Tafseer Usool at-Tafseer

Wakee‘ ibn al-Jarraah. Their tafseers were collections of the opinions of the
Prophet’s companions (sahaabah) and their students (taabi‘oon). They were
followed by Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree (d. 310 AH), whose Tafseer is considered the
greatest, as he was the first to analyze the opinions and choose the strongest; and
he analyzed the grammatical constructions and deduced rulings from the verses.
Concern for tafseer has continued until the present day, producing a large variety
of methodologies for Qur’aanic elucidation.
As for the other areas of ‘uloom al-Qur’aan, among the leading 9th century
writers were ‘Alee ibn al-Madeenee (Imaam al-Bukhaaree’s teacher), who wrote
on Asbaab an-Nuzool, and Aboo ‘Ubayd al-Qaasim ibn Salaam, who wrote on
abrogation. The leading scholar of the 10th century to write on the unusual
constructions of the Qur’aan was Aboo Bakr as-Sijistaanee, while the 11th
century scholar, ‘Alee ibn Sa‘eed al-Hoofee, produced a work on its grammatical
constructions in general. In the 12th century, the leading scholar to write on
Mubhamaat al-Qur’aan (Qur’aanic Ambiguities) was Abul-Qaasim ‘Abdur-
Rahmaan as-Sabeelee. He was followed by Ibn ‘Abdis-Salaam, who wrote on
Qur’aanic metaphor (majaaz al-Qur’aan), and ‘Alamud-Deen as-Sakhaawee, who
wrote on the recitations in the 13th century. 5
The scholars who wrote during this period sought to comprehensively cover
the topics they focused on. Consequently, those who wrote on ghareeb al-
Qur’aan, for example, would mention every single word in the Qur’aan which
was strange or of ambiguous meaning; and those who compiled works on
metaphors would investigate every type of word or phrase in the Qur’aan which
had allegorical meanings, and so on in the various branches of Qur’aanic fields of
learning. The vastness of the works made it impossible for any single individual
to master all fields, even if he spent his whole life and utilized all his energy. As a
result, later scholars longed for the evolution of a new science which would act
like an index or directory for all these fields. This became the field officially
known as ‘uloom al-Qur’aan. Although there is no record of any scholars writing
or attempting to write a compilation of this type before the 10th century, it was
collected in the intellects of the leading early scholars.
The biography of Imaam ash-Shaafi‘ee (d. 820 CE) contains an incident
which amply illustrates this point. When he was accused of being the leader of the
‘Alawee sect in Yemen and was brought in shackles and chains before Caliph
Haroon ar-Rasheed 6 in Baghdaad, the Caliph asked him about his knowledge of
5 Manaahil al-‘Irfaan fee ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, pp. 24-25.
6 Ruled 786-809 CE.