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CONSTRUCTIONS OF AUTHORITY 59of discourses, or their articulation at different levels, is, in itself, no noveltyforthe ‘ulama. Nor, of course, is there anything novel about the formof the commentaryitself. What does, however, serve as a register ofchange is the question whya “traditional” medium such as the commentarycontinuesto be cultivated, or the precise functions it is called uponto undertake, or the meaning it holds for those associated with its productionand publication, or the ways in which it relates to other discursiveforms. In all these respects, the commentaryis not onlya mark of anongoing tradition; it also has facets of change inscribed on it.