Arabic Quranic Exegesis (Tafsir) Methodology in Northern Nigerian Scholarly Tradition: A Critical Analysis

The tradition of Arabic Quranic exegesis in northern Nigeria, rooted in centuries of Maliki jurisprudential and Sufi scholarly practice, has produced a distinctive regional body of tafsir literature and pedagogical tradition that combines classical hermeneutical methods with locally developed interpretive emphases, yet this tradition has not been subjected to critical systematic scholarly analysis in English-medium academic literature. This study conducts a critical analysis of tafsir methodology in northern Nigerian Arabic scholarly tradition, examining the hermeneutical principles, source utilisation practices, and interpretive emphases of five major northern Nigerian tafsir texts composed between 1980 and 2022. Using classical Arabic hermeneutics and contemporary tafsir studies frameworks as analytical tools, the research subjects each selected text to close reading, identifying and classifying the exegetical methods employed including linguistic analysis, traditions-based interpretation, jurisprudential derivation, and Sufi spiritual reading. Comparative analysis across texts examines methodological consistency and divergence, and interviews with five senior northern Nigerian tafsir scholars provide authoritative practitioner perspectives. The study finds that northern Nigerian tafsir tradition is characterised by a predominantly athari methodological orientation with strong Maliki legal application emphasis, and that Sufi spiritual interpretations are present but carefully hedged within mainstream hermeneutical conventions. Keywords: Tafsir, Quranic exegesis, northern Nigeria, Arabic hermeneutics, Islamic scholarship.