I wanted to share my talk regarding the rise of Ibn Taymiyya’s Introduction to the Sciences of Tafsir (Muqadimma fi usul al-tafsir). I trace how Ibn Taymiyya’s work was relatively unknown in the pre-modern period but eventually became arguably the most important classical work in understanding Qur’anic exegesis (tafsir). The short treatise is now cited by various scholars throughout the world – both Eastern and Western – in explaining how the tafsir tradition operated and was constructed.
