Tafsir: Qur'anic Hermeneutics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Students must have reading fluency in Arabic. This seminar explores the rich tradition of Qur'anic interpretation (tafsir) from the earliest Muslim community to contemporary approaches. Students will examine how successive generations of scholars have engaged with the Qur'anic text, analyzing classical exegetical methods and the social-historical contexts that shaped interpretation. Topics include major schools and figures in the exegetical tradition, the role of linguistic analysis and intertextuality, sectarian perspectives, modern reformist approaches, and contemporary debates over interpretive authority. Through close readings of primary sources in Arabic and secondary scholarship, students will develop critical skills for understanding how meaning is constructed, contested, and transmitted within Islamic textual traditions and interpretive communities.