In his al-Kashshaf, the 6th/12th century exegete al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144) notes the presence of a relatively obscure rhetorical feature in the Qur’an called al-laff wa’l-nashr (featured in a 1968 study by Wansbrough). This feature takes two main forms: (i) a form of chiasmus where correlations are established between two sets of nouns and adjectives; and (ii) a form of ‘double reading’, where a clause must be understood in two different ways simultaneously. This rhetorical device, originally called ‘tafsir’, first emerged in studies of secular rhetoric, but was then identified in 5th/11th century as being present in Q. 28 (al-Qasas) 73. Al-Zamakhshari’s identification only a few decades later of two further examples, in Q. 2 (al-Baqara) 185 and Q. 30 (al-Rum) 23, shows that he was responding to recent developments in the study of Arabic language and rhetoric. By the time al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) wrote his K. al-Itqan fi ‘ulum al-Qur’an, the number of examples of al-laff wa’l-nashr had expanded to eight, now including: Q. 2 (al-Baqara) 111, 187 and 214; Q. 3 (Al ‘Imran) 106-107; Q. 17 (al-Isra’) 29; and Q. 93 (al-Duha’) 6-11. After a brief overview of the rhetorical device and the examples found in the Qur’an by al-Zamakhshari and al-Suyuti, this paper will provide a survey of tafsir works from the intervening period to see the extent of the reception of this rhetorical device. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210), who relies fairly heavily on al-Zamkhshari’s al-Kashshaf (even though disagreeing with him on many aspects of theology), does not refer to the device in his Mafatih al-ghayb; raising the question of how this device was used and the extent to which al-Zamakhshari’s identification of al-laff wa’l-nashr was received in the tafsir tradition that came after him. Are certain types of exegetes more likely to discuss al-laff wa’l-nashr? Or is the interest in the device broader? At what point in time do we see the examples cited by al-Suyuti emerge in the tafsir tradition? With only eight examples identified in the Qur’an, the relative obscurity of al-laff wa’l-nashr presents us with an interesting opportunity to see how the tafsir tradition developed between the 12th and 15th centuries and the connections made between different works of tafsir. It may even be possible to trace ‘genealogies’ of tafsir and to understand who was reading whom. Wansbrough, John, “Arabic rhetoric and Qur’anic exegesis,” BSOAS 31 (1968): 469-85