Is there a difference between modern tafseer of the Qur’aan and ancient tafseer?

 

Are there differences in the interpretation of the Qur'an and in related ceremonies between the early time of the islam (up to the Umayyads) and today ?

Are
there differences in the interpretation

of the Qur'an and in related ceremonies

between the early time of the islam

(up to the Umayyads) and
today ?

Praise be to Allaah. 

If
what is meant in the question is the tafseer of the Qur’aan during the
Umawi (Umayyad) period at the time of the righteous salaf (predecessors)
of the Taabi’een and the successive generation, and the lesser Sahaabah,
the compilation (of tafseer) in written form was not widespread at that
time, compared to later times. It is mostly limited to reports which are
known as al-tafseer al-athari (reports quoting the words of the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Sahaabah).  Then the scholars adopted other appraoches in tafseer and
followed a number of trends, some of which were praiseworthy and
acceptable, and others were to be rejected. In more recent times, this
reliance on their own opinions and understanding was taken even further,
and theories and variables which have no place in tafseer were forcibly
introduced. It reached the point where it may be said of some tafseers
that they contain everything except tafseer. Examples of this in mediaeval
tafseers include Tafseer al-Raazi,
and in modern tafseers, Tafseer
al-Jawaahir.

 

One of the good references on this is Ittijaahaat
al-Tafseer fi’l-Qarn al-Raabi’ ‘ashar by Shaykh Fahd
al-Roomi