Only by reading the Qur'an is not necessarily someone understands the purpose behind every word of God. In fact, for a person who understands even Arabic, does not guarantee he understands the rich content of the Qur'an. Moreover, unruk most Muslims who only read the translation. If not confused, he may be misguided.
This is where the function of interpretation as explanation of the Qur'an. Much of the science must be understood behind the great word of Allah, among them, the hadith of the Prophet, asbabun nuzul, and nasikh-mansukh verse, Arabic classical, Arabic balaghah, ma'ani science, bayan, qiraah, jurisprudence, and many other sciences which is unlikely to be understood by common Muslims. Therefore, the scholars are present to meramunya, then generate interpretation of the Qur'an named tafsir.
Many works of interpretation produced by scholars, both classical scholars, to modern. We know Tafsir At-Tabari, Tafsir ibn Katsir, Tafsir As Suyuthi, Tafsir As-Sa'di, and so on. The work of the clerical commentaries is still often referred to today. But, at first there was no interpretation in the era of the Prophet.
Given, the friends of the time can directly ask the Messenger of Allah related to the meaning of the verse. New, in the second or third century Hijriyah, the science of interpretation is considered very important following the start of many Muslims who misunderstand the Quran. Moreover, when the reading of the Qur'an was experiencing a lot of oral false because of the bald writing. Until then, Abul Aswad ad-Dualy makes the Arabic i'rab rule that gives Arabic vow.
After the discovery of the i'rab, a period of Qur'anic commentary arose. At that time, scholars made a reference in interpreting the word of God, namely the Qur'anic Quran. That is the source of the parent that contains about the sciences of the Qur'an. Ulmul Quran continues to experience growth considering the many sciences of the Qur'an.
Since the Ulumul Quran, interpretations have continued to flourish in Arab lands and Islamic territories. Then, what about Indonesia? Although the distance of Indonesia is very far from the Holy Land, the science of tafsir has been known to the Muslim community of the archipelago since the 17th century AD. Only, the development is very slow, until the new rapidly growing in the 20th century.
Kiki Muhammad Hakiki from IAIN Raden Intan Banten in his article "The Map of the Development of Qur'anic Exegesis in Indonesia Before the Twentieth Century" in a collection of articles published by Kemenag Kemenag Koran in the Global Era; between Text and Reality says, the interpretation of the Qur'an before the 20th century is still fairly rare, only a few are found.
This is very different from the era after the 20th century in which the development of Qur'anic commentary in Indonesia is very rapid. Because, in the era before the 20th century, the interpretation did not receive special attention and it became a high and heavy subject matter.