Nihāyat al-Arab fī Funūn a

273 Pages·2012·6.1 MB·English

Encyclopaedism in the Mamluk Period: The
Composition of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī’s (D.
1333) Nihāyat al-Arab fī Funūn al-Adab
Citation
Muhanna, Elias Ibrahim. 2012. Encyclopaedism in the Mamluk Period: The Composition of
Shihāb al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī’s (D. 1333) Nihāyat al-Arab fī Funūn al-Adab. Doctoral dissertation,
Harvard University.
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© 2012 Elias Muhanna
All rights reserved.
Advisor: Professor Wolfhart P. Heinrichs Elias Muhanna
Encyclopaedism in the Mamluk Period:
The Composition of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Nuwayrī’s (d. 1333)
Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab

Abstract
This dissertation explores the emergence of a golden age of Arabic
encyclopaedic literature in the scholarly centers of Egypt and Syria during the Mamluk
Empire (1250-1517). At the heart of the project is a study of Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b.
ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī’s (d. 1333) Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab (‘The Ultimate
Ambition in the Branches of Erudition’), a 31-volume encyclopaedic work composed at
the beginning of the 14th century and divided into five parts: (i) heaven and earth; (ii)
the human being; (iii) animals; (iv) plants; and (v) the history of the world.
My study examines the formal arrangement, thematic contents, and
codicological features of this seminal work, arguing that the rise of encyclopaedism in
this period was emblematic of a certain intellectual ethos, a systematic approach to the
classification of knowledge which emerged in the discursive context of a rapidly
centralizing imperial state. I argue that the Nihāya grew out of an amalgam of several
genres (including the adab anthology, the cosmographical compendium, the chancery
scribe manual, the dynastic chronicle, and the commonplace book), developing into a
new form and serving a different purpose from its literary predecessors. Such texts,
long considered tokens of intellectual and cultural decadence, demonstrate the
strategies used by Mamluk religious scholars, chancery scribes, and littérateurs to
navigate an ever-growing corpus of accumulated knowledge.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….......iii
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………………………….vi
List of Tables & Figures………………………………………………………………………………………………….viii
Abbreviations, Transliteration, and Dates….…………………………………………………………………….x

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Chapter 1: Approaching Mamluk Encyclopaedism…………………………………………………………10
Reading the Medieval Encyclopaedia: Definitions and Approaches…………………..12
In Search of Arabic Encyclopaedism……………………………………………………………………21
The Instability of Actors’ Categories……………………………………………………………………28
A Middle Path……………………………………………………………………………………………………...31
Why Encyclopaedism?…………………………………………………………………………………………32

Chapter 2: An Encyclopaedist at Work:
al-Nuwayrī’s Intellectual and Institutional Milieus……………………..……………….39
Intellectual Activity in the Wake of the Mongol Conquests……………………………….41
Bureaucrat, Scholar, Compiler: Notes on al-Nuwayrī’s Biography………………….…47
Compiling the Nihāya…………………………………………………………………………………………..58
al-Nuwayrī’s Biographers…………………………………………………………………………………….63
A Scribal Milieu: al-Nuwayrī at the Diwān al-khāṣṣ….…………………………………………..68
The Nāṣiriyya Madrasa & Bīmāristān al-Manṣūrī……………….………………………………78
The Ethos of Empire..…….…………………………………………………………………………………….97

Chapter 3: The Shape of the Nihāya…………………………………………………………………………………99
Books, Sections, Chapters, Sub-Chapters: The Nihāya’s Architecture………………101
Thematic Modularity & Cross-Referencing……………………………………………………….109
Taxonomy, the Ideological Science……………………………………………………………………124
The Nihāya and the Classical Adab Encyclopaedia…………………………………………….125
Textual Topographies………………………………………………………………………………………..134
By the Numbers: Mapping the Content of the Nihāya……………………………………….136
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………….149

Chapter 4: Cosmography, Anthology, Chronicle, Commonplace Book:
The Nihāya’s Sources and Compositional Models……………………………………….152
Compositional Models & Sources…..………………………………………………………………….160
The Adabization of the ʿUlamā’ & the Literarization of Historiography……………185
The Judge, the Sufi, & the Cow: al-Nuwayrī’s Epistemological Ecumenism……..191
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………….199

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..203

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Appendix A: Translation of the Nihāya’s Table of Contents………………………………………….207

Appendix B: Guide to Nihāya Editions and Word Counts………………………………………………217

Appendix C: Notes on Autographs and Later Manuscripts.....................………………………..224

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..242

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Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to express my gratitude to the individuals and institutions who have
supported me during several years of study and research. At Harvard, I have benefited
from the erudition, encouragement, and good humor of several wonderful scholars.
Wolfhart Heinrichs, an encyclopaedist and encyclopaedia in his own right, has
subjected each draft of this work to his scrupulous eye, providing generous and
essential guidance at every stage. Shahab Ahmed shared with me his immense
knowledge of the medieval Islamic intellectual tradition, and challenged me to think
creatively about this project from the outset. Many hours of discussion with Ann Blair,
along with her penetrating interventions and copious comments have improved this
work immeasurably. I feel deeply privileged to have worked with each of them.
I was first introduced to al-Nuwayrī and his Nihāya at the University of
Pennsylvania, where my wanderings in the landscape of adab were expertly guided by
Roger Allen. Also at Penn, I was fortunate enough to find a mentor in Joseph Lowry,
who has been a source of wisdom and friendship for many years. Of the many other
scholars who shared their insights on parts of this work as it came together, I should
particularly like to thank Thomas Bauer, Maaike van Berkel, Jonathan Berkey, Alex
Csiszar, Richard Delacy, Adam Gacek, Andras Hamori, Syrinx von Hees, Ahmad al-Jallad,
Hilary Kilpatrick, Yaron Klein, Jason König, Remke Kruk, Margaret Litvin, Roy
Mottahedeh, Erez Naaman, Avigail Noy, Meredith Quinn, Ahmed Ragab, Khaled El-
Rouayheb, David Roxburgh, Ahmad El-Shamsy, Adam Talib, and Carl Sharif El Tobgui. A
few friends deserve special mention. Ken Garden is unwittingly but inarguably the
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source of my decision to pursue a path as a scholar of medieval Islam, and has been a
dear comrade since our days in Morocco. Naseem Surhio and Alexander Key have been
confidantes and fellow travelers who have made my experience in graduate school
richer in every way.
Several institutions provided material support at various junctures. At Harvard,
my research was funded by a GSAS doctoral fellowship and a Whiting Fellowship in the
Humanities. The search for manuscripts was facilitated by individuals at Princeton’s
Firestone Library, Leiden University Library (especially Arnoud Vrolijk), Süleymaniye
Manuscript Library, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The staff of Widener
Library has honored every request, no matter how arcane and unreasonable, with
professionalism and aplomb. The Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the
American University of Beirut provided an institutional home during a year of
manuscript research and writing in the Middle East. I should also like to thank
Cambridge Masters Swimming Club for twelve kilometers of happiness each week, and
the community of readers at Qifa Nabki, who have thrown me a lifeline each time al-
Nuwayrī’s leviathan threatened to swallow me whole.
How does one thank one’s family? The Nihāya’s chapter on the expression of
gratitude (§2.3.1.10) does not contain a rhetorical formula that is up to this challenge.
For their unstinting love and support, I thank my parents, brothers, and sister, who,
despite the thousands of miles that have separated us for so many years, have always
been with me. On this side of the world, the Jacksons have treated me like a member of
their family since long before I became one. Finally, my deepest gratitude is to my wife
Jennifer and our darling daughters Laila and Maya. For everything.
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List of Tables & Figures

Table 1: Biographical Timeline
Table 2: Codicological & Textual Evidence for the Nihāya’s Compilation History
Table 3: Budget of the Nāṣiriyya Madrasa
Table 4: The Nihāya’s three-tiered structure
Table 5: Divions of Nihāya §3.3.1 (On the Horse)
Table 6: Cross-references in Nihāya, Book I
Table 7: Cross-references in the Nihāya (summary)
Table 8: Structural arrangement of seven adab encyclopaedias
Table 9: Word count by Book
Table 10: Section word count ordered by size
Table 11: The Nihāya’s largest ten chapters, ordered by size
Table 12: The contents of al-Waṭwāṭ’s Mabāhij al-fikar wa-manāhij al-ʿibar
Table 13: Comparison between Nihāya §1.0 and Mabāhij §1.0-§2.0
Table 14: Cosmographical compilations of the 13th-14th centuries
Table 15: Sources of the Nihāya, Books I, III, and IV
Table 15: Major sources of the Nihāya, Book II
Table 17: Editions and word counts
Table 18: Manuscripts consulted

Figure 1: Paris BnF, Mss or. Arabe 5050, fol. 10b
Figure 2: Leiden University, MS Or. 273, fol. 3b
Figure 3: Ground Plan of the Nāṣiriyya Madrasa
Figure 4: Restoration of the Nāṣiriyya Madrasa
Figure 5: Cross-references originating in Nihāya, Book I
Figure 6: Cross-references originating in Nihāya, Book II
Figure 7: Cross-references originating in Nihāya, Book III
Figure 8: Cross-references originating in Nihāya, Book IV
Figure 9: Cross-references originating in Nihāya, Book V
Figure 10: Cross-references across the Nihāya
Figure 11: Relative size of the Nihāya’s Books and Sections
Figure 12: Internal arrangement of Nihāya Book I
Figure 13: Internal arrangement of Nihāya Book II
Figure 14: Internal arrangement of Nihāya Book III
Figure 15: Internal arrangement of Nihāya Book IV
Figure 16: Internal arrangement of Nihāya Book V
Figure 17: Leiden University, MS Or. 2c, ff. 52b-53a
Figure 18: Leiden University, MS Or. 2i, ff. 151b-152a
Figure 19: Leiden University, MS Or. 2l, ff. 229b-230a
Figure 20: Leiden University, MS Or. 2f, ff. 234b-235a
Figure 21: Leiden University, MS Or. 2d, ff. 157b-158a
Figure 22: Leiden University, MS Or. 273, pp. 1-2
Figure 23: Leiden University, MS Or. 273, pp. 127-28
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Figure 24: Fazıl Ahmed Paşa MS 362, ff. 1b-2a (first pages of table of contents)
Figure 25: Fazıl Ahmed Paşa MS 362, ff. (16b-17a) title page
Figure 26: Fazıl Ahmed Paşa MS 362, ff. 18b-19a (introduction)
Figure 27: Fazıl Ahmed Paşa MS 362, ff. 314b-315a (audition statements)
Figure 28: Detail from three manuscripts in al-Nuwayrī’s hand

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Abbreviations, Transliteration, and Dates

Nihāya = Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī, eds. Aḥmad Zakī Pāsha et
al (Cairo: al-Muʾassasa al-Miṣriyya al-‘Āmma li-‘l-Ta’līf wa-‘l-Tarjama wa-‘l-Ṭibā‘a wa-‘l-
Nashr, 1923-97).

DKI = Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya edition of the Nihāya, viz. Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAbd al-
Wahhāb al-Nuwayrī, Nihāyat al-arab fī funūn al-adab, ed. Mufīd Qumayḥa et al (Beirut:
Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2004).

References to books (funūn), sections (aqsām), and chapters (abwāb) in the Nihāya are
signaled using the symbol (§). For example, §1.2.3 refers to book 1, section 2, chapter 3.
See Appendix A for the Nihāya’s Table of Contents.

EI1 = M. Th. Houtsma et al, eds., Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1908-34).

EI2 = H. A. R. Gibb et al, eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954-2009).

EI3 = Marc Garborieau et al, eds. Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (Leiden: Brill, 2007-).

Q = al-Qurʾān

AH = After hijra. Death dates are given according to both hijrī and common era (CE)
calendars. All other dates are CE except when quoting from primary sources.

Arabic quotations are transliterated in cases where vocabulary or syntax is noteworthy.
Words that have romanized English acceptations (e.g. madrasa, imam, Abbasid,
Mamluk) are not italicized or transliterated with macrons or underdots.

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