Abstract: This paper presents the extensive and in-depth research of Professor Andrew Rippin on the function of asbab in Qur’anic exegesis. His intention is to answer some very specific questions such as whether ²õ²¹²ú²¹²úÌý(±è±ô³Ü°ù²¹±ôÌýasbab) provide history or strict exegesis. In order to hone in on the subject, he takes a very specific approach. The investigation is limited to the exegesis of the Qur’an written by Sunni authors in Arabic from the early (i.e., pre 6th-century hijri) period primarily (although not exclusively).
Professor Rippin’s study places its primary focus upon another exegetical sub-genre, that called asbab al-nuzul, which is devoted to compiling these reports. Each time a report is cited in this literature as a sabab for a verse, the exegetical employment of that sabab has been checked within the tafsir literature. The study was also limited to ²õ³Ü°ù²¹Ìý2 in the Qur’an which presented some 107 verses to be treated.
The reason for this kind of representative selection of verses is to create a result that is statistical in order to see which purposes behind adducing the asbab material predominate and which are subsidiary.
Author
Professor Andrew Rippin
The late Professor Andrew Rippin (1950 – 2016) was a Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victoria, Canada. His publications include The Qur’an and its interpretative traditionÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýMuslims, their religious beliefs and practices. He was also the editor of the Blackwell Companion to the Qur’an.