The Karaites' encounter with the thought of Abu l-Husayn al-Basri (D. 436/ 1044). A survey of the relevant materials in the Firkovitch-Collection, St. Petersburg

Arabica

Volumn 53, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 108-142

  Schmidtke, Sabine ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 84857590984     PISSN: 05705398     EISSN: 15700585     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157005806775143524     Document Type: Review

References (92)

1. Gerhard Wedel: Kitab at-Tabbah des Samaritaners Abu l-Oasan as-Iuri. Kritische Edition und kommentierte Übersetzung des ersten Teils. Diss. Free University Berlin 1987
2. idem: "Samaritanische Uminterpretation der Anthropomorphismen im Pentateuch." XXIV. Deutscher Orientalistentag vom 26. bis 30. September 1988 in Köln. Ausgewählte Vorträge. Ed. Werner Diem & Abdoljavad Falaturi. Stuttgart 1990, pp. 46-54.
3. For a case of reception of Mu'tazili thought by a Christian, see Ulrich Rudolph: "Christliche Bibelexegese und mu'tazilitische Theologie. Der Fall des Moses bar Kepha (gest. 903 n.Chr.)." Oriens 34 (1994), pp. 299-313
4. Sidney H. Griffith: The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic. Muslim-Christian Encounters in the Early Islamic Period. Aldershot 2002.
5. For connections between Mu'tazili and Ibadi thought, see T. Lewicki: "Ibadiyya." Encyclopaedia of Islam. New edition, vol. 3, p. 658.
6. See Wilferd Madelung: "Imamism and Mu'tazilite Theology." Shi'isme imamite. Ed. T. Fahd. Paris 1970, pp. 13-29
7. Martin J. McDermott: The Theology of al-Shaikh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022). Beirut 1978
8. Sabine Schmidtke: The Theology of al-'Allama al-Oilli (d. 726/ 1325). Berlin 1991
9. Paul Sander: Zwischen Charisma und Ratio. Entwicklungen in der frühen imamitischen Theologie. Berlin 1994
10. Sabine Schmidtke: Theologie, Philosophie und Mystik im zwölferschiitischen Islam des 9./15. Jahrhunderts. Die Gedankenwelten des Ibn Abi ]umhur al-Asa"i (um 838/1434-35-nach 906/1501). Leiden 2000.
11. For the reception of Mu'tazilism among the Zaydis, see Wilferd Madelung: Der Imam al-Qasim ibn Ibrahim und die Glaubenslehre der Zaiditen. Berlin 1965
12. see also idem: "Zu einigen Werken des Imams Abu Talib an-Natiq bi l-Haqq." Der Islam 63 (1986), pp. 5-10
13. idem: "Religiöse Literatur des Islam. Die Zaidiya." Grundriss der arabischen Philologie. Band II: Literaturwissenschaft. Ed. Helmut Gätje. Wiesbaden 1987, pp. 358-363
14. idem: "Zaydiyya." Encyclopaedia of Islam. New edition, vol. 11, pp. 477-481
15. Ali Muammad Zayd: Mu'tazilat al-Yaman. Dawlat al-Hadi wa fikruhu. Beirut 1981
16. idem: Les tendances de la pensée mu'tazilite au Yémen au VI ème/XIIème siècle. Thèse pour le Doctorat d'Etat. Université de Paris III, 1986
17. idem: Tayyarat Mu'tazilat al-Yaman fi l-qarn al-sadis al-hi[ri. Ian'a" 1997.
18. For the expedition and its results, see the report by Halil Yahya Nami: al-Ba'ta al-misriyya li-taswir al-mahtutat al-'arabiyya fi bilad al-Yaman. Cairo 1952
19. Qa"ima bi-l-mahtutat al-'arabiyya l-musawwara bi-l-mikrawfilm min al-]umhuriyya l-'arabiyya l-Yamaniyya. Cairo 1387/1967.
20. For further references, see Geoffrey Roper: World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts III. London 1994, pp. 645ff
21. For more recent efforts to search and catalogue the holdings of Yemeni public and private libraries, see 'Abd Allah al-Oab"i: Fihris mahtutat ba'd al-maktabat al-hassa fi l-Yaman. London 1994
22. M. Wafadar Muradi: "Fihrist-i alifba"i-yi mikrufilm-ha-yi tahiyya "ude az Kitabhana-yi gami' Ian'a"." Kitabdari wa-ittila' rasani. Faslnama-yi Kitabhana-yi Markazi wa-Astan-i Quds Radawi 2 iii (1378/1999), pp. 127-173
23. Oasan Ansari Qummi: "Guzari"i az nusha-ha-yi hatti-yi Yaman." Ayina-yi miraT 3 iv (Spring 1380/2001), pp. 105-111
24. 'Abd al-Salam 'Abbas al-Wa[ih: Masadir al-turaT fi l-maktabat al-hassa fi l-Yaman 1-2. Ian'a" 1422/2002.
25. 'Abd al-gabbar al-Hamadani: Kitab al-Mu[ni fi abwab al-tawid wa l-'adl. Ed. Ibrahim Madkur & al. Cairo 1961-1965.
26. See also J.R.T.M. Peters: God's Created Speech. A study in the speculative theology of the Mu'tazilî Qâdî l-Qudât Abû l-Oasan 'Abd al-Jabbâr bn Amad al-Hamadânî. Leiden 1976, pp. 25ff.
27. Abu l-Ousayn Amad b. Abi Ha"im Mankdim: "ar al-Usul al-hamsa. Ed. 'Abd al-Karim 'UTman [as a work of 'Abd al-gabbar]. Cairo 1384/1965.
28. Ibn Mattawayh: Kitab al-Ma[mu' fi l-muit bi-l-taklif. Vol. 1. Ed. J.J. Houben. Beirut 1965. Vol. 2. Ed. J.J. Houben & D. Gimaret. Beirut 1981. Vol. 3. Ed. Jan Peters. Beirut 1999.-The edition of volume four is currently under preparation by Margaretha T. Heemskerk.
29. For Samuel b. Oofni, see David Sklare: Samuel Ben Oofni and His Cultural World. Texts and Studies. Leiden 1996.
30. For the writings of Yusuf al-Basir, see Georges Vajda (ed. and tr.): Al-Kitab al-Muhtawi de Yusuf al-Basir. Leiden 1985
31. David Sklare: "Yusuf al-Basir: Theological Aspects of His Halakhic Works." The Jews of Medieval Islam: Community, Society, and Identity. Ed. Daniel Frank. Leiden 1995, pp. 249-270
32. David Sklare (in cooperation with Haggai Ben-Shammai): Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Firkovitch Collections. The Works of Yusuf al-Basir. A Sample Catalogue. Texts and Studies. Jerusalem 1997.
33. For the writings of Yeshu'a ben Yudah, see David Sklare & al.: Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Firkovitch Collections. The Works of Yeshu'a b. Yehudah. A Sample Catalogue. Texts and Studies. Jerusalem (forthcoming).
34. See also the general survey by Haggai Ben-Shammai: "Kalam in Jewish Philosophy." The History of Jewish Philosophy. Ed. D.H. Frank & O. Leaman. London/New York 1997, pp. 115-148.
35. For Mu'tazili material among the Genizah material, see, e.g., Georges Vajda: "De quelques fragments mu'tazilites en judéo-arabe. Notice provisoire." Journal asiatique 264 (1976), pp. 1-7
36. Colin F. Baker & Meira Polliack: Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic Manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. Arabic Old Series (T-S Ar. 1a-54). Cambridge 2001, pp. 402 (T-S Ar. 43.220), 403 (T-S Ar. 43.222, T-S Ar. 43.224, T-S Ar. 43.233), 404 (T-S Ar. 43.242), 404-5 (T-S Ar. 43.249), 406-7 (T-S Ar. 43.275), 439 (T-S Ar. 46.121).
37. See also Haggai Ben-Shammai: "Medieval History and Religious Thought." The Cambridge Genizah Collections. Their Contents and Significance. Ed. Stefan C. Reif with the assistance of Shulamit Reif. Cambridge 2002, pp. 136-151.
38. The bulk of the material in the collection was gathered by Abraham Firkovitch (1787-1874) during his expedition to Syria, Palestine and Egypt in 1863-1865, where he visited particularly Karaite synagogues.
39. For an overview of the collection and its significance, see Tapani Harviainen: "The Cairo Genizot and Other Sources of the Second Firkovich Collection in St. Petersburg." Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of the International Society for Masoretic Studies. Ed. E.J. Revell. 1995, pp. 25-36
40. Malachi Beit-Arié: "The Accessibility of the Russian Manuscript Collections: New Perspectives for Jewish Studies." Jewish Studies in a New Europe: Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of Jewish Studies in Copenhagen under the Auspices of the European Association for Jewish Studies. Ed. Ulf Haxen. Copenhagen 1998, pp. 82-98
41. Haggai Ben-Shammai: "Karaites and the Orient-Trends in the Study of Karaites and Karaism." [Hebrew] Pe'amim 89 (Autumn 2001), pp. 5-18
42. Zeev Elkin & Menachem Ben-Sasson: "Abraham Firkovich and the Cairo Genizas in the Light of His Personal Archive." [Hebrew] Pe'amim 90 (Winter 2002), pp. 51-95
43. Shimon M. Iakerson: Selected Pearls. Treasures of Jewish Culture in Saint-Petersburg (manuscripts, documents, incunabula, ritual objects). St. Petersburg 2003, pp. 27-46 (with further references).
44. A. Ja. Borisov: "Mu'tazilitskie rukopisi Gosudarstvennoj Publi'noj Biblioteki v Leningrade." Bibliografija Vostoka 8-9 (1935), pp. 69-95
45. See also idem: "Ob otkrytych v Leningrade mu'tazilitskich rukopisjach i jich zna'enii dlja istorii musulmanskoj mysli." Akademija Nauk SSSR. Trudy pervoj sessii arabistov 14-17 ijunka 1935 g. (Trudy Instituta Vostokovedenija 24), pp. 113-125.
46. The two articles were reprinted in Pravoslavniy Palestinskiy Sbornik 99 (36) (2002), pp. 219-249
47. The Teachings of the Mu'tazila. Texts and Studies I-II. Selected and reprinted by Fuat Sezgin in collaboration with Mazen Amawi, Carl Ehrig-Eggert, Eckhard Neubauer. Frankfurt am Main 2000, vol. 2, pp. 17-57.
48. Haggai Ben-Shammai: "A note on some Karaite copies of Mu'tazilite writings." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 37 (1974), pp. 295-304.
49. In the Maktabat gami' Madinat "ahara (Yemen) are preserved two leaves of Abu 'Ali l-]ubba"i's Kitab al-Maqalat; cf. 'Abbas al-Wagih: Masadir al-turaT, vol. 2, p. 616.
50. The only work of Abu l-Qasim al-Balhi that was found in Yemen is his Maqalat al-islamiyyin that have partly been edited by Fu"ad Sayyid (Fadl al-i'tizal wa tabaqat al-Mu'tazila. Tunis 1974, pp. 63ff.).
51. See S.M. Stern: "Ibn al-Sam." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1956), pp. 31-44
52. see also Wilferd Madelung: "Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri." Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Supplement Fascicules 1-2, p. 25
53. Mas'ud galal Muqaddam: "Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri." Da"irat-i ma'arif-i buzurg-i islami 1-. Ed. Kazim Musawi Bugnurdi, Tehran 1374/1996-, vol. 5, p. 368.
54. Daniel Gimaret ("Abo l-Oosayn al-Basri." Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 1, p. 324) holds Stern's identification of Abu l-Ousayn with a homonymous student of Ibn al-Sam to be "very doubtful"; he further considers the affirmations of later authors such as Fahr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209), al-"ahrastani (d. 548/1153) and Ibn al-Qifti (d. 646/1248), that Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri was influenced by the concepts of the philosophers and that he was a philosopher disguised as a theologian, to be "exaggerated".
55. Fahr al-Din al-Razi: I'tiqadat firaq al-muslimin wa l-mushrikin. Ed. Taha 'Abd al-Ra"uf Sa'd & Mustafa l-Hawari. Cairo 1398/1978, p. 42.
56. See, e.g., Sadid al-Din Mamud b. 'Ali l-Oimmasi l-Razi: al-Munqid min al-taqlid 1-2. Ed. M.H. al-Yusuf al-arawi. Qum 1412/[1991]
57. Where he refers to Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri's K. Tasaffu al-adilla (vol. 1, p. 63) and to his K. al-?urar (vol. 1, p. 203), from which he also quotes (vol. 1, pp. 504-505).
58. See also Munqid, vol. 1, pp. 324ff., 327, 434, vol. 2, pp. 5, 24, 87, 105-106, 144, 214, 217, 282-283, 339-341, where the author quotes from writings of Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri's without indicating the titles.
59. Al-Oimmasi further quotes from a risala by Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri on the issue of karamat (Munqid, vol. 1, p. 401).
60. For a discussion of al-Oimmasi l-Razi's sources, see also Cook: Commanding the Right, pp. 219-221.-Another Imami work that was apparently written at the beginning of the 7th/13th century and that is clearly under the influence of al-Oimmasi is the anonymous Hulasat al-naZar that is preserved in a single manuscript (ms Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale 1252). Oasan Ansari and the present writer are currently preparing an edition of this text.
61. Ms Leiden OR 2587 contains an anonymous portion of a Zaydi kalam work entitled al-"amil li-aqa"iq al-adilla l-'aqliyya wa usul al-masa"il al-diniyya.
62. Michael Cook (Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought. Cambridge 2000, p. 218 n. 115)
63. Has shown that this fragment is indeed the latter part of Yaya b. Oamza's al-"amil li-aqa"iq aladilla wa usul al-masa"il al-dunyawiyya (so the title given by 'Abd Allah Muammad alOab" i: Masadir al-fikr al-islami fi l-Yaman. Sidon/Beirut 1988, p. 630 no. 31
64. Amad al-Ousayni: Mu"allafat al-Zaydiyya 1-3. Qum 1413, vol. 2, p. 122 no. 1848.
65. Of the "amil, a number of further manuscript copies are extant in Yemen; see 'Abd al-Salam 'Abbas al-Wa[ih: Masadir al-turaT fi l-maktabat al-hassa fi l-Yaman 1-2. Ian'a" 1422/2002, vol. 1, pp. 256, 477, vol. 2, p. 117.
66. The second part of his Tamhid fi masa"il al-'adl wa l-tawid is preserved in Yemen in Maktabat 'Abd Allah b. Muammad b. Ousayn ?amdan; see 'Abd Allah Muammad al-Oab"i: Fihris mahtutat ba'd al-maktabat al-hassa fi l-Yaman. London 1994, p. 256.-Another Zaydi author who was familiar with Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri's work and appreciated it was Abu l-Qasim al-Busti (late 4th/10th and early 5th/11th century)
67. see his Kitab al-BaT 'an adillat al-takfir wa l-tafsiq (Investigation of the evidence for charging with kufr and fisq). Edited with an Introduction by Wilferd Madelung & Sabine Schmidtke. Tehran 1382/2003.
68. The views of Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri are referred to by the Zaydi authors 'Abd Allah b. Zayd al-'Ansi (d. 667/1268) in his Kitab al-Maa[[a al-bayda" (completed in 640/1242) which is extant in at least two manuscripts (ms Munich Glaser 148
69. Maktabat Al al-Wazir (Ian'a"); cf. al-Oab"i: Fihris, p. 48
70. 'Abbas al-Wagih: Masadir al-turaT, vol. 2, p. 385
71. Al-Qasim b. Amad al-Mualli (8th/14th c.) in his Ta'liq 'ala "ar alimam al-ma"hur bi-Mankdim (ms Milan, Ambrosiana F 192).
72. Ibn al-Malaimi: Kitab al-Mu'tamad fi usul al-din. The extant parts edited by Wilferd Madelung and Martin McDermott. London 1991
73. idem: al-Fa"iq fi usul al-din. Ms. Ian'a"
74. Great Mosque, kalam 53. An edition of this text by Wilferd Madelung and Martin McDermott is about to be published.-Outside of Yemen, other significant texts by later followers of Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri are extant, such as the Kamil fi l-istiqsa" fima balacana min kalam al-qudama" by the otherwise unknown Taqi l-Din al-Barani (or: al-Nagrani) al-'Agali-a systematic comparision of the doctrines of the Bah"amis and of Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri written between 536/1141 and 675/1276-7, that is preserved in a single manuscript (Leiden Or. 487); the last previous owner was Levinus Warner (1619-1665) in Istanbul (I am grateful to Jan Just Witkam for this information)
75. Taqi l-Din al-Barani (or: al-Na[rani) al-'A[ali: al-Kamil fi l-istiqsa" fima balacana min kalam al-qudama". Ed. al-Sayyid Muammad al-"ahid. Cairo 1420/1999. Recently, another extensive work by Ibn al-Malaimi, Tufat al-mutakallimin fi l-radd 'ala l-falasifa, which was believed to have been lost, was found in India by the Iranian scholar Oasan Ansari l-Qummi
76. See Oasan Ansari: "Kitab-i tazihyab dar Naqd-i falsafa. Paida "udan-i Kitabi, Tufat al-mutakallimin-i' Malaimi." Na"r-i dani" 18 iii (2001), pp. 31-32.
77. For the present whereabout of the manuscript, see Muammad KaZim Ramati: "A Glance to the later school of the Mu'tazila." [Persian] Haft Asman 3 ix-x (Bahar-Tabestan 1380/Spring-Summer 2001), p. 87 n. 4.-Oasan Ansari is currently preparing an edition of the work.
78. See Sabine Schmidtke: "Re-Edition of al-Minhaj fi usul al-din by Jar Allah al-Zamakhshari." Ma'arif 20 iii (1382/2004), pp. 107-148.
79. Ibn al-Murtada, Tabaqat al-Mu'tazila. Ed. S. Diwald-Wilzer. Wiesbaden 1961, p. 119.
80. Herbert A. Davidson in his survey Proofs for Eternity, Creation and the Existence of God in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy (Oxford 1987), for example, is unaware of Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri and ascribes the crucial developments introduced by him to the later A"'ari theologians al-]uwayni and Fahr al-Din al-Razi.
81. See also Wilferd Madelung: "Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri's Proof of the Existence of God." Festschrift Richard M. Frank. Ed. James Montgomery. Cambridge (forthcoming).
82. A. Ya. Borisov: "The Mu'tazilite Manuscripts of the State Public Library in Leningrad." [Russian] Biblioteka Vostoka 8-9 (1935), pp. 85-86 no. 5 (II Firk. Yevr.-Arab. I 4814), pp. 94-95 no. 13 (II Firk. Arab. 28 which is now II Firk. Arab. 103).
83. Wilferd Madelung and the present writer are currently preparing an edition of the extant fragments of the Tasaffu al-adilla.
84. Or. 2572, ff. 20-67; see G. Margoliouth: Catalogue of the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum. Part 3. London 1915, pp. 199-202, no. 896.
85. II Firk. Arab. 630, ff. 8b-12b.
86. Solomon Leon Skoss: The Arabic Commentary of 'Ali ben Suleiman the Karaite on the Book of Genesis. Edited from Unique Manuscripts and Provided With Critical Notes and an Introduction. Philadelphia 1928.
87. Apart from that, 'Ali b. Sulayman produced numerous copies of Mu'tazili manuscripts and authored himself a number of commentaries on writings of earlier Mu'tazilis. See A.Ya. Borisov: "The time and place of the life of the Karaite author 'Ali b. Sulayman." [Russian] Palestinskij Sbornik 9 (1962), pp. 109-114.
88. See Sabine Schmidtke: "II Firk. Arab. 111-A copy of al-Sharif al-Murtada's Kitab al-Dhakhira completed in 472/1079-80 in the Firkovitch-Collection, St. Petersburg." [Persian] Ma'arif 20 ii (1382/2003), pp. 68-84.
89. Ibn al-Malaimi: Mu'tamad, Introduction, p. xi.
90. Ibn al-Malaimi: Mu'tamad, p. 5.
91. II Firk. Yevr.-Arab. I 3118 contains evidence that Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri himself had written more than one recension of the work. The author of the polemical treatise, presumably Yusuf al-Basir, writes that (f. 1a) "Abu l-Ousayn al-Basri, when he doubted these matters and composed a book which he entitled Examination of the Proofs (Tasaffu al-adilla), and then the kalam theologians accused him of unbelief, responded according to what has reached me . . .".
92. Thanks are due to the Russian National Library, the owner of II Firk. Arab. 655, for having granted the permission to publish the edition on the basis of this manuscript.