Abd Allah Ibn Abbas, his Quranic exegesis and contribution to the interpretation of the Quran

Abstract

Abd Allah ibn Abbas (d.68/688) is certainly a pioneering exponent of Qur'anic exegesis. His strategy involved firstly an intratextual approach for clarifying obscure words and phrases found in the Qur'an. Thereafter, he resorted to the following intratextual strategies in order of importance: a) Prophetic Tradition b) Arabic Poetry c) Comments of Jews and Christians d) Personal Opinion He applied hermeneutical principles informally which were later formalised by scholars like Al-TabarT (d.310/923) and Ibn KaOir (d.774/1373) who are exponents of the same genre of traditional exegesis. The impact of Ibn 'Abbas upon these later exponents is substantial considering the extensive prevalence of verbatim quotations in both the later tafsTrs. At other times approximate paraphrases are found in them which can easily be accounted for by the phenomenon of oral literature. The conclusion arrived at is that the work of Ibn 'Abbas is largely authentic. In addition to an explication of the first fifty verses of chapter two of the Holy Qur an from all these authorities, biographical details on them are also provided for gaining closer understanding of the milieu in which they lived. In the earlier chapters, the importance of Qur'anic exegesis (or tafsTr) is given, which is followed by a lexical scrutiny of this term and its ramifications. Thereafter, the works of the three scholars are examined chronologically. The concluding chapter encapsulates significant arguments presented earlier and also briefly outlines allied avenues deserving further research.