Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century: Scholarly Currents in the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb PDF
Preview Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century: Scholarly Currents in the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb
IslamicIntellectualHistoryintheSeventeenthCentury ScholarlyCurrentsintheOttomanEmpireandtheMaghreb Formuchofthetwentiethcentury,theintellectuallifeoftheOttoman and Arabic-Islamic world in the seventeenth century was ignored or mischaracterized by historians. Ottomanists typically saw the seven- teenth century as marking the end of Ottoman cultural florescence, whilemodernArabnationalisthistorianstendedtoseeitasyetanother century of intellectual darkness under Ottoman rule. This book is the first sustained effort at investigating some of the intellectual cur- rents among Ottoman and North African scholars of the early mod- ern period. Examining the intellectual production of the ranks of learned ulema (scholars) through close readings of various treatises, commentaries,andmarginalia,KhaledEl-Rouayhebarguesforamore textured–andtext-centered–understandingofthevibrantexchangeof ideasandtransmissionofknowledgeacrossavastexpanseofOttoman- controlledterritory. Khaled El-Rouayheb is James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic and ofIslamicIntellectualHistoryintheDepartmentofNearEasternLan- guagesandCivilizationsatHarvardUniversity.HespecializesinAra- bic and Islamic intellectual history, especially in the period from the thirteenthtotheeighteenthcenturies.HeistheauthorofBeforeHomo- sexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800 (2005) and Rela- tional Syllogisms and the History of Arabic Logic, 900–1900 (2010). He is also coeditor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century Scholarly Currents in the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb KHALED EL-ROUAYHEB HarvardUniversity 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107042964 (cid:2)C KhaledEl-Rouayheb2015 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2015 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData El-Rouayheb,Khaled. Islamicintellectualhistoryintheseventeenthcentury:scholarlycurrentsin theOttomanEmpireandtheMaghreb/KhaledEl-Rouayheb. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-04296-4(hardback:alkalinepaper) 1.Turkey–Intellectuallife–17thcentury. 2.Africa,North–Intellectual life–17thcentury. 3.Learningandscholarship–Turkey–History– 17thcentury. 4.Learningandscholarship–Africa,North–History– 17thcentury. 5.Muslimscholars–Turkey–History–17thcentury. 6.Muslimscholars–Africa,North–History–17thcentury. 7.Muslim philosophers–Turkey–History–17thcentury. 8.Muslimphilosophers– Africa,North–History–17thcentury. I.Title. dr511.e57 2015 956(cid:3).015–dc23 2015010600 isbn978-1-107-04296-4Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls forexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot guaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Oreader!Theremayoccurinourworkthingswithwhichyouare not familiar and that you will find nowhere else. Do not hurry to condemn this, whimsically heeding the call of the one who merely relayswhatothershavesaidandstitchesittogether,andforwhom theultimateinknowledgeandtheaimofalleffortistosay“Soand sohassaid.”NobyGod!...WeseekrefugeinGodfromblackening folios and stuffing quires with what people have said and meant, following the well-trodden path of imitation (taqlı¯d) as the dull- witted do...There is no difference between an imitator being led and a pack-animal being led. So know, o reader, that we have not included in this or other compositions anything besides what we believetobecorrect,viz.conceptsandpropositionsthatareevident orcorrectlyarguedfor. –al-H.asanal-Yu¯s¯ı(d.1691) Haditnotbeenforimitation(taqlı¯d),nooneoftheignorantwould havebeendeprivedofthetruth,andnoonecouldbeheardsaying, “Wehavenotheardthisfromourfirstforefathers.”Theonewhom the Lord wishes to make a consummate scholar, He will guide by making him understand that “Wisdom is the stray camel of the believer”andwillmakehimcommittotakewhatispureandleave whatisadulterated...Oyou,whoarebrimmingwithintelligence, do not look to who is saying something but to what is being said, for this is the way of the verifiers (muh.aqqiqı¯n) and the custom of thosewhodelvedeep(mudaqqiqı¯n)intoscholarlymatters! –K.araḪal¯ılT¯ırev¯ı(d.1711) Contents Figures,Maps,andTables page xi Acknowledgments xiii NoteonTransliteration,Dates,andTranslations xv Introduction 1 part i: “the path of the kurdish and persian verifying scholars” 1 KurdishScholarsandtheReinvigorationoftheRational Sciences 13 TheMythofthe“TriumphofFanaticism” 14 OpeningtheGateofVerificationinDamascus 26 OpeningtheGateofVerificationintheHejaz,Istanbul, andAnatolia 37 Conclusion 56 2 ADiscourseonMethod:TheEvolutionofA¯da¯b al-bah.th 60 AnExplosionofInterestinDialectics(A¯da¯bal-bah.th) 61 Seventeenth-CenturyOttomanContributionstoA¯da¯b al-bah.th 70 A¯da¯bal-bah.thandRelationalSyllogisms 85 3 TheRiseof“DeepReading” 97 TraditionalManualsontheAcquisitionofKnowledge 99 A¯da¯bal-bah.thand“TheProprietiesofReading” 106 Mu¨neccimba¯s¸¯ıon“theProprietiesofReading” 109 Sa¯c¸ak.l¯ıza¯deontheAcquisitionofKnowledge 115 vii viii Contents DeepReadingandTextualCriticism 120 OttomanEducationandtheIdealofDeepReading 125 Conclusion 128 part ii: saving servants from the yoke of imitation 4 Maghreb¯ı“Theologian-Logicians”inEgyptand theHejaz 131 Maghreb¯ıLogiciansinEgypt 131 TheSeventeenth-CenturyEfflorescenceintheMaghreb 147 FourMaghreb¯ıScholarsintheEast 153 TheEndofanEra 170 5 TheCondemnationofImitation(Taqlı¯d) 173 Sanu¯s¯ıonImitation(Taqlı¯d) 175 Sanu¯s¯ı’sInfluenceintheEast 188 Sanu¯s¯ı-InspiredCreedalWorks 193 AForgottenChapterinIslamicReligiousHistory 200 6 al-H.asanal-Yu¯s¯ıandTwoTheologicalControversiesin Seventeenth-CenturyMorocco 204 TheControversyConcerningthe“Imitator”(Muqallid) 204 H.asanal-Yu¯s¯ı’sDefenseofLogic 215 H.asanal-Yu¯s¯ıontheControversyConcerningtheIslamic ProfessionofFaith 221 Epilogue:Zab¯ıd¯ı’sCriticism 230 part iii: the imams of those who proclaim the unity of existence 7 TheSpreadofMysticalMonism 235 Sixteenth-CenturyArabSufiScholarsonIbnʿArab¯ı 237 TheShat.t.a¯r¯ıOrderintheHejaz 249 TheNaqshband¯ıOrderintheHejazandSyria 257 TheKhalwat¯ıOrderinSyria 261 Conclusion 270 8 MonistMysticsandNeo-H.anbal¯ıTraditionalism 272 Ku¯ra¯n¯ıonFigurativeInterpretation(Taʾwı¯l) 275 Ku¯ra¯n¯ıandNa¯bulus¯ıontheValueofRationalTheology (Kala¯m) 285 Ku¯ra¯n¯ıandNa¯bulus¯ıonOccasionalismandHumanActs 294 Conclusion 305 9 InDefenseofWah.datal-Wuju¯d 312 Tafta¯za¯n¯ı’sCriticismofWah.datal-Wuju¯d 313 Ku¯ra¯n¯ı’sDefenseofWah.datal-Wuju¯d 320
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