The word · The Qur’an
التَّفْسير
Tafsir
Explanation of the Qur'an: what a verse means, why it came, and what it asks of you.
Also written · Tafseer · Tefsir · Tafsear · Tafsire · Tafsirul Quran · Tafseer ul Quran · exegesis · Quran commentary · commentary on the Quran
The meaning
What Tafsir means in Islam
The word means to uncover, the way you pull a cover off a thing. A tafsir works through the text verse by verse using the rest of the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the sayings of the Companions and the Arabic language. Tabari, Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi and al-Razi are among the best known, and they differ in focus, so reading one is not reading them all.
Evidence · Editorial · Our own summary, drawn from the sources named
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
- Surah As-SaffSurah 61 · The Ranks
- Surah AbasaSurah 80 · He Frowned
- Surah Al-KafirunSurah 109 · The Disbelievers
Words that sit beside it
- MufassirA scholar who writes or teaches tafsir, trained in Arabic, the readings, the Sunnah and the occasions.المُفَسِّر
- Tafsir bi'l-Ma'thurTafsir built on transmitted reports, as against tafsir bi'r-ra'y, which reasons from language and principle.التَّفْسيرُ بِالمَأْثور
- Ta'wilInterpretation, and in a second sense the reality a statement finally turns out to refer to.التَّأْويل
- TadabburSlow reflection on the Qur'an, letting a verse work on you instead of passing over it.التَّدَبُّر
- Asbab an-NuzulThe event or question a particular verse was revealed in answer to.أَسْبابُ النُّزول
More from The Qur’an
- Al-Ahruf as-Sab'ahThe seven modes in which the Qur'an was revealed, an ease for the community; what a mode is stays disputed.الأَحْرُفُ السَّبْعَة
- Hafs an AsimThe reading found in most printed mushafs today, transmitted by Hafs from his teacher Asim of Kufa.حَفْصٌ عَنْ عاصِم
- IsrailiyyatStories from earlier scriptures that entered tafsir to supply details the Qur'an deliberately leaves out.الإِسْرائيليّات
- Makharij al-HurufThe points in the mouth, throat and nose where each Arabic letter is produced.مَخارِجُ الحُروف
- Nun Sakinah and TanwinA nun carrying no vowel, or a tanwin ending, which triggers four tajwid rules depending on what follows.النّونُ السّاكِنَةُ وَالتَّنْوين
- Sajdah TilawahThe prostration made on reaching one of the Qur'an's marked verses of prostration, in prayer or outside it.سَجْدَةُ التِّلاوَة