The Quran and the Mountains

This article discusses the history of the interpretation of verse Q. al-Raʿd 13:31 in the exegetical Islamic tradition (Tafsῑr). The article starts first with charting the connections of this verse to the theology of the Qur’an and to the use of the mountains in the Qur’an. The verse has two major points, a wish for a Qur’an that enacts miracles, and a rebuke from God for those who are expressing this wish, and reassertion of God’s powers. The exegetical tradition was deeply divided over the explanation of this verse, and this creative difference is one of the best windows on the function of Tafsīr in medieval Islamic tradition.