Qur'an Translation and Commentary: An Uncharted Relationship‪?‬

Introduction The Qur'an is Islam's foundational text, encapsulating its message and being its foremost source of guidance and legislation. Muslims' lives are directed by it and their actions are legitimized by it. Muslims can and do dispute over any given Islamic text, but not over the Qur'an. Many Muslims learn it by heart, and it is used as an alphabet book, a dictionary, a grammar book, and as an ethical guide for hundreds of millions. Its authenticity and the binding nature of its dictates are authoritative across sectarian divides. (Differences occur rather over how to interpret these dictates. (1)) The relationship between the Qur'an and its Arabic tafsir (exegesis, pl. tafasir) is longstanding and complicated. The exegetical corpus is indeed enormous. (2) The tafasir attempt to explicate the Qur'an for easier comprehension; they also manipulate its interpretation from a particular perspective, or take a certain scholarly approach to it. It is thus possible to differentiate, broadly speaking, between different genres of tafsir (e.g. scientific exegesis, thematic exegesis, mystical exegesis). Echoing this is the relationship between Qur'an translation and commentary, as this interpretive tradition is strongly reflected in other languages through translations.