Opening the Gate of Verification: The Forgotten Arab-Islamic Florescence of the 17th Century Author(s): Khaled El-Rouayheb Source:

International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2 (May, 2006), pp. 263-281 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3879973 . Accessed: 13/08/2013 13:06
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Int. J. Middle East Stud. 38 (2006), 263-281. Printed in the United States of America DOI: 10.1017.S0020743806382050

KhaledEl-Rouayheb THE GATE OF VERIFICATION: OPENING THE FORGOTTEN ARAB-ISLAMIC FLORESCENCE OF THE 17TH CENTURY

Little research has been done on the intellectual life of the Arab-Islamic world between the 15th and 19th centuries.This scholarly neglect almost certainlyreflects the widespreadassumptionthat intellectual life in the Arab-Islamicworld entered a long period of stagnationor "sclerosis"after the 13th or 14th century.This state of affairs is often believed to have lasted until the 19th century, when Europeanmilitary and economic expansion awakenedthe Arab-Islamicworld from its dogmatic slumber,and or "renaissance"(nahda). An influential statement of inaugurateda "reawakening" this view of intellectual life in the Arab provinces of the OttomanEmpire before the 19th century is to be found in Gibb and Bowen's Islamic Society and the West. Although they noted that "the barrennessof the period has been greatly exaggerated," they still statedthatArabic scholarlyculturehad degenerated,on the whole, into a rote, unquestioningacquisition of a narrowand religiously dominated field of knowledge. No "quickeningbreathhad blown" on Arab-Islamicscholarshipfor centuries.Isolated even from Persianand Turkishinfluences, it was reducedto "living on its own past."' The intellectual "sclerosis"that has been thought to characterizethe Arab-Islamic world between the 15th and 18th century is often portrayedas one aspect of a more general decline. The period between 1516 and 1798 was also supposed to have been marked by economic decline andurbandecay,as a resultof Ottoman(mis)ruleand/orthe Europeandiscovery of the Cape of Good Hope and subsequentchanges in international trade routes. The research of economic historians,in particularAndr6 Raymond, has underminedthis view. Despite periodic crises and depressions, the Arab provinces of the OttomanEmpire seem, on the whole, to have experienced both economic and demographicgrowthin the period, and this is reflected in the substantialgrowthof the major Arab cities of the Empire. Cairo, Aleppo, and Damascus were all substantially largerand more populous in the late 18th centurythanthey were in the early sixteenth.2 This new view of the economic history of the Arabprovinces duringthis period should invite a reconsiderationof the thesis of intellectualdecline or sclerosis. Sadly, this has not yet happened.Raymondhimself contraststhe urbanand economic expansion with what he supposes was the prevalent"culturalapathy"in the Arabprovinces.3

KhaledEl-Rouayhebis BritishAcademy PostdoctoralResearchFellow at The Facultyof Divinity,University of Cambridge,CambridgeCB3 9BS, U.K.; e-mail: ke217@cam.ac.uk. ? 2006 Cambridge University Press 0020-7438/06 $12.00

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264 Khaled El-Rouayheb In recentdecades, therehas been some dissatisfactionamong historianswith this idea of intellectualstagnation.Hitherto,there seems to have been two majorlines of attack. MarshallHodgson, in his influential The Ventureof Islam, argued that the traditional notion of a post-Mongol decline of Islamic civilization does not do justice to the intellectual and culturalflorescence in 16th and 17th century OttomanTurkey,Safavid has arguedrecently Persia, and Moghul India.Influencedby Hodgson, EhsanYarshater that the theory of "decline"is "Arabocentric" in equating the decline of Arab-Islamic civilization with the decline of Islamic civilization as such.4The second line of attack, representedby scholars such as John Voll, Peter Gran,and ReinhardtSchulze, argues that the 18th century witnessed an indigenous intellectualrevival or "Enlightenment," before the onset of westernizationin the 19th century.5 Welcome as they are, I believe that these revisionist argumentsconcede too much. They typically do not contest the idea that the Arabic-speakingpartsof the Islamic world entered into a long period of stagnation after the 13th or 14th century.They merely insist that this stagnationdid not extend to, say, Safavid Persia or Moghul India, or arguethat the revivaldatesback to the 18th ratherthan the 19th century,and was due to indigenous factors ratherthan to Europeaninfluences and challenges. Indeed, insofar as they accuse the theory of or decline or stagnationof being "Arabocentric," or insofaras they speak of a "revival" "enlightenment" (concepts which suggest a precedingperiod of dormantor benighted intellectuallife), both approachespresupposeratherthanchallenge the received theory of stagnation. In the present article, I would like to challenge this idea of intellectual apathyand stagnationby drawing attention to some hitherto neglected intellectual developments in the Arabic-speakingparts of the OttomanEmpire in the 17th century.One of these developmentswas the introductionof a range of new handbooksin the fields of grammar,semantics-rhetoric, logic, andtheology,mostly of eitherPersianor Maghribi origin. witnesses believed thatthis developmentwas significant,becausePersian Contemporary and Maghribischolars were imbued, or so it was believed, with an ethos of "verification." Another major development was the spread of originally non-Arabicmystical orders such as the Shattariyya,Naqshbandiyya,and Khalwatiyya in the region. This developmentappearsto have had the effect of strengthening supportfor monist,pro-Ibn 'Arabidoctrines,which had hithertobeen regardedwith suspicionby most Arab-Islamic scholars (ulama).The two trendswere distinct,but at times coalesced, as in the case of two of the intellectualgiants of the 17thcentury,Ibrahimal-Kurani(1616-90) and'Abd al-Ghanial-Nabulusi(1640-1731).
"THE WAY OF THE PERSIAN SCHOLARS" AND KURDISH VERIFYING

In the first decade of the 17th century, the Shi'ite Safavids under Shah 'Abbas (r. 1588-

1629) managedto wrest Azerbaijanand Shirwanfrom the Ottomans,thus sparkingoff a westward exodus of Sunni Azeri and Kurdish scholars. One Kurdishscholar who settled in Damascus at precisely this time was Mulla Mahmudal-Kurdi(d. 1663-64), who went on to teach in the city for around sixty years. He seems to have gained a considerable reputationas a teacher, and several of his local students went on to Amin become prominentteachersin theirown right. One of their students,Muhammad

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Opening the Gate of Verification 265 al-Muhibbi(d. 1699), included an entry on Mulla Mahmudin his biographicaldictionary of Muslim notables who died in the 11th century of the Muslim era (i.e., 15911689 AD). Al-Muhibbiwrote: He mostlytaught thebooksof thePersians andhe was thefirstto acquaint the (kutub al-a'ajim), of Damascus students withthesebooks,andhe imparted to themthe abilityto readandteach them.It is fromhimthatthegateof tahqTq in Damascus wasopened. Thisis whatwe haveheard ourteachers say.6 The meaning of the word tahqTq in this context is clear from a story involving another Easternscholar who settled in Damascus in the 17th century,'Abd al-Rahimal-Kabuli (d. 1723). The Afghan scholar was once approachedby a local studentwho wished to of the EgyptianscholarZakariyyaal-Ansari(d. 1519) on Isaghuji, studythe commentary an introductory handbookon logic by Athir al-Din al-Abhari(d. 1265). Al-Kabuli had not seen this particularcommentarybefore and was reportedlyunimpressedwhen he discoveredthatZakariyyaal-Ansarihad merely explainedthe text, "rather thangoing the obviouslymeantdoing morethanmerelyexplainingthe way of the muhaqqiqTn."'7 TahqTq of al-Kabuli contents of the handbookcommentedupon. As an Ottomancontemporary is to give the evidentialgrounds(dalTi) of a scientific proposition.8 stated,tahqTq If it is relatively straightforward to understandwhat al-Muhibbimeant by speaking it is somewhat more difficult to ascertainwhat he meant by "the books of of tahqTq, the Persians."One clue is offered by an 18th century biography of the Damascene scholarand mystic 'Abd al-Ghanial-Nabulusi(1640-1731), in which it is statedthathe studiedlogic, semantics-rhetoric('ilm al-ma'amn with Mulla wa-l-bay-in),and grammar Mahmud al-Kurdi.9Another Damascene scholar, Abu al-Mawahibal-Hanbali (16351714), also statedthathe studiedlogic andthe sciences of languagewith Mulla Mahmud He also mentioned some of the books that he had studied with the Kurdish al-Kurdi.10 the scholar: earliermentionedIsaghujiby al-Abhariwith its standard commentaries,and Talkhis a condensed manual on al-Dinal-Qazwini semantics-rhetoric Jamal al-miftah, by with commentaries on work the shorter and the (d. 1338) longer by Sa'd al-Din alTaftazani(d. 1390). Al-Abhari,al-Qazwini, and al-Taftazani were all of Persianorigin, and their works could easily be referredto as "the books of the Persians."However, the mentioned works were hardly unknown in Damascene scholarly circles in the 16th century.For instance, the Damascene scholar Hasan al-Burini (d. 1615) studied the semantic-rhetoricalworks of al-Taftazanibefore the arrivalof Mulla Mahmud.'1 Al-Burinihimself went on to teach al-Taftazani's commentarieson Talkhisal-miftah,as well as al-Abhari'sIsaghuji with the commentaryof Husamal-Din al-Kati(d. 1359). If al-Muhibbi'scommentsaboutMullaMahmudal-Kurdiintroducing Damascenestudents to new worksareto be takenseriously,thenhe musthavebeen referringto worksby other, and presumablylater, Persian scholars. The identity of at least some of these scholars may be gauged from a work by Ibrahim al-Kurani(d. 1690), another 17th century Kurdish scholar who settled in the Arabic-speakinglands, listing the works he had a certificateto teach. Kuranimentionedthe standardworks of al-Taftazani and al-Sayyid al-Sharifal-Jurjani(d. 1413) on semantics-rhetoric,grammar,logic, and theology. He then went on to mention other works in these fields by later Persian scholars such as

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266 KhaledEl-Rouayheb
Jalal al-Din al-Dawani (d. 1501) and 'Isam al-Din al-Isfara'ini (d. 1537).12 Some of these new works were the following:

of al-Isfara'inion Sharh al-kafiya (on grammar)by the well-known 1. The supercommentary Persianscholarand poet 'Abd al-Rahmanal-Jami(d. 1492); 2. The lengthycommentary of al-Isfara'ini, entitledal-Atwal,on Talkhis al-miftah(on semanticsrhetoric); 3. The commentaryof al-Isfara'inion Risalat al-wad' (on the theory of conventionalreference) by 'Adud al-Din al-Iji (d. 1355); 4. The commentaryof al-Isfara'inion al-Risalafi al-isti'arat (on metaphors)by Abu-al-Qasim (fl. 1488); al-Samarqandi 5. The commentaryof al-Dawanion the creed ('aqa'id) of 'Adud al-Din al-Iji (on theology); 6. The commentaryof al-Dawanion Tahdhib (on logic). al-mantiqby al-Taftazani

The cited works were widely used handbooks in Ottoman scholarly circles from the 17th century, as attested by the bibliographer Katib Celebi (d. 1657).'" Older Damascene scholars such as the previously mentioned Hasan al-Burini (1556-1615) and Najm al-Din Muhammad al-Ghazzi (1570-1651) do not seem to have studied such works.14 Younger Damascene scholars such as al-Muhibbi (1650-99) and Ibn al-'Imad al-Hanbali (162379), by contrast, were well aware of the later Persian scholars' "useful works in all the disciplines."'" There is thus some reason to believe that the works of the later Persian scholars were indeed introduced to the scholarly milieu of Damascus in the early 17th century by Mulla Mahmud al-Kurdi. The supposition is strengthened by the fact that some of the Damascene pupils of Mulla Mahmud, such as CAbd al-Qadir ibn 'Abd al-Hadi (d. 1688) and 'Uthman al-Qattan (d. 1704), are known to have taught the works of al-Dawani and al-Isfara'ini.'6 In the somewhat more cosmopolitan atmosphere of the two Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, the works of al-Dawani and al-Isfara'ini may have become known at an earlier time than in Damascus. A grandchild of 'Isam al-Din al-Isfara'ini, Qadi 'Ali al-'Isami (d. 1598-99) settled in the holy cities, and he and his nephew 'Abd al-Malik al-'Isami (d. 1627-28) are known to have taught the works of al-Isfara'ini there."7From western Arabia, the works of al-Isfara'ini seem to have spread to Egypt. The Egyptian scholars Ahmad al-Ghunaymi (d. 1634) and Ahmad al-Khafaji (d. 1659) both studied his works while they were in the Hijaz.'8 Egyptian scholars of the 17th century went on to write commentaries and glosses on some of the "works of the Persians." For instance, al-Ghunaymi wrote glosses on al-Isfara'ini's commentary on al-Samarqandi's al-Risala fi al-isticarat. Al-Ghunaymi's student, Yasin al-'Ulaymi al-Himsi (d. 1651) wrote glosses on the commentary of the Persian-born Transoxanian scholar 'Ubaydallah al-Khabisi (fl. 1540) on Tahdhib al-mantiq by al-Taftazani. These glosses reveal that al-'Ulaymi was acquainted with the commentary of al-Isfara'ini on the same work.19 The Moroccan scholar 'Abdallah al-'Ayyashi (d. 1680), who passed through Egypt on his way to the hajj, asked a local specialist in semantics-rhetoric what handbooks he used to teach the subject. The Egyptian scholar replied that the standard handbook had long been al-Taftazani's longer commentary, called al-Mutawwal, on Talkhis al-miftah, but that there was now a more recent and longer commentary by 'Isam al-Din al-Isfara'ini,

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Opening the Gate of Verification 267 called al-Atwal, which offered a synthesis of the most importantscholia written on al-Taftazani's work.20 Most of the works alluded to by al-Muhibbi were written in Arabic, but this was not always the case. For instance, 'Isam al-Din al-Isfara'iniwrote a work in Persianon figurativeuse of language (majaz)that was translatedinto Arabic in the 17th century. The Egyptianhistorian'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti the translation (d. 1825-26) attributed to one of his father'steachers,the EgyptianscholarAhmad al-Mallawi (1677-1767).21 of thework However,he was almostcertainlymistakenaboutthis. Survivingmanuscripts mention the translator'sname as Ahmad al-Mawlawi (i.e., of the Mawlawi mystical order), not al-Mallawi (i.e., from the Egyptian town of Mallawi).22Furthermore,a student of al-Mallawi, in a work in which he consistently refers to al-Mallawi as "our teacher the commentator(shaykhunaal-sharih),"also referredto the translatorof alIsfara'ini's work as "al-Mawlawi."23 The translatorseems ratherto have been Ahmad ibn Lutfallahal-Mawlawi, also known as MunajjimBashi (d. 1702). Originally from for Mehmed IV Salonica, Ahmad al-Mawlawi served as court astronomer/astrologer (r. 1648-87) in Istanbulbefore retiringto Cairo and Mecca, where he died. His other works include a universalchronicle;a commentaryon a work on ethics by 'Adud al-Din al-Iji; a treatiseon logical predication(haml); and a work on the medical propertiesof Europeanherbs.24 of the new "booksof the Persians"in the Whatwas the significanceof the introduction late 16thandearly 17thcentury?Most of the worksmentionedhavenot receivedmodem scholarly attention,and it is thereforedifficult to answer the question with confidence. Even many of the authorsremainlargely unknown.For instance, the Encyclopaediaof Islam has no entry on 'Isam al-Din al-Isfara'ini,whose works on semantics-rhetoric, textbooksfor centuries.Its shortentry grammar, theology, and logic remainedstandard on on Dawani focuses on his Persian work ethics (which has been translatedinto on English), ratherthan his Arabic theological, logical, and philosophical works that were much more influentialin scholarlycircles in the OttomanEmpire.25 It seems clear, of al-Isfara'iniand al-Dawani however, that the commentariesand supercommentaries did not simply consist of an explication of the meaning of the texts. For instance, the Ottomanbibliographer KatibCelebi statedthatal-Isfara'ini'sglosses on al-Jami'sSharh critical and that "he argued against him [i.e., al-Jami] on most were al-kafiya highly Even for some allowing points."26 exaggeration,such a comment would make no sense if al-Isfara'iniwere simply expoundingthe meaning of al-Jami'swork. For his part,alDawani's widely studiedcommentaryon the creed of al-Iji is prefacedwith an emphasis on the need for tahqiq ratherthan taqlid in creedal matters,and a declarationthat the work will not merely catalogue views but pursue the trutheven when it goes against currentopinion.27 Although explicitly writtenfrom an Ashcariperspective,al-Dawani's commentaryrepeatedly adopted an irenic stance towardpoints that had traditionally divided Ash'aris from Mu'tazilis and Islamic philosophers.For example, he statedthat on many central theological points, such as the correct understandingof the divine the argumentsof the Ash'aris and the Mu'tazilis were both inconclusive, and attributes, he emphasizedthat the latter should not be consideredunbelievers.28 He also went out of his way to arguethatmany of the accusationsoften levied at the Islamic philosophers by theologians-for example, that they believed that God did not know particularsAl-Dawani was also sympatheticto the ideas of the were based on misunderstanding.29

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268

Khaled El-Rouayheb

Andalusianmystic Ibn 'Arabi, such as "theunity of existence" (wahdatal-wujfid),and his argumentson this point were invoked by later supportersof Ibn 'Arabi's theory.By were explicitly hostile to the contrast,earliertheologians such as al-Iji and al-Taftazani
idea of wahdat al-wujiid.30

Al-Muhibbi linked the teaching of the "books of the Persians"to the "opening of the gate of tahqTq." To understandwhy he did so, it should be kept in mind that the full significance of the introductionof "the books of the Persians"may not become apparentmerely by looking at the contents of the works themselves. The new works were not mere additions to librarycollections but were taught initially by scholars of Kurdishor Persianorigin.Thereis some evidence thatPersianand Kurdishscholarshad a distinctive mannerof teaching. Al-Muhibbi described one of the scholars he met in Istanbulas "followingthe way of the PersianandKurdishverifyingscholars(muhaqqiqT
al-'ajam wa-l-akraid) in adhering to the principles of dialectic (iadiib al-bahth)."31 A

17th centuryMoroccan scholar has left a vivid descriptionof a contemporaryKurdish scholar'sway of conductingclasses: on a topicreminded one of discussion for he His lecture andparley(mufawada), (mudha/kara) wouldsay:"Perhaps thisandthat," and"Itseemsthatit is this," and"Doyou see thatthiscanbe like that?." Andif he wasquestioned on eventhe slightest understood pointhe wouldstopuntil thematter wasestablished.32 Indeed,workson dialectic (adaibal-bahth)were almostcertainlyamongthe new "books of the Persians"that came to be taught in Arab-Islamiccircles from the 17th century. One of the numerousworks of al-Isfara'iniwas a commentaryon a tracton dialecticby 'Adud al-Din al-Iji.33 Remarksby the earlier Egyptianscholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505) offer some further indication of the significance of the "books of the Persians."Al-Suyuti was notoriously opposed to logic and philosophy, and repeatedly condemned these disciplines as inimical to religious faith. He also condemned the-in his view mainly Persian-scholars who introducedlogical concepts and argumentforms into the study of theology, the principles of jurisprudenceand grammar.He prided himself in mastering jurisprudence,grammar,and rhetoric "accordingto the principles of the Arabs and the erudite, not according to the way of the Persians and philosophers."34 The grammatical,semantic-rhetorical,and theological handbooksto which al-Muhibbialluded were writtenby Persianscholars who also wrote on logical and/orphilosophical topics. Apparently,the logically and philosophically informed methodology that alSuyuti despised received renewedimpetus in Arab-Islamic scholarlycircles in the 17th century.
MAGHRIBI SCHOLARS IN THE EAST

The 18thcenturyEgyptian-basedscholarMuhammadMurtada al-Zabidi(d. 1791), like more with the comfortable al-Suyuti, was (naqliyyah) sciences such tradition-relating as hadith, as opposed to rational ('aqliyyah) sciences such as logic or philosophical theology. Like al-Suyuti, he considered the latter fields to be pernicious, althoughhe was well aware that his view was far from being typical of the Islamic scholars of his time. Indeed,he regrettedwhat he saw as an inordinateenthusiasmfor logic amonghis

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Opening the Gate of Verification

269

Egyptian contemporaries. This enthusiasm, according to al-Zabidi, had been imparted by incoming scholars from the Maghrib, that is, present-day Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Such scholars, according to al-Zabidi, had "delved into it [i.e., logic] until they became leaders in the field who are singled out for their proficiency."35 In an arresting passage, al-Zabidi described how Maghribi scholars coming to Egypt a few generations before his time had spread this enthusiasm for logic: Thus you see that those of them who came to Egypt in the times of the teachers of our teachers had few hadithto relate, and due to them it [logic] became popularin Egypt and they [i.e., locals] devoted themselves to studying it, whereas before that time they had only occupied themselves with it occasionally to sharpentheir wits.36 As I have shown elsewhere, al-Zabidi is in this passage referring to several Maghribi scholars who settled temporarily or permanently in Egypt toward the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, and taught logic, among other things, to local students.37 Many of these scholars were students of the prominent Moroccan theologian and logician al-Hasan al-Yusi (d. 1691). They brought with them a number of logical handbooks that were of Maghribi provenance, such as the following: 1. al-Sullamal-munawraq,a didacticpoem introducingthe basic principlesof Aristotelianlogic, by 'Abd al-Rahmanal-Akhdari(d. 1546), often read in conjunctionwith al-Akhdari'sown prose commentary,and the glosses of the Maliki mufti of Algiers, Sa'id Qadduraal-Tunisi (d. 1656). 2. al-Mukhtasar fi al-mantiq, a somewhat more advanced work by Muhammadibn Yusuf alSanusi (d. 1490), often readin conjunctionwith al-Sanusi'sown commentary,and the glosses of al-Hasanal-Yusi. 3. al-Jumal, by Afdal al-Din al-Khunaji(d. 1249), a yet more advancedwork commentedupon by various Maghribianscholars such as Muhammadal-Sharif al-Tilimsani (d. 1370), Ibn al-Khatibal-Qusantini(d. 1409), and Ibn Marzuqal-Hafid(d. 1439).38 In addition to these logical works, the students of al-Yusi taught the theological works of the earlier mentioned 15th century scholar Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi, particularly his longer creed 'Aqidat ahl al-tawhid and the shorter Umm al-barahin, along with the commentaries of the author and various glosses by later Maghribi scholars such as 'Isa al-Suktani (d. 1651/52), Yahya al-Shawi (d. 1685), and al-Yusi. Like al-Dawani, al-Sanusi repeatedly emphasized the unsatisfactory nature of imitation (taqlTd)in matters of creed, and the need for tahqTq.39 In al-Dawani's case, the emphasis led to a more the claims of the Mu'tazilis and Islamic philosophers reconciliatory position vis-h-vis on several points. By contrast, al-Sanusi-whose works have been described as marking the apogee of "intellectualism" in Muslim theology--evinced a firm confidence in the possibility of demonstrating the truth of the Ash'ari creed and relied heavily on the modal concepts and argument forms of Aristotelian logic in expounding and defending the principles of the Islamic faith.40 Although staunchly opposed to the Mu'tazilis and the Islamic philosophers, al-Sanusi was also disparaging of what he called the hashwiyya, that is, fideist and literalist groups such as anti-Ash'ari Hanbalis. Such people, he argued, are led astray in theological matters by their ignorance of rational sciences such as semantics, logic, and rhetoric. They do not heed the necessary truths of reason, oblivious of the fact that to undermine reason is to undermine the basis for religious belief.41

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270 KhaledEl-Rouayheb
Al-Sanusi's disparagement of taqlTdwas shared by his later Maghribi commentators. Al-Yusi, who wrote influential supercommentaries on al-Sanusi's theological and logical works, was no less intent on "going the way of the muhaqqiqTn"than his Persian and Kurdish colleagues. For instance, in his extended treatise on the difference between the proprium (i.e., distinct but nonessential attributes, like laughter to man) and the differentia (i.e., essential attributes, like rationality to man), he wrote: There will occasionally be things we write that you will not, O reader,find elsewhere, so do not hastento disapproveof it, being misled by those who take it upon themselvesto relate whatothers have said andpiece it together,and for whom the ultimatein knowledge and mentalexertionis to say: so and so has said. No by God! ... For thereis no differencebetween an imitator(muqallid) of being led and an animalbeing led, so know O readerthatI have only includedin my treatment this and othertopics what I believe to be true.., .and heed the words of the Imam [Fakhral-Din al-Razi (d. 1209)]:Whatthe Prophethas said we acceptwholeheartedly, and what his companions have said we accept partially;as to what others have said: they are men and we are men.42 The Maghribi students of al-Yusi were not the first scholars from that region to make an impact on the Arabic-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire. A number of Maghribi scholars went eastward during the 17th century, many presumably seeking to escape the political turmoil that had engulfed Morocco after the break-up of the Sa'dian dynasty in 1603. The scholar and belletrist Ahmad al-Maqqari al-Tilimsani (d. 1632), who settled in Damascus and Cairo, is well known for his literary history of Islamic Spain, Nafh al-tib fi ghusn al-Andalus al-ratib.43 Another Maghribi scholar who was no less renowned in his day was the polymath Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Rudani (d. 1683).44 He was both a specialist in hadith and an accomplished logician, grammarian, jurist, and astronomer. A contemporary Moroccan scholar wrote that al-Rudani traveled far and wide in search of prominent teachers, particularly those who could impart anything relating to the philosophical sciences (al-'ult-m al-hikmiyyah), such as astronomy, mathematics and logic, for which al-Rudani had a particular aptitude. Al-Rudani's search eventually took him to Algiers, where he studied with the earlier-mentioned supercommentator on alAkhdari's didactic poem on logic, Sa'id Qaddura al-Tunisi.45 He then traveled further East, to Egypt, Turkey, the Hijaz, and Damascus, where he died. A Damascene scholar who studied with al-Rudani is quoted as saying the following: His knowledge of hadith and of the principles of jurisprudenceis unequalled by anyone we have met. As for the science of belles-lettres (adab), he is the ultimate authority.And in the philosophicalsciences: logic, physics andmetaphysics,he was the teacherwhose knowledgecould not be acquiredthroughnaturalmeans. And he was proficient in the sciences of mathematics: and Euclid, astronomy,geometry,Almagest, calculus, algebra,arithmetic,cartography, harmony, geodesy. His knowledge of these fields was unique,otherscholarsknowingonly the preliminaries of these sciences, ratherthan the advancedissues.46 Some of al-Rudani's major works include the following: 1. Jamc al-fawa'id min jamic al-usul wa-majmac al-fawa'id; an extensive topical collation of hadith recognized by Sunni Muslims, based on two earlier partialcollections.47There has been some interestrecentlyin the issue of whethertherewas a reinvigoration of hadithstudies in Mecca and Medina in the 18th century.In this regard,it is significantthat al-Rudani,who earnedthe epithet"themuhaddithof the Hijaz,"was the principalteacherof one of the central revival, 'Abdallahibn Salim al-Basri (d. 1722).48 figures in this purported

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Opening the Gate of Verification

271

2. Bahjat al-tullabfi al-'amal bi-l-asturlab;a shorttreatiseon the astrolabe.49 3. Qala'id al-la'alifi 'amal al-ayyamwa-l-layali, a didacticpoem on chronology('ilm al-awqa-t), with a lengthy commentaryin prose, entitled Maqasid al-'awali bi-qala'id al-la'ali. Accordal-Rudani'swork was based on the "new"astronomicalobservations ing to a contemporary, of Ulugh Beg (d. 1449) in Samarqand, made at the observatory on the basis of which al-Rudani correctedthe informationcontainedin earlierworks on chronology.50 4. Al-Nafi'a 'ala al-'ala al-jami'a, a description of, and user's guide to, an astronomicalinstrumentinvented by al-Rudanihimself. Al-Rudani was a skilled craftsmanas well as an astronomerand made copies of the instrumenthimself and sold it to interestedbuyers. The Moroccan scholar 'Abdallah al-'Ayyashi, who met al-Rudani in Medina, wrote that "the like has not previously been made, ratherhe inventedit with his acute mind and sophisticated skills.""'The Damascenebiographer al-Muhibbi,who visited al-Rudaniwhen the lattersettled in Damascus, noted: "he inventeda sphere (kura) that was superiorto previous spheres and Charles Pellat, who astrolabes, and which spreadto India and the Yemen and the Hijaz."52 has edited and translatedRudani'streatise,has noted that his astronomicalinstrumentwas an armillarysphere adaptedto also allow topographicalmeasurements.53

SHATTARIS,

NAQSHBANDIS,

AND

KHALWATIS

A few years before Mulla Mahmud al-Kurdi came to Damascus and started teaching "the books of the Persians," an Indian mystic of the Shattariyya order settled in Medina. Sibghatallah al-Barwaji (d. 1606) quickly gained renown as a Sufi master and initiated several local scholars into his order.54He brought with him several books written by Indian Shattari mystics such as al-Jawahir al-Khams by Muhammad Ghawth Gwaliori (d. 1562). Al-Barwaji translated this work from Persian into Arabic, and a commentary on it was later written by his leading disciple, the Egyptian-born Ahmad al-Shinnawi (d. 1619). Al-Shinnawi became the successor of al-Barwaji and was in turn succeeded by Ahmad al-Qushashi (d. 1661), who in turn was succeeded by the Kurdish-born Ibrahim al-Kurani (d. 1690).55 Al-Shinnawi, al-Qushashi and al-Kurani were all outspoken adherents of the controversial idea of the "unity of existence" (wahdat al-wujfid), associated with Ibn 'Arabi and his followers. Indeed one of the major Shattari texts studied in their circle was al-Tuhfa al-mursala ila al-nabi, a work by the Indian Shattari mystic Muhammad al-Burhanpuri (d. 1619-20) defending the idea of wahdat al-wujtid. Ibrahim al-Kurani wrote a commentary on Burhanpuri's work and also several independent treatises expounding and defending wahdat al-wujuid. Al-Kurani's student and disciple Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rasul al-Barzinji (d. 1693) translated from Persian into Arabic a work by the Persian mystic Abu al-Fath Muhammad al-Kazaruni, also known as Shaykh Makki (fl.1518), defending this and other controversial ideas of Ibn 'Arabi.56 This open adherence to monism marks a contrast with the Arab mystics of the 16th century whose works have come down to us, such as 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (d. 1565), Muhammad ibn Abi-l-Hasan al-Bakri (d. 1585), and 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi (d. 1622). All of these writers seem to have been uneasy with the idea of wahdat al-wujiid, and tended to explain away the claims of earlier monist mystics as excusable ecstatic utterances (shatahait). To be sure, such mystics defended Ibn 'Arabi against the charge of heresy, but they did so apologetically, claiming that the Greatest Master's language was difficult to decipher for the uninitiated and should not be judged at face value and that many heretical statements had been interpolated into his works.'57 The attitude of aland seems to have been much bolder and Shinnawi, al-Qushashi, al-Kurani, al-Barzinji

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272

Khaled El-Rouayheb

to have consisted of an open espousal of controversialideas associatedwith Ibn 'Arabi and his school, such as wahdat al-wujiid and the idea that the Pharaohwhom Moses had challenged died as a believer (Tma n fir'awn). The Moroccanpilgrim 'Abdallahal'Ayyashi, who studied with al-Kuraniin Medina,thus related that al-Kuranirepeatedly would urge him to accept the ideas of Ibn 'Arabi. Al-'Ayyashi, however, preferredto remain uncommitted,arguingthat this position was in accord with the Shadhili order into which he had first been initiated.58 Another example of the new boldness of the Shattarimystics of Medina is evinced in the famous commentaryby MuhammadMurtadaal-Zabidi (d. 1791) on Ghazali's al-Zabidiwrotethat Ihya' 'ulumal-din. In the firstvolume of his extensive commentary, Ibn 'Arabi had never meant to maintainthe thesis of Imanfir'awn. Rather,Ibn 'Arabi should be interpreted allegorically,Pharaohbeing a symbol of the human soul.59 In the second volume of his commentary, his earlierinterpretation however,al-Zabidiretracted that-he wrote-was inspired by the interpretation of 16th century Egyptian mystics
such as 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani and 'Abd al-Karim al-Khalwati (d. 1578). Al-Zabidi

had since looked at Ibn 'Arabi's works and came to the conclusion that the allegorical
explanation was untenable. He then informed the reader that there were nevertheless scholars who defended Ibn 'Arabi's thesis understood literally, such as Jalal al-Din alDawani and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rasul al-Barzinji in his translation of Kazaruni's Persian treatise.60 It is clear that the position of al-Dawani and al-Barzinji on the issue was much bolder and less apologetic than Sha'rani's. This straightforward espousal of the more controversial ideas of Ibn 'Arabi was apparently not received with enthusiasm by all local scholars. For instance, some indication of resentment may be gauged from the following biographical entry on the Yemeni mystic Muhammad al-Habashi (d. 1642): He was preoccupiedwith the works of [the uncontroversially orthodox Abu Hamid] al-Ghazali Then he left for the two Holy Cities and [(d. 1111)], and hence was nicknamed "al-Ghazali." frequented al-Sayyid Sibghatallah and [Sibghatallah's disciples] al-Sayyid As'ad [al-Balkhi (d. 1636)] and Shaykh Ahmad al-Shinnawi, and regularly read the works of Ibn 'Arabi and followed his way, and would at times make ecstatic statementsand some jurists would censure him.6'

The passage suggests that al-Habashi's enthusiasm for Ibn 'Arabi and his ensuing problematicstatementswas a resultof his coming into contact with Sibghatallahandhis
Medinan disciples. A similar outspoken adherence to the theories of Ibn 'Arabi seems also to have been characteristic of a branch of the Khalwati order that spread in Damascus in the 17th century. It was introduced into the city by a Kurdish immigrant, Ahmad al-'Usali (d. 1639), a disciple of a Khalwati master from Gaziantep.62 Al-'Usali's Damascene disciples went on to initiate a substantial number of local scholars, including the previously mentioned scholars Muhammad Amin al-Muhibbi and Abu al-Mawahib al-Hanbali. The latter wrote a work enumerating the scholars with whom he had studied, and included a

on whose authorityhe related separatesection in which he gave the chain of transmitters the works of Ibn 'Arabi.63 One of the most prominentlocal disciples of al-'Usali was Ayyub al-'Adawi al-Khalwati(d. 1660), who left behindseveralmystical works. Ayyub

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Openingthe Gate of Verification 273 al-Khalwatiwas an outspokenand controversialadherent of the views of Ibn 'Arabi,and was on good termswith the Shattaridisciples of Sibghatallahal-Barwajiin Medina.64 Another Indian mystic who settled in the Hijaz in the early 17th century was Taj al-Din al-Naqshbandi(d. 1640), a rival of the more famous IndianNaqshbandimystic Ahmad al-Sirhindi(d. 1624).65Like his contemporarySibghatallahal-Barwaji,Taj alDin translatedsome of the influential works of his orderfrom Persian into Arabic, in collectionsNafahat al-Uns by Jami(d. 1492) andRashahat the hagiographical particular 'ayn al-hayat by 'Ali Kashifi (d. 1532-33). He also wrote a treatise in Arabic on the principles of the Naqshbandiorder.The Naqshbandiorderhas often been portrayedas hostile or lukewarmto the monism of Ibn 'Arabi, but this view has been shown to be simplistic. Although some Naqshbandis,most famously Taj al-Din's rival Ahmad alotherprominentmembersof the Sirhindi,were criticalof the idea of wahdat al-wujuid, orderexplicitly defendedit.66This seems to have been the case with Taj al-Din and his disciples, who areknownto have taughtIbn cArabi'scontroversialworkFusus al-hikam in the holy cities.67 Another Naqshbandiwho openly espoused the more controversialaspects of the teachings of Ibn 'Arabi was the Damascene scholar cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (d. 1731). Al-Nabulusiwas initiatedinto the Naqshbandiorderby a certainAbu SacidalBalkhi, a second-generation disciple of the prominentCentralAsian-bornIndian-based NaqshbandiMahmudKhawand(d. 1642), yet anotherNaqshbandirival of Ahmad alSirhindi.The first task Nabulusi was set by his masterwas to write a commentaryon treatiseon the principlesof the order.68 Al-Nabulusi, along Taj al-Din al-Naqshbandi's with al-Qushashiand al-Kurani,was perhapsthe best-known defender of the ideas of Ibn cArabi in his time. He wrote influential commentarieson the classics of monist mysticism, such as the Diwan of Ibn al-Faridand the Fusus al-hikamof Ibn cArabi.He prefaced these mystical commentarieswith the remarkthat he had not consulted any other work while writing them, and instead relied entirely on divine inspiration(fath). This deliberatereliance on inspirationratherthan books was a recurrentfeature of the mystical and illuminationisttraditionsand was also referredto as tahqTq, although in this case the "verification" was affordedby mystical experience ratherthan reason.69 Al-Nabulusi also wrote a series of polemical works defending controversialmystical practicesandideas suchas listeningto music, adoringhandsomebeardlessyouths,veneratingthe tombs of saints, and wahdatal-wujiid.70 In these exoteric writings,al-Nabulusi often did cite other works, either to criticize them or to buttresshis own views. In his major apology for wahdat al-wujiid, entitled al-Wujudal-haqq wa-l-khitabal-sidq, he his position by citing passages from al-Dawani'sSharhal-caqa'id repeatedlysupported work was presumablyfirsttaughtin Damascusby Nabulusi'steacher a that al-'adudiyya, Mulla Mahmudal-Kurdi.71 Ibrahimal-Kuraniwas also well acquaintedwith this work by Dawani and wrote a on it.72 He also taught such straightforwardly philosophical works supercommentary as the commentaryof Muhammadibn al-Sharifal-Jurjani (d. 1434-35) on Hidayat alhikmaby al-Abhari(d. 1265);Hikmatal-Ishraqby the illuminationist philosopherYahya al-Suhrawardi al-Maqtul(d. 1191); and the metaphysicalsections of Sharh al-Mawaqif fi 'ilm al-kalam by al-Sayyid al-Sharif al-Jurjani(d. 1413).73Before his initiationinto had been trainedin philosophy and philosophicaltheology the Shattariorder,al-Kurani his Kurdish teacher Muhammad al-Sharif al-Kurani(d. 1676), who wrote, among by

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274 Khaled El-Rouayheb on the commentaryof Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274) other things, a supercommentary on Avicenna's condensed epitome of philosophy al-Isharat.74Al-Kurani's works in defense of wahdat al-wujfid tend to be more philosophically involved than those of al-Nabulusi,who in general seems to have representeda more fideist strandof mystical thought.75 The Damascene scholarMuhammadKhalil al-Muradi(d. 1791) wrote that students from all cornersof the Islamicworld.76 Some of al-Kurani's came to studywith al-Kurani treatiseswere explicitly writtenat the request of scholarsand studentsfrom Fez in the west to Javain the east.77Other18thcenturyscholarsin TurkeyandEgypt, writingbefore the notion of pre-19thcenturydecadencetook root, treatedal-Kuranias a thinkerof the same statureas the now better-knownPersian philosophersMir Damad (d. 1631) and Mulla Sadra(d. 1640/41).78 The Moroccanpilgrim 'Abdallahal-'Ayyashi,who studied with al-Kurani in Medina,has left a description-already quotedearlier-of al-Kurani's teaching style: His lectureon a topicreminded one of discussion forhe andparley(mufdwada), (mudhakara) wouldsay:"Perhaps thisandthat", and"Itseemsthatit is this", and"Doyou see thatthiscanbe Andif he was questioned on eventhe slightest understood like that?." pointhe wouldstopuntil thematter wasestablished.79 the biographer al-Muhibbidescribedal-Kurani Al-'Ayyashi's Damascenecontemporary, as "the Imam of tahqTq."80 With scholars such as al-Nabulusi and al-Kuranithe 17th century trends toward tahqlq and toward an open espousal of wahdat al-wujaidcoincided. Both scholars, to be sure, were conservative thinkers in the sense that they were to a large extent concernedwith defending,expounding,anddevelopingtheoriesthathadbeen articulated centuriesearlierby Ibn 'Arabiand his followers. This characteristic correspondsto what of the 17th MarshallHodgsonhas describedas the "conservative centurycultural spirit" and intellectual florescence in Persia and India."' Having said this, it is important to emphasize that both scholars did much more than merely repeat old maxims. For instance, both had to address the metaphysical objections to the idea of wahdat althathad been formulatedby Sa'd al-Din al-Taftazani (d. 1390), perhapsthe most wujuid Both influentialSunnitheologianof the "post-classical" of themalso responded period.82 to problems and currentsof thoughtthat were peculiarto their times. Al-Nabulusi,for example, intervenedin the debate concerning the religious permissibilityof tobacco, He also arguedagainst the introducedinto the Middle East in the early 17th century.83 moralist vigilantism of the violently puritanKadizadeli movement that spread in the OttomanEmpirein the 17thcentury.14Al-Kurani,for his part,got involved in a dispute with the followers of the controversialIndian Naqshbandimystic Ahmad al-Sirhindi in Medina.85He also got involved in scholarly disputes because of his acceptance of the historicity of the Satanic verses and of his elaborationand defense of a nonAsh'ari position on the issue of free will. On both issues, he was strongly opposed by of al-Sanusi,such as al-Hasanal-Yusi contemporary Maghribitheologiansin the tradition These scholarly disputes have yet to be studied thoroughly,but and Yahya al-Shawi.86 their very existence belies the predominantimage of the lethargic,moribundcharacter of intellectual life in the Arabic-speakingparts of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

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Opening the Gate of Verification 275

CONCLUSION

The fact that al-Kuraniand prominentMaghribitheologians were at loggerheads is a salutaryreminderthatthe scholarlytrendspresentedin the presentarticle were distinct and did not necessarily agree on substantialissues. An emphasison verification,logical or Aristoteliandialectic in scholastic culturedid not necessarily lead to demonstration, the same conclusions. Maghribitheologians in the traditionof al-Sanusi, for example, were staunchAsh'aritesandtendednot to sharethe moreirenicattitudetowardMu'tazilis of al-Dawani.Mystics of the Ibn 'Arabitradition, andIslamicphilosopherscharacteristic such as al-Nabulusi, could at times strike a fideist note and criticize excessive preoccupation with rational sciences such as logic, semantics, and philosophical theology. The point of the presentarticle has not been to suggest that the new intellectualtrends formed a united front sharing common ideas that may be capturedby a single term Such termsare problematicand or "enlightenment." or "reawakening" such as "revival" best avoided, partly because they tend to elide significant differences between various thinkersandtraditions,andpartlybecause-as statedat the outsetof the presentarticlethey suggest, without adequatesupportin the sources, a previousperiod of dormantand benighted intellectual and culturallife. This idea of centuries of intellectual darkness needs, I believe, wholesale questioning,and it has not been my intentmerely to quibble aboutthe date at which it came to an end. WhatI have triedto do in this articleis to questionthe received pictureof intellectual life in the Arabic provinces of the OttomanEmpire in what is often assumed to be a dormant,"prerevival" period. I should emphasize that I do not claim to have presented a full account of each of these developments.My aim has ratherbeen to drawattention to them and to suggest some lines for furtherresearch,unencumbered by preconceived ideas of an Islamic "darkage." The sources of the period do not supporta picture of unmitigatedintellectual stagnationor "culturalapathy"that stands in contrastto the economic and urban expansion of the period. There is also no basis for saying that Arabic scholarly culture was isolated from more general trends in the Islamic world and feeding off its own classical past. Nor is it true that scholarly culturewas mired in rote acquisitionof the religious sciences. On the contrary,the figures usually presented such as MuhammadMurtadaal-Zabidi as 18th century "revivalists"and "reformers" (d. 1791), Muhammadibn 'Abd al-Wahhab(d. 1792), Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi (d. 1762), and Muhammadal-Shawkani(d. 1834), despite their differences, all shared a much dimmer view of the value of the rational sciences than Maghribi and scholarsin the traditionsof al-Sanusiandal-Dawani.87 Persian-Kurdish They can indeed sciences to such of be seen as revertingto the tradition hostility representedby earlier and scholarssuch as Ibn Taymiyya al-Suyuti. of the 18thand 19thcentury,the emphasisfell on ijtihad, Formany of the "revivalists" in the sense of rational or mystical-experiential verification of ratherthan on tahqTq received scholarly opinions. As has been pointed out by R. Peters, the call for renewed ijtih-d in the 18th and 19th centuriestendedto go hand in hand, not with "rationalism" that is, a radically or "modernism"as is often supposed, but with "fundamentalism," scripturalistand antischolastic stance.88The prevalent scholastic traditionwas found or "flexible,"but precisely because wanting,not because it was insufficiently"rational" it was believed to have been too flexible and rationalthroughthe ages and had ceased

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276 KhaledEl-Rouayheb to be sufficiently grounded in the Qur'an and the Sunna. The 18th and 19th century "revivalists," naturallyenough, tendedto portraytheiropponentsas rigid andunthinking a host of modernhistorians,both Westernand Eastern, imitators.Less understandably, have uncritically adopted this partisanview. Consequently,the very existence of an alternativeto both scripturalistijtihad and unthinkingimitationwas lost to sight. The age before the 18th and 19th century "revivalist"ijtihatdmovements was accordingly viewed as marredby rigid and unthinkingimitation. The Damascene biographeral-Muhibbi would hardly have recognized the picture of pervasive intellectual apathy and unthinkingimitationin the 17th century.He was initiated into the Khalwati order that, apparentlyfor the first time, gained popularity with Damascene scholars and promoted a bolder and more enthusiastic espousal of the theories of Ibn 'Arabi. His teacherstold him that a Kurdishscholar who settled in Damascusin the firstdecadeof the 17thcenturyhadintroduced new scholarlyhandbooks by Persian scholars, thus "opening the gate of verification."He was also personally acquaintedwith a host of intellectualluminaries.The polymathAhmadibn LutfallahalfromPersianinto Arabicthe treatise Mawlawi, who wrote a universalhistory,translated on figurative language by Isfara'ini, and wrote a work on the medical propertiesof When the MoroccanscholarMuhammad Europeanherbs,was a personalacquaintance. al-Rudanisettled in Damascus, al-Muhibbiand al-Mawlawivisited him and noted the strong impression he made on local scholars with the breadthof his knowledge and his new astronomicalinstrument.89 Al-Muhibbialso met the renownedliteraryscholar 'Abd al-Qadir al-Baghdadi (d. 1682), the authorof a still esteemed compendiumof early Arabic poetry Khizanat al-adab, and of an Arabic commentaryon the versified Persian-Turkishdictionaryof Ibrahimal-Shahidi (d. 1550).90The towering reputation of the mystic and scholar Ibrahimal-Kurani,the "imam of tahqtq,"had also reached him from Medina, and he was well aware of the intellectual standing of his fellow Damascene 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi,"our teacher,our relative, and our blessing."91 Indeed al-Muhibbihimself was a considerable scholar, whose writings belie the idea that Arab-Islamic scholars were parochial and feeding off their own classical past. Al-Muhibbi's anthology of contemporarypoets, Nafhat al-rayhana is an impressive testimony to the opposite. Not only did al-Muhibbigo to great lengths to gatherpoems from all corners of the Arab world, but he also included contemporaryTurkishand AlPersian poets in his survey and he translatedseveral of their poems into Arabic.92 Muhibbi also wrote one of the most extensive premodernworks on foreign loanwords in Arabic:Qasd al-sabil fimafi lughat al-'arab min dakhil.93 For some time, it has been conceded that a scholar like al-Nabulusiwas a luminous Al-Rudani has also been "exception"in a dark age of "imitationand compilation."94 a a recent Arab historian as a lone in civilization that had passed genius portrayedby its prime and descended into "ignorance"(jahl wa-ghafla) and "resignation" (ya's).95 More recently, Ibrahim al-Kuranihas been presented as a "revivalist"in a century otherwisemarkedby "extremist" Sufism and a "trivialized ulema discourse"that"could no longer go any further."96 It is tempting at this point to make use of the historianof science ThomasKuhn'sconceptof an "anomaly," thatis, an acknowledgedfact thatdoes not fit comfortablywith the overall assumptionsguiding a community of scientists or scholars.As Kuhnpointed out, the multiplicationof anomaliesputs additionalpressure on the guiding assumptions-what he calls the dominant"paradigm"-of a community

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Opening the Gate of Verification 277 of scholars, and may well lead to a "revolutionary" situation in which this paradigm is widely challenged.97It may perhaps be plausible to representa single scholar as an "exception."However, as more and more "exceptions"are conceded, the standard of the period comes under pressure. Rather than increasing the list of interpretation exceptions,it may be morefruitfulto ask whetherthe culturalandintellectualflorescence that is often thoughtto have occurredin the Safavid and Moghul Empires in the 17th century was a more general phenomenonin the Islamic world. From this perspective, scholarssuch as al-Hasanal-Yusi,Muhammadal-Rudani,Ibrahimal-Kurani,and 'Abd al-Ghanial-Nabulusiappear, not as "exceptions" but as contemporaries andcounterparts of 17thcenturyPersianand Indianscholarssuch as Baha' al-Din al-'Amili, Mulla Sadra al-Shirazi,Ahmad al-Sirhindi,and 'Abd al-Hakimal-Siyalkuti.

NOTES Author'snote: I thankProfessorMichael Cook, ProfessorRob Wisnovsky,Dr. Basim Musallam,and the anonymousreferees of IJMESfor their helpful remarkson earlierdraftsof this paper,as well as Dr. Kate A. Bennison for kindly takingthe time to teach me how to readMaghribiscript.I also thankthe BritishAcademy for fundingmy research. 1H. A. R. Gibb and H. Bowen, Islamic Society and the West(London: Oxford University Press, 1957), vol. 1, partII, 159-64. 2A. Raymond, "The OttomanConquest and the Development of the Great Arab Towns,"International Journal of Turkish Studies 1 (1980): 84-101; A. Raymond,TheGreatArab Cities in the 16th-18th Centuries: An Introduction(New York:New YorkUniversityPress, 1984), 5-9; A. Raymond,Cairo (Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 2000), 216-25; See also A. Abdel Nour, Introductiona l'histoire urbaine de la Syrie ottomane,XVIe-XVIIIe(Beirut:Publicationsde l'Universit6Libanaise, 1982). 97-98. 3Raymond,"The OttomanConquest," 4M. Hodgson, The Ventureof Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974), vol. 3. See also E. Yarshater, "ThePersianPresence in the Islamic World," in The Persian Presence in the Islamic World,ed. R. Hovanissianand G. Sabbagh(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1997). 5See N. Levtzion and J. O. Voll (eds.), Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam (Syracuse: for Renewal andReform,"in The OxfordHistory of SyracuseUniversityPress, 1987); J. O. Voll, "Foundations Islam, ed. J. Esposito (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 1999);Reinhardt Schulze, "Das islamische achtzehnte WeltdesIslams 30 (1990): 140-59; Reinhardt Jahrhundert,"Die Schulze, "Wasistdie islamische Aufklhrung?", Die Weltdes Islams 36 (1996): 276-325; P. Gran,TheIslamicRoots of Capitalism:Egypt 1760-1840 (Austin, Tex.: Universityof Texas Press, 1978). 6MuhammadAmin al-Muhibbi,Khulasat al-athar fi a'yan al-qarn al-hadi 'ashar (Cairo: al-Matba'a al-wahbiyya,1284H), 4:329-30. Khalil al-Muradi, Silkal-durarfi a'yan al-qarnal-thani 'ashar (Istanbul& Cairo:al-Matba'a 7Muhammad al-miriyyaal-'amira, 1291H-1301H), 3:10. Matbaa-iAmire 1258H), 7. For the translationof 8KaraHalil (d. 1711), MehmedEminHagiyasi (Istanbul: and its juxtapositionto taqlfd, see D. Gutas,Avicennaand the AristotelianTradition tahqfqas "verification," (Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1988), 188-91. 9Kamal al-Din al-Ghazzi, al-Wirdal-unsi wa-l-warid al-qudsifi tarjamatal-'arif bi-llah 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (MS: BritishLibrary:Or.11862) 54a-b. 10Abu-al-Mawahib Muti' al-Hafiz (Damascus:Dar al-fikr, 1990), al-Hanbali,Mashyakha,ed. Muhammad 86-87.
" Al-Burini studied the semantic-rhetorical works of al-Taftazani and al-Jurjani with Isma'il al-Nabulusi (d. 1585) and 'Imad al-Din al-Hanafi (d. 1578), see Hasan al-Burini, Tarajim al-a'yan min abna' al-zaman, ed. Salah al-Din al-Munajjid (Damascus: al-Majma' al-'ilmi al-'Arabi, 1959-63), 2:65, 2:303. 12Ibrahim al-Kurani, al-Amam li-iqaz al-himam (Hyderabad: Matba'at majlis da'irat al-ma'arif alnizamiyya, 1328H), 104-10.

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278 Khaled El-Rouayheb

13 KatibCelebi,Kashfal-zununCanasami al-kutubwa-l-funun(Istanbul: MaarifMatbaasi,1941-43), 2:1372 on al-Kafiyaandthe glosses of Isfara'ini);1:477 (Talkhisal-miftahandits commentary (al-Jami'scommentary by Isfara'ini); 1:898 (al-Iji's Risalat al-wad' and the commentaryof al-Isfara'ini);1:845 (al-Samarqandi's Risalat al-isti'ara and its commentaryby al-Isfara'ini); 1:516 (al-Taftazani'sTahdhibal-mantiq and its commentaryby al-Dawani);2:1144 (al-Iji's 'Aqa'id and its commentaryby al-Dawani). 14Thisis of course an argument thatis difficultto proveconclusively,but we have quitedetailedinformation on the educationof both scholars,andthe worksof al-Dawaniandal-Isfara'iniarenot mentionedin thiscontext. On al-Burini,see the references above, which show him to have studied the rhetoricalworks of al-Taftazani and al-Jurjani. On al-Ghazzi, see al-Muhibbi,Khulasatal-athar, 4:189-200. 15Ibnal-'Imadal-Hanbali,Shadharatal-dhahab fi akhbarman dhahab (Cairo:Maktabat al-qudsi, 1351H), 8:291 (on al-Isfara'ini)and 8:160 (on al-Dawani).See also al-Muhibbi, Khulasatal-athar,3:87. Ibn al-'Imad's biographicalinformationon al-Isfara'iniand al-Dawaniis scanty,and his dates of deathare wrong. However, it is significantthathe still felt the need to include a referenceto the two scholars.By contrast,Najm al-DinalGhazzi, in his biographicaldictionaryof Muslimnotablesof the tenthcenturyof the Muslim era (1494-1591), did not provide an entry on either scholar; see Najm al-Din Muhammadal-Ghazzi, al-Kawakibal-sa'ira fi acyan al-mi'a al-'ashira, ed. J. Jabbur (Beirut:AmericanUniversityof BeirutPublications,1945-58). to the biographeral-Muhibbi,see 16IbncAbd al-Hadi taught al-Isfara'ini'sSharh al-risala al-wadCiyya al-Muhibbi,Khulasatal-athar, 2:438. Al-Qattantaughtal-Dawani'scommentaryon the creed of al-Iji to the chronicler Ibn Kannanal-Salihi (d. 1740), see Ibn Kannanal-Salihi, al-Hawadith al-yawmiyya min tarikh ihda 'ashar wa-alf wa-mi'a, ed. AkramHasanal-'Ulabi (Damascus:Dar al-Tabbac,1994), 84. Khulasatal-athar, 3:147-48, 3:87-88. 17Al-Muhibbi, Khulasatal-athar, 1:313 (on al-Ghunaymi)and 1:332 (on al-Khafaji). 18Al-Muhibbi, 190n al-'Ulaymi, see al-Muhibbi, Khulasat al-athar, 4:491-92. He was accused by a later scholar of plagiarizingfrom al-Isfara'ini'scommentary,see Ibn Sa'id al-Tunisi,Hashiya cala Sharh al-Khabisi [printed on the lower marginsof Hasanal-'Attar,Hashiya cala sharh al-Khabisi (Cairo:MatbaCat Bulaq, 1290H)],3. edition of 1316H]), 20'Abdallahal-'Ayyashi,Rihla (Rabat:Dar al-Maghrib,1977 [reprintof lithographed 1:140. al-'amira, 21'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti,'Aja'ib al-athar fi al-tarajim wa-l-akhbar (Bulaq: al-MatbaCa 1297H), 1:287. 221 have consultedthe manuscript of the translationin the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (MS: Sprenger1093), in the preambleof which the translator's name is given as Ahmad al-Mawlawi (fol. 2a). Anothermanuscript of the work, extant in the BiblothequeNationalein Paris,also give this as the translator's name, see M. Le Baron de Slane, Catalogue des Manuscritsarabes (Paris:Imprimeries Nationale, 1883-95), 4429. 23Muhammad al-Sabban,Hashiya 'ala Sharhal-Sullam (Cairo:al-Matba'aal-azhariyya,1319H), 10 (lines

3-4).
24MehmedStireyya, Sicill-i Osmani (Istanbul:Matbaa-iAmire, 1308-15H), 1:232; Mehmed TahirBursali, Osmanl Miiellifleri (Istanbul:Matbaa-iAmire, 1333-42H), 3:142. Carl Brockelmann,Geschichteder ArabischenLiteratur(Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1937-49), Supplement2:637. 25Encyclopaedia of lslam, 2nd ed. (Leiden:E. J. Brill, 1954), s.v. "Al-Dawani"(A. K. S. Lambton),2:174. 26HajjiKhalifa,Kashf al-zunun,2:1372. 27Jalalal-Din al-Dawani,Sharhal-'aqa'id al-Cadudiyya (Istanbul:'Arif Efendi, 1316H), 2. Sharh al-Caqa'id 28A1-Dawani, al-'adudiyya,27. 28 ff. 29Al-Dawani,Sharh al-'aqa'id al-Cadudiyya, 30See A. Knysh, lhbn 'Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition(Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1999), 141-65. It should be noted, however, that Knysh relies heavily on the tract Fadihat al-mulhidinthat has been falsely attributed to al-Taftazani. The authorof the tractis rather'Ala' al-Din al-Bukhari(d. 1438), as shown by Bakri Aladdin in the introduction to his edition of 'Abd al-Ghanial-Nabulusi,al-Wujud al-haqq (Damascus:Institut Francaisde Damas, 1995), 16-30. The hostility of al-Taftazanito the theory of wahdat al-wujtd is not in doubt, however,and is attestedby his other works. Khulasatal-athar, 2:242 (line 5). 31Al-Muhibbi,
32Al-Ayyashi, Rihla, 1:333. 33See Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabische Literatur [henceforth GALJ (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 193749), 2:208-9. 34Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, Sawn al-mantiq wa-l-kalam 'Can fannay al-mantiq wa-l-kalam, ed. 'Ali Sami alNashshar (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, n.d.), page lam of editor's introduction, citing Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti,

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Opening the Gate of Verification 279

Husn al-muhadarafi akhbar Misr wa-l-Qahira, ed. MuhammadAbu al-Fadl Ibrahim(Cairo: 'Isa al-Babi al-Halabi, 1967-68), 1:338. 35Muhammad Murtadaal-Zabidi,Ithaf al-sada al-muttaqinbi-sharhIhya' 'ulumal-din (Cairo:al-Matba'a al-muyammaniyya,1311H), 1:179. 36Al-Zabidi, Ithaf al-sada al-muttaqin,1:179-80. 37See my "Wasthere a Revival of Logical Studies in Eighteenth-Century Egypt?",Die Weltdes Islams 45 (2005): 1-19. were taughtby Yusi'sstudent'Abdallahal-Kinaksito Ahmad 38Thefirsttwo works(andtheircommentaries) al-Damanhuri (d. 1778), see al-Jabarti, 'Aja'ib al-athar, 2:25-27. The thirdwork (and its commentaries)was taughtby Maghribischolars such as 'Isa al-Tha'alibi(d. 1669) and Yahyaal-Shawi (d. 1685), both of whom settled in the easternArab lands, see al-Muhibbi,Khulasatal-athar, 2:240-43, 4:486-88. 39Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi, Sharh ummal-barahin [printedwith the Hashiya of Muhammadibn ibn Yusufal-Sanusi, 'Arafaal-Dasuqi (d. 1815)] (Beirut:Dar al-kutubal-'ilmiyya, 2001), 70 ff.; Muhammad 'Umdatahl al-tawfiq bi sharh 'aqidat ahl al-tawhid (Cairo:Matba'atjaridatal-Islam, 1316H), 11 ff. 40See M. Horten, "Sanusi und die griechische Philosophie," Der Islam 6 (1915): 178-88, and A. J. Wensinck,The MuslimCreed (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress, 1932), 248. 41Al-Sanusi,'Umdat ahl al-tawfiq, 140 ff., 276-77. 42Quotedin 'Abbas al-Samlali, al-I'lam bi-man halla Marrakushwa-aghmat min al-a'lam, ed. 'Abd alWahhabibn Mansur(Rabat:al-Matba'aal-malakiyya,2001), 3:162. Khulasatal-athar, 1:302-11. 43A1-Muhibbi, Khulasatal-athar, 4:204-8. 44A1-Muhibbi, 45Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 2:30. Khulasatal-athar, 4:207. 46A1-Muhibbi, 47Thiswork was printedin 1961 in Medina (Matba'atal-Sayyid 'AbdallahHashim al-Yamani). Die Welt 48OnBasri, see J.O. Voll, "'Abdallahibn Salim al-Basri and 18th century Hadith Scholarship," des Islams 42 (2002): 356-72. Al-Rudaniis describedas muhaddithal-Hijaz in Muradi,Silk al-durar, 4:27. 'Abdallahibn Salim al-Basri'sson wrote thathis fatherstudied"all the sciences" with al-Rudani,"especially the science of Hadith,"see Salim ibn 'Abdallah al-Basri, al-Imdadbi-ma'rifat'uluww al-isnad (Hyderabad: Matba'atmajlis da'iratal-ma'arifal-nizamiyya, 1328H), 68. 49SeeR. Mach, Catalogue of the ArabicManuscripts(Yahuda Section) in the GarrettCollection,Princeton UniversityLibrary(Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1977), 4950. 50Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 2:42. For an extantmanuscriptof the work, see Mach, Catalogue, 5017. 51Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 2:38. Khulasatal-athar, 4:206. 52Al-Muhibbi, al-Rudani:al-Naqi'a calaal-'ala al-naficah," Bulletin d'etudes orientales 53SeeC. Pellat (ed.), "Muhammad 26 (1973): 7-82. C. Pellat (trans.), "L'astrolabespherique d'al-Rudani,"Bulletin d'etudes orientales 28 (1975): 83-165. I follow MuhammadHajji in amendingthe title of al-Rudani'stract given by Pellat on the basis of manuscriptsnot availableto Pellat, see Muhammadal-Rudani,Silat al-khalafbi-mawsulal-salaf, ed. Muhammad Hajji (Beirut:Dar al-Gharbal-Islami, 1988), 13, n. 9. Khulasat al-athar, 2:243-44. See also A. Copty, "The Naqshbandiyyaand its offspring, 54A1-Muhibbi, in the 1lth/17th Century," Die Weltdes Islams 43 (2003): in the Haramayn the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiya, 321-48. Although al-Barwaji,vocalization given in al-Muhibbi,ibid., 2:243 (line 19-20), was also initiated order. into the Naqshbandiorder,his primaryallegiance seems-pace Copty--to have been to the Shattariyya He was a disciple of Wajihal-Din al-'Alawi (d. 1609), a disciple of the prominentShattarimystic Muhammad The Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress, 1998), GhawthGwaliori, see J. S. Trimingham, 97-98; and A. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), 355. In giving the Sufi chains into which he was initiated,Barwaji'ssecond-generation disciple Ahmad al-Qushashi gives the Shattarichain first. See Ahmad al-Qushashi, al-Simt al-majid (Hyderabad: Da'iratal-ma'arifal-nizamiyya, 1327H), 67. The Naqshbandichain is given much later,on page 78. Khulasatal-athar, 1:243-46. On al-Qushashi,see al-Muhibbi,Khulasat 55Onal-Shinnawi,see al-Muhibbi, al-athar, 1:343-46. The vocalization al-Qushashi is given in al-'Ayyashi, Rihla, 1:408 (lines 23-24). On al-Kurani,see al-Muradi,Silk al-durar, 1:5-6; A. Knysh, "Ibrahimal-Kurani(d. 1101/1690), an apologist Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 5 (1995): 39-47; Encyclopaediaoflslam, 2nd ed. for wahdatal-wujud," (A. H. Jones), 5:432-33; B. Nafi, "Tasawwufand Reform in (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1954), s.v. "Al-Kurani" Die Weltdes Islams 42 (2002): 307-55. Islamic Culture:In Searchof Ibrahimal-Kurani," Pre-Modern

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280 Khaled El-Rouayheb

56Thetranslation is extantin the BritishLibrary(MS: Or.9039). On the Persianoriginal,see Brockelmann, GAL,Supplement1:794, and O. Yahia,Histoireet classification de l'oeuvre d'Ibn 'Arabi(Damascus:Institut Francaisde Damas, 1964), 1:119. Secondarysources usually give the vocalizational-Barzanji, but I presume the scholarhailed from the present-dayIraqiKurdishtown of Barzinja. 57See Muhammad ibn Abi-al-Hasan al-Bakri, Tarjuman al-asrar wa-diwan al-abrar, MS: Berlin Staatsbibliothek: Wetzstein II 227: 3b-4a; 'Abd al-Wahhabal-Sha'rani,al-Yawaqitwa-l-jawahirfi bayan 'aqa'id al-akabir (Cairo: Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi, 1959), 7, 13; 'Abd al-Ra'uf al-Munawi, al-Kawakib al-durriyafi tarajimal-sada al-sufiyya, ed. MuhammadAdib al-Jadir(Beirut:Dar Sadir, 1999) 2:421, 2:503, 2:515. On al-Sha'rani'sapologetic attitudeto the work of Ibn 'Arabi, see also M. Winter,Society and Religion in Early OttomanEgypt (New Brunswick,N.J.: TransactionBooks, 1982), 165-72. Rihla, 1:417. 58A1-Ayyashi, 59Al-Zabidi, Ithaf al-sada al-muttaqin,1:256. Ithaf al-sada al-muttaqin,2:245-46. 60A1-Zabidi, 61Quotedin al-Muhibbi,Khulasatal-athar, 4:80. Khulasatal-athar, 1:248-50. Al-Muhibbigives the vocalizational-'Usali on 1:249 (line 16). 62A1-Muhibbi, 63Abual-Mawahibal-Hanbali,Mashyakha,p. 106-7. Khulasatal-athar, 1:428-33. Ayyub's admirationfor al-Qushashiis apparentfrom a letter 64A1-Muhibbi, partlyreproducedin Ibid., 1:244-45. Khulasatal-athar, 1:464-70. 65Al-Muhibbi, 66HamidAlgar, "A Brief History of the Naqshbandiorder,"in Naqshbandis: cheminementset situations actuelle d'une ordremystiquemusulman,ed. M. Gaborieau,et al. (Paris:EditionsIsis, 1990), 21. Khulasat al-athar, 4:203-4 (a studentof Taj al-Din teaches the works of Ibn 'Arabi) and 67A1-Muhibbi, 4:442 (a scholarfrom Hadramawt studies the Fusus with Tajal-Din). al-Wirdal-unsi, 56a. 68A1-Ghazzi, 69For the use of the word tahqTqin the mystical and illuminationisttraditionsto denote inspirational knowledge or gnosis, as opposed to scholastic rational knowledge, see E. Kohlberg,"Aspects of Akhbari in Eighteenth-Century Renewaland Revival in Islam, Thoughtin the Seventeenthand EighteenthCenturies," ed. Levtzion and Voll, 139-45; W. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination(Albany,N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1989), 166-68. 70See his Ghayatal-matlubfi mahabbatal-mahbub,ed. S. Pagani(Rome: Bardi, 1995); Idah al-dalalatfi sama' al-alat, ed. A. Hammush(Damascus:Dar al-Fikr, 1981); Kashfal-nur 'an ashab al-qubur(Princeton, N.J.: MS: PrincetonUniversityLibraryYahuda3977), 157-66. 71Al-Nabulusi,al-Wujudal-haqq, 25, 69, 98, 140. 72Passagesfrom these glosses are quoted in Khayral-Din Nu'man al-Alusi, Jala'al-'aynaynfi muhakamat al-Ahmadayn(Beirut:Dar al-kutubal-'ilmiyya, no date), 339. 73Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 1:333-36. Al-'Ayyashi studiedthe three works with al-Kuraniin Medina. Khulasatal-athar, 4:280-81. 74Al-Muhibbi, 75Thisis suggested by comparingal-Nabulusi'sal-Wujudal-haqq and al-Kurani'sMatla' al-jud bi-tahqiq al-tanzihfi wahdatal-wujud(MS: ChesterBeatty4443), 15-39. Silk al-durar, 1:5. 76A1-Muradi, 77For example, his al-Jawabat al-ghurrawiyyaCanal-as'ila al-Jawiyya (mentioned by al-Muradi)and Nibras al-inas bi-ajwibatsu'alan li-ahl Fas (MS: SuleymaniyeLaleli 3744). 78See for example Raghib Pasha (d. 1763), Safinat al-raghib (Beirut: MaktabatLubnan),279, 296, 339, 857; Ibrahimal-Madhari(d. 1776), al-Lumca fi tahqiq mabahithal-wujud wa-l-huduthwa-l-qadar wa-af'al al-'ibad (Cairo:Matba'atal-anwar,1939), 24, 34, 54, 57. 79Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 1:333. Khulasatal-athar 2:122 (line 33). oAl1-Muhibbi, 81Hodgson,The Venture of lslam 3:14-15. counteredthe argumentsof al-Taftazaniin his al-Wujudal-haqq, 36-8, 121-48. Al-Kurani 82A1-Nabulusi in his commentary on al-Tuhfaal-mursala-at least this is whathe states in another arguedagainstal-Taftazani
work Tanbih al-'uqul 'ala tanzih al-sufiyya 'an i'tiqad al-tajsim wa-l-'Cayniyya wa-l-ittihad wa-l-hulul (MS: Chester Beatty 4443), 45b-46a. 83Al-Sulh bayna al-ikhwanfi hukm ibahat al-dukhkhan (Damascus: al-Matba'a al-salafiyya, 1924). 84Michael Cook, Commanding the Right and Forbidding the Wrong in Islamic Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 325-28.

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Opening the Gate of Verification 281

85Al-'Ayyashi,Rihla, 1:404. Al-Kurani'spupil and disciple al-Barzinjiwrote a tractdenouncingthe ideas of Sirhindi,see Y. Friedmann,ShaykhAhmadSirhindi(Montreal:McGill Instituteof Islamic Studies, 1971), 331-45. 97-99; Copty,"TheNaqshbandiyya," tracton the Satanicverses has been studied and edited by A. Guillaume, see his "al-Lum'at 86A1-Kurani's in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 20 (1957): 291al-saniya by Ibrahimal-Kurani" 303. It provokeda virulent attackby Yahya al-Shawi, and a defense by al-Kurani'sstudent al-Barzinji,see P.K.Hittiet al., DescriptiveCatalogof the GarrettCollectionofArabicManuscriptsin thePrinceton University Library(Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1938), 460-61. Al-Kurani'sworks on free will provoked ibn al-Tayyibal-Qadiri, from severalMaghribischolars,includingal-Hasanal-Yusi,see Muhammad rejoinders Nashr al-mathanili-ahl al-qarn al-hadi cashar wa-l-thani, ed. MuhammadHajji and Ahmad Tawfiq(Rabat: Maktabatal-matalib,1986), 3:9-10. oppositionto logic has been noted above. For the lukewarmattitudeof al-Shawkaniand Shah 87A1-Zabidi's Wali Allah to the rationalsciences, see, respectively,B. Haykal,Revival and Reformin Islam: TheLegacy of Muhammad al-Shawkani(Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress, 2003), 86, 104; and B.D. Metcalf,Islamic Revival in India: Deoband, 1860-1900 (Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress, 1982), 38. and Taqlidin 18th and 19th CenturyIslam,"Die Weltdes Islams 20 (1980): 132-45. 88R.Peters, "Idjtihad Khulasatal-athar, 4:204 (line 21). 89Al-Muhibbi, Khulasatal-athar,4:453. Al-Baghdadi'scommentaryon Tuhfatal-Shahidi is extant(British 90A1-Muhibbi, LibraryMS: Or. 13880). Khulasatal-athar, 1:52 (lines 13-14). 91Al-Muhibbi, Amin al-Muhibbi,Nafhat al-rayhana wa-rashhattila' al-hana, ed. 'Abd al-FattahMuham92Muhammad mad al-Hilu(Cairo:Darihya' al-kutubal-'Arabiyya1967-69), 3:3-138 (Turkish poets) and 3:214-38 (Persian poets). 93'UthmanMahmudal-Sini (ed.) (Riyad:Maktabatal-tawba, 1994). 94Gibband Bowen, Islamic Society and the West,vol. 1, partII, 164. 95See Muhammadal-Hajji's comments in the introductionto his edition of al-Rudani's Silat al-khalaf bi-mawsulal-salaf, 13. 96Nafi,"Tasawwufand Reformin Pre-ModernIslamic Culture." 97T.S. Kuhn,TheStructureof ScientificRevolutions,2nd ed. (Chicago:Universityof Chicago Press, 1970), chap. 6.

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