ABSTRACT
The present chapter introduces the key terms and concepts that will be employed in subsequent chapters. In order to set the scene for the following chapters of this work, an in-depth account of the the binary opposition between exegesis (tafsīr) and interpretation (ta’wīl) will be investigated from morphological, semantic and theological perspectives. We shall also list the major areas to which exegesis is related; the aspects of exegesis; kinds of exegesis; the companion’s views on an exegetical problem which are taken as evidence, though not being backed up by a ḥadīth 1 and those that are not accepted as evidence, the different meanings of interpretation, commendable as opposed to objectionable interpretation and categories of interpretation.
