ABSTRACT
Despite the emergence and definition of Islamic identity in the earlier centuries, Muslim thinkers did not cease in their efforts to enunciate the substance of their faith, each responding to the needs and conditions of his (and virtually every name which is known to history is male) time. The period from the thirteenth century through to the eighteenth century saw a continuance of the distillation of Islam in textual form. The structures employed for this varied, however, often in mutually opposing ways. Super-commentaries emerged, encouraging reflection upon and preservation of some of the great intellectual achievements of the past. Distillations become more popular, in response to general educative aims. Expansions of previous work, ever accumulating the knowledge of the past in celebration of the endless potential of tradition, were popular. Reformulations, often involving a contraction of tradition in response to a perceived need to avoid certain excesses, also abounded. The writings in a discipline such as Quranic exegesis, tafs•r, illustrate this, while emphasizing at the same time the continuing perception of the relevance of Islam, but also the need to keep the faith ever adaptable, albeit in different ways.
