The Role of Commentaries and Glosses in the History of Philosophy

The dominance of commentary and glosses in these centuries is not a sign of philosophical or intellectual stagnation. Dawani wrote commentaries on works by the earlier avocenizing Sunni theologians Al-Baidawi, Al-Iji, and Al-Taf-Dazani. He even wrote a self-commentary on one of his own works. In an even more dramatic demonstration of the dominance of commentary at this time, we see the emergence of commentaries and glosses devoted to texts that were already commentaries or glosses.