Impacts of the Historical Context of the Revelation on Commentary on the Qur'an (The Case of the Chapter “al-Baqarah” / “The Cow”)

Abstract

Muslims have constructed a rich literature, called tafseer, which includes explanations and commentary on the Qur’an as a Divine Book and “the literal word of God.” Over the centuries, numerous studies have been made to interpret the Qur’an.

This paper examines interpretations of verses about the Jews and Christians in the chapter of “al-Baqarah” in the Qur’an, to determine to what extent the revelations of the Qur’an are treated as historical texts and how great the impact of the historical context of the period is. In other words, to what extent did sociohistorical context play a role in interpretations of the Qur’an.

The topic will be discussed within the framework of the Tefsîr-e- Kebîr of Mukâtil ibn Sulayman (d.150/767), which is the first commentary to survive up to our day that addresses all the chapters of the Qur’an and which is considered an example of tafseer bi-al- riwaya / tradition-based interpretation, and a few commentaries from the 20th and the 21st century.