

The work of the twelfth-century Shi'ite scholar al-Tabrisi, Majma' al-bayan , is one of the most important works of medieval commentary on the Qur'an, and is still in use today. This work is an in-depth examination of Islamic exegetical methods, based on his works, and an exploration of the nature of scriptural interpretation in Islam.Focusing on the genre and process of Qur'anic exegesis itself, the author examines how exegesis serves to construct, maintain and defend the status of the Qur'an as scripture and to uphold certain ideological agendas, among them the notion of the literary and rhetorical supremacy of God's revelation in Arabic. Qur'anic Hermeneutics treats Qur'an interpretation as part of a category of religious practice recognizable from the history and comparative study of religion, and susceptible to similar types of analysis, making Qur'an commentaries intelligible to specialists in Islam as well as those interested in scripture and its interpretation in general.