Tafsir: Origin, Schools and Trends

Abstract

New trends in Qur’an exegesis Tafsir are increasing nowadays, resulting to wrong

interpretations Ta’wilun Bad’ilun of the noble Qur’an. This is becoming so serious

and worrisome in contemporary societies. Muslims respect the glorious Qur’an as

the final divine message sent by Allah to the generality of mankind, thus, they give

maximum consideration in studying its sciences and servicing its meanings, hence,

the Prophet (SAW) Himself introduced the science of Tafsir, which as time goes,

Muslims developed this science into a complete educational institution, they

developed trends for this institution and compiled voluminous works on the

science. This paper discussed the trends of Tafsir, and its development through the

generations of Islam. It discusses the definition of Tafsir, its origin, brief history of

Tafsir during the time of the Prophet (SAW), the companions and the Tabi’oon, the

three schools of Tafsir, thus; Makkan, Madinan and Iraqian schools, the trends of

Tafsir; the creed, scientific, linguistic, and logical trends, literature and deviant

trends, the paper concluded that, there is possibility of the emergence of new trends

in Tafsir, due to the different ideologies and creeds some Muslims may hold as time

passes. A descriptive research method was used in the work.