Andrew Rippin is one of the most renowned contemporary western scholars in Qur’anic studies and the professor of history in University of Victoria, Canada. He has authored numerous essays in Qur’anic studies and contributed to some of the well-known Encyclopedias such as the EI, ER, and EQ. The present writing is a translation of his essay “Tafsīr” published in the second edition of the Encyclopedias of Islam. Upon reviewing the term “Exegesis”, he deals with various attempts in classification of the exegeses according to the elements influencing on the process of interpreting, such as literature, jurisprudence, theology, and history. Further on, he points out to the exegetes’ attention to the earlier sources and their views. Then he divides the history of exegesis into four periods of emergence, classic, development, and the contemporary, briefly touching upon the characteristics of each period as well as their tafsīrs. Of these, the contemporary period is introduced in more details.
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