13 “We Have Become the Laughing Stock of All Reasonable People”: On a Little-Studied Tract by al-Dhahabī on the State of Knowledge Camilla Adang The present contribution offers the first full translation of Bayān zaghal al-ʿilm, a little-studied tract by the famous Mamluk historian, biographer and ḥadīth expert Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī (d. 748/1348) which reflects the author’s pessimistic outlook on the state of knowledge, particularly religious knowledge, in his own period. Quran reciters, ḥadīth scholars, representatives of different schools of law, grammarians, lexicographers, exegetes, scholars of legal methodology and theologians are criticized for their superficial knowledge and their tendency to show off or to abandon scrutiny of the sacred scriptures; the dangers lurking in the ancient disciplines of logic and philosophy and potentially in mathematics and medicine are spelled out, and secular or semi-secular disciplines like epistolary composition, poetry, arithmetic, administrative law, the preparation of notarial documents and finally sermonizing should, to the extent possible, be employed to further the cause of Islam, in the author’s view. More than just taking stock of the situation, al-Dhahabī’s tract may in fact be a warning of what is bound to happen if the situation is not reversed and appears to reflect his concern about a move away from the traditional towards the rational sciences.* The famous Mamluk historian, biographer and ḥadīth expert Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān b. Qaymāz b. ʿAbdallāh alTurkumānī al-Dhahabī of Damascus (d. 748/1348) is known mainly for his bio- * Research for this contribution was carried out during a sabbatical semester at the Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa Mediterranea, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice (April– October 2019). A first rough draft of the paper was presented on 25 June 2019 at the Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Madrid, within the framework of the lecture series on Knowledge and Power organised by Adday Hernández and Jan Thiele. I thank the participants for their valuable comments. © Camilla Adang, 2024 | doi:10.1163/9789004682504_022 Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 341 graphical works, such as Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ (The lives of noble personalities), Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ (Biographical memoirs of the ḥadīth masters), Mīzān al-iʿtidāl fī naqd al-rijāl (The scales of equity in investigating the ḥadīth transmitters), Maʿrifat al-qurrāʾ al-kibār (Knowledge about the great Quran reciters) and the voluminous Tārīkh al-Islām (The history of Islam), which combines biography with historiography.1 Much less known than his biographical works, which are indispensable for the study of the social, religious and intellectual history of the classical and pre-modern Islamic world, are al-Dhahabī’s tracts of a religious-moralistic nature, such as Kitāb al-Kabāʾir (The book of major sins), which constitutes a catalogue of seventy-seven major sins mentioned in the Quran and prophetic Tradition (ḥadīth), and the short text I shall present here, which is variously known as Bayān zaghal al-ʿilm wa-l-ṭalab, Bayān zaghal al-ʿilm or simply Zaghal al-ʿilm, that is, Explanation of the adulteration of knowledge and its acquisition or a shorter version of this title. Scholars who refer to the tract usually do so because it includes several passages on the controversial Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328), with whom al-Dhahabī was in close contact,2 but I would argue that the text, despite its brevity, is of great interest in its own right, not as a source on Ibn Taymiyya, or not only as a source on Ibn Taymiyya, but rather as a reflection of al-Dhahabī’s pessimistic outlook on the state of knowledge in his own period. Having written all those voluminous biographical dictionaries, al-Dhahabī was well aware of the greatness of past generations of scholars in all disciplines regarded by him as important—and in particular ḥadīth—and suggests that with few notable exceptions, the scholars of his own generation, for all their complacency, had in fact relatively little to contribute. The extant manuscripts of the tract and the various editions based on them reflect two recensions which differ on some important points.3 The first was apparently written during the lifetime of Ibn Taymiyya, whereas the other refers to Ibn Taymiyya as having passed away. As the latter died in the year 728/1328, this is the terminus a quo for the composition, or rather al-Dhahabī’s revision, of the tract. For the present contribution I have used an edition of the second recension, which was first published in 2013. By contrast, earlier studies referring to the tract have inevitably used the first recension, and some include more or less extensive quotations 1 On the author, his milieu, and his works, see Bori, al-Dhahabī; and Maʿrūf, Al-Dhahabī. 2 On al-Dhahabī’s ambivalent attitude towards Ibn Taymiyya, expressed in several works, see Little, Did Ibn Taymiyya 100–111, and Bori, al-Dhahabī, par. 2; Bori, Ibn Taymiyya 37–41; Bori, Ibn Taymiyya 142–148; Bori, A new source. 3 The first recension is represented in the editions of al-Kawtharī and al-ʿAjamī, while al-Qūnawī presents the second recension. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 342 adang from it. However, I found that the second recension differs sufficiently from the first one to warrant a new translation. At the beginning of this version of the tract, though not in the earlier one, al-Dhahabī states that in all branches of knowledge there are reprehensible things that should be avoided. The disciplines or professional groups discussed, or rather criticized—some in more detail than others, as we shall see—are, in order of appearance: Quran reciters; ḥadīth scholars; Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, Ḥanafī, and Ḥanbalī scholars; grammarians; lexicographers; exegetes; uṣūlīs—divided into scholars of legal methodology on the one hand and theologians on the other—logicians; philosophers; mathematicians; physicians; professional scribes; poets; accountants of the treasury; writers of notarial documents; and finally preachers.4 In what follows, I shall first present the tract in its entirety in an at times tentative translation, and subsequently address some important points about its contents and purpose. In the course of his discussion, the author refers by name to a large number of ḥadīth transmitters and scholars as well as to some poets. In order not to overburden the article with footnotes, some basic bioand bibliographical information about these men is given in the Appendix, in the order of their appearance in the text. 1 Translation Said Shaykh Abū Saʿīd Khalīl b. al-ʿAlāʾī: I have copied [this] from the autograph of our master Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān al-Dhahabī, after reading it back to him. He said, after offering praise to God and prayer for the Messenger of God (may God, exalted be He, bless him and grant him peace): “Know, may God (exalted be He) grant you success, that in each group of the scholars of the community (umma) there are things that are to be condemned and denounced and that must be avoided.” Quran Reciters (al-qurrāʾ) As for the specialist reciters: among them there is much punctiliousness and pedantry [in articulation] causing the reciter’s endeavour to be focused solely on the observance of the letters and leading to exaggeration in their recitation, to the extent that this distracts him from reflecting on the meanings of the book of God (exalted be He), makes him abandon humility in his reading, and 4 Rosenthal notes that al-Dhahabī, despite being a historian, “makes no mention of history in his small encyclopedic, if predominantly theological, treatment of the sciences, Bayān zaġal al-ʿilm.” See his History 33. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 343 renders him self-sufficient, making light of those who memorize the Quran, looking at them with contempt, and [arguing] that the Muslims speak ungrammatical Arabic and that the [common] reciters only memorize the shawādhdh.5 Would that I knew: you, what do you know? What have you learned? As for your own practice: it is not pious; and as for your recitation: it is heavy, devoid of humility, sorrow, or fear. May God (exalted be He) grant you success, make you aware of what should be your proper conduct, and awaken you from the sleep of ignorance and hypocrisy. Their opposite are the ones who recite in a melodious way and stretch [the vowels]; generally speaking, these are the ones among them who recite from the heart and with an awe that on the whole positively affects [their recitation]. I have seen people who moved others emotionally and made them cry, while reciting correctly. On the other hand, I have seen those who hardened people’s hearts with their recitation, who wrung their [audience’s] souls and altered the words of God (exalted be He), and the worst of them at this are those who recite at funerals. As for those who combine the different readings and their versions in their recitation, they are the furthest removed from humility and the quickest to read in a manner that exceeds the goal, and their [characteristic] practices are a frequent use of the readings of Ḥamza,6 emphasizing the L and softening the R. Read, man, [the way you should] and spare us your emphasis or softening, excessive vowel shifts (imāla), drawing out [the vowels] and pausing at [every] glottal stop (hamza). Another one of them, whether he is in a festive Quran recital or reads in a prayer niche, makes it his habit to pull strange faces and [observe long] silences and make retching sounds while lightening the glottal stop, and exclaims about himself: “I am Abū Fulān, acknowledge me, I know the Seven!”7 What shall we do with you? By God, you are the stone of a catapult [weighing like] lead on the hearts. 5 The shawādhdh are readings that either diverged from the consonantal ʿUthmānic outline (the rasm) or diverged from the consensus of the collective Muslim community. The term is variously translated as anomalous or irregular. See Nasser, The second canonization 3, and a more sustained discussion in the second chapter of the book. 6 Ḥamza is one of the seven eponymous readers whose Quranic readings (qirāʾāt) were considered canonical according to the criteria established by Abū Bakr Ibn Mujāhid of Baghdad (d. 324/936), unlike the shawādhdh; see Nasser, The second canonization, which discusses some features specific to the reading of Ḥamza and includes a comprehensive table of all the known variant readings (pp. 262–886). For some further details on Ḥamza, see the Appendix. 7 That is, the seven so-called canonical readings by Ibn ʿĀmir of Damascus (d. 118/736), Ibn Kathīr of Mecca (d. 120/738), Abū ʿAmr of Basra (d. 154/770), Nāfiʿ of Medina (d. 169/785), ʿĀṣim (d. 127/744), Ḥamza (d. 156/772) and al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/804). The last three are all Kufans. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 344 adang Ḥadīth Scholars (al-muḥaddithūn) As for the people of ḥadīth: the majority of them have no understanding nor do they have any ambition to [get to] know the meanings of the ḥadīth or to practice religion on the basis of its [contents]; rather, sound and invented traditions are all the same to them. They are only eager to attend the lectures of the shaykhs and to collect a large number of compilations (ajzāʾ) and transmitters [to whom to link themselves];8 they are not well educated in the etiquette of ḥadīth [transmission] and they do not recover from the intoxication of audition. One of them now hears a compilation and asks himself when he shall pass it on: after fifty years perhaps? Woe to you, how far reaching is your hope, how evil your action! Sufyān al-Thawrī may be excused for saying, in what Ḥammād b. Zayd transmitted from him: “If the ḥadīth is good, it will disappear like anything good disappears.”9 He was right, by God, for what good is there in a ḥadīth in which the sound is admixed with the weak, when you do not scrutinize it, nor inquire into its transmitters, nor serve God by means of it. As for today, in our time, searching and audition, which have always been the purpose of tradition, do not advance the muḥaddith in the profession of his religion; rather, the true benefit of audition lies in [subsequent] transmission [rather than keeping the knowledge to oneself]. I am addressing you, muḥaddith, not someone who merely listens but doesn’t understand, or does not observe prayer or avoid immoral acts, who does not flee from infamous deeds or know to tell the truth. O you, do not be like me, for I am ill-starred, when I despise ill-fated people.10 A student of ḥadīth should first of all familiarize himself with al-Jamʿ bayna l-Ṣaḥīḥayn (Combining the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections)11 and al-Aḥkām (The rules) by al-Ḍiyāʾ12 or another [such work] and apply himself to their study. The min8 9 10 11 12 A juzʾ (pl. ajzāʾ) is defined by Ṣiddīqī (Ḥadīth literature 10) as follows: “A collection of ḥadīths handed down on the authority of one single individual, be he or she a Companion, or a member of any succeeding generation. The term juzʾ is also applied to collections of ḥadīths that were compiled on a specific subject, such as Intention, the Vision of God, and so forth.” A slightly different version, which has naqaṣa (be deficient, impaired) instead of dhahaba (to disappear) can be found in Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Bayān ii, 1016, no. 1937. According to a comment in the edition of the text by al-ʿAjamī (p. 28, n. 18), this is an expression of humility and self-abasement on the part of al-Dhahabī. This probably refers to al-Jamʿ bayna l-Ṣaḥīḥayn by the Majorcan scholar al-Ḥumaydī (d. 488/1095), although al-Dhahabī also knew, or knew of the work carrying the same title by ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Azdī of Seville, also known as Ibn al-Kharrāṭ (d. 581/1185). On al-Ḥumaydī’s work, see Adang, A Majorcan. This is the well-known Ḥanbalī scholar Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Maqdisī; see the Appendix for further details. The full title of the work referred to is al-Sunan wa-l-aḥkām ʿan al-muṣṭafā Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 345 imum is to acquire a digested work (mukhtaṣar) such as al-Ilmām (The outline)13 and to study it. For what is mere listening to ignorant shaykhs who are half asleep, while [all around] children are playing, and youngsters are chatting among themselves and jesting? Many of [these shaykhs] are either dozing or being dismissive [while] the one reading [back to them] misreads and distorts, and perfects saying “or words to that effect”14 while babies are howling [in the background].15 Leave us alone! We have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people, they mock us and say: “Are those the people of ḥadīth?” Yes, you misbeliever (zindīq), even if only the repeated prayer for the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) were to remain, it would be better than your mendacious sayings, which contradict the religion, drive away belief and conviction, and cause one to fall into the lowest depth.16 But you are excused, for you never saw the [true] people of ḥadīth, nor the first of them. As for the genuine people of ḥadīth, the first of them is a shaykh with a most elevated chain of transmission (isnād), between whom and God (exalted be He), there is one infallible person who has it from another infallible one, that is, the Lord of Mankind [Muḥammad] from [the angel] Gabriel, from God, as well as his disciples like Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, Ibn Masʿūd, Abū Hurayra the ḥāfiẓ,17 Ibn ʿAbbās, and the [early] rulers whose lives were long, and whose isnāds were [therefore] elevated and their transmissions superior. 13 14 15 16 17 ʿalayhi afḍal al-ṣalāt wa-l-salām (The customs and rules from the Chosen One, may the best prayer and peace be upon him). In all likelihood al-Dhahabī refers here to al-Ilmām bi-aḥādīth al-aḥkām (Outline of legal traditions) by Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd; see the Appendix. This scathing remark implies that these students of ḥadīth cannot properly reproduce the wording of the traditions. A similar description of the undignified atmosphere in many ḥadīth classes is given by al-Dhahabī in Siyar vii, 167 and Siyar xvi, 160–161. The word zindīq (pl. zanādiqa) is often translated as misbeliever or heretic. According to Fierro Bello, Accusations 251, the term was first used in Islam “to designate the followers of the Manichean dualistic faith. Soon, however, zandaqa became a generic word to disqualify every sort of religious attitude and doctrine rejected by the so-called ‘orthodoxy’; at the same time, the word was also used to condemn those activities that implied a threat to the State.” Al-Dhahabī probably uses this highly charged term here for rational theologians. Although the term ḥāfiẓ (pl. ḥuffāẓ) is often taken to refer to someone who has memorized the entire Quran, and in the case of the Prophet’s companion Abū Hurayra may well mean just that, it came to indicate a specialist in all branches of ḥadīth scholarship. Ibn Ṭūlūn (Naqd 104–117, manṣib al-ḥuffāẓ) suggests that the term suffered inflation in that not nearly all those who were given this epithet were equally deserving of it. Often, then, it is simply an honorific. In what follows I shall leave ḥāfiẓ, as well as its plural, untranslated. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 346 adang From them transmitted the likes of Masrūq, Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab, al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, al-Shaʿbī, ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr and others like them (may God’s pleasure be with all of them) from among the adherents of ḥadīth, the masters of the narration and comprehension [of Traditions], of truth and worship, perfect skill and moderation, like al-Zuhrī, Qatāda, al-Aʿmash, Ibn Juḥāda, Ayyūb, Ibn ʿAwn and those leaders from whom [in turn] received the likes of al-Awzāʿī, Mālik [b. Anas], [Sufyān] al-Thawrī, the two Ḥammāds [Ibn Salama and Ibn Zayd], al-Layth [b. Saʿd] and others like them from among the teachers of Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Shāfiʿī, Yaḥyā b. al-Qaṭṭān, al-Qaʿnabī and a number of the distinguished imāms of ḥadīth and understanding of the religion; those are the [true] people of ḥadīth, who were followed by men like Aḥmad [b. Ḥanbal], Isḥāq [b. Rāhawayh], ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī, Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn, Abū Khaythama, Ibn Kurayb, Ibn Numayr and Bundār and their class, like the teachers of al-Bukhārī, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Abū Zurʿa, Abū Ḥātim, Muḥammad b. Naṣr, Ibn Khuzayma and others among those who lived in the first period, every one of them equalling thousands of ḥuffāẓ and transmitters of the noble science. Then this matter gradually deteriorated in the fourth century as compared to the third, and it has not ceased to deteriorate until today, so that the most excellent of the muḥaddithūn in our days—who are few—are at the level of the minor ones there were at that time—who were many.18 How many a man who was famous for his jurisprudence ( fiqh) and reasoned opinions (raʾy) in the olden days19 was more excellent than the later muḥaddithūn, and how many a man among the early rational theologians (mutakallimūn) was more versed in Tradition than the adherents of the sunna of our time!20 We have only met a [small] group of ḥadīth scholars like the qāḍī of Egypt and its foremost scholar, Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd, the ḥāfiẓ and authority21 Sharaf al-Dīn al-Dimyāṭī, the ḥāfiẓ Jamāl al-Dīn b. al-Ẓāhirī, shaykh Shihāb al- 18 19 20 21 In Chapter Three of his Constructive critics, Lucas discusses al-Dhahabī’s vision of the first seven centuries of Sunni ḥadīth scholarship as reflected in his Tadhkira. From his analysis it would appear that the decline in expertise in ḥadīth started rather later than is suggested here, although there is a gradual move towards synthesis and historical reflection (abridgements, commentaries, reference works) and away from the composition of original collections of traditions. Al-Dhahabī seems to be referring here to the early Ḥanafīs, who were considered ahl al-raʾy: advocates of rational discretion, as opposed to the ahl al-ḥadīth, who accorded primacy to the accounts taken to document the sayings and custom of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. Apparently, a reference to the rational theologians of the Muʿtazila, who discredited a large part of the ḥadīth corpus; see Abrahamov, Islamic theology, Chapter 5, 41–51. Arabic ḥujja, literally “proof,” honorific epithet for an authoritative Muslim scholar. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 347 Dīn b. Faraḥ and others like them. Of the bottom tier of the group, I met Shihāb b. al-Daqūqī at a mature age, Najm al-Dīn Ibn al-Khabbāz, and ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ alShurūṭī. But thank God there are nowadays people who understand this matter and devote their full attention to Tradition, like the ḥāfiẓ Jamāl al-Dīn al-Mizzī, al-Birzālī, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, Quṭb al-Dīn al-Ḥalabī, Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī, the son of the Qāḍī Badr al-Dīn b. Jamāʿa, Ibn al-ʿAlāʾī, Amīn al-Dīn al-Wānī, Fakhr al-Dīn b. al-Fakhr, the son of the imām of the Ṣāliḥ mosque, Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī, my master ʿAbdallāh b. Khalīl and some others besides them, also including scum and trash, may God protect us. “Each person shall be with the one he loves”22 and the happy man is he who awakens, gets up, and prostrates in obedience. God is the one who guides and grants success. The legal scholars ( fuqahāʾ) of the Mālikiyya are excellent and meritorious [people], if only their qāḍīs and jurisconsults (muftīs) would refrain from rushing to impose death penalties and make accusations of unbelief. It is incumbent upon the magistrate and the muftīs to fear God and to proceed slowly in giving judgement on the basis of unquestioning conformity to legal precedent (taqlīd), especially in cases of spilling blood. God has not obligated them to follow their imām in all his sayings, issue by issue, but they may accept some of what he said and reject some, as Mālik [himself] has said: “Every person has some of his sayings accepted and some rejected, except the owner of this grave [i.e., Muḥammad] may God bless him and grant him peace.”23 You [Mālikī]! If tomorrow you were to stand in front of God (exalted be He) and He were to ask you “Why did you declare the blood of fulān licit? And what is your proof?,” and you would answer “I followed my imām,” He would say to you: “And did I make it incumbent upon you to follow Zayd?”24 It has been established that the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: “The first thing that will be settled between people on Resurrection Day is bloodshed (al-dimāʾ),” and so on.25 And he said: “A man will continue to enjoy the ampleness of his religion as long as he has not sullied himself with illicit 22 23 24 25 Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Birr wa-l-ṣilla wa-l-ādāb (Bāb 50, al-Marʾ maʿa man aḥabba) 1219. This saying is widely attributed to Mālik but is also ascribed to the Prophet’s Companion Ibn ʿAbbās. The name Zayd here has the same meaning as fulān: an unnamed and unspecified person, see also p. 4. In Arabic grammatical works the names Zayd and ʿAmr have acquired the status of prototypical or focal exemplars, though they have not been chosen randomly. See Marogy, Zayd, ʿAmr and ʿAbdullāhi. Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Qasāma wa-l-muḥāribīn wa-l-qiṣāṣ wa-l-diyāt (Bāb 8, al-Mujāzāt bi-l-dimāʾ fī l-ākhira) 799. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 348 adang [spilling of] blood.”26 Indeed, if you see that someone is a zindīq, an enemy of God, fear God with regard to him and spill his blood after having shown him some patience. God is the one who grants success. The Shāfiʿiyya27 are the most astute of people and more knowledgeable than others concerning the religion. The foundation of their school of law (madhhab) is built on following the uninterrupted and well-established ḥadīth, and their imām is one of the foremost adherents of ḥadīth. If, o fulān, you study his madhhab in order to serve God (exalted be He) through it, and to repel ignorance from your soul, you will fare well, but if your concern is like that of your brothers among the idle fuqahāʾ who aim for positions, college appointments, this temporary world, a luxurious life, sumptuous garments, that is not the blessing of knowledge, nor is it a sincere intention, but it is rather selling the religion with beautiful expressions, being eager for recompense while burdening yourself with sin and neglecting God (exalted be He). If [on the other hand] you are a craftsman, you will fare well, eating what your hands earned and by the sweat of your brow; you will be self-deprecating and not behave haughtily, boasting of knowledge. Or if you are a merchant, you will be like the learned men in the early generations (salaf ), who did not set eyes on colleges (madrasa) and did not attend to the authorities but rather fled when they were called upon to take up the judgeship;28 who devoted themselves [to God] with their knowledge, generously offered it to the people, and made do with a coarse garment and a chunk of bread, as was the case not so long ago with Imām Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī, and only yesterday with Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī, and like you see nowadays with [our master] ʿAbdallāh b. Khalīl. In any case, be on your guard against ostentation in intellectual pursuits, even if you are right, and do not dispute concerning an issue that does not reflect your belief and beware of conceit and pride in your knowledge; how fortunate you are if you are completely saved from this: it will not be counted against you—nor in your favour, for that matter. And by God, I have never 26 27 28 Cf. al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Diyāt (Bāb 1, Qawl Allāh taʿālā ‘Man yaqtul muʾminan mutaʿammidan fa-jazāʾuhu jahannam’) 1698. The school to which al-Dhahabī himself belonged. As judges were appointed by the ruler, many pious men who were offered the position refused it so as to avoid becoming corrupted. A well-known ḥadīth transmitted by the Companion Abū Hurayra has the Prophet saying that whoever is appointed judge has been slaughtered without a knife. Marín’s observations on inqibāḍ ʿan al-sulṭān (withdrawing from the ruler) among the scholars of al-Andalus are largely relevant also for the Mamluk period. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 349 seen with my eyes anyone with more extensive knowledge and a stronger intelligence than Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya, may God (exalted be He) have mercy on him. I got tired of figuring him out, having studied him for years on end, until I got weary and saw what his behaviour led up to, with people loathing and despising him and branding him an unbeliever, all this as a result of his haughtiness, excessive desire for the leadership of his fellow scholars, and disparagement of the great imāms. But what God averted from him and the likes of him exceeds this, be not in doubt of it! The Ḥanafiyya are meticulous, hold reasoned opinions and possess acumen, and they would be regarded by their peers as meritorious if [only] they would refrain from using legal stratagems (taḥayyul) with regard to [taking] interest, cancelling the alms tax (zakāt), hollowing out the ritual prayer (ṣalāt), and their practice regarding issues on which they have a different understanding of the prophetic texts.29 O you [Ḥanafī]! abandon what fills you with unease for that which does not, and make provisions for your religion; let your concern not be to rule according to the madhhab of your imām with regard to water and purity and oddnumbered prayers (witr) or sacrifices, for thereby you prove your worth. If your ambition in the pursuit of fiqh is disputation and ostentation and the defense of your madhhab at all costs, and gaining access to madrasas and achieving greatness, that is not fiqh that relates to the afterlife but rather fiqh for this world. I cannot imagine you saying tomorrow in front of God (exalted be He): “I have pursued knowledge for Your sake and have taught it in turn.” Beware of making such a mistake and to say this, for you will be told: “You lie! You only studied so that you might be called a scholar,” and such has indeed been said. Then it will be said: “drag him to the fire.” Muslim transmitted this in his Ṣaḥīḥ.30 Do not think that your madhhab is the best of all schools of law and the most beloved of God (exalted be He), for you have no proof of that, nor do your opponents [for theirs], but [all] the imāms, may God the exalted be pleased with them, fared very well and earned a double reward for their correct views, as well as a single reward for their mistaken opinions, on each and every legal issue (masʾala). 29 30 On the legal devices or stratagems (ḥiyal) used by Ḥanafī jurists that were often criticized by members of other schools as mere tricks to circumvent valid but uncomfortable rules, see Horii, Reconsideration. Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Imāra (Bāb 43, Man qātala lil-riyāʾ wa-l-sumʿa istaḥaqqa al-nār) 919–920. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 350 adang The Ḥanbalīs (al-Ḥanābila) They follow the ḥadīth more than others do, and in general they possess faith, despite their small share in this world. The scholars (ʿulamāʾ) discuss their creed and accuse them of anthropomorphism, claiming that it is [the Ḥanbalīs’] duty to believe in this, when [in fact] many of them distance themselves from anthropomorphism. May God (exalted be He) forgive them. Grammarians (al-naḥwiyyūn) There is nothing wrong with them, and their science is good as well as necessary, but if the grammarian applies himself assiduously to [the study of] the Arabic language while being devoid of knowledge of the Book [of God] and the sunna, he remains idle, useless, and frivolous, and—that being the situation— God (exalted be He) will not [bother to] ask him in the afterlife about his knowledge; in fact, it is a [secular] discipline like others, such as medicine, arithmetic, and geometry, and he will not be rewarded for it except [if he practices it] with sincere intentions, and he will be punished if he behaves haughtily towards people and does not fear God (exalted be He) and safeguard himself. Lexicographers (al-lughawiyyūn) There are none in this time of ours, so that you may find a faqīh who does not know the terminology of fiqh, or a Quran reciter who does not understand the wording of the Quran, or a muḥaddith who does not concern himself with the language of the Book and the sunna in order to understand its speech. Exegetes (al-mufassirūn) Few are the ones who turn their attention to [independent] exegesis these days, but the [present-day] exegetes—those who teach—expound the Tafsīr of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, which includes obscure and doubtful passages that one does not need to hear. The exegetical opinions of the men of the early generations are admirable, but there are [often] three opinions or more, so that the truth is lost between them; moreover, if an expression can have two or more meanings, every one of the [exegetes] interprets one of these [putting aside the others]. However, there is no objection to that [in principle]. The uṣūlīs (al-uṣūliyyūn) As for legal hermeneutics (uṣūl al-fiqh), it is the instrument of independent reasoning (ijtihād) and a method to use the [scriptural] proofs. If a man acquires [this science] but deviates from the truth of its principles because he follows his imām in taqlīd, this constitutes an argument against him, and if he Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 351 reads [books in this discipline] so as to obtain positions and in order that he will be talked about, this will be counted against him in the afterlife as an evil deed. As for theology (uṣūl al-dīn), this is a lofty term that [ideally] applies to preserving the Book and the sunna, and professing one’s belief according to their contents, for these two [sources] are the foundations of the religion of Islam, none other. As regards the understanding of this term, it varies according to the different sects. The fundamental doctrines of the early generations are the belief in God, His books, His messengers, His angels, His attributes, and predetermination, as well as [the belief] that the Quran that was sent down is God’s uncreated speech, the acceptance of all the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and other foundations of the adherents of the sunna, including belief in the resurrection and all that it comprises. With regard to the doctrines of those who came after, that is what they differ on, and among them there is strong disagreement about deep-seated issues; to abandon these is part of the excellence of [one’s] Islam, wherever and whenever possible.31 The uṣūlī who sticks to the outward senses and the traditions is called by his opponents a ḥashwī anthropomorphist,32 the one who pursues allegorical interpretation (taʾwīl) in all issues is called a Muʿtazili Jahmi,33 and of the one who accepts some [at face value] and interprets some, they say that he contradicts himself. It is better to preserve one’s integrity and safety. If you are proficient in the basic principles [of the faith] and their secondary disciplines, such as logic, wisdom, the views of the ancients, rational inquiry, and with all that you cling to the Book and the sunna and the doctrines of the early generations, combining reason and revelation (al-ʿaql wa-l-naql), I still do 31 32 33 See Mālik b. Anas, al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ (Mā jāʾa fī ḥusn al-khalq). “Ḥashwī” is a pejorative term used mainly by rationalist theologians for ḥadīth-minded Muslims and traditionalists like the Ḥanbalīs who were accused of stuffing (ḥashw) their argumentation with questionable ḥadīths; see Hoover, Ḥashwiyya. As is well known, the Muʿtazila is the main rationalist current within Islamic theology; on their history and thought, including its reception among Zaydi and Imami Shiʿites, see chapters 7–11 in Schmidtke (ed.), Oxford handbook. The so-called Jahmiyya are named after Jahm b. Ṣafwān (d. 128/746), who is considered “the first Muslim ‘theologian’ in the full and proper sense” (Schöck, Jahm b. Ṣafwān 56). Due to some superficial similarities, mainstream Sunni authors often lump the two together as equally deserving of opprobrium. And just as “Ḥashwī” is a derogatory term for many among the ḥadīth folk, so the epithet “Jahmī” became a pejorative term used by the traditionalists for a variety of groups and individuals perceived as being tinged with rationalism and need not indicate any historical connection with Jahm b. Ṣafwān. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 352 adang not think that you have quite reached the level of Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya (may God have mercy on him) in this respect, for I have seen what his affair led to, such as the baseless accusations and ugly attacks launched against him. Before this he had followed the path of the early generations, but then he changed his ideas. According to one group of scholars he is a lying unbelieving deceiver,34 according to other, eminent intellectuals he is an excellent and outstanding innovator [in the positive sense], whereas in the view of yet others he is tapping in the dark and moonstruck. But in the eyes of most of his companions he is the defender of the territory of the religion, the standard bearer of Islam, and the protector of the sunna of the Prophet. God is the one whose help is sought. Logic (al-manṭiq) Its benefit is little, and its harm is enormous. It is not one of the sciences of Islam, and whatever of it is true, expressed in Arabic, should remain concealed in pure souls,35 and as for its falsehood: flee from it. Suspend [discussion with] your opponent [even] when you know that you are right and interrupt your opponent when you know you are wrong, for [theirs] are most perplexing expressions. If you read it for pleasure, not in order to argue [for your faith], or you do it for this world and not for the afterlife, you waste your time and follow the animals. As for recompense, forget about it, and beware of [divine] punishment and be safe. Philosophical Knowledge (al-ḥikma al-falsafiyya) No one who hopes for salvation looks into it, and no one whose salvation is dawning will rely on its creed, for this knowledge is a cause of trouble, and the messengers [of God] have not come with anything troublesome, but the misguidance through philosophy of those who do not know what the messengers brought is more serious than the misguidance of those who have some knowledge of Islam. O, seek ye help from God! If those who dedicated themselves to the refutation of the philosophers have become confused and dejected, what to think then of those [philosophers] who have been refuted [themselves]? There is no cure against these sciences except to burn and annihilate them out of 34 35 Arabic dajjāl, a term with very negative connotations. In Islamic theology, the Dajjāl is “a malevolent creature in human form, who appears at the end of the world as the apocalyptic opponent of Jesus,” see Cook, Dajjāl. It is often translated as “Antichrist.” This is reminiscent of a comment by al-Dhahabī in his Siyar x, 604 to the effect that intellectuals should minimize their exposure to the false sciences, of which there are many, and if they read in these disciplines, they should do so on their own and ask God’s forgiveness. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 353 existence and to prevent those who profess them from spreading them. For the religion remained perfect until these books were translated into Arabic and the Muslims perused them. Mathematical Knowledge (al-ḥikma al-riyāḍiyya) There is [some] truth in it, as it is one of the branches of geometry and arithmetic and the like, but there are false things in it [as well] such as astrology and similar things, and its false aspect ruins a person in his religion and his moral excellence, while in its true aspect it is a profession and one of those skills and writings that do not, in general, yield a reward nor constitute a sin, God willing. Medical Knowledge (al-ḥikma al-ṭibbiyya) There is nothing wrong with it, but it is not one of the sciences of religion, nor is one brought closer to God (exalted be He) through it, [even] if its practitioner is upright and equitable, as we have witnessed in some of them, but a man may be rewarded if he teaches it with [pure] intentions, God willing. Epistolary Composition (al-inshāʾ) It is an art of the people of this world, not knowledge for the next world in anything. The one who perfects it needs a strong combination of various Islamic sciences. It requires a superb mind, poise, quickness of understanding, strength of imagination, insight into lexicography and grammar, knowledge of meanings and [their] elucidation, of campaigns and early battles, the branches of urbane culture and belles-lettres (adab) and a beautiful hand in writing. But the main capital of the scribe should be fear of God (exalted be He), obedience to Him and fear of Him, for he may [inadvertently] put in an expression [whose beauty] he admires but which unbeknownst to him will land him in hell, or he may come up with a sentence which [ultimately] results in the destruction of [an entire] district, or he may contribute with his pen to the illicit spilling of blood. So, look, o eloquent person, where are you? Already your Prophet condemned eloquent speech, for he (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: “Some rhetoric is like magic.”36 So perfect the skill of eloquence by pleasing 36 See al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, Kitāb al-Ṭibb (Bāb 51, Innā min al-bayān siḥr) 1460. According to al-Dhahabī this tradition clearly reflects a negative attitude to poetry on the part of the Prophet, whereas Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī mentions the possibility that magic is to be understood here in a positive sense; see Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, Fatḥ al-Bārī xvii (Bāb min bayān al-siḥr), 622–624, at 624. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 354 adang your Supreme Lord, and with the sincere counsel of the lord of the commandment,37 for therein lies the perfection of eloquence. And if this is difficult, there is compensation [for it] in your religion. Whoever fears God, He protects him from the people, and whoever pleases the people while angering God, God (exalted be He) will subject him to someone who will please Him, “though this is indeed hard for anyone but the humble” (Q 2:45).38 Poetry (al-shiʿr) is one of the arts of the creative writer and constitutes an utterance that is beautiful when it is good, but this applies to only few [poems], and which is ugly when it is bad, and that is the bulk of it. The treasury [of poets] consists of lies, extravagant praise and ridicule, [unflattering] comparisons and descriptions as well as boasting, and the best of it is also the most mendacious, and if the poet is eloquent and well-spoken and prone to lying in his speech, determined to earn a living through poetry, and of slight religion, perhaps he should read about the aversion to poets expressed in the Quran.39 It is rare to find among the talented poets anyone who forgoes ridicule, and sometimes the extent of his exaggeration may [even] lead the poet to unbelief—we ask God, exalted be He—to be safe [from this]. The good poets are like Ḥassān among the early ones and al-Ṣarṣarī among the later ones; moderate ones [adopting a middle course] are like Ibn al-Mubārak and Ibn al-Jawzī, whereas the wicked ones are like al-Mutanabbī and al-Buḥturī and the stupid and immoral ones like Ibn al-Ḥajjāj and Ibn al-Habbāriyya. Choose for yourself which course you will follow. Arithmetic and Administrative Law (al-ḥisāb wa-sharʿ al-dīwān) This is one of the sciences of the Egyptians (al-Qibṭ) and the Persians, not of Islam. It is a profession and a means to make a living, through which a man achieves happiness in this world. The more adroit one is at this, the more likely one is to steal, but whoever fears God in the execution of this [profession], and writes for righteous judges, and oversees [the interests of] orphans and alms taxes and the capital of religious endowments (waqf ) and colleges (madrasa) and performs trusteeships and is skilled in his profession, that one is praiseworthy and entitled to a reward because of his [sincere] intentions. We have 37 38 39 I.e., Muḥammad. Passages from the Quran are quoted according to the translation of Abdel Haleem. Obviously, a reference to Q 26:224: “only those who are lost in error follow the poets.” Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 355 seen several people like that, but indeed, we have also seen wolves in sheep’s clothing and immoral secretaries that people turned to. [Composing] Notarial Documents (al-shurūṭ) is a good, sharʿī science; whoever is skilled in it and cleaves to righteousness and piety lives in a praiseworthy manner and is lamented when he dies. But whoever has honed his skills in it through tricks and craftiness and cunning will inevitably be disgraced in this world and detested in the next. “Say: Little is the enjoyment in this world, the Hereafter is far better for those who are mindful.” (Q 4:77). Sermonising [al-waʿẓ] is an art in itself, which requires a good deal of knowledge and an excellent command of exegesis, and involves frequent retelling of the stories of the mendicants, ascetics, and first generations. Its tool is fear of God and asceticism, but if you see an ascetic preacher who has little belief, know that his sermon does not penetrate further than his [audience’s] ears. How many eloquent preachers have affected their listeners and caused them to cry, at that moment, only for them to get up just like they sat down.40 But when the preacher is like alḤasan al-Baṣrī or Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir, the people [truly] benefit from him, so we ask God (exalted be He) for knowledge that is beneficial, and for complete forgiveness, amen. 2 Some Conclusions The text presented above appears to reflect al-Dhahabī’s disappointment with and pessimistic outlook on the state of knowledge, particularly religious knowledge, in his own period. We may recapitulate his views as follows: Professional readers of the Quran lack the necessary humility. They emphasize the form rather than the content and the message of the Holy Book, and with their aloofness and sterile recitation they fail to get through to their audience, and even run the risk of putting them off, all attempts to impress them by combining the seven canonical readings and their respective transmissions in their recitation notwithstanding. Their main sin, however, is excessive pride in their knowledge. This is a flaw that in al-Dhahabī’s view characterizes many of his contemporaries representing different disciplines such as jurisprudence 40 I.e., it had no impact beyond the moment the sermon was delivered. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 356 adang and theology, and he criticizes it in several of his works. However, nowhere is this disapproval more clearly expressed than in his Kitāb al-Kabāʾir, which lists among seventy-seven major sins haughtiness, pride, conceit, vainglory (no. 15), hypocrisy (no. 33), studying to gain prestige, and hiding knowledge (no. 35).41 With a few notable exceptions among al-Dhahabī’s peers, scholars of the venerable science of ḥadīth have become more interested in claiming association with as many teachers as possible so as to enhance their reputation, and the fact that some of these teachers are indifferent to what they teach and to whom, allowing chaos to reign in their classes, does not deter the would-be muḥaddiths, who fail to pass on the (little) knowledge they obtained. Even people who took a lukewarm or skeptical view of ḥadīth among the earlier generations were more knowledgeable than most of his contemporaries, says al-Dhahabī. In order to remedy this situation, he recommends a number of seminal works to be read by the aspiring muḥaddith. This implies that according to the author learning from books, which was often regarded as epistemologically inferior to master-student instruction, is at times to be preferred. Mālikī jurisprudents are taken to task by al-Dhahabī for being too quick to denounce people as unbelievers, with all the consequences this entails. The Mālikīs did indeed have a reputation of dealing harshly with anyone rightly or wrongly accused of blasphemy or other forms of unbelief.42 Moreover, they have a tendency to follow their eponym, Mālik b. Anas, in everything. A similar point is made with regard to the Ḥanafīs, who should not think that their school is superior to others and who tinker with the law. This confirms that al-Dhahabī is opposed to unconditional taqlīd. Elsewhere he expresses this opposition as follows: “No one ties himself to a madhhab except someone with limited scholarly abilities, like most of the ʿulamāʾ in our time, or someone moved by partisan zeal.”43 And although in his view the members of his own Shāfiʿī school are the most knowledgeable in matters religious, they do not escape scot-free: he refers to legal scholars who pursue worldly interests and prestigious positions whereas this should be far from their concern. Simple artisans and merchants who, like the pious forefathers before them, earn an honest living, are more likely to be rewarded than those who boast of their knowledge. The worst sin is conceit, and al-Dhahabī’s famous (or notorious) teacher Ibn Taymiyya is referred to as a prime example of what happens 41 42 43 Al-Dhahabī, Kitāb al-Kabāʾir 76–79, 106–107, 108–111. See Rapoport, Legal diversity, and Levanoni, Takfīr on the situation in the Mamluk period. The history of Mālikī al-Andalus offers many precedents for this attitude; see Fierro, Religious dissension. In al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiv, 491, and also Siyar xviii, 191–192 and Siyar viii, 90–92. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 357 when one behaves haughtily towards one’s peers. Al-Dhahabī has little to say about the Ḥanbalīs, whose theological outlook he largely shared and with whom he is said to have sympathized a great deal, to the extent that his student Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī (d. 771/1370) argued that his positive opinions about Ḥanbalīs and negative statements about Ashʿaris are not to be trusted, as he had a penchant for the former and a bias against the latter.44 This is reported by the Egyptian ḥadīth scholar and historian Shams al-Dīn Abū l-Khayr Muḥammad al-Sakhāwī (d. 902/1497),45 who vigorously defends al-Dhahabī against al-Subkī’s criticism: in order to demonstrate al-Dhahabī’s objectivity he quotes the two critical passages on Ibn Taymiyya from the first recension of our text. After discussing Mālikī, Ḥanafī, and Shāfiʿī fuqahāʾ al-Dhahabī does not present the Ḥanbalīs’ legal positions but only mentions one particular dogmatic issue: anthropomorphism. He defends the Ḥanbalīs who do not accept anthropomorphism against allegations to the contrary by unidentified scholars, who were probably Ashʿari theologians. Here one might have expected a reference to Ibn Taymiyya who, after all, identified with the Ḥanbalī school and who was accused by Ashʿari opponents of accepting the corporeality of God.46 After dealing extensively with representatives of the core religious sciences, namely Quran reciters, transmitters and scholars of prophetic Tradition, and jurists, al-Dhahabī briefly turns to a series of auxiliary disciplines such as Arabic grammar, lexicography, and exegesis, whose main importance is to further the understanding of the sacred scriptures and the laws derived from them. Grammarians are to take care not to neglect the Book of God and the sunna; lexicography is described as a neglected discipline. The fact that it is no longer cultivated leads to a loss of understanding of the sacred texts and the legal compendia. The exegetes of his day limit themselves to teaching a Tafsīr that al-Dhahabī considers highly problematic: Mafātīḥ al-ghayb (The keys to the unseen) by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1209). Al-Dhahabī’s negative opinion of this influential exegetical work no doubt stems from his anti-rationalism, which also explains his disapproval of logic and philosophy, which are not only a waste of time but extremely dangerous and thus to be shunned. (This same anti-rationalism partly explains the author’s ambivalent attitude to Ibn Tay- 44 45 46 See al-Sakhāwī, Iʿlān 242, 246–249; Rosenthal, History 374, 376–378. This section in al-Sakhāwī also includes al-Dhahabī’s brief paragraph on the Ḥanbalīs and the part on the theologians. See on him Petry, al-Sak̲h̲āwī. On the hotly debated issue of anthropomorphism, see Holtzman, Anthropomorphism. Ibn Taymiyya was required to defend himself against these and other accusations in a series of trials; see Jackson, Ibn Taymiyyah. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 358 adang miyya.47) Although the exegetical works of the salaf were better, they contain a confusing plethora of opinions, from which choices have to be made, that, al-Dhahabī seems to imply, are all valid. Experts in legal methodology should respect the rules of their discipline, and not abandon them for taqlīd. They, too, should beware of hypocrisy or ostentation. Theologians should limit themselves to the dogmas anchored in the Quran and the ḥadīth and not go beyond these. Combining traditional dogmatics with rational speculation makes for a dangerous cocktail, as one can see in the example of Ibn Taymiyya. Some aspects of the mathematical sciences are useful, though they yield no reward, but others, like astrology, may lead to perdition. The practice of medicine is rewarded if one’s intentions are pure. Epistolary composition requires learning as well as obedience and fear of God, because a slip of the pen can have dangerous consequences. Eloquence should be put at the service of God. Poetry should be chosen carefully, if at all. Sermonising, finally, is a lofty art, and the preacher should make sure not simply to play on his audience’s (fleeting) sentiments, but to convey a religious message. All in all, al-Dhahabī sketches a gloomy picture of the state of knowledge in his own day.48 Interestingly, in both recensions the text is geographically neutral, so that it is not quite clear whether the author only refers to the situation in the Mamluk realm or has areas beyond these lands in mind as well. Addressed to different categories of actors, but especially the practitioners of the religious disciplines, the text reads like a pamphlet. We do not know anything about its distribution in his own day, but the fact that it was preserved in at least seven manuscripts and was quoted by important later authors such as al-Sakhāwī (see above) and the Damascene historian and scholar of ḥadīth and Ḥanafī law, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Ṭūlūn (d. 953/1546), testifies to a continued appeal.49 It should be added, though, that al-Dhahabī was by no means the first one to bewail the dismal state of knowledge: he was preceded, among others, by the Shāfiʿī jurisprudent and ḥadīth scholar Abū Sulaymān al-Khaṭṭābī of Bust (d. 388/998) and the Ẓāhirī polymath Ibn Ḥazm of Cor47 48 49 On al-Dhahabī’s theological outlook and his anti-rationalism, see Gilliot, Al-Ḏahabī; Bori, al-Dhahabī. Critical comments on the in al-Dhahabī’s view dismal state of learning, especially in the field of ḥadīth, are scattered throughout his works. A representative selection of such comments, extracted mainly from Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ, Tadhkirat al-ḥuffāẓ and Tārīkh al-Islām can be found in al-Dhahabī, Kalimāt fī l-ʿilm, al-Dhahabī, Ṭalab al-ʿilm, and al-Dhahabī, Masāʾil fī ṭalab al-ʿilm. See on him Brinner, Ibn Ṭūlūn. His Naqd al-ṭālib, which addresses the corruption affecting different public and government offices as well as some religious disciplines reproduces (on pp. 95–97) part of the section on ḥadīth from al-Dhahabī’s tract. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 359 doba (d. 456/1064).50 The notion of the continuous decline in knowledge and religiosity among Muslims over time ( fasād al-zamān) is in fact a common topos, but both these authors, like al-Dhahabī himself, praise the major achievements of some of their contemporaries: not all is lost. More than just taking stock of the situation, then, al-Dhahabī’s tract may in fact be a warning of what is bound to happen if the situation is not reversed, and it appears to reflect his concern about a move away from the traditional towards the rational sciences. Appendix: Ḥadīth Transmitters, Scholars and Poets Mentioned in the Tract Ibn al-ʿAlāʾī = Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Khalīl b. Kaykaldī of Damascus (d. 761/1359), prolific Shāfiʿī scholar with Ṣūfī leanings, specialized in ḥadīth among other disciplines; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 108–109, no. 108; al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 43–47. Ḥamza = Ḥamza b. Ḥabīb al-Zayyāt (d. 156/772), one of the seven eponymous readers whose qirāʾāt came to be regarded as canonical, active in Kufa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vii, 90–92, no. 38; see Pellat, Ḥamza b. Ḥabīb. Sufyān = Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161/778), early ḥadīth transmitter and legal scholar, considered the founder of a short-lived school of law; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vii, 229–279, no. 82; Raddatz, Sufyān al-T̲ h̲awrī. Ḥammād b. Zayd = Abū Ismāʿīl Ḥammād b. Zayd b. Dirham (d. 179/795), highly respected ḥadīth transmitter from Basra; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vii, 456–466, no. 169. al-Ḍiyāʾ = Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Maqdisī (d. 643/1245), welltravelled Ḥanbalī ḥadīth expert, mainly active in Damascus where he founded a madrasa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xxiii, 126–130, no. 97; Talmon-Heller, The cited tales. Abū Bakr = Abū Bakr ʿAtīq b. Abī Quḥāfa al-Ṣiddīq, first of the Rightly-guided Caliphs (r. 11–13/632–634); see Kennedy, The prophet 50–57. ʿUmar = Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb al-Fārūq, second of the Rightly-guided Caliphs (r. 13–23/634–644); see Kennedy, The prophet 57–69. Ibn Masʿūd = ʿAbdallāh b. Masʿūd b. Ghāfil (d. ca. 32/652), prominent Companion of the Prophet Muhammad, ḥadīth transmitter known for his deviant readings of the Quran; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar i, 461–500, no. 87; Anthony, Ibn Masʿūd. Abū Hurayra = Abū Hurayra al-Dawsī (d. in or after 57/678), prominent Companion of the Prophet, credited with the transmission of a vast number of ḥadīths; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar ii, 578–633, no. 126; Juynboll, Abū Hurayra. 50 On the former’s views, see Günther, “In our days”; on Ibn Ḥazm, see Adang, This day. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 360 adang Ibn al-ʿAbbās = ʿAbdallāh b. (al-)ʿAbbās (d. 68/686), paternal cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, ancestor of the ʿAbbasid dynasty, considered by many the father of Quranic exegesis; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iii, 331–359, no. 51; Gilliot, ʿAbdallāh. Masrūq = Abū ʿĀʾisha Masrūq b. al-Ajdaʿ b. Mālik b. Umayya al-Wādiʿī al-Hamadhānī (d. 63/682), early ḥadīth transmitter from Kufa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iv, 63–69, no. 17. Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab = Abū Muḥammad Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab al-Makhzūmī (d. 94/712), son-in-law of the abovementioned Abū Hurayra. Influential traditionist of the Successor generation; one of the so-called “Seven Jurists of Medina,” who were widely regarded as the most learned scholars of their time; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iv, 217–246, no. 88; Abd-Allah Wymann-Landgraf, Mālik 40, 43. al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī = Abū Saʿīd al-Ḥasan b. Yasār al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728), famous early exegete and theologian, critical of Umayyad rule. Claimed as a founding father by different currents of Islamic thought; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iv, 563–588, no. 223; Mourad, al-Ḥasan. al-Shaʿbī = ʿĀmir b. Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī (d. 104/722), early legal expert and ḥadīth transmitter; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iv, 294–319, no. 113; Juynboll, al-S̲h̲aʿbī. ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr = Abū ʿAbdallāh ʿUrwa b. al-Zubayr b. al-ʿAwwām (d. 94/712). Like Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab, he was one of the “Seven Jurists of Medina;” see al-Dhahabī, Siyar iv, 421–437, no. 168; Schoeler, ʿUrwa; Abd-Allah Wymann-Landgraf, Mālik 42– 43. al-Zuhrī = Ibn Shihāb Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Muslim al-Zuhrī (d. 124/741), early Medinan scholar of ḥadīth and jurisprudence and one of the teachers of Mālik b. Anas; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar v, 326–350, no. 160; Lecker, al-Zuhrī. Qatāda = Abū l-Khaṭṭāb Qatāda b. Diʿāma of Basra (d. 118/736), of the Successor generation; famed for his vast knowledge in a variety of disciplines; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar v, 269–283, no. 132; Pellat, Ḳatāda b. Diʿāma. al-Aʿmash = Sulaymān b. Mihrān al-Aʿmash (d. 148/765), prominent ḥadīth transmitter from Kufa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vi, 226–248, no. 110; Juynboll, al-Aʿmash. Ibn Juḥāda = Muḥammad b. Juḥāda (d. 131/748), Kufan ḥadīth transmitter; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vi, 174–175, no. 82. Ayyūb = Abū Bakr Ayyūb b. Abī Tamīma Kaysān al-Sakhtiyānī (d. 131/748), well-known ḥadīth transmitter of Basra; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vi, 15–26, no. 7; van Ess, Theologie ii, 343–352; van Ess, Theology ii, 391–401. Ibn ʿAwn = Abū Awn ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAwn b. Arṭabān al-Muzanī (d. 151/768), prominent ḥadīth transmitter of Basra; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vi, 364–375, no. 156; Mourad, ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAwn. al-Awzāʿī = Abū ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Awzāʿī (d. 157/773), Syrian legal scholar and eponym of a short-lived madhhab that found favour with the Umayyads; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vii, 107–134, no. 48; Judd, al-Awzāʿī. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 361 Mālik = Mālik b. Anas of Medina (d. 179/796), eponym of the Mālikī school of law; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar viii, 48–135, no. 10; Rapoport, Mālik b. Anas; Abd-Allah WymannLandgraf, Mālik. the two Ḥammāds = Ḥammād b. Zayd (see above) and Ḥammād b. Salama = Abū Salama Ḥammād b. Salama b. Dīnār (d. 167/795), well-known ḥadīth expert from Basra; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar vii, 444–456, no. 128, Lucas, Constructive critics, passim. al-Layth = Abū l-Ḥārith al-Layth b. Saʿd b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Fahmī (d. 175/791), influential Egyptian ḥadīth scholar and jurist; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar viii, 136–163, no. 12; Merad, al-Layt̲h̲ b. Saʿd. Ibn al-Mubārak = ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Mubārak (d. 181/797), early scholar of ḥadīth and jurisprudence of ascetic disposition. Participated in battles on the Arab-Byzantine border; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar viii, 378–421, no. 112; Salem, The emergence. For his poetry, see Ibn al-Mubārak, Dīwān al-imām. al-Shāfiʿī = Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/819), eponym of the Shāfiʿī school of law and credited with the first detailed exposition of Islamic legal hermeneutics; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar x, 5–99, no. 1; Lowry, al-Shāfiʿī; Ali, Imam Shafiʿi. Yaḥyā b. al-Qaṭṭān = Abū Saʿīd Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd b. Farrūkh al-Qaṭṭān (d. 198/813), highranking ḥadīth transmitter of Basra who was called “Commander of the Believers in ḥadīth;” see al-Dhahabī, Siyar ix, 175–188, no. 53. al-Qaʿnabī = Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbdallāh b. Maslama b. Qaʿnab (d. 221/835), influential ḥadīth scholar who transmitted a recension of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ by Mālik b. Anas. Originally from Medina, he moved to Basra and thereafter to Mecca; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar x, 257–264, no. 68. Aḥmad = Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241/855), eponym of the Ḥanbalī school of law though primarily concerned with ḥadīth. Incarcerated under Caliph al-Maʾmūn and his immediate successors for his opposition to the doctrine of the createdness of the Quran; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 177–358, no. 78; Spectorsky, Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal; Melchert, Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Isḥāq = Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Rāhawayh al-Ḥanẓalī (d. 238/852), famous jurist and ḥadīth scholar of Nishapur; see on him al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 358–382, no. 79; Spectorsky, Ḥadīth. ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī = Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbdallāh b. al-Madīnī (d. 234/848), called amīr al-muʾminīn fī l-ḥadīth like his fellow Basran (Ibn) al-Qaṭṭān; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 41–60, no. 22; Lucas, Constructive critics, passim. Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn = Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn b. ʿAwn b. Ziyād (d. 233/847). Independently wealthy, he travelled widely in search of traditions, of which he ultimately accepted only a small number; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 71–96, no. 28; Leemhuis, Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn; Lucas, Constructive critics 208–210 and passim. Abū Khaythama = Abū Khaythama Zuhayr b. Muʿāwiya (d. 234/848), ḥadīth transmitter from Kufa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 489–492, no. 130. His son Abū Bakr b. Abī Khaythama (d. 279/892), who was a student of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, is better known. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 362 adang Ibn Kurayb = Abū Kurayb Muḥammad b. al-ʿAlāʾ b. Kurayb (d. 248/862), ḥadīth transmitter of Kufa; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 394–398, no. 86, where he is called shaykh al-muḥaddithīn. Ibn Numayr = Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh b. Numayr (d. 234/848), Kufan muḥaddith; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xi, 455–458, no. 111. Bundār = Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Bashshār of Basra (d. 252/866), see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xii, 144–149, no. 52. al-Bukhārī = Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī (d. 256/869), compiler of one of the two most authoritative collections of ḥadīth: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xii, 391–471, no. 171; Melchert, al-Bukhārī; Brown, The canonization. Muslim = Abū l-Ḥusayn Muslim b. al-Ḥajjāj (d. 261/874), compiler of one of the two most authoritative collections of ḥadīth: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xii, 557–580, no. 217; Brown, The canonization. Abū Dāwūd = Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān b. al-Ashʿath al-Sijistānī (d. 275/888), compiler of one of the canonical ḥadīth collections (Sunan); see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiii, 203–221, no. 117; Melchert, Life and works of Abū Dāwūd. al-Nasāʾī = al-Nasāʾī (d. 303/915), compiler of one of the canonical ḥadīth collections (Sunan); see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiv, 125–135, no. 67; Melchert, Life and works of al-Nasāʾī. Abū Zurʿa = ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Karīm b. Yazīd b. Farrūkh al-Rāzī (d. 264/877), important ḥadīth scholar from Rayy; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiii, 65–85, no. 48; Gilliot, Abū Zurʿa. Abū Ḥātim = Abū Ḥātim Muḥammad b. Idrīs b. al-Mundhir b. Dāwūd b. Mihrān al-Rāzī (d. 277/890), Iranian ḥadīth scholar; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiii, 247–263, no. 129; Gilliot, Abū Ḥātim. Muḥammad b. Naṣr = Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Naṣr b. al-Ḥajjāj al-Marwazī (d. 294/906), Khurasani scholar of ḥadīth and law, studied with al-Bukhārī; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiv, 33–40, no. 13. Ibn Khuzayma = Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Isḥāq b. Khuzayma (d. 311/923), prominent Shāfiʿī jurist and ḥadīth scholar of Nishapur; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiv, 365–382, no. 214; Lucas, Ibn Khuzayma. Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd = Taqī al-Dīn Abū l-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (d. 702/1302), highly respected Shāfiʿī ḥadīth scholar and jurist who was also well versed in Mālikī law, active in Cairo and Damascus; regarded as a mujaddid (“restorer of religion”); see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 250–251, no. 314; Ebied and Young, Ibn Daḳīḳ al-ʿĪd; LandauTasseron, Cyclical reform 92–93. Sharaf al-Dīn al-Dimyāṭī = Sharaf al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Muʾmin b. Khalaf al-Dimyāṭī (d. 705/1305), Egyptian historian, ḥadīth scholar and jurist of the Shāfiʿī school; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 95–96, no. 112; Sayeed, ʿAbd al-Muʾmin. Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 363 Jamāl al-Dīn b. al-Ẓāhirī = Jamāl al-Dīn Abū l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh b. al-Ẓāhirī (d. 696/1296), Ḥanafī jurist, Quran reciter and ḥadīth scholar from Aleppo, died in Cairo; see al-Dhahabī, Tadhkira iv, 1479–1480, no. 1167. Ibn Faraḥ = Shihāb al-Dīn Abū l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Faraḥ al-Ishbīlī (d. 699/1300), Shāfiʿī scholar of jurisprudence and ḥadīth. Originally from al-Andalus, he ended up teaching at the Great Mosque in Damascus; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 32–33, no. 33; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkira iv, 1486, no. 1170; Boloix Galardo, Ibn Faraḥ. Shihāb b. al-Daqūqī = Shihāb al-Dīn Abū l-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Naḍir known as Ibn al-Daqūqī (d. 695/1296), Egyptian ḥadīth scholar, Quran reciter and copyist; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr i, 106, no. 99; al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 43– 45, no. 47. Najm al-Dīn Ibn al-Khabbāz = Najm al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr b. ʿAlī al-Mawṣilī (d. 631/1233), Shāfiʿī legal scholar; see al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh xlvi, 84–85, no. 62. ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Shurūṭī = ʿImād al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ b. Badrān (d. 698/ 1298), ascetically-minded Ḥanbalī scholar from Nablus; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr i, 347–348, no. 384. Jamāl al-Dīn al-Mizzī = Jamāl al-Dīn Abū l-Ḥajjāj Yūsuf b. al-Zakī al-Mizzī (d. 742/1341), famous Syrian ḥadīth scholar; see al-Dhahabī, Tadhkira iv, 1498–1500, no. 1176; Juynboll, al-Mizzī; Aerts, al-Mizzī. His Tuḥfat al-ashrāf fī maʿrifat al-aṭrāf forms the basis of Juynboll’s Encyclopedia of canonical ḥadīth. al-Birzālī = ʿAlam al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad al-Birzālī (d. 739/ 1339), Shāfiʿī ḥadīth scholar and historian of Andalusi Berber descent, active in Damascus; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr ii, 115–117, no 635; al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 18–21; Navarro i Ortiz, al-Birzālī 262–272; Rouabah and Sublet, al-Birzālī. Ibn Sayyid al-Nās = Fatḥ al-Dīn Abū l-Fatḥ Muḥammad b. Sayyid al-Nās al-Yaʿmurī (d. 734/1334), Egyptian historian and Shāfiʿī jurist of Andalusi descent; see al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 16–17; Pavlovitch, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās. Quṭb al-Dīn al-Ḥalabī = Quṭb al-Dīn Abū ʿAlī ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥalabī al-Miṣrī (d. 735/ 1334), author of a history of Egypt, scholar of ḥadīth and qirāʾāt; see al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 13–15. Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī = Taqī al-Dīn Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-Kāfī al-Subkī (756/1355), versatile Shāfiʿī scholar, active in Egypt and Syria, chief judge in Damascus, preacher in the Umayyad mosque. Author of several refutations of Ibn Taymiyya; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr ii, 34–35, no. 535; al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 166–167, no. 204. the son of Qāḍī Badr al-Dīn b. Jamāʿa = ʿIzz al-Dīn Abū ʿUmar ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 767/1366), Shāfiʿī jurist and ḥadīth scholar. Born in Damascus, he moved to Egypt, where like his more famous father Badr al-Dīn, he acted as chief judge; see al-Suyūṭī, Dhayl 363–364. Amīn al-Dīn al-Wānī = Amīn al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al- Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University 364 adang Wānī (d. 735/1334), Ḥanafī ḥadīth scholar and muezzin of Damascus; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr ii, 137–138, no. 660; al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 213, no. 25. Fakhr al-Dīn b. al-Fakhr = Fakhr al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Baʿlbākī al-Dimashqī (d. 732/1332), Ḥanbalī ḥadīth scholar; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam almukhtaṣṣ 140, no. 163; al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 30–31. the son of the imām of the Ṣāliḥ mosque = either Tāj al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (d. 713/ 1313), whose father Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Humām was imām of the Ṣāliḥ mosque that was erected in Cairo by the Fatimid vizier al-Ṣāliḥ Ṭalāʾiʿ b. Ruzzīk (d. 555/1161) or Tāj al-Dīn’s son Taqī al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (d. 745/1344); see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xxii, 361, no. 226 and 362, no. 227. Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Maqdisī = Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. Aḥmad (d. 737/1336), Ḥanbalī ḥadīth scholar and ascetic; see al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 29–30. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī = Abū Muḥammad ʿUthmān b. Yūsuf al-Nuwayrī (d. 757/1356), Mālikī qāḍī in Damascus; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr i, 440–441, no. 501; alDhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 156, no. 190. Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī = Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī b. Yūsuf (d. 476/1083), important Shāfiʿī legal scholar of Baghdad, taught at the prestigious Niẓāmiyya college, wrote on legal theory, positive law, and the different legal schools; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xviii, 452–464, no. 237; Madelung, Abū Esḥāq. ʿAbdallāh b. Khalīl = Bahāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh b. Muḥammad al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 777/1375), Quran reciter, ḥadīth scholar and jurist of ascetic disposition, mainly active in Cairo; see al-Ḥusaynī, Dhayl 47–48. al-Nawawī = Muḥyī al-Dīn Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī or al-Nawāwī (d. 676/1277), Shāfiʿī legal scholar and ḥadīth expert, author of an authoritative commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, a popular compilation of forty traditions (al-Arbaʿūn) and a series of works on Shāfiʿī fiqh; see al-Dhahabī, Tadhkira iv, 1470–1474, no. 1162; Heffening, al-Nawawī. Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya = Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm b. ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328), controversial Ḥanbalī jurist and theologian, known for his sharp attacks on Sufism, rationalist theology, philosophy, and religions other than Islam, active in Damascus and Cairo; see al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr i, 56–57, no. 40; al-Dhahabī, al-Muʿjam al-mukhtaṣṣ 25–27, no. 22; see Rapoport and Ahmed (eds.), Ibn Taymiyya. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī = Fakhr al-Dīn Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. al-Ḥusayn al-Rāzī of Rayy (d. 606/1209), controversial yet highly influential rational theologian and exegete of the Ashʿari school; held disputations with members of different schools of thought; see al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh xliii, 211–223, no. 311; Griffel, On Fakhr al-Dīn. On his Tafsīr, see Lagarde, Les secrets. Ibn al-Jawzī, Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (d. 597/1200), famous Ḥanbalī legal scholar, ḥadīth expert, historian, and preacher of Baghdad; see Camilla Adang - 9789004682504 Downloaded from Brill.com 06/29/2024 08:01:46AM via Tel Aviv University “we have become the laughing stock of all reasonable people” 365 al-Dhahabī, Siyar xxi, 365–384, no. 192; Laoust, Ibn al-D̲ j̲awzī. On his poetry, see al-Jabūrī, Shiʿr Ibn al-Jawzī. al-Mutanabbī (d. 354/965), famous poet with a checkered literary and political career as a wandering panegyrist, repeatedly accused of plagiarism as well as heresy; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xvi, 199–201, no. 139; Meisami, al-Mutanabbī. al-Buḥturī = Abū ʿUbāda al-Walīd b. ʿUbayd al-Buḥturī (d. 284/897), ʿAbbasid poet, known for his eulogies of several caliphs and other high-ranking men; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xiii, 486–487, no. 233; Meisami, al-Buḥturī. Ibn al-Ḥajjāj = Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. al-Ḥajjāj (d. 391/1001), Shīʿite poet, well known for his obscene and scatological verse; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar xvii, 59–61, no. 29; Antoon, The poetics. Ḥassān = Ḥassān b. Thābit (d. 54/665), poet from Medina who associated himself with the Prophet Muhammad and defended the cause of Islam in his verse; see al-Dhahabī, Siyar ii, 512–523, no. 106; van Gelder, Ḥassān b. Thābit. al-Ṣarṣarī = Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā b. 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