‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Ba ghdādī (d. 429/1037) and the Study of the Qur’ān

The major contribution of ‘Abd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī (d. 429/1037) to the study of the Qur’ān is his littlestudied book on abrogation, al-nāsikh wa’l-mansūkh. This work needs to be understood within the overall context of al-Baghdadi’s scholarly career which was devoted to reformulating the scholastic disciplines by making fiqh central to theology and to tafsīr. While his efforts may ultimately have been unsuccessful, they do reflect the environment of 5th/11th century Nīshāpūr and al-Baghdādī’s concern to create a “catholic” community within which differences of opinion were acceptable within the definition of the Muslim community. However, rivalries between disciplines meant that efforts to create this cohesive community went in several different directions.