International audienceIn this paper we have established a status quaestionis on the issues concerning the beginnings of Islamic exegesis of the Koran. This paper has been translated into English: "The beginnings of qur'anic exegesis", in Rippin (ed.), The Qur'an. Formative interpretation, Aldershot, Ashgate. Variorum (The Formation of the Classical Islamic World", 25), 1999, p. 1-39 Since we have modified some of our points of view, in Gilliot, "L'exégèse coranique : bilan partiel d'une décennie", Stud. Isl., 85 (1997), p. 155-62, then in Id., Exegesis of the Qur'ān : Classical and Medieval", in Encyclopaedia of the Qur'ān [EQ], II, Leyde, Brill, 2002, p. 104-108 (the whole, p. 99-124); Id., Kontinuität und Wandel in der " klassischen " isl...