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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Trends of History in Qur'an What is Topical Exegesis? 1 Exegetic Trends It is an indisputable fact that with regard to the exegesis of the Qur'an there is a variety of views, and diverse methods are followed by every school of thought. This can be clearly observed with a careful study of the books of exegesis of the Qur'an.

Some commentators confine their attention to the literal aspect of the verses and explain the Qur'an from the viewpoint of its wording, its diction and its inimitable style. Some others pay exclusive attention to the special features of its meaning and its contents and subjects. There is a third group of the commentators who explain the verses of the Qur'an on the basis of traditions ^1 or explain each verse by comparing it to some other verse or verses.

In this connection they also draw in the reports handed down from the Holy Prophet and the infallible Imams, and in the absence of such reports, they refer to the exposition of the verses by the companions of the Holy Prophet and those who followed them. Again there are some commentators who with a view to justify the position held by their particular school try to reconcile the Qur'an with the opinions of that school.

Finally there are some commentators who are not attached to any particular school and try to derive the answers to their questions direct from the Qur'an. They judge the correctness or incorrectness of any opinion only on the basis of what the Qur'an says. They have no preconceived ideas of their own. There are some other schools also, but we do not intend to dwell on them.

All that we want to explain here is that on the whole there are two methods or two styles of the exegesis of the Qur'an which we would like to study. One of these two styles may be called the "split" style and the other the "unified" or the topical style. While commenting on the Qur'an in accordance with split style, the commentator arranges his commentary within the framework of the Qur'an according to the sequence of its verses.

He divides the verses into sections and explains each section with the help of the tools available with him, such as the literal meaning of each verse and its reasonable connotation in the light of the relevant traditions and other verses of the Qur'an having a common concept or a common context. He makes every effort to pay full attention to these things in his commentary to bring out the correct meaning of each section of the verses.