Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this episode of the Real Talk Podcast 🎙️, we sit down with Dr. Andreas Görke 🏛️ (University of Edinburgh) for a look into one of the most fundamental questions in Qur’anic Studies 📜: how early tafsīr began, what survives of it, and how we can date it.
Drawing on two of his major studies, Dr. Görke walks us through the methodological challenges 🔍 of reconstructing the earliest layers of Qur’anic interpretation, the limitations of relying on major authorities like Ibn ʿAbbās, and why figures such as ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr and Abū Mijlaz may offer clearer windows into the formative period of tafsīr.
📘 "Remnants of an Old Tafsīr Tradition? The Exegetical Accounts of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr” (2016) https://www.academia.edu/30404531/_Remnants_of_an_Old_Tafs%C4%ABr_Tradition_The_Exegetical_Accounts_of_%CA%BFUrwa_b_al_Zubayr_in_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_Saleh_eds_Islamic_Studies_Today_Studies_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_Leiden_2016
📗 “Criteria for Dating Early Tafsīr Traditions: The Exegetical Traditions and Variant Readings of Abū Mijlaz” (2020) https://www.academia.edu/52320012/_Criteria_for_dating_early_tafsir_traditions_the_exegetical_traditions_and_variant_readings_of_Abu_Mijlaz_Lahiq_b_Humayd_in_Jerusalem_Studies_in_Arabic_and_Islam_49_2020_275_337
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⏳ Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
01:10 – Why Dr. Görke Keeps Returning to Early Tafsīr
03:39 – Three Competing Models for the Origins of Tafsīr
07:25 – Can the Debate Over Tafsīr Origins Be Resolved?
10:10 – Why Study Individual Traditions Instead of Tafsīr Works?
13:35 – The Challenge of Dating Early Exegetical Traditions
16:48 – Does a Late Source Mean a Late Tradition?
21:32 – Authentic Attribution and Early Tafsīr
24:52 – Originality, Transmission and Scholarly Networks
28:02 – The Criterion of Opposition Explained
29:38 – Can Isnād Analysis Still Help Date Tafsīr?
34:27 – Why Did Jurisprudential Traditions Dominate Early Qur’anic Tafsīr?
37:58 – Why Minor Figures Matter More Than Ibn ʿAbbās
41:47 – Abū Mijlaz and Early Attitudes Toward Hadith
43:07 – Testing the Criteria on Abū Mijlaz
45:17 – Variant Readings and Early Qur’anic Textual Diversity
49:30 – Abū Mijlaz, ʿUrwa and the Earliest Layer of Tafsīr
54:09 – Can These Methods Be Applied to Ibn ʿAbbās?
57:32 – Can We Recover the Prophet’s Own Qur’anic Commentary?
1:00:15 – Forthcoming Article and Closing Reflections
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📘 "Remnants of an Old Tafsīr Tradition? The Exegetical Accounts of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr” (2016) https://www.academia.edu/30404531/_Remnants_of_an_Old_Tafs%C4%ABr_Tradition_The_Exegetical_Accounts_of_%CA%BFUrwa_b_al_Zubayr_in_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_Saleh_eds_Islamic_Studies_Today_Studies_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_Leiden_2016
📗 “Criteria for Dating Early Tafsīr Traditions: The Exegetical Traditions and Variant Readings of Abū Mijlaz” (2020) https://www.academia.edu/52320012/_Criteria_for_dating_early_tafsir_traditions_the_exegetical_traditions_and_variant_readings_of_Abu_Mijlaz_Lahiq_b_Humayd_in_Jerusalem_Studies_in_Arabic_and_Islam_49_2020_275_337
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
💬 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe ❤️ — and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 👇
🎧 Real Talk Podcast
Hosted by Terron Poole & Roxanna Irani
📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@UC70Or92YlhfYSrZNrQzx23w
📱 Follow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/Terodotus
& https://x.com/IraniRoxanna
In this episode of the Real Talk Podcast 🎙️, we sit down with Dr. Andreas Görke 🏛️ (University of Edinburgh) for a look into one of the most fundamental questions in Qur’anic Studies 📜: how early tafsīr began, what survives of it, and how we can date it.
Drawing on two of his major studies, Dr. Görke walks us through the methodological challenges 🔍 of reconstructing the earliest layers of Qur’anic interpretation, the limitations of relying on major authorities like Ibn ʿAbbās, and why figures such as ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr and Abū Mijlaz may offer clearer windows into the formative period of tafsīr.
📘 "Remnants of an Old Tafsīr Tradition? The Exegetical Accounts of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr” (2016) https://www.academia.edu/30404531/_Remnants_of_an_Old_Tafs%C4%ABr_Tradition_The_Exegetical_Accounts_of_%CA%BFUrwa_b_al_Zubayr_in_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_Saleh_eds_Islamic_Studies_Today_Studies_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_Leiden_2016
📗 “Criteria for Dating Early Tafsīr Traditions: The Exegetical Traditions and Variant Readings of Abū Mijlaz” (2020) https://www.academia.edu/52320012/_Criteria_for_dating_early_tafsir_traditions_the_exegetical_traditions_and_variant_readings_of_Abu_Mijlaz_Lahiq_b_Humayd_in_Jerusalem_Studies_in_Arabic_and_Islam_49_2020_275_337
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⏳ Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction
01:10 – Why Dr. Görke Keeps Returning to Early Tafsīr
03:39 – Three Competing Models for the Origins of Tafsīr
07:25 – Can the Debate Over Tafsīr Origins Be Resolved?
10:10 – Why Study Individual Traditions Instead of Tafsīr Works?
13:35 – The Challenge of Dating Early Exegetical Traditions
16:48 – Does a Late Source Mean a Late Tradition?
21:32 – Authentic Attribution and Early Tafsīr
24:52 – Originality, Transmission and Scholarly Networks
28:02 – The Criterion of Opposition Explained
29:38 – Can Isnād Analysis Still Help Date Tafsīr?
34:27 – Why Did Jurisprudential Traditions Dominate Early Qur’anic Tafsīr?
37:58 – Why Minor Figures Matter More Than Ibn ʿAbbās
41:47 – Abū Mijlaz and Early Attitudes Toward Hadith
43:07 – Testing the Criteria on Abū Mijlaz
45:17 – Variant Readings and Early Qur’anic Textual Diversity
49:30 – Abū Mijlaz, ʿUrwa and the Earliest Layer of Tafsīr
54:09 – Can These Methods Be Applied to Ibn ʿAbbās?
57:32 – Can We Recover the Prophet’s Own Qur’anic Commentary?
1:00:15 – Forthcoming Article and Closing Reflections
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📘 "Remnants of an Old Tafsīr Tradition? The Exegetical Accounts of ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr” (2016) https://www.academia.edu/30404531/_Remnants_of_an_Old_Tafs%C4%ABr_Tradition_The_Exegetical_Accounts_of_%CA%BFUrwa_b_al_Zubayr_in_Majid_Daneshgar_and_Walid_Saleh_eds_Islamic_Studies_Today_Studies_in_Honor_of_Andrew_Rippin_Leiden_2016
📗 “Criteria for Dating Early Tafsīr Traditions: The Exegetical Traditions and Variant Readings of Abū Mijlaz” (2020) https://www.academia.edu/52320012/_Criteria_for_dating_early_tafsir_traditions_the_exegetical_traditions_and_variant_readings_of_Abu_Mijlaz_Lahiq_b_Humayd_in_Jerusalem_Studies_in_Arabic_and_Islam_49_2020_275_337
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
💬 Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe ❤️ — and let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 👇
🎧 Real Talk Podcast
Hosted by Terron Poole & Roxanna Irani
📺 Subscribe: youtube.com/@UC70Or92YlhfYSrZNrQzx23w
📱 Follow us on X (Twitter): https://x.com/Terodotus
& https://x.com/IraniRoxanna
