Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Gilles Kepel. “Foi et pratique: Tab-

lighi Jama’at in France.” In Travellers in Faith, edited 

by Muhammad Khalid Masud, 188–205 (Boston: E.J. 

Brill, 2000); Muhammad Khalid Masud, “The Growth 

and Development of the Tablighi Jama’at in India.” In 

Travellers in Faith, edited by Muhammad Khalid Masud, 

3–43 (Boston: E.J. Brill, 2000); Barbara Metcalf, “Islam 

and Women: The Case of the Tablighi Jama’at.” Stanford 

Humanities Review 5, no. 1 (1995): 1–9.

tafsir

Religions with 

holy

 

books

 or scriptures require 

ongoing traditions of interpretation and commen-

tary (exegesis) that contribute to preserving the 

sacredness of those books and adapting them to 

the changing social and historical circumstances 

of the communities that possess them. Com-

mentary is a way of making the texts meaning-

ful to new generations of adherents. This can be 

seen in the histories of Judaism and Christianity, 

where biblical commentary has been a significant 

meaning-making activity, especially with regard 

to matters of law and tradition in the former and 

theological doctrine in the latter. Hindus, Bud-

dhists, Jains, Confucians, and Taoists have also 

produced significant bodies of commentary litera-

ture for their sacred texts.

In Islam, q

Uran

 commentary is one of the 

foremost subjects of classical Islamic learning and 

one of largest genres of Islamic religious literature, 

second perhaps only to 

biography

. It is generally 

known as tafsir, an Arabic term meaning “discov-

ery of something hidden,” but probably adapted 

from an Aramaic or Syriac term (peshar, pashshar) 

used earlier by Jews and Christians in relation to 

their own commentary traditions. Another term, 

tawil (“returning to the beginning,” “interpreta-

tion”), was once used synonymously with tafsir,

but eventually was understood with reference to 

the elucidation of the Quran’s hidden (

batin

) or 

esoteric meanings, which could only be known 

by a select few. This approach to commentary was 

embraced especially by the Sufis and Shii 

Ulama

.

Tafsir, on the other hand, became more closely 

associated with the elicitation of the “plain” or 

exoteric meanings of the Quran. More elaborate 

classifications of tafsir have been proposed that 

include both of these aspects. For example, the 

sixth Shii Imam J

aaFar

 

al

-s

adiq

 (d. 765) is cred-

ited with proposing a four-tiered model of Quran 

interpretation, according to 1) literal meaning 

(ibara); 2) allegorical meaning (ishara); 3) subtle 

and symbolic meanings (lataif); and 4) higher 

spiritual meanings (haqaiq).

Typically, commentaries are organized in accor-

dance with the chapters (suras) in the Quran, 

proceeding sequentially verse by verse. Topics 

addressed in standard books of tafsir include 

whether the chapter or verse was revealed in 

Mecca or Medina, the reasons for revelation 

(asbab al-nuzul), grammar and vocabulary, rheto-

ric, variant readings for consonants and vowels 

(debated because of the lack of vowel and con-

sonant markings in early manuscripts of the 

Quran, and because of regional differences), and 

legal implications of the verse and whether it had 

been abrogated by another verse (al-nasikh wa’l-