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Brill Islamic Law and Society: This Content Downloaded From 152.118.24.10 On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC
Brill Islamic Law and Society: This Content Downloaded From 152.118.24.10 On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC
Abd al-amad al-mil's Treatise for Sultan Suleiman and the Sh Shfi Legal
Tradition
Author(s): Devin J. Stewart
Source: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1997), pp. 156-199
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399493
Accessed: 29-09-2016 03:52 UTC
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TRADITION*
DEVIN J. STEWART
(Emory University)
Abstract
This study draws on the work Nur al-haqiqah wa-nawr al-hadlqah, a treatise on
ethics written by Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi extant in two autograph
manuscripts, in an effort to explain how the author and his close companion Zayn
al-Din al-'Amili, two of the most important Twelver Shi'i jurists of the sixteenth
century, were able to obtain appointments as professors of law at Sunni madrasahs
GEORGE MAKDISI has likened the Islamic legal madhhabs to professional guilds, stressing, among other features, their claims to autonomy
-meant to maintain independence from the caliphs-and exclusivitymeant to keep out the philosophical theologians, particularly the Mu'tazilis.' The jurists, he argues, claimed a monopoly on religious authority
and established an educational-cum-professional system designed to
close and regulate the ranks of qualified doctors of Islamic law. This
gious and legal history, yet its implications, overall accuracy, and
applicability to specific periods and geographical areas will be subject
to debate for some time to come. Prominent among these concerns are
questions relating to the formality and rigidity of the madhhab as an
institution that controled the educational system, which some recent
treatments of medieval Islamic education have discounted or de-
emphasized.2
* This research was supported in part by the National Humanities Center
(Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) and the Research Triangle Foundation of
North Carolina.
1 E.g., George Makdisi, The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the
Christian West, with Special Reference to Scholasticism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1990), 16-23.
2 See, e.g., Jonathan Berkey, The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval
? Brill, Leiden, 1997
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157
One method of gauging the hegemony of the madhhabs, and particularly their success in maintaining formal exclusivity, is to examine
the efforts that marginal groups expended in order to fit into the system
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158
DEVIN J. STEWART
time.6
in Shi'i circles. Completed in 945/1539, the work Nir al-haqlqah wanawr al-hadlqah by the sixteenth-century Shi'i scholar Husayn b. 'Abd
al-Samad al-'Amili is a rare document that demonstrates explicitly that
legal school, but also the Shi'i concern to suppress this information and
conceal the extent of his efforts to gain acceptance in Sunni circles. At
the same time, the work throws important light on the careers of
The study will first look at the closely related careers of Zayn al-Din
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159
inspired by Sunni works in the field. See Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, Sharh al-biddyah
(n.p., 1309 a.h.); IHusayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi, Wusul al-akhydr ila usil
al-akhbdr, ed. 'Abd al-Latif al-Kuihkamari (Qum: Matba'at al-khayyam, 1981).
Zayn al-Din is also known as the first Twelver jurist to write "interwoven commentaries" (sharh mazj), which were widely used in Sunni legal texts by the fifteenth
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DEVIN J. STEWART
Zayn al-Din during either of his stays in Damascus, but record that he
accompanied Zayn al-Din to Cairo. After their sojourn in Egypt, they
made the pilgrimage to Mecca and returned to Juba', where Zayn alDin built a new house with an adjacent mosque. Except for a trip to
Jerusalem in Dhf al-Hijjah 948/March 154312 and about a two year
stint teaching in Ba'labakk, Zayn al-Din spent the rest of his days
studying and teaching in Jabal 'Amil. He began having trouble with
local authorities in 956/1549.13 These problems escalated over the
years, and he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca in 964/1557 in order
nence under the patronage of the Safavid king Shah Tahmasb I (93084/1524-76). After serving as shaykh al-islam of Qazvin, Mashhad,
and Herat for nearly twenty years, he left the Safavid empire to make
the pilgrimage to Mecca in 983/1575. He then traveled to Bahrain,
where he died in 984/1576.15
Perhaps the most striking indication of the efforts of Husayn and
Zayn al-Din to participate in the Sunni legal system is the fact that they
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161
1538 until 10 Dhfi al-Qa'dah 962/26 September 1555) and subsequently wrote a biography of his teacher entitled Bughyat al-murld min
after having served in a number of other posts as qadi and mudarris. See Najm alDin al-Ghazzi, al-Kawdkib al-sd'irah bi-a'yan al-mi'ah al-'ashirah, 3 vols. (Beirut:
humdyun), where they would present such petitions. This function was later taken
over by the mufti of Istanbul, apparently at the instigation of the famous mufti Abu
Nagy].
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DEVIN J. STEWART
al-Din the position and assigning him the monthly stipend stipulated by
the founder, the Ayyubid ruler Nur al-Din Maihmud b. Zangi (54169/1146-74). All together, Zayn al-Din spent three and a half months in
Istanbul; he left on 11 Rajab 952/18 September 1545. He reports that
After the delay, Husayn and Zayn al-Din traveled to Iraq before
returning to Jabal 'Amil. While Zayn al-Din states that the reason for
their trip was to visit the shrines of the Imams,21 they probably also
intended to evaluate Husayn's new position. They ended up staying in
Baghdad for a week, 8-15 Shawwal 952/13-20 December 1545, and in
addition to visiting the shrines of the seventh and ninth Imams at alKazimiyyah,22 they could presumably have investigated the madrasah
The Ottoman appointments of these two Shi'i scholars present something of a puzzle for the historian. The fact that they were able to obtain
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163
Safavid empire (907-1134/1501-1722).30 For this reason, Ja'far al27 Caroline Joyce Beeson, The Origins of Conflict in the Safawi Religious
Arab Shi'i Opposition to 'Ali al-Karaki and Safawid Shi'ism," Die Welt des
Islams 33(1993): 66-112, here p. 106.
29 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano"; idem, Ascesa e
caduta di una famiglia di Alrdf sciiti di Aleppo: I Zuhrdwi o Zuhrd-zdda (16001700) (Rome: Istituto per l'Oriente C.A. Nallino, 1992).
30 The modem Iraqi scholar Muzaffar identifies the Shi'is' greatest enemies in
Islamic history as the Umayyads, the Abbasids, and the Ottomans. [Muhammad
Rida Muzaffar, 'Aqd'id al-imdmiyah (Cairo: Matba'at nfir al-amal, 1961), 74.] A
number of modem scholars have argued that the Ottomans were ideologically
opposed to Shi'ism in general and that Ottoman-Safavid conflict had important
sectarian repercussions on the Shi'i communities in Jabal 'Amil. [Ja'far al-Muhajir,
al-Hijrah al-'amiliyah ild Irdn fi al-'asr al-safawl (Beirut: Dar al-rawdah, 1989),
32-39; idem, Sittat fuqahd' abtdl, 180-81; 'Ali Ibrihim Darwish, Jabal 'Amil bayn
1516-1697 (Beirut: Dar al-hadi, 1993), 30-33, 229; Rula Jurdi Abisaab, "The
Ulama of Jabal 'Amil in Safavid Iran, 1501-1736: Marginality, Migration and
Social Change," Iranian Studies 27 (1994): 103-22, esp. pp. 104-5, 110-14.] Adel
Allouche treats this prevalent view with regard to the Ottoman-Safavid conflict in
The Origins and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid Conflict, 906-962/1500-1555
(Berlin: Klaus Scwharz Verlag, 1983), 4-5, 104-28. On the Ottoman persecution of
Shi'is see Elke Eberhard, Osmanische Polemik gegen die Safawiden im 16. Jahr-
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DEVIN J. STEWART
Muhyjir characterizes Zayn al-Din's bid to obtain an Ottoman appointment as "the strangest possible step for a Shi'i jurist to undertake at that
square below the citadel; their ashes were thrown into the Barada
River.33 It therefore seems improbable that two openly Shi'i scholars
would have been able to study with ease in Sunni environments or
obtain appointments in Sunni madrasahs through officials at the Ottoman court. Contemporary sources provide little help in resolving this
Ibn al-'Awdi's account of the trip Zayn al-Din and Husayn made to
Istanbul is maddeningly reticent on certain crucial points, particularly
their motives for seeking appointments and the problems they, as Shi'is,
(1979): 245-73. These studies have focused on Anatolia, and few conclusions can
be drawn about the nature of sectarian relations in the Ottoman provinces of Syria
and Iraq, about which see the remarks of Newman in "The Myth of the Clerical
Migration," 67, 93, 104-6. The importance of the religious factor for the conflict
has been called into question and other geopolitical factors emphasized in Allo-
uche's The Origins and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid Conflict, J.R. Walsh,
"The Historiography of Ottoman-Safavid Relations in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries," in Historians of the Middle East, ed. B. Lewis and P. M. Holt (London,
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165
madrasah] specifically" (fa-qtadd l-hdlu an ikhtartu minhu l-madrasata l-nurlyata bi-ba'labakka li-masdliha wajadtuha wa-li-zuhuri amri
'Llahi ta'dld bihd 'ald l-khusus).38 Husayn seems to have opted on purpose for a post in Baghdad, but the reasons for this choice are unclear.
Zayn al-Din's desire for a post in Syria, closer to Jabal 'Amil, seems
more logical. Husayn may have had family ties in Iraq, or he may have
felt that Baghdad, with a sizable Shi'i population, would provide a less
tense atmosphere with regard to sectarian issues than Damascus or
elsewhere in Syria.39 He may also have wanted to be near the Shi'i
shrines in southern Iraq. Zayn al-Din's remarks concerning his reasons
for leaving Ba'labakk are again vague: "Then we moved away from
them [the inhabitants of Ba'labakk] to our village [Juba'] in obedience
to the divine command [manifested] earlier at the Noble Shrines [of the
Imams in Iraq], then later at the noble shrine of the prophet Seth"
36 Ibid., 2:170. See also Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero otto-
mano," 83.
37 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano," 90, also makes this
point.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
(thumma 'ntaqalnar 'anhum ild baladind bi-nlyati 'I-mufdraqah, imtithilan li 'l-amr al-ildhlyi scbiqanfi 'l-mashahidi 'sh-sharifah, wa-lahiqan
fi 'I-mashhadi 'sh-sharifi mashhadi Shitha 'alayhi 's-saldm).40 These
Istanbul, who asked him, "Do you have the 'ard al-qdadl with you?"
[Zayn al-Din] answered, "No." He said, "In that case, your situation is
difficult and will require a lengthy delay." [Zayn al-Din] then took out
the above-mentioned treatise which he had authored, and said, "This is
my 'ard." [The scholar] said, "With this, you will need nothing else."42
41 On this point, see also Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero otto-
mano," 89-90.
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167
As Beeson and Newman have noted, Zayn al-Din states that the
time he spent at the Nfiriyah madrasah was especially pleasant and
These statements show clearly that Zayn al-Din taught both Sunni and
Twelver Shi'i law and imply in addition that he granted legal opinions
to both Sunnis and Shi'is.46 They should not be taken, however, as
direct evidence that Zayn al-Din was appointed specifically to do so or
that he did so with the knowledge and approval of the Ottoman govern-
ment and the Sunni legal hierarchy. This would go against what is
known of Ottoman-Safavid relations during the period, the treatment of
Shi'is within Ottoman territory, and pre-moder Islamic legal education. Calder, for example, expresses doubt that Twelver Shi'i law could
be taught officially in Ottoman Syria in this period, despite statements
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DEVIN J. STEWART
taqlyah, passing as Sunni jurists. If they successfully presented themselves to Ottoman officials as qualified Sunni jurists, it would not be so
Not only Ottoman officials but also the endowment document of the
madrasah itself would have required that Zayn al-Din belong to one of
the four recognized madhhabs. In fact, the Niriyah madrasah in Ba'labakk was an officially Shffi'i institution; it was one of the Shifi'i mad-
rasahs in Ba'labakk, Hims, Hamah, and Manbij that Niir al-Din had
built after 550/1155-56 for the prominent Shafi'i jurist Sharaf al-Din
'Abd Allah b. Muhammad Ibn Abi 'Asrun (d. 585/1189-90).48 Zayn al-
and ancillary subjects. Once in Ba'labakk, however, Zayn al-Din probably reinterpreted his duties according to his own goals and inclinations
and the needs of the local community. He may have given private
lessons to Shi'i students in Shi'i law while publicly teaching Sunni law.
Alternatively, it may be that in this minor center in a predominantly
Shi'i region, it was not a problem for Zayn al-Din to teach Shi'i law
publicly and that local officials would have turned a blind eye to his
activities as long as he did not cause public disturbances.
It therefore would seem likely that taqiyah enabled Zayn al-Din and
Husayn to obtain Ottoman appointments. Shi'i scholars in the region of
Syria often practiced taqlyah; certainly this is the implication of al-Hurr
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169
that Zayn al-Din and Husayn were performing taqiyah may be logical,
it has been difficult to demonstrate. The Shi'i sources often mention the
fact that Husayn and Zayn al-Din studied with Sunni teachers, but do
not explicitly state that they were passing as Sunni jurists.
51 Ibid., 27.
52 Ibid., 27-28.
53 Ibid., 7-9; Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, al-Dharl'ah ila tasanEf al-sh'ah, 27
vols. (Tehran and Najaf, 1934-78), 24: 367-68; Arthur J. Arberry, The Chester
Beatty Library. A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, 8 vols. (Dublin, 1955-66),
vol. 4, p. 21 and plate no. 108.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
3 Sha'ban 945 (25 December 1538).54 Both Arberry and Agha Buzurg
al-Tihrini give the date as 3 Ramadan 945 (23 January 1539) rather
than 3 Sha'ban 945.55 The month given in the colophon is a bit difficult
to read and is followed by the adjective al-mu'azzam, generally an epithet of Sha'ban; normally Ramadan would take the epithet al-mubdrak.
Nevertheless, close examination of the word in question shows that it is
almost certainly Ramadan and that al-Jalali is probably mistaken on
this point.56 More importantly, al-Jalali's claim that the Chester Beatty
MS is not an autograph merits reconsideration. He suggests that the
manuscript was copied by a relative of the author, Taqi al-Din b. 'Ali'
al-Din b. Taqi b. 'Abd al-Samad, because its script matches that of a
couplet the latter wrote on the book's cover. This assessment goes
against that of Arberry and Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, who both identify
the MS as an autograph.57 It is entirely possible that Taqi al-Din simply had the MS in his possession and wrote the couplet on the cover at a
later date. Al-Jalali also argues that many errors appear in the manuscript which would not occur if an author were writing his own work; a
word, half a line, or an entire line frequently had to be added in the
margin.58 This is not a very strong argument, for such omissions occur
quite frequently when an author copies out his own work from a draft.
56 See the colophon reproduced in Arberry, Handlist, vol. 4, plate no. 108.
of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and Other Collections in the Netherlands, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1980), 257.
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171
Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, however, does not cite this manuscript in alDharl'ah; this is apparently why al-Jalali was not aware of it and did
not use it for his edition. Examination of the MS itself confirms that it is
a prominent Ottoman scholarly family (fol. lb). The two MSS thus
have distinct histories; while the Chester Beatty MS was preserved in a
environment in Istanbul.
and Andrew Newman have both noted that it was dedicated to Sultan
many poets in particular: al-Hutay'ah (d. ca. 30/650) (p. 145); Labid
(d. 40/660) (p. 281); al-Sha'bi (d. 103/721) (pp. 92, 212); Ibn Sirin
(d. 110/730) (pp. 184-85); Abu 'l-'At5hiyah (d. 210/825) (pp. 119, 124,
279); al-Asma'i (d. 213/828) (pp. 160, 173); Abu Tammam (d.
231/846) (p. 256); al-Riyashi (d. 257/871) (p. 145); Ibn al-Rumi (d.
283/896) (pp. 222, 260); al-Mutanabbi (d. 354/965) (p. 129); Ibn
Nubatah (either al-Fariqi, d. 374/984-85 or al-Sa'di, d. 405/1016)
(p. 261); Abu 'l-Fath al-Busti (d. 400/1010) (pp. 169, 263). Many other
figures cited belong to the category of secretaries or bellettristic prose
218); al-Fadl b. Sahl (d. 202/818) (p. 208); al-Fadl b. al-Rabi' (d. 207
or 208/822-24) (p. 173); al-J.hiz (d. 255/869) (pp. 163, 182); Ibn althat the manuscript is dated 945/1538, when it was actually completed in 1539. He
gives the title of the work incorrectly as Nar al-haqiqah wa-nur al-hadlqah,
"The Light of Truth on the Light of Subtle Points." Newman, "The Myth of Clerical Migration," 106 n. 88, gives the date as 945/1538, following Brockelmann.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
Zubayr (d. 256/870) (pp. 104, 209, 214); Ibn Durayd (d. 321/933) (pp.
85, 237); Ibn al-'Amid (d. 359/969) (p. 92). Literary critics mentioned
include the well-known grammarian and theoretician of poetry alKhalil b. Ahmad (d. ca. 160-75/777-91) (pp. 96, 101); al-Mubarrad (d.
285/898) (p. 88); and Ibn al-Mu'tazz (d. 296/908) (pp. 67, 72, 269).
The famous calligraphers Ibn Muqlah (d. 328/940) (p. 109) and Ibn al-
Bawwab (d. 413/1022) (p. 109) also appear. Only a few figures
associated primarily with fields of endeavor other than belles-lettres are
mentioned in the work. These include the early grammar expert Abu '1-
Aswad al-Du'ali (d. 69/688) (pp. 172, 194), the mystic Abui Yazid al-
156, 242, 259), and the philosophers Abfi al-Nasr al-Farabi (d.
339/950) (p. 65) and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209), the latter of
whom Husayn calls "the Imam" (p. 37). Nearly all of the figures
mentioned date from the first four Islamic centuries, the only exception
being the philosopher and Shffi'i jurist Fakhr al-Din al-Rizi, who died
in the early seventh/thirteenth century. Husayn rarely mentions the titles
of specific works, referring to authors alone. The only titles he mentions
The way in which certain important Sunni historical figures are presented, including the phrases of blessing which occur after their names,
also indicates that the work was directed toward a Sunni audience. As
is well known, Shi'is disapprove of the first three Sunni caliphs for
63 See Brockelmann, GAL, SI:829; SII:1031. This might be the work of Abu '1-
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173
'Llahu 'anhu "may God be pleased with him" (p. 208). 'A'ishah (d.
58/678) is mentioned twice with the blessing radiya 'Llchu 'anhd.64 A
number of Umayyad caliphs and their descendants, loathed by Shi'is,
are mentioned: Mu'awiyah (41-60/661-80) (pp. 176, 178, 217); Sulay-
man b. 'Abd al-Malik (96-99/715-17) (p. 283); and 'Umar b. 'Abd al'Aziz (99-101/717-20) (pp. 152, 216, 281). A number of Abbasid
caliphs, including al-Mansir (136-58/754-75) (p. 214), al-Rashid
(170-93/786-809) (p. 281), al-Ma'min (198-218/813-33) (p. 148), and
al-Mutawakkil (232-47/847-61) (pp. 177, 178), also appear in the text
without any of the criticisms normally expressed in Shi'i works.
The names of the Shi'i Imams are also presented in a way which
suggests that the work was directed at a Sunni audience. 'Ali appears a
few times with the typical Shi'i blessing 'alayhi al-saldm "peace be
upon him" (pp. 49, 65, 94, 100) which in the Sunni tradition is generally reserved for prophets. 'Ali's name is much more often presented with
Hasan (d. 49/669) and Husayn (d. 61/680) appear without any
formula at all (p. 178), as does the name of the eighth Imam, al-Rida
(d. 203/818) (p. 243). The name of the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq (d.
148/765) appears with the typical Sunni phrase radiya 'Llahu 'anhu
(p. 211).
The presentation of the names of the Companions and the Imams in
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DEVIN J. STEWART
(fols. 16b, 18a, 21b, 23a, 24a, 27a, 35b, 37b, 38a, 38b, 40b, 50a, 54a,
59a, 67a, 81b, 82b, 90b, 95a, 97b, 103b, 104a, 104b, 107a, 108a,
112a, 114a, 117a, 117b, 119b, 145a, 146a), even in the passage where
the other text has karrama 'Lldhu wajhah (fol. 97b). The only exception
is one instance where the phrase 'alayhi 's-salam appears (fol. 76a). As
in the edited text, the name Ja'far al-Sadiq appears with a tardiyah (fol.
There are a number of other hints in the published text of Nar alhaqiqah that Husayn was presenting himself specifically as a Sunni
and a Shifi'i jurist. The work usually avoids doctrinally marked topics
such as law or theology and other sensitive topics, where one assumes
the author would have had to modify the ideas he expressed in order to
accord with standard Sunni views. Husayn refers to Fakhr al-Din al-
Razi as "the Imam" (p. 37), and this characterization implies that
Husayn had a certain attachment to or background in philosophy-alRazi was indeed a Shafi'i jurist but was much better known for his
philosophical works. Only two passages mention theological or legal
divisions within the Muslim community. While discussing differences
of opinion which arise within a single religion and result in reprehensible conflict and discord, Husayn criticizes the Mu'tazilah (p. 140). He
follows their mention with the imprecation qdbalahumu 'Llihu bi-md
yastahiqqanah "may God meet them with what they deserve!" and
opposes them to ahl al-haqq "the people of the truth," whom he blesses,
rafa'a 'Llihu darajatihim "may God raise their statures!" (p. 140). He
also implies here that justice has been done now that the Mu'tazilah
have been eradicated. In another passage, H.usayn refers to "a large
group of our Shafi'i fellow-jurists" (ummatun min ashdbind al-shdfi'yah) (p. 40), implying a claim to belong to the Shafi'i school of law.
There are, however, two crucial differences between the two MSS,
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175
The second crucial difference between the two MSS appears in the
introduction. Al-Jalali notes several lacunae in this passage of the
Chester Beatty MS.65 It is nevertheless clear from the remaining text
that it originally included a dedication to a ruler, for it includes the
son of the two MSS shows that the opening pages in the Chester Beatty
MS, the bottom half of fol. 4a and top half of fol. 4b have been cut or
torn out-the top section of fol. 5a, the recto of fol. 4b, is also missing
-and the intervening leaf has been removed.67 It is unlikely that this
large lacuna is a mere accident due to the ravages of time, for though
the corers of some other pages are worn, none are mutilated this
badly, and no other leaves are missing. This specific passage remains
intact in the Leiden MS: it is a lengthy and bombastic dedication of the
work to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman. The physical mutilation of the
MS, which begins just before the sultan's name would have occurred in
the text, seems to have been done on purpose to edit out this dedication.
ant presented Solomon the gift of half a locust's leg and that he
accepted this gift graciously. Husayn then observes that if the tiny ant
could present a gift to King Solomon, he, despite his limited means and
humble status, could present a gift to the Solomon of his own era, the
great Sultan Suleiman. He could also entertain the hope that the latter
would deign to accept his paltry offering, for, as the story implies,
65 Husayn al-'Amili, Nar al-haqlqah, ed. al-Jalali, 34-35.
66 Ibid., 34.
67 Comparison of the two MSS shows that there was one intervening leaf-and
not more-between the two torn pages. The missing passage takes up about 4
pages in the Leiden MS. If there had been one intervening leaf in the Chester Beatty
MS, the original passage would have been about 2 and one half pages long, which
would represent roughly the same amount of text, given that the script is larger and
the margins wider in the Leiden MS.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
noble men take the stature of the donor into account when judging the
value of a gift. Though this particular account does not appear in the
Qur'an, many similar elaborations of the Solomon story are contained
in works in the genre of qisas al-anbiyd' "tales of the prophets." For
example, in his 'Ard'is al-majalis al-Tha'labi (d. 427/1035) tells that on
one occasion Solomon prevented his army from crushing the nest of a
pair of larks. To express their gratitude, they present him with a date
and a locust they had been storing as food for their young, and he
accepts their humble gift graciously, anoints them, and prays for
them.68 The trope of presenting a humble gift to Solomon seems to have
been fairly common in dedications to rulers. In a poem preserved in alBarq al-shaml, the famous secretary 'Imad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani
(d. 597/ 1201) compares the work he is presenting to his patron Nur alDin Mahmid b. Zangi with the ant's present to Solomon in a statement
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177
made this first trip to Istanbul on his own, without his teacher Zayn al-
Din. The two had returned to Juba' on 24 Safar 944/2 August 1537
after their prolonged stay in Egypt and a pilgrimage to Mecca.70 Zayn
al-Din reports that he stayed in Juba' from then until 946/1539.71 In
addition, Zayn al-Din's biographer reports that Husayn accompanied
Zayn al-Din to Istanbul "the first time," in reference to their trip there
together in 952/1545.72 The "second time" would have been when Zayn
al-Din was taken there to be executed in 965/1558.73 In 945/1539,
madrasah in his home town upon returning from Egypt.74 Ibn al-'Awdi
stresses the revival of learning Zayn al-Din's return meant for the
region, and reports that at this juncture Zayn al-Din built a house and
an adjacent mosque (masjid) which were completed in 945/1538-39.75
Though Ibn al-'Awdi does not say so explicitly, one may assume that
the mosque was intended to serve as the local madrasah where Zayn
Husayn and Zayn al-Din traveled to Istanbul seven years later, the
journey took about three months-they left Juba' on 12 Dh 'l-Hijjah
951/24 February 1545 and arrived in Istanbul on 17 Rabi' I 952/29
May 1545, but this was after a number of unforseen delays and
70
71
72
73
74 See Muhsin al-Amin, Khitat Jabal 'Amil, ed. Hasan al-Amin, vol. 1
(Beirut: Matba'at al-insaf, 1961), 50-53. For the example of Mfis Shararah, who
ca. 1301/1884 established a personal madrasah in Bint Jubayl which Muhsin alAmin attended, see idem, A'ydn al-shE'ah, ed. Hasan al-Amin, 10 vols. (Beirut:
and mosque were completed-suggests that the mosque was used for teaching.
Zayn al-Din would pray the morning prayer (one assumes in the mosque) and then
teach for the rest of the day (presumably also in the mosque). 'All al-'Amili, alDurr al-manthur, 2:151, 155.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
occasion. Indeed, nothing specific is known about Husayn's whereabouts between the dates 945/1539 and late 951/1545, when he and
Zayn al-Din set out on their trip to Istanbul. The only evidence which
may be adduced to throw light on this question is circumstantial. As
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179
Nur al-haqlqah throws considerable light on other facets of Husayn's career as well as on that of his teacher, Zayn al-Din. The fact
that Husayn presented himself to the Ottoman sultan as a Shafi'i jurist
in this document implies that he had probably been passing as a Shafi'i
that Zayn al-Din was a Shi'i scholar.79 The work Nur al-haqiqah
would suggest, on the contrary, that Husayn and Zayn al-Din, despite
their background, were quite convincing in their presentation of themselves as Shafi'i scholars. This supports the view that Zayn al-Din was
appointed as a professor of Shifi'i law to teach at an officially Shifi'i
madrasah, and was neither recognized by Ottoman officials as a Shi'i
jurist nor expected to teach the law of the five madhhabs. Husayn as
well must have been considered for Shefi'i positions in particular.
The Performance of Taqiyah
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DEVIN J. STEWART
was probably dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan Murad III (9821003/1574-95).82 This text may be the work mentioned by the Sunni
scholar Abf 'l-Wafa' al-'Urdi (d. 1071/1660), a native of Aleppo, who
reports that Baha' al-Din wrote a treatise on tafsir dedicated to the
Ottoman sultan to protect himself in the event that he were detained by
Ottoman officials while making the pilgrimage to Mecca.83 Nur alhaqiqah is thus one among a number of such treatises used by Shi'is to
establish a Sunni identity and gain the patronage of Sunni rulers.
The modification of one's nisbah is a common strategy employed by
Shi'is when performing taqiyah, for often a nisbah reflecting a place of
treats ten problems in ten different sciences, should not be confused with the short
Din wrote it while on the trip to Istanbul and not actually in Istanbul itself.
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181
of 'Ali b. Abi Talib. In using this name he is not falsifying facts, but is
omitting important information, particularly concerning his place of
origin. He does not use the nisbah by which he is usually identified in
Shi'i sources, al-'Amili, indicating that he originates from Jabal 'Amil,
nor does he use the nisbah al-Juba'i, derived from the name of his
native town, Juba'. Either of these may have given away his Shi'i
identity, since Jabal 'Amil was widely known as a Shi'i region.
Apparently the nisbah al-'Amili, like the nisbah al-Bahrini in Bahrain,
was used only or primarily by Shi'is. Nearly fifty years later, .Husayn's
son Baha' al-Din adopted the same strategy and used the nisbah alHarithi al-Hamdani in order to avoid the nisbah al-'Amili when facing
a Sunni audience in Ottoman territory.84 Zayn al-Din presumably also
used another nisbah to avoid using the nisbah al-'Amili. In his manual
on hadith criticism, Sharh al-biddyahfi 'ilm al-dirayah, he discusses the
various uses of the nisbah and the proper order for listing them when
referring to someone whose name includes several, and writes that
someone from the village of Juba' might use the nisbahs al-Juba'i
referring to the village, al-Saydawi referring to the district, or al-Shami
referring to the region.85 In the same work, he signs his name Zayn al-
avoiding the nisbah al-'Amili, he would have given his name simply as
Zayn al-Din b. 'Ali b. Ahmad al-Shami.
While documents served as important props for the performance of
taqlyah, it is equally clear that documentary evidence of taqiyah was
often suppressed through editing. Specific points which might be seen
as compromising or detrimental if revealed to a Shi'i audience were
removed. Baha' al-Din al-'Amili's treatise on Qur'inic exegesis provides an example of this type of editing. It appears that he dedicated it
to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, intending to pass as a Sunni author,
but one cannot be sure about the dedication because the name of the
belong to the Shafi'i legal school, has been omitted. Bahi' al-Din may
have altered the document when he returned to the Safavid empire for
fear of offending the Shah or a Shi'i audience, or a later Shi'i scholar
may have found the flattering mention of the Ottoman sultan offensive
84 See Stewart, "Taqiyyah as Performance," 46-48.
174.
86 Ibid.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
and effaced it. Al-'Urdi reports that Baha' al-Din merely replaced an
introduction dedicating his work on tafsir to Shah 'Abbis88 with an
introduction dedicated to the Ottoman sultan.89 This is unlikely, for the
for hypocritical or nefarious behavior should the work fall into the
wrong hands. In addition, someone deliberately excised the dedication
to Sultan Suleiman from the introduction in the Chester Beatty MS.
Husayn himself tore out the passage in question for fear of offending
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183
akhydr ild usul al-akhbdr, "The Path for Clever Scholars to the Sources
of Oral Tradition," completed in Mashhad ca. 960/1553,92 where he
describes the Ottomans as tyrants and hypocrites,93 would be seriously
undercut if read alongside his equally effusive dedication to Sultan
Suleiman in Nar al-haqlqah wa-nawr al-hadiqah. Evidence that he had
about doing so. While Husayn's other works and subsequent career
show that he was a Twelver Shi'i by conviction, his claim to be a
92 M. T. Danishpazhih and 'A.N. Munzavi, eds., Fihrist-i nuskhahd-yi khattiyi kitdbkhdnah-yi markazi-yi ddnishgdh-i Tehran (Tehran, 1952-79), 15:4241. See
the discussion of this point in Stewart, "The First Shaykh al-lsldm of Qazvin."
93 Wusul al-akhydr ild usul al-akhbdr, ed. 'Abd al-Latif al-Kuhkamari (Qum:
Matba'at al-khayy&m, 1981), 30-31.
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DEVIN J. STEWART
Shifi'i jurist was not mere window-dressing, a lie concocted ad hoc for
simple convenience. It is easy to dismiss a claim to membership in the
Shafi'i madhhab made by a Shi'i during the course of a heresy trial as
a mere expedient to avoid execution. Similarly, one might also claim
that Husayn was performing taqlyah simply to obtain employment, but
this would overlook significant evidence. Both Husayn and Zayn alDin were actually accomplished jurists trained in the Shafi'i tradition.
Zayn al-Din left a fairly detailed account of his studies in Cairo,94 and
Din Ahmad al-Ramli al-Ansiri (d. 957/1550), as well as other prominent Shifi'i jurists such as Abui al-Hasan al-Bakri (d. 953/1546-47)
al-Waraqdt by al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085), the Mukhtasar of Ibn alHajib (d. 646/1249) with the famous commentary of 'Adud al-Din al-Iji
(d. 756/1355), and Jam' al-jawdmi' by Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771/
1369-70) with the commentary of Jalil al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459).
Like Zayn al-Din, Husayn had probably studied all these works and
had an extensive background in Shafi'i law. Like Zayn al-Din, he had
and grant legal opinions during his stay in Cairo. Though this
certificate was commonly granted during Zayn al-Din's time, he would
presumably have had to stay in Cairo for a much longer period in order
944/1537-38, the year of his return to Jabal 'Amil from Cairo, though
94 Stewart, "Twelver Shi'i Jurisprudence," 178-82.
95 The Arabic term for such certificates is ijdzah 'ammah, which indicates a
blanket permission granted to the student to transmit all the works which his
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185
he did not make this claim known until four years later.96 Husayn's
H.usayn and Zayn al-Din were following a pattern which was not
unusual for Syrian Shafi'is of their era. During the Mamluk period,
Cairo had become a major center for Shafi'i legal studies, and many
scholars from Damascus and elsewhere in the Syrian region went there
to study for several years before returning to Syria in the fifteenth and
98 Ibid., 2:11.
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186
DEVIN J. STEWART
performances of taqiyah were not isolated cases, and were not limited
to the sixteenth century or to areas under Ottoman control. The Shi'i
Shifi'i tradition remained remarkably regular, if intermittent, over space
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187
analogy by the Hanafis and the literalism of the Hanbalis, most suited
the dominant trends within Shi'i jurisprudence.
The careers of Zayn al-Din and Husayn show that Twelver Shi'i
scholars were indeed able to participate in the educational and juridical
system dominated by the four Sunni madhhabs, but this cannot be
and Ibn al-'Awdi claims that his teacher even acted as a mufti to all
five groups. There is little reason to doubt the authenticity of these
statements, but, given that they were made for an exclusively Shi'i
audience, it is difficult to gauge how public Zayn al-Din's avowal of
Zayn al-Din left, Husayn stayed in Ba'labakk for the next ten years, until Zayn alDin's death in 965, when he went to Iran. This is probably not the case. See Stewart, "A Biographical Notice," 564-67; idem, "The First Shaykh al-Islam of Qazvin."
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188
DEVIN J. STEWART
Zayn al-Din waited on purpose until they had left Cairo before broaching this topic
with al-Bakri.
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189
legal system for the good of Shi'is and the Muslim community at large.
Familiarity with Sunni legal scholarship and methodology would bring
significant benefits for Shi'i jurisprudence, education, and communal
life beyond the mundane prospects of steady, paid employment for a
handful of scholars.113
113 For some provisional observations on this point, see Stewart, "Twelver
Shi'i Jurisprudence," 197-201. Salati states that Zayn al-Din's goal was not inte-
gration into Sunni society and suggests that his acceptance of a post at the Nuriyah
was part of a larger plan to enhance the role and authority of jurists in the Shi'i
community, a project which would coincide with some of the ideological positions
he adopted in his writings. Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano,"
91-92. While this argument has merit, I believe it is premature to establish a direct
link between the two, given the state of research on Zayn al-Din's life and work.
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190
DEVIN J. STEWART
APPENDIX A:
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,&/
Plate
no.
3:
Leiden
MS
Or.
979,
fo
Plate
no.
4:
Leiden
MS
Or.
979,
fo
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192
DEVIN J. STEWART
i^
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&( A,J Ld
I I (I1^1/r l
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193
APPENDIX B:
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4yLL.. a I . lJu 4, . . i
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4.3(j (^-SJ * I&.b'4.A 4J Lt^-JL Jljk J I =,Ltj.*. L,L J3J 4J j4 '.I caJ I.j jj
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194
DEVIN J. STEWART
). ,.
(Iv)
fl.4w.z <..j ,4 ,<- ,,Al LL, j 14_'1 i .-.,I , Jj. fJ * J1V1 I ...jL, C j
.* j ,, (( I,.. )) US
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195
(-V)
.,jaj ~:l_l JJ. , :'.. - j. j.j,..,aJ 3 C - ....Il , :, .L.,?l, '" J::Y..' -j':~.,. 4 1.? il3I
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196
DEVIN J. STEWART
(-A)
t * J *'J 4L' . I l * ^ +IL'tJ ) A >. ? ?i ty.4?ij * fII (^AJjJI ?ljJDj
fJJ * JLA.CI C .. ,.Jj * J.ljI L.ll,, < AJ Lu,.' I'Y dl Ji ti^ vj ,<.
JliJW J* JUiJ lJ U JILL
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197
APPENDIX C
and to adopt the most moderate of states. He is the One Who, through
the Power of His Dominion, is above the blemish of taking a consort or
companion, and Who, through the Magnificence of His Glory, is too
holy to adopt a son or brother, "... for whoso ascribeth partners unto
God, it is as if he had fallen from the sky and the birds had snatched
him or the wind had blown him to a far-off place" (Q 22:31). I praise
Him as one does when asking for sustenance from the springs of His
gifts, or pleading for rain from the clouds of His bounty. And I witness
that there is no god but God, averring that which, if accepted, ensures
escape from being cast into deadly perils, and which, if denied, causes
regret at that time when all paths [to salvation] are obstructed. And I
his Lord, Who needs no one, .Husayn son of 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi
al-Hamdani, may God envelop him in His mercy and settle him in His
spacious Paradise, says the following:
I saw that the ant, despite her weakness, gave as a gift to the
Solomon of her age that by which she hoped to raise her position and
increase her standing. Her gift was but half a locust's leg, yet Solomon
disdained
powerless
according
have been
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198
DEVIN J. STEWART
and all its contents are too small for our Solomon [i.e., Sultan
Suleiman]. I therefore exclaimed, "Woe is me! Am I unable to be like
this ant, and give to the Solomon of my age that which I am able to
bear?! How can I fail to do this, when the acceptance of trifles is still
the custom of those of high station (fol. 7a) and to open of the gate of
excuses is still the way of nobility? When I thought about what to give,
I found I was limited to my prose writings. Thereupon I contemplated
the issue, and found that our forebears, may God be pleased with them
all, authored many works in all the sciences, both rational and transmitted, of long, short, and medium length, both texts and commentaries.
They taught these works to those who lived in their times and spared
their successors the hardship of such undertakings, so that there is now
no reason for anyone to venture to join them in authorship other than to
divert the mind or augment the mass of idle talk.
ever, been rivaled. I have included in this book choice selections relating to reason, knowledge, ethics, and virtuous behavior, and adorned it
with turbans of Koranic verses, robes of Prophetic traditions, sashes of
eloquent aphorisms, belts (fol. 7b) of lofty exhortations, and trousers of
eloquent verses of poetry. I have named it "The Light of Truth and the
tamed fate! His sword has defended the faith and his generosity
engulfed the entire Muslim community! His joy is to fight in the path of
God and his goal is to give profusely! His heart is not troubled by
doubt (fol. 8b) and his judgment is constantly vigilant in guarding the
truth! His mind is brilliant and his blessed conduct emulates that of the
Prophet! When he speaks, fate listens; when he is silent, a God-inspired
peace settles upon him. How could this not be so, when the tribulations
of fate are his soldiers and the kings of the earth his servants? When he
rises, he worries the mind of time with his power! He demolishes the
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199
(fol. 8b) These are the men who built up the faith of God through their
holy wars and revived the path of His Prophet with their commands,
prohibitions, and prayers. They devoted their works to God alone and
gave their lives and wealth for His sake. Then, after their passing, the
best of their clan weaved upon their loom, emulating them in their
words and deeds. May God preserve the glory of his reign as he
continues to do so, and grant him power over his enemies-the enemies
of the faith-beyond his desires! May God protect his rule from the
vagaries of fate, and bless his hand and tongue by having their
commands obediently carried out in the seven climes, so that the
believers might continue to enjoy complete favor, glory, and safety!
Since each creature has an important share in this invocation, it behooves God, the Wise and Generous, to accept it, or indeed increase it.
In this book of mine, I have striven for brevity inasmuch as this is
possible, and I have not given free reign to the pen, lest it take the slack
(fol. 9a) and go on at length, perhaps leading to boredom and consequent neglect.
Let us first speak of reason, for it is the first of God's creations, and
the origin of all uprightness and salvation.
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