Sufi Qurʾan Commentaries: The Rise of a Genre

Abstract

This chapter discusses the historical background of the rise of the genre of Sufi commentaries on the Qurʾan in 5th/11th-century Nishapur. It chronologically introduces the five authors that are central to this study: Sulamī, Qushayrī, Daylamī, Maybudī and Rūzbihān al-Baqlī. After highlighting the most important facts from their biographies and placing them within their broader circles of influence, it discusses their works of tafsīr and the hermeneutical practices that they proposed and defended in these works. Based on this analysis it is concluded that it is legitimate to consider these works as part of a ‘genre’ of Sufi tafsīr that takes al-Sulamī’s tafsīr as its collective reference point.