KITĀB AL-AGHĀLIT BY ABŪ 'ABD AL-RAHMĀN AL-SULAMĪ (D. 412/1021) by (under the direction ...

92 Pages·2002·5.31 MB·English

THE BOOK OF ERRORS: A CRITICAL EDITION AND STUDY OF
KITĀB AL-AGHĀLIT BY ABŪ ‘ABD AL-RAHMĀN AL-SULAMĪ (D. 412/1021)
by
JAWAD ANWAR QURESHI
(under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Honerkamp)
ABSTRACT
The Kitāb al-aghāliṭ (The Book of Errors) by Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021)
elucidates a number of errors in both thought and practice that a traveler of the Sufi path might
fall into. This study presents a critical edition of the Arabic text of Kitāb al-Aghāliṭ produced from
four manuscripts (three of which were previously uncatalogued), a detailed synopsis of the book,
and addresses questions of authorship and the relationship between Kitāb al-aghāliṭ and the
Kitāb al-luma‘ of Abu’l Naṣr al-Sarrāj (d. 378/988). The main manuscript used in forming the
critical edition treats the Kitāb al-aghāliṭ as a section of another Sulamī work previously thought
lost – Miḥan mashāyikh al-ṣufīyah (The Trials of the Sufi Masters) – a critical edition of which is
included as an appendix.

INDEX WORDS: Islam, Sufism, Malāmatīya, Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, Abu’l Naṣr
al-Sarrāj, Kitāb al-aghāliṭ, Miḥan mashayikh al-ṣufiyah, Kitāb al-luma‘
Ghalatāṭ al-ṣūfiya.
THE BOOK OF ERRORS: A CRITICAL EDITION AND STUDY OF
KITĀB AL-AGHĀLIT BY ABŪ ‘ABD AL-RAHMĀN AL-SULAMĪ (D. 412/1021)

by

Jawad Anwar Qureshi
A.B. University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

MASTER OF ARTS

ATHENS, GEORGIA

2002
© 2002
Jawad A. Qureshi
All Rights Reserved
THE BOOK OF ERRORS: A CRITICAL EDITION AND STUDY OF
KITĀB AL-AGHĀLIT BY ABŪ ‘ABD AL-RAHMĀN AL-SULAMĪ (D. 412/1021)

by

Jawad Anwar Qureshi

Approved:
Major Professor: Kenneth Honerkamp
Committee: Kenneth Honerkamp
Alan Godlas
Sandy Martin

Electronic Version Approved:
Gordhan L. Patel
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
August 2002

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................................v
A NOTE ON DATES, QUR’ĀNIC REFERENCES, AND FOREIGN WORDS.................................ix
PREFACE........................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER
1 Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī and the Kitāb al-aghāliṭ........................................3
Sulamī: Scholar and Sufi Shaykh.............................................................3
Title of the Aghāliṭ and its Relationship to Other Sulamī Texts...............11
Authorship and a Comparison with Sarrāj’s Kitāb al-luma‘.....................13
Conclusion..............................................................................................17
2 Synopsis of Kitāb al-aghāliṭ..................................................................................18
Introduction.............................................................................................18
Errors that occur in terms of doctrine......................................................21
Errors that occur in terms of social transactions and Sufi practices.......26
Errors that occur in terms of spiritual states...........................................30
3 The Arabic text of Kitāb al-aghāliṭ........................................................................37
The Manuscripts.....................................................................................37
Method of the critical edition...................................................................39
Images of the manuscripts......................................................................41
Kitāb al-aghāliṭ - Critical Edition..............................................................49
CONCLUDING REMARKS............................................................................................................69
APPENDIX – Miḥan mashayikh al-ṣūfīya.......................................................................................71
vii
viii
Concerning the text.................................................................................71
Images of the manuscripts......................................................................72
Miḥan mashāyikh al-ṣūfīya – Critical Edition...........................................74
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................79
A NOTE ON DATES, QUR’ĀNIC REFERENCES, AND FOREIGN WORDS

All dates are indicated in accordance with both the Islamic ḥijrah calendar (A.H.) and the
Common Era (C.E.), with the two dates separated by a slash. Verses from the Qur’ān are in
italics, with the chapter and verse numbers indicated in brackets. All transliterations have been
standardized in accord with the Library of Congress guidelines. Common words in Islamic
studies such as Qur’ān, ḥadīth, Sufi, shaykh, sunnah, shari‘ah, etc have not been placed in italics.
Plurals of such words will be made so by adding an “s” as is done in English. Thus, ḥadīth is
pluralized ḥadīths instead of the Arabic aḥādīth, shaykh as shaykhs instead of mashāyikh or
shuyukh, and so on.
ix