Recasting Qushayrī's Risāla in Fifteenth-Century Egypt

Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 93120 brill.
com/jss
Recasting Qushayrs Risla

in Fifteenth-Century Egypt
Matthew Ingalls
University of Puget Sound
USA
Abstract
The scholarly works of the Egyptian Sufi and chief qadi Zakariyy al-Anr (d. 926/1520) often
reflect a late-medieval Muslim trend of subtle intellectual innovationthat is, innovation that
cloaks itself in the received tradition while often diverging markedly from it. It is particularly his
celebrated Ikm al-dalla al tarr al-Risla, a commentary on Abd al-Karm al-Qushayrs
(d. 465/1072) Risla in Sufism, that embodies such an intellectual trend quite starkly. This study
examines the Ikm to understand how Anr adapted an eleventh-century Nishapuri hand-
book in Sufism to his own fifteenth-century Egyptian context. It argues that Anrs redirecting
of Qushayrs Risla occurs through three broad interpretative techniques: a recasting in content,
a recasting in form, and a recasting in tone and objective of the original text. After exploring these
techniques in depth, a few larger implications for the field of commentary theory are noted in a
concluding section. A preliminary consideration of Anrs biography, particularly those biograph-
ical details related to his scholarly training and career, his background in Sufism, and the writing of
his Ikm, appears as a preface to the textual analysis that comprises the second half of the study.
Rsum
Les uvres intellectuelles du soufi gyptien et chef des qadis Zakariyy al-Anr (m. 926/1520)
sont souvent le reflet dune tendance propre au Moyen ge islamique tardif innover sur le plan
intellectuel, dune faon subtile, cest--dire dune innovation qui, en se cachant derrire la tradi-
tion reue, en difffre profondment. Cest avant tout dans son clbre Ikm al-dalla al tarr
al-Risla, un commentaire de la Risla sur le soufisme de Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr (m. 465/1072)
que cette tendance intellectuelle sincarne profondment. La prsente tude examine lIkm
afin de comprendre comment Anr a adapt un manuel soufi nishapurien du 11me sicle
son propre contexte gyptien du XV sicle. Ltude soutient quAnr fournit la Risla une
nouvelle orientation, et ceci en accord avec trois techniques interprtatives majeures : une adap-
tation de la forme, une adaptation du contexte et une adaptation du ton et des objectifs du texte
original. Aprs avoir explor en profondeur ces techniques dans la section conclusive on souli-
gnera aussi des implications dordre plus gnral sur la thorie du commentaire. Des considra-
tions prliminaires sur la biographie dAnr, en particulier les dtails biographiques concernant
son apprentissage scientifique, sa carrire, son milieu soufi et lcriture de lIkm sont prsentes
en tant que prface lanalyse textuelle incluse dans la deuxime moiti de ltude.
Keywords
Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr, Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn, al-Risla al-Qushayriyya, commentary,
commentary theory, Egyptian Sufism, juridical Sufism, Mamlks, ninth/fifteenth century, Shfii
law, Zakariyy al-Anr
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/22105956-12341243
94 M. Ingalls / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 93120
Overlapping with several key historical junctures and ushering in the tenth
Islamic century, Zakariyy al-Anrs (d. 926/1520) life traces the dramatic
decline of Mamlk political integrity and concludes in the immediate after-
math of the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. It is Anrs dual role as a legist and
chief qadi on the one hand and a mystical thinker and Sufi on the other that
served to broaden his influence and authority while simultaneously allowing
for a novel degree of cross-pollination between the exoteric and esoteric sci-
ences within his corpus. Moreover, Anrs scholarship reflects a larger trend
of subtle intellectual innovation during this periodthat is, innovation that
cloaks itself in the received tradition while often diverging markedly from it. It
is particularly his widely read Ikm al-dalla al tarr al-Risla, a commen-
tary on Abd al-Karm al-Qushayrs (d. 465/1072) celebrated Risla in Sufism,
that embodies this latter trend quite clearly.
The example of Anrs Ikm al-dalla represents an important oppor-
tunity for critical analysis, as four-and-a-half centuries and multiple cultural
variables separate Anrs commentary from Qushayrs original text. In other
words, as he wrote his Risla, Qushayrs audience, milieu, objectives, and
motives were starkly diffferent from those of Anr in the writing of the lat-
ters Ikm. How then did Anr adapt an eleventh-century Nishapuri hand-
book in Sufism to his own fifteenth-century Egyptian context? An answer to
this question would shed light on several institutional developments in the
late-medieval Sunni commentary tradition. As the present study argues below,
Anrs redirecting of Qushayrs Risla occurs through three broad interpre-
tative techniques: a recasting in content, a recasting in form, and a recasting
in tone and objective of the original text. After exploring these techniques in
depth, a few larger implications for the field of commentary theory are noted
as well. Before turning to such textual concerns however, it is helpful to con-
textualize Anrs scholarship in Sufism and the subsequent reception of his
thought through a consideration of the authors biography. As space here does
not permit a full biography for Anr, whose remarkable life spanned ninety-
seven years and intersected with the lives of countless Egyptian elites from
various political and scholarly spheres, the following section pays particular
attention to those biographical details related to Anrs scholarly training
and career, his background in Sufism, and the writing of his Ikm.1
1Contemporary biographies for Anr in European languages include Carl Brockelmann,

Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, 5 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), 2:99100, S2:1178; G.W.J.
Drewes, Directions for Travellers on the Mystic Path (The Hague: Nijhofff, 1977), 2638, and
passim; ric Geofffroy, Le voile des apparences, ou la double vie du grand cadi Zakariyy
al-Ansr (m. 926/1520), Journal Asiatique 282.2 (1994): 27180; idem, Le Soufisme en gypte et
en Syrie (Damascus: Institut Franais de Damas, 1995), passim; idem, Zakariyy al-Anr, in
M. Ingalls / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 93120 95
Anr and His Ikm
Zakariyy al-Anr was born in the year 826/1423, in an otherwise inconspicu-

ous village named Sunayka, located within the Sharqiyya Province of the Egyp-
tian delta and lying about thirty-five miles to the northeast of Cairo.2 Little
is known about Anrs parents: his mothers name has not survived in the
primary literature while his father Muammad died at some point before or
around the year 841/14378, most likely at a date closer to Zakariyys fifteenth
birthday than to his date of conception.3 Muammad al-Anr appears to
have worked as a falconer (or falcon trainer) for the district governor (mil
al-balad), and Zakariyy was most probably his only surviving son. According
to a story taken from Badr al-Dn al-Als (d. 942/1535) lost History (Tarkh)
and preserved in Najm al-Dn al-Ghazzs (d. 1061/1651) al-Kawkib al-sira,4
a benevolent, albeit obscure figure named Rab was passing through the vil-
lage of Sunayka when he encountered Zakariyys mother in a distraught state.
Explaining that her husband had passed away, she beseeched him to intervene
on her behalf before the Christian district governor who had apprehended her
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Brill Online Reference Works, http://referenceworks.
brillonline.com/ (hereafter EI2); Matthew B. Ingalls, Subtle Innovation Within Networks of
Convention: The Life, Thought, and Intellectual Legacy of Zakariyy al-Anr (d. 926/1520) (PhD
diss., Yale University, 2011), 32121; Richard McGregor, Zakariyy al-Anr, forthcoming in The
Encyclopaedia of Islam Three, Brill Online Reference Works, http://referenceworks.brillonline.
com/ (hereafter EI3), (I thank Richard McGregor for showing me an advance copy of his article);
and Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, 15 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1967fff), 1:124, 500.
2Here I agree with the contemporary editor Muy Hill al-Sarns preference for Muammad
b. Abd al-Ramn al-Sakhws (d. 902/1497) dating of Anrs birth, as this latter biographer
enjoyed the closest relationship to Anr and represents an historian of the highest critical
integrity. Zakariyy al-Anr, Tufat nujab al-ar, ed. Muy Hill al-Sarn (Baghdad: Baghdad
University Press, 1986), 89; cf. Muammad b. Abd al-Ramn al-Sakhw, al-aw al-lmi
li-ahl al-qarn al-tsi, 12 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Jl, 1992), 3:234. For Sunayka, see Yqt al-amaw,
Mujam al-buldn, 5 vols. (Beirut: Dr dir, 1977), 3:270. Al-Anrs paternal grandfather and
great-grandfather were named Amad and Zakariyy respectively, and thus his full name, with
honorifics, is usually recorded as Zayn al-Dn (alternatively: al-Zayn) Ab Yay Zakariyy b.
Muammad b. Amad b. Zakariyy al-Anr al-Khazraj al-Sunayk (thumm) al-Qhir al-Shfi.
3Anrs mother appears surprised by the governors plot to seize Zakariyy (v.i.), which
might suggest that the death of Muammad al-Anr and Zakariyys problems with the governor
followed in quick succession.
4For the most accurate information on Badr al-Dn Muammad b. Qurqms al-Al al-anaf,
who was one of al-Anrs later students, see Khayr al-Dn al-Zirikl, al-Alm, 8 vols. (Beirut: Dr
al-Ilm li-l-Malyn, 1992), 7:10. For an earlier biography with some deficiencies, see Najm al-Dn
al-Ghazz, al-Kawkib al-sira bi-ayn al-mia al-shira, 3 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-fq al-Jadda,
1979), 2:70; cf. Joseph H. Escovitz, A Lost Arabic Source for the History of Ottoman Egypt, Journal
of the American Oriental Society (hereafter JAOS) 97 (1977): 51318. For al-Als correct name, as it
is reproduced here, see Fihris makht Dr al-Kutub al-hiriyya, 17 vols. (Damascus: al-Majma
al-Ilm al-Arab, 1947fff), 1.1:1001.
son, intending thereby to conscript the boy into his late fathers falconry post.
Rab intervened and freed the boy but warned his mother that long-term secu-
rity from the governors intrigues would only be possible if Zakariyy were sent
to Cairo to study at al-Azhar seminary. In order to make such a proposal feasi-
ble, Rab agreed to cover all of the young students living expenses. Zakariyys
mother accepted the proposal, thereby freeing her son forever from the peas-
antry of his ancestors.5
Almost eighty years later, just around the time of the Ottoman conquest of
Egypt in the dawn of the year 923/early 1517, the nonagenarian Anr would
recount his earliest memories of al-Azhar to his confident and most famous
student Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn (d. 973/1565):
I came to al-Azhar from the countryside as a youth, and I didnt busy myself with
worldly concerns at all. Whenever I experienced hunger at the seminary (al-jmi)
and the pangs became unbearable, I would venture out at night to the water fau-
cets and would rinse and eat the watermelon rinds that [I found] nearby. These
would sufffice me in place of bread. I stayed in this situation for years; and then,
God sent one of His saints (awliy) to mea man who worked in the mills sifting
flour. This person would visit me and would buy for me all the food, drink, clothes,
and books that I needed. He would say to me, Zakariyy, dont hide any of [your
needs] from me. He remained with me in this capacity for years. Then one night,
when everyone else was sleeping, he took me by the hand and brought me to the
lantern-ladder in the mosque courtyard and said, Climb to the top of this pedes-
tal. I climbed and he kept telling me, Climb, until I reached the top. At this he
said, Zakariyy, you will live to see all of your peers die, and your prestige will rise,
and for many years you will occupy the highest post of Islam,6 [B] and your stu-
dents will become the shaykhs of Islam during your lifetimewhen you go blind.
I asked, Is my blindness inevitable? To which he replied, Its inevitable. Then he
withdrew from me and I have not seen him since.7
5Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:196.
MS used in the published edition of al-Sharns ughr (v.i. the subsequent footnote) and
6Read mashyakhat al-Islm for manab shaykh al-Islm; the former reading accords with
Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:196.

7Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, ed. Abd al-Qdir Amad A (Cairo:
Maktabat al-Qhira, 1970), 401; idem, Lawqi al-anwr f abaqt al-akhyr (hereafter
al-abaqt al-kubr), 2 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-db, 1993fff), 2:690; Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:1967;
with discrepancies. The first part of the translated passage is taken from Sharns ughr, which
ostensibly represents the most critical of the three sources. The additional material after [B]
is common to Ghazz and Sharns Kubr. Ghazz records until (att) you go blind. The last
sentence of the passage is common to all three versions. For the lantern-ladder, see Muammad
Muammad Amn, al-Awqf wa-l-ayh al-ijtimiyya f Mir (Cairo: Dr al-Naha al-Arabiyya,
1980), 1947.
In all likelihood, it was during his early years at al-Azhar that Anr first
undertook a deliberate study of regional Sufi teachings and practices. Sharn
quotes his teacher Anrs saying, Since I was little Ive always loved the ways
of the Sufis (arq al-qawm). Most of my time was spent reading their books and
reflecting upon their spiritual states, such that people would say [about me],
Nothing of the legal sciences (ilm al-shar) will come from this one.8 After suc-
cessfully healing a blind supplicant however,9 Anr consulted some unspeci-
fied Sufi elders, informing them of his spiritual standing and newfound abilities
to heal the sick. Their response would forever alter the course of Anrs life
and arguably the course of the later Shfii madhhab as well: they advised the
young student to conceal [his station] with Islamic law (al-tasattur bi-l-fiqh),
as theirs was not an appropriate time to manifest the states and stations of
the Sufis in public. Narrating this event to Sharn towards the end of his life,
Anr would remark, Thus, I have manifested almost nothing of the states of
the Sufis (al-qawm) until this very day.10
The advice of the Sufi elders would presumably mark the beginning of
Anrs legal preoccupations and eventual career.11 Such is evident in the
strong legal focus of his larger corpus and impressive thabat,12 the latter of
which boasts the names of over 150 male and female teachers and includes
the following five oft-repeated names: Ibn ajar al-Asqaln (d. 852/1449),
8Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:689; cf. idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 39; Ghazz, Kawkib,
1:198.
9Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:6912; cf. idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 43.
10Ibid., 40; idem, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:690. The quoted material has been taken from the
version that is found in the latter source. Sharn also notes that Anr had informed him of
these events in confidence and stipulated that they not be spread while he (Anr) was still
alive.
11 We should posit such a cause-and-efffect relationship between their advice and Anrs
career decisions with an extra serving of historiographical humility, however, as the sources for
Anrs early life show little regard for chronology. Such deficiencies in the sources come on top
of the inherent fictionality of retroactive justification in autobiographical accounts.
12Thabat finds no direct equivalence in English but designates a catalogue of a particular
individuals teachers, the works that he studied, and the ijzas (teaching certificates; licenses)
that he acquired in the course of his education. For more on the genre, see Ch. Pellat, Fahrasa,
in EI2. Other words used synonymously with thabat include fahrasa (alternatively: fihrist),
mujam, mashyakha, and the Andalusian barnmaj. Two manuscripts of Anrs thabat
have been consulted here: MS Beinecke Library (New Haven), Landberg Arabic 488, fols. 1b40b;
and MS Gazi Husrev-Be Library (Sarajevo), 556 (Majma 2682/1), fols. 1b58a. For the latter,
see Kasim Dobraa, Katalog arapskih, turskih i persijskih rukopisa, 3 vols. (Sarajevo: Starjeinstvo
Islamske vjerske zajednice za Socijalistiku Republiku Bosnu i Hercegovinu, 1963fff), 1:3469.
Muammad al-Qyt (d. 850/1446), Riwn al-Aqab (d. 852/1448), al-Shams

al-Shirwn (d. 873/1468), and al-Izz Abd al-Salm al-Baghdd (d. 859/1455).13
It was during these early years of his scholarly career that Anr began to
pen works in the various Islamic sciences. Narrating his story many decades
later to Sharn, Anr would recollect his early composition of a commen-
tary on al-Bahja al-Wardiyyaa didactic poem in Shfii law by Ibn al-Ward
(d. 749/1349).14 According to his account of events, after completing his com-
mentary several of his scholarly peers were motivated by jealousy to change
the title of his work to The Commentary of the Blind Man and the Sighted
Man, implying thereby that he was unable to comment on the text alone but
rather required the help of his blind friend Al al-Nabatt (d. 917/1512).15 Anr
appears to have been emotionally scarred by the prank, as is apparent in his
bittersweet tone when narrating the event even fifty years later. His work ethic,
nevertheless, remained unafffected, and he built his scholarly diligence on an
austere daily schedule. He would, for example, allow himself but one swim
in the Nile each year so as not to lose the taste for it (khawfan min an yan-
fakk idmn al-awm). With his first generation of students, however, he would
assuage their restlessness by occasionally relocating their lessons to a nearby
pond. In this act we catch a glimpse of the paternal qualities that so many of
Anrs students would ultimately remember in their teacher.16
As for Anrs formal training in Sufism, the Egyptian Sufi Muammad
al-Ghamr (d. 849/1445) appears to have played the most prominent role in
the young students mystical education.17 According to Sharn, at one point
13For the figure of over 150 teachers, see Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:198. For biographies of the five
teachers named here, see, respectively, Sakhw, aw, 2:3640; ibid., 8:21214; ibid., 3:2269;
ibid., 10:489; ibid., 4:198203. Additionally, for a concise albeit superlative biography of Ibn
ajar, see Franz Rosenthal, Ibn adjar, in EI2. In his biography for Anr, Sakhw reproduces
the exact wording of Ibn ajars ijza (license) for him specifically in the sciences of fiqh and
Quran recitation. Sakhw, aw, 3:236; idem, al-Dhayl al Raf al-ir (Cairo: al-Haya al-Miriyya
al-mma li-l-Kitb, 2000), 145.
14The Bahja is didactic-verse rendering of Qazwns (d. 665/1266) al-w al-aghr. Anr
would revise his commentary on the Bahja (entitled al-Ghurar al-bahiyya) throughout the
remainder of his life. An autographed manuscript of the text (perhaps one of many) exists in the
Chester Beatty collection. Arthur J. Arberry, The Chester Beatty Library: A Handlist of the Arabic
Manuscripts, 8 vols. (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co., 1956), 2:80 (MS 3432), also Plate 56.
15Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:68990; idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 3940; Ghazz,
Kawkib, 1:198. For identifying al-Nabatt with the otherwise anonymous blind man, see Abd
al-Raf al-Munw, al-Kawkib al-durriyya f tarjim al-sda al-fiyya, 5 vols. (Beirut: Dr dir,
1999), 3:423; Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:281. In his biography for al-Nabatt, Sharn says that he would
meet this figure many times at Anrs house. Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:6934. For more
on his biography, see Sakhw, aw, 5:268.
16Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 40.
17For his biography, see Sakhw, aw, 8:23840.
Anr travelled to Ghamrs mosque in the Egyptian delta city of al-Maalla

al-Kubr, and after Ghamr initiated him into the dhikr and vested him with
the Sufi khirqa, he remained there for forty days, reading the shaykhs Qawid
al-fiyya with its author.18 Anr himself notes that Ghamrs students were
pleased with his visit, as he would ask questions of the master that they were
too intimidated to ask.19 Anr was still a relatively young man when Ghamr
died, and thus from this information we can glean insights either into the con-
fidence of the young student or into the unassuming stature of Ghamrs typi-
cal disciples. Lending further credence to the centrality of Ghamr to Anrs
mystical education and credentials is Sharns solitary isnd in his own
khirqa-vesting.20 It is worth noting here that Sharn, by his own accounts,
considered Anr to be his primary guide and sanction in all matters legal but
did not consider him to be such in the science of Sufism.21 Nevertheless, Anr
appears as the only shaykh to vest him ritually in the Sufi khirqa.22
Anrs career fortunes were to improve significantly after Ramadan of the
year 865/July 1461 when al-hir Khushqadam (r. to 872/1467) ascended to the
Mamlk sultanate. According to Sharns account, the new sultan attempted
to visit a well-known saint in the city. Instead of receiving the Sultan, however,
this anonymous figure referred him to Anr for all of his needs, which were
presumably of a non-material nature. The sultan took the saints advice, and
from that point forward Anrs name became synonymous with righteousness
18Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:692; idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 39; Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:198.
19Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:692.
20For more on the Sufi khirqa (patched frock), see J.-L. Michon, Khira, in EI2.
21 For Sharns debt to Anr in his legal training, see Muammad al-Malj al-Sharn,
Manqib al-qub al-rabbn sayyid Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn (Cairo: Dr al-Jdiyya, 2005),
623. For his primary shaykhs in Sufism, see ibid., 6376; cf. Michael Winter, Society and Religion
in Early Ottoman Egypt (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1982), 568, and passim.
22Sharn, al-Anwr al-qudsiyya f marifat qawid al-fiyya, 2 vols. (Cairo: al-Maktaba
al-Ilmiyya, 1962), 1:49; idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 45; al-Malj al-Sharn, Manqib al-Sharn,
77. Only the first source provides the date of Muarram 914/May 1508 for the vesting ritual.
Sharn would have been fifteen or sixteen years old at this time, and the vesting presumably
marked the inauguration of his studies under Anr. In both the Anwr and al-abaqt al-ughr
accounts, the vesting ritual (lubs al-khirqa) is coupled with the lowering of the turban tail ritual
(irkh al-adhaba). On the latter practice, Ibn ajar in a fatwa has made reference to the Sufis
customary lowering the turban tail to the left, though I have found little information beyond this.
Muammad b. Amad al-Safffrn, Ghidh al-albb f shar Manmat al-db, 2 vols. (Beirut:
Dr al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1996), 2:254. The tone of Sharns reference to the ritual suggests that
it is subordinate to the khirqa-vesting ritual, which is comparatively well documented. For yet
another passing reference to it, see Sharn, al-Anwr al-qudsiyya f marifat db al-ubdiyya
(Cairo: al-Haya al-Miriyya al-mma li-l-Kitb, 2007), 265; cf. Geofffroy, Le Sufisme en gypte et
en Syrie, 198.
and the common folk began to flock to him.23 In 866/1461, only a few months
after this incident, the sultan appointed him to the head teaching post of his
newly opened mausoleum (turba) in the nearby desert.24
Over the subsequent decade, Anrs career would progress rapidly.25 Finally
in the year 871/1466, Sultan Khushqadam requested that Anr assume the
chief Shfii judgeship (q l-qut) after dismissing the previous appointee.
As he reports autobiographically in a later hadith commentary, Anr refused
the sultans request for nineteen days owing to the enormous responsibilities
of the post. During this time, Khushqadam would plead with the scholar, even
swearing to ride humbly before him all the way to his house.26 According to
another source, however, Anr chose to flee the scene rather than refuse the
sultans offfer directly, and the chief Shfii judgeship remained unoccupied for
twenty-seven days. He and another candidate were eventually brought before
the sultan, and when both of them refused to accept the position, Khushqa-
dam was forced to appoint a third party.27 While it is diffficult to ascribe a defin-
itive motive to Anrs rejection of the offfer, the notoriously burdensome waqf
responsibilities of the chief judges may have played a role in dissuading him as
they had dissuaded others before him. If such was the case, then Anrs fears
were in fact reasonable, as waqf diffficulties would plague his judicial career in
later years.28
In spite of his refusal, Anrs reputation appears to have emerged unscathed
from the incident, and he would soon earn the favor of the next noteworthy
23Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 41; Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:2001.

24Sakhw, aw, 3:237; idem, Raf, 147. Ibn Iys records the opening date of the mausoleum as
Rab I 866/December 1461. Muammad b. Amad Ibn Iys, Badi al-zuhr f waqi al-duhr, 7
vols. (Wiesbaden: F. Steiner Verlag, 1931fff), 2:390.
25Sakhw, aw, 3:237; idem, Raf, 147. For an example of what appear to the intrigues of
jealous colleagues against Anr during this time, see idem, aw, 1:62.
26Zakariyy al-Anr, Fat al-allm bi-shar al-Ilm bi-adth al-akm (Beirut: Dr
al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1990), 6701; cf. Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:690; idem, al-abaqt
al-ughr, 412. The Fat al-allm was written in 910/1505, after the authors dismissal from the
judgeship. Anr, Fat al-allm, 689.
27Amad b. Al al-Maqrz, al-Sulk li-marifat duwal al-mulk, 4 vols. (Cairo: Mabaat Dr
al-Kutub, 2006), 3.1:1978. The event is recorded by a fourteenth-century copyist (nsikh) and
that records this information, see ibid., page , MS . For a less detailed version of the story, see
not al-Maqrz himself, who died twenty-four years before the event. For information on the MS
Sakhw, Raf, 6970.

28For an example, see Amn, al-Awqf, 366 (bottom). Though he notes his pious apprehension
of the judgeship because of the great responsibility that it entails, Anr also mentions that
assuming the post is a virtuous deed for him who is knowledgeable of its demands. Anr, Fat
al-allm, 670.
sultan: al-Ashraf Qyit By (r. 872901/146895).29 The new sultan appointed

him to the primary teaching post at the Sbiqiyya School around Ramadan 873/
April 1469, giving him precedence over all others who had sought the position.30
The Sbiqiyya post included an on-site apartment for its holder and his family;
it stood as the most prestigious position yet to be held by Anr.31
It was then around the year 874/1469 that the famous Ibn al-Fri contro-
versy erupted in Cairo. Following a public reading of a particular commentary
on Ibn al-Fris (d. 632/1235) mystical poetry, the firebrand Burhn al-Dn
al-Biq (d. 885/1480) seized upon the opportunity to foment a bitter theologi-
cal split that pitted the poets scholarly supporters against those who accused
him of incarnationist (al-ull) and monist (al-ittid) beliefs. Anr would
soon release his famous fatwa in defense of a metaphorical interpretation of
Ibn al-Fris verse, thereby exonerating the poet from Biqs charges. The
event marks a clear turning point in Anrs relationship with the Mamlk
political establishment, as the sultan, among many other high-ranking
Mamlks, held the poetry of Ibn al-Fri in particularly high esteem.32 More-
over, Anr appears to have maintained the sultans good favor over the next
five years, and towards the beginning of 881/mid-1476 Qyit By appointed him
to perhaps the most prestigious academic post in all of Egypt: the head teach-
ing position (mashyakhat al-dars) at the liiyya School next to the grave
of Imm al-Shfi himself.33 Anrs financial circumstances would improve
29The year 872/14678 would witness the advent of three new sultans after Khushqadam, the
third of whom would be Qyit By.
30Sakhw, aw, 3:237; idem, Raf, 147; Al b. Dwd al-ayraf, Inb al-har bi-abn al-ar
(Cairo: Dr al-Fikr al-Arab, 1970), 1023. According to Sakhw, Anr was hired to teach Shfii
law. Sakhw places his appointment after the death of Ibn al-Mulaqqin, which was in 870/1466.
Sakhw, aw, 4:1012; Ibn Iys, Badi, 2:439; though al-ayraf correctly records the transitional
holding of the position by Kaml al-Dn al-Nuwayr until his death at the end of Ramadan in
year 873/beginning of April of year 1469. One of Anrs competitors for the post was Nuwayrs
friend Mithql al-hir Jaqmaq, who sought it for the free housing that it included. This latter
figure may have served as the sultans personal secretary (al-nir al-kh), though Sakhws
biography for him does not confirm this. Cf. Sakhw, aw, 6:239.
31 On the school and the prestige of this position, see Carl Petry, From Slaves to Benefactors:
The Habashis of Mamluk Cairo, Sudanic Africa 5 (1994), 656.
32For a more detailed treatment of the event, see Matthew B. Ingalls, Between Center and
Periphery: The Development of the Sufi Fatwa in Late-Medieval Egypt, in Sufism and Society:
Arrangements of the Mystical in the Muslim World, 12001800 C.E., ed. John J. Curry and Erik S.
Ohlander (London and New York: Routledge, 2011), passim; cf. Th. Emil Homerin, From Arab Poet
to Muslim Saint (Cairo: AUC Press, 2001), 6075; and Alexander Knysh, Ibn Arab in the Later
Islamic Tradition (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999), 20923.
33Sakhw, aw, 3:237; idem, Raf, 1478; Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:120. Anr was appointed to the
liiyya position immediately following the death of al-Taq al-in. For the biography of the
latter, see Sakhw, aw, 11:767.
significantly at around this point in his life, and according to some estimates,
his various administrative posts, teaching positions, and properties would pro-
vide him with approximately 3,000 dirhams of income dailyan extraordi-
nary sum for the time.34
It was also around this stage of Anrs career when Qyit By would first
approach him to assume the overseeing (naar) of the sultans personal waqfs.
Anr immediately instituted a renovation campaign on the more dilapidated
and dysfunctional waqfs and dismissed an untold number of waqf-stipend ben-
eficiaries who had neglected their stipulated duties for a specified period of
time. This decision appears to have pleased few people other than the sultan,
who subsequently assigned the overseeing of the Qarfa cemetery waqfs in their
entirety to Anr. Marking this event as a key turning point in Anrs ascent
towards public prominence, Sakhw says that the general public now turned
their sights on the scholar in their effforts to curry favor with the sultan.35
The generosity of an autocrat is rarely without its liabilities however, and
with each new appointment that he awarded Anr, Qyit By increased in his
insistence on one vital post that the scholar had hitherto succeeded in avoid-
ing: the chief Shfii judgeship.36 Finally, on Tuesday 3 Rajab 886/28 August
1481, several of the sultans closest cabinet offficials appeared at Anrs door
and requested that he appear before the sultan to accept offficially the chief
judgeship. According to Sakhw, Anr had no recourse to refuse the appoint-
ment, though there is little doubt that the events that day hardly came as
a surprise but rather proceeded from multiple negotiation sessions with
the sultan.37 The sixty-year-old Anr was placed upon a mule and escorted
to the Qala (the Mamlk Citadel), where at around noontime on that same

35Sakhw, aw, 3:237; idem, Raf, 1478. The Qarfa cemetery waqfs in their entirety is
based upon the correct reading of bi-asrih found in aw, pace and he attended to them
(wa-bsharah) as found in Raf. For a basic corroboration of Sakhws report of events, see Abd
al-Bsi Ibn Shhn, Nayl al-amal f dhayl al-Duwal, 9 vols. (ayd: al-Maktaba al-Ariyya, 2002)
7:159. In a later development, Sakhw notes Anrs oversight of the two Qarfa cemeteries
(al-Qarfatayn), which would presumably correspond to the two massive wings of the burial
ground: the Greater Qarfa (al-kubr) and the Lesser Qarfa (al-ughr). Sakhw, aw, 3:238.
For a very useful description of the Qarfa burial grounds, see M. al-Ibrashy, Cairos Qarafa
as Described in the Ziyara Literature, in Le dveloppement du soufisme en Egypte lpoque
mamelouke, ed. Richard McGregor and Adam Sabra (Cairo: Institut Franais dArchologie
Orientale, 2006), 26970, 27897.
36Sakhw, aw, 3:238; and idem, Raf, 1489. Qyit By was aware that Anr had previously
rejected Khushqadams insistence on his assuming the chief judgeship.
37Elsewhere we learn, for example, that Anr would work to advance the scholarly career of
his son Muammad (d. 904/1499) through negotiations with the sultan. Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:1834;
Ibn Shhn, Nayl al-amal, 7:293; also corroborated in a slightly opaque chronology of events in
Sakhw, aw, 3:238; and idem, Raf, 148.
day the sultan vested him with the highest Shfii legal authority in the entire
Mamlk domain.38 A large celebratory procession of Mamlk notables, judges,
scholars, and students left from the Qala and marched to the liiyya and
then onto Anrs home.39
But political trouble was not to affford the new judge even a years respite.
Already by Rab II 887/May-June 1482 Anr would wade into what would
prove to be a protracted and ultimately fruitless clash with a Mamlk emir.40
Then, only a few months later, another scandal would further tarnish Anrs
once-impeccable reputation in the sight of the Egyptian public. An unnamed
man was tried in court and refused to submit to Anrs judgment against him.
He was thus arrested, and upon being deemed legally insane, was subsequently
committed to the hospital, where he would die in Shawwl of 888/November
1483. Sakhw notes that this tragic turn of events roused the emotions of the
deceaseds supporters in a manner that was unprecedented.41
38Ibid., 1489; idem, aw, 3:238; and Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:1834. Ibn Iys places the event on the
sixth of Rajab; Sakhws dating conforms to his additional Tuesday designation and thus appears
to rank higher in integrity. Both historians note that the previous Shfii chief judge Amad
al-Asy (d. 891/1486) had been dismissed on the first of the Islamic month. For his biography
and a few details on his dismissal, see Sakhw, Raf, 6275; and idem, aw, 1:2103. The latter
source records that Anr convinced the sultan not to issue an edict of sanction (al-tarsm,
v.i.) against the outgoing judge. It should be noted that the chief Shfii judge in Cairo merely
held a symbolic superiority over his counterpart in Damascus, pace a jurisdictional superiority,
while the Shfiis implicit preeminence over the chief judges of the other three madhhabs found
practical expression primarily in waqf responsibilities and not in a litigants theoretical recourse
to appeal. For some discussion of such questions of jurisdiction and comparative authority under
the Bar Mamlk sultans, see Joseph H. Escovitz, The Offfice of Q al-Qut in Cairo Under the
Bar Mamlks (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1984), 13, 209, and passim.
39Anr would retain his living quarters at the Sbiqiyya School until at least the end
of year 903/1498, though he appears to have continued living there until his death. Amad b.
Muammad Ibn al-im, awdith al-zamn wa-wafiyyt al-shuykh wa-l-aqrn (Beirut: Dr
al-Nafis, 2000), 278, 332; cf. Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 1334; Ghazz, Kawkib, 3:221, where
a later description of landmarks near Anrs home correspond to the location of the Sbiqiyya.
His funeral procession would also begin from this school. Ibn Iys, Badi, 5:371.
40Ibid., 3:193. For the biography of Dlt By al-asan, the emir involved in the dispute, see
Sakhw, aw, 3:221.
41 Amad b. Muammad al-akaf, Mutat al-adhhn min al-Tamattu bi-l-aqrn, 2 vols.
(Beirut: Dr dir, 1999), 1:363; and Sakhw, Raf, 150. For the latter, read he punished a person
(wa-qad azzara shakhan) for he deceived a person (wa-qad gharrara [sic] shakhan)I thank
Hussein Abdulsater for this suggestion. The incident is briefly noted in Brockelmann, Geschichte,
2:99, though the author mistakenly correlates Anrs dismissal from the judgeship with
the scandal. The rumors of dismissal that Sakhw associates with the previous event may be
the source of confusion within the secondary literature. akaf similarly correlates the next
incident in Anrs career with his dismissal, though this too is incorrect. akaf, Mutat
al-adhhn, 1:363.
It was also within these early years of his judgeship that Anrs waqf trou-
bles appear to have begun. To meet the waqf payments of the two Holy Sanctu-
aries (al-aramayn) and their beneficiaries in the Hejaz, a tax had been levied
on the magistrates of the various Mamlk districts, who presumably passed
it on to their respective constituents. Not all districts paid their taxes in full
however, while other districts failed to make payments altogether. Since the
time of Sultan Baybars (r. 65875/126077), the chief Shfii judge held exclu-
sive oversight of the aramayn waqfs, and a citizen of outstanding integrity
was chosen honorifically to lead an annual caravan to the Hejaz to discharge
the pious remittance.42 Anr, however, inherited a dysfunctional post, as
the corruption of previous Shfii judges had already bankrupted the balance
sheets of the aramayn waqfs by the early part of the ninth/fifteenth century.43
As such, Sakhw records that in every year of his judgeship Anr failed to
send the full aramayn payment to its beneficiaries in the Hejaz. Addition-
ally, or perhaps because of the diminishing revenues noted above, he appears
to have attempted a restructuring of the balance sheets in order to equalize
all annual payments made to such beneficiaries. In the end, such reforms
proved both offfensive to many influential payment recipients and insuffficient
for a renewed equilibrium in the balance sheets, and the unpredictable rev-
enues fomented further resentment towards Anr which cut across multiple
Mamlk demographics.44
More controversial than these financial audits, however, were Anrs phys-
ical renovations of dilapidated waqf structures. As Muammad Amn explains,
the administrator (mubshir) of a waqf property was often not himself a
beneficiary (mustaiqq) of waqf revenues. As such, many waqf deeds failed
to provide any incentive for the sustainable upkeep of the waqfs agricultural
lands and facilities, and it is unsurprising that so many waqf properties fell
into disrepair.45 Within the first few years of his judgeship if not before, Anr
set about rebuilding several such moribund waqfs that had been neglected by
their previous overseers. Although Sakhw notes, in the course of an other-
wise biting analysis of the event, that his objectives were well intentioned,46
42Amad b. Al al-Maqrz, al-Mawi wa-l-itibr bi-dhikr al-khia wa-l-thr, 2 vols. (Cairo:

Maktabat al-Thaqfa al-Dniyya, n.d.), 2:2956; and Amn, al-Awqf, 113.
43Ibn ajar al-Asqaln, Raf al-ir an qut Mir, 2 vols. (Cairo: Mabaat al-Amriyya, 1957fff),
2:2589.
44Sakhw, Raf, 149; and akaf, Mutat al-adhhn, 1:363.
45Amn, al-Awqf, 2845, and passim. For other causes of waqf decay in the Mamlk period,
see ibid., chapter 7.
46Sakhw, Raf, 149.
some aspects of this renovation project appear to have been unprecedented in

Anrs time.47
Matters would quickly deteriorate for Anr when news of his controver-
sies spilled into the public sphere. Finally at the dawn of Rajab of 892/late-
June 1487, in what would mark the nadir of Anrs judicial career, Qyit By
ordered the arrest of Anrs closest administrators and several of his revenue
offficers (jubt).48 Unnamed persons within the group of arrestees were sub-
sequently flogged.49 Whats more, the entire group was placed under a writ
of sequestration and sanction (al-tarsm),50 while Anr, for his part, was
relieved of his oversight of the Qarfa waqfs.51
Notwithstanding such developments, Anrs relationship with the Mamlk
political elite, particularly Sultan Qyit By, was nevertheless a complex one.
Many years after the writ he would wistfully recount to Sharn a series of
particularly harsh sermons that he delivered against Qyit By in the latters
presence.52 These sermons would appear to correspond generally with his waqf
diffficulties during the early years of his judgeship. In a subtly contrite tone,
Anr fondly recalls the sultans remarkable forbearance in the face of such
public censure, and his wording intimates both a unique personal connection
with Qyit By and a retrospective acknowledgment of his own tactlessness.53
In spite of his formidable political and administrative preoccupations, Anr
continued to compose scholarly works throughout the years of his judgeship.
In fact, his celebrated commentary on Qushayrs Rislathe Ikm al-dalla,
to which the second half of the present study is devotedwas completed in
Jumd I 893/April 1488 at the height of the authors waqf diffficulties and only
ten months after the initial arrest of his men.54 The text, moreover, arguably
47Al b. Ysuf al-Buraw, Tarkh al-Buraw (Beirut: Dr al-Mamn li-l-Turth, 1988), 168.
48Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:241; and Sakhw, aw, 3:238; cf. idem, Raf, 149. In the latter source (line
12), read siyyam al-suln (the sultan was especially [angry at him]) for siyyam ibn al-suln
(the sultans son...), as the latter figure would have only been a toddler at the time of the event.
49akaf, Mutat al-adhhn, 1:363.
50For the term, see Reinhart Dozy, Supplment aux dictionnaires arabes, 2 vols. (Beirut:
Librairie Liban, 1968), 1:528, though the translation here is my own. As gathered from the vague
explanations of late-medieval biographical dictionaries, members of Mamlk society who were
placed under tarsm appear to have been subjected to particularly precarious circumstances for
the duration of their sentence.
51 Sakhw, aw, 3:238.
52Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 42; and idem, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:691. For references
to Anrs delivering the Friday sermon at later junctures in front of various sultans, see Ibn
al-im, awdith al-zamn, 296, 344, 371; and Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:295.
53Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:691; cf. idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 42.
54Arberry, Handlist, 4:278 (MS 3843), and Plate 114. The temptation to speculate any further
on a correlation between the authors career adversities and his coincidental meditations on
matters spiritual will be resisted for now.
represents Anrs most substantive Sufi text, both in its length and its con-
tent. Ultimately the author would pen three additional works dedicated to the
subject of Sufism, and each of these other three texts, at one point or another,
refers the reader to his earlier Ikm al-dalla commentary for more detailed
discussions of various matters of Sufi thought and practice.55 In other words,
Anr himself appears to have preferred his commentary on Qushayrs Risla
as a final word of sorts for his readership.
Notwithstanding his impressive intellectual output during these times,
Anr continued to endure the vicissitudes of political offfice until his final
resignation (or dismissal, depending on ones reading of the sources) from the
judgeship on Thursday 8 Dh l-ijja 906/24 June 1501.56 We can identify two
primary impetuses for his abandoning the judgeship, an event that occurred
during the sultanate of Qnawh al-Ghawr (r. 90622/150116). The first was
Anrs deteriorating vision, which he is reported to have lost entirely by the
time of his offficial departure from offfice. The second impetus stemmed from
Sultan al-Ghawrs decision to butcher his Mamlk adversaries and to confis-
cate the wealth and property of many of his constituents almost immediately
after his ascendency to the sultanate. In response, Anr began to condemn the
sultan publically in his Friday sermons at the Qala while the latter sat in atten-
dance beneath the minbar.57 If we accept such a chronology of events, which
admittedly is not well-defined in the sources,58 then a sensible interpretation
would suggest that the sultan in fact dismissed Anr from the judgeship.59
We can also speculate that Anr escaped a more violent response from the
sultan owing both to the precariousness of Ghawrs legitimacy in these early
days of his sultanate and to the potential political fallout that lay in the beating
of an eighty year-old blind man and iconic scholar like Anr.
55Izzat uriyya, Shur Rislat al-Shaykh Arsln (Damascus: Mabaat al-Alam, 1969)
(hereafter: al-Anr, Fat al-ramn), 187; A.H. Harley, A Manual of fism, Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal 20 (1924), 135, 138; Anr, Risla F bayn al-alf al-lat yatadwaluh
l-fiyya, MS Dr al-Kutub al-Miriyya (Cairo), 83 Taawwuf, fols. 1b-6b, at fol. 1b.
56Ibn Iys, Badi, 4:12; Ibn al-im, awdith al-zamn, 396, 401. Ibn ln reports that
the news of Anrs departure from the chief judgeship arrived in Damascus eighteen days
after the actual event, which he records incorrectly to have occurred on the ninth of Dh l-ijja.
Shams al-Dn Ibn ln, Mufkahat al-khilln f awdith al-zamn, ed. Muammad Muaf,
2 vols. (Cairo: al-Muassasa al-Miriyya al-mma li-l-Talf wa-l-Tarjama wa-l-iba wa-l-Nashr,
1962fff), 1:243. In another place, the chronicler suggests that Anrs dismissal was in fact a result
of his blindness. Ibid., 294.
58According to Ibn Iyss chronology of events, for instance, the confiscation of property
would begin while Anr still held the judgeship though most of Ghawrs killings would take
place after Anrs dismissal. See Ibn Iys, Badi, 4:2fff.
59Also supported in Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:199.
With his dismissal in 906/1501, Anr ultimately would hold the post of chief
Shfii judge for a span lasting just two months shy of twenty solar yearsa feat
that had no known precedent among the Shfiis.60 He nevertheless would end
his tenure alienated from the Mamlk political establishment. As he entered
the final decades of his life, however, Anr may have hoped for no blessing
greater than this. With his judgeship career squarely behind him, the author
could focus his effforts on the two endeavors that would ultimately define his
posthumous renown: scholarship and teaching.
The sources agree that Anr taught an unusually large number of students,
and by the end of his life, multiple generations of scholars could boast of hav-
ing attended his study circles.61 In fact, Ghazz records that Anr would live
to see the students of his students grow to become great shaykhs in their own
right. Moreover, Muslims from the Levant and the Hejaz would travel to Cairo
to study with him,62 while every Egyptian scholar of repute was his student in
one way or another, either directly or indirectly through study with an earlier
generation who had attended his lessons.63 Even Sakhw, writing thirty years
before Anrs death and within a highly critical passage of his biographical
entry for the latter, remarks that many notable scholars of various persuasions
had studied under him, all acknowledging his excellence.64
It is little wonder then that Anr appears to have intended his Ikm
al-dalla for a student readership. The authors repeat cautioning against aber-
rant theological readings of Qushayrs base text (matn) and his encouraging,
if not paternalistic tone when addressing elementary matters of spiritual prac-
tice would suggest that his intended reader is not an established, intellectually-
mature scholar but rather is deficient in many basic points of the scholarly
sciences.65 On the other hand, this same reader no doubt possesses a basic
spiritual ambition to pursue the Sufi path, and at no point does Anr attempt
to persuade his audience of the merits of the path. Moreover, it must be pre-
sumed that Anr intended all of his Sufi works to be read with a qualified
teacher, as was the ethos of his day.66 The case of Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn is
60Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:448.

61 Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 37; and Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:199201.
62Ibid., 199.
63Ibid., 201; Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 37.
64Sakhw, aw, 3:236; cf. idem, Raf, 1445; cf. Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:200.
65See, inter alia, Anr, Ikm al-dalla al tarr al-Risla, 4 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-mn,
2007), 2:7, 1134.
66See Michael Chamberlain, Knowledge and Social Practice in Medieval Damascus, 11901350
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 137fff; and Jonathan Berkey, The Transmission
of Knowledge in Medieval Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1992), 2636.
illustrative here. In 914/1508, the eighty-five-year-old Anr would vest the fif-
teen-year-old Sharn with the Sufi khirqa, thereby inaugurating a decade-long
relationship between the two figures.67 Soon after the vesting ritual, Sharn
would read and copy Anrs commentary on Qushayrs Risla with his new
teacher; he also received an ijza from the latter to teach the text as well.68
Anr relates his own reading of the Risla on the authority of multiple par-
ties (jamat), while the one isnd to Qushayr that he cites in full is through
Muammad al-Margh (d. 859/1455), which Anr obtained while studying
with the latter in Mecca.69 It is also worth mentioning that Anr collated
several manuscripts of Qushayrs Risla in the writing of his commentary
perhaps as many as five.70
Today the Ikm al-dalla exists in multiple published editions and
reprints, the most famous of which is that published in the margins of a super-
commentary upon it by the Egyptian scholar Muf al-Ars (d. 1876).71
67Sharn cites this vesting ceremony as the source of his shortest chain of transmission link-
ing him to Amad al-Zhid (d. 819/1416), as Anr took it directly from Muammad al-Ghamr,
who took it directly from Zhid. Writing many years after the event, the author claims to know
of no one living with a shorter transmission chain to Zhid. Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 45.
On the latter figure, see Sakhw, aw, 2:11113. Anr and Sharns grandfather Nr al-Dn
Al al-Anr (d. 891/1486) had been students together and friends at al-Azhara fact that may
help to explain Sharns unique relationship with his teacher. Al-Malj al-Sharn, Manqib
al-Sharn, 21, 234, 334; Munw, al-Kawkib al-durriyya, 4:458. A similar connection is found
in the correlation that, when he first arrived in Cairo in 911/1505, Sharn initially attached him-
self to the mosque of Anrs Sufi shaykh Muammad al-Ghamr, which was then under the
leadership of the latters son. Winter, Society and Religion, 46.
68Ibid., 54; and Sharn, al-abaqt al-kubr, 2:689. This latter source mistakenly cites
Sharns serving Anr for twenty years, while the ten years cited elsewhere stand as a more
accurate assessment in light of Sharns age, his first appearance in Cairo, and the date of his
vesting in the khirqa. See, inter alia, ibid., 688; idem, al-abaqt al-ughr, 37; and al-Malj
al-Sharn, Manqib al-Sharn, 62, and passim.
69Anr, Ikm al-dalla, 1:15. The study in Mecca would have taken place in 850/1447.
Sakhw, aw, 3:235; and idem, Raf, 144. For more on Margh, see Sakhw, aw, 7:1625. Anr
also appears to have taken an ijza in the complete works of Ibn al-Arab (d. 638/1240) from
Margh. Abd al-ayy al-Kattn, Fihris al-fahris, 3 vols. (Beirut: Dr al-Gharb al-Islm, 1982fff),
1:319. For a good secondary-source overview of the ijza (license) institution, see Chamberlain,
Knowledge and Social Practice, 8890.
70References to multiple manuscripts (nusakh, pace nuskha) can be found at Anr, Ikm
al-dalla, 1:39, 61 (three cited), 74 (at least five cited), 109 (two cited), 182 (at least three cited); 2:5
(at least three cited), 142; 3:228 (two cited); 4:122. Beyond these references, I have counted nearly
three hundred additional citations of variant readings that are based on collation with a single
alternate manuscript (wa-f l-nuskha...).
71 The printed edition used in this study is a reprint by Maktabat al-mn (Cairo, 2007) of an
earlier Blq print that was first published in the beginning of Rajab 1290/late August 1873. Anr,
Ikm al-dalla, 4:233. The reprint comprises four volumes contained in three tomes. Here,
Arss supercommentary, entitled Natij al-afkr al-qudsiyya f bayn man Shar al-Risla
Anrs commentary has furthermore reached us in an autographed manu-

script (among countless other manuscripts) that is held by the Chester Beatty
Library. Although a microfilm of the manuscript has been consulted for the
present study, the authors frequent corrections, deletions, and dislocated
addenda severely undermine the clarity of the document.72 Fortunately, the
published version of the text appears to have been based upon a relatively
sound manuscript,73 and Gramlich further notes that it stands as the best of
the printed editions of Qushayrs Risla at the time of his writing in 1988.74
As such, all references here are to the published version of the text.
Subtle Intellectual Innovation in the Ikm al-dalla
In order to identify where his fifteenth-century voice is most evident, my anal-

ysis of al-Anrs Ikm al-dalla here pivots around those areas where the
author breaks most obviously from a more axiomatic reading of Qushayrs
original Risla. This methodological focus obscures those portions of the com-
mentary in which Anr closely parallels Qushayrs text and emphasizes his
more glaring divergences from it. Although it is certainly worth acknowledg-
ing the potential liabilities of a methodology that emphasizes points of depar-
ture between shar (commentary) and matn (base text) at the expense of
points of overlap, such a methodology is justified in light of two facts. First,
the academic study of fifteenth and sixteenth-century Egyptian Sufism (and
al-Qushayriyya, fills the center of the page, while Anrs Ikm circumscribes Qushayrs par-
enthetical matn in the margins. Additionally, a nineteenth-century editor named Ibrhm Abd
al-Ghafffr al-Dasq has added a few sparse editorial comments (taqrrt) throughout the pub-
lication. For the latters name, see ibid., 4:232. Qushayrs original matn was completed in the
early part of 438/mid-1045, Anrs commentary was completed in Jumd I of 893/April 1488 (as
already noted), and Arss supercommentary was completed in Jumd II of 1271/March 1855.
Ibid., 4:2289.
72MS Chester Beatty Library (Dublin), Arabic 3843, fols. 1b294a. See Arberry, Handlist,
4:278, and Plate 114 for a reproduction of fol. 260b. Arberry mistakenly identifies the author
as Ibn al-Anr.
73Two word changes at Anr, Ikm al-dalla, 1:12; and one word omission at ibid., 13,
both corresponding to fol. 2b of the manuscript, suggest that the printed edition is not based
upon the Chester Beatty manuscript, as it would have been diffficult to read these into the latter
document.
74He does note, however, that the published edition sufffers from misplaced brackets that
cause the text and commentary to appear to run together. Richard Gramlich, Das Sendschreiben
al-Quayrs ber das Sufitum (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1989), 18. Frank similarly notes
that the Blq edition remains the best available for al-Qushayrs original matn. Richard M.
Frank, Two Short Dogmatic Works of Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr, Mlanges de lInstitut Dominicain
dEtudes Orientales du Caire 15 (1982): 578.
the late-medieval Sunni commentary tradition as a whole for that matter) is

still in its infancy.75 As such, what better starting point for such a study than
those areas where the later tradition most obviously diverges from its clas-
sical precedent? Second, it remains diffficult (if not problematic) to draw
any broader conclusions from a later commentators self-evident readings of
an earlier matn or his simple glosses on individual words within it. In other
words, a commentators tacit acceptance of a matn provides very few definitive
insights into his own worldview. Textual tensions between shar and matn,
on the other hand, reveal intellectual arenas in which a later commentator
is willing to forgo deference towards an earlier authority in favor of his own
voice.76 Anr saw an incentive in maintaining the integrity of an authority
like Qushayr, and thus his tensions with the latter, though subtle they may be,
must not be passed over lightly.
Within his Ikm al-dalla, Anrs direct contradictions of Qushayrs text
are rare.77 It is not diffficult to understand why such is the case: overt confronta-
tion with an inherited text would undermine the claims of a latter-day scholar
to stand within the same intellectual tradition of his scholarly forerunner. This
rule would apply especially so in the case of medieval Sufism, where a connec-
tion to past masters through institutions like the silsila served as an essential
foundation for legitimacy. On the other hand, the fifteenth and sixteenth-
century reader of Anrs Ikm would have intellectual needs that could not
be met by a simple gloss on a 450-year old text like Qushayrs Risla. How
then does Anr meet the needs of his intellectual milieu while maintain-
ing the almost-irreproachable integrity of an earlier master like Qushayr and
his text?
A subtle recasting and redirecting of the Risla would accomplish just
such an objective, and this is exactly what Anr does with his Ikm. While
maintaining an implicit and explicit veneer of allegiance to Qushayrs origi-
nal matn, Anr nevertheless retains considerable control over the substance
of his shar through a variety of techniques and devices. Moreover, because
later readers of the Ikm will encounter a text in which matn and shar are
fused into a single amalgamated text, Anrs commentarial control translates
75Thomas Bauers assessment of the deplorable state of Mamlk literary studies is arguably
more fitting for many other subfields of late-medieval intellectual history, such as, inter alia, law,
hadith studies, and Sufism. Thomas Bauer, Mamlk Literature: Misunderstandings and New
Approaches, Mamlk Studies Review 9.2 (2005): 10532.
76For some theoretical complexities entailed in the shar-matn relationship, see Brinkley
Messick, The Caligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1993), 31.
77For a few examples of Anrs direct contradictions of the Risla, see idem, Ikm al-dalla,
2:148, 4:126, 127, 129, 153.
into an efffective control over the larger reception of Qushayrs original Risla.
More specifically, here this study argues that Anrs various commentarial
techniques for redirecting the Risla to accord better with his own thought and
audience broadly fall into three categories: 1) those that recast the actual con-
tent of the original text; 2) those that recast its form; and, 3) those that recast
its tone and objective.
First let us consider the authors recasting of the content of Qushayrs
Risla. One means through which Anr accomplishes such a feat is by lim-
iting or qualifying the import of the original text. In other words, the author
will acknowledge the literal meaning of Qushayrs text but immediately con-
fines this meaning to specific cases and instances that do not represent the
entirety of experience. Thus, for example, to a particular Sufis blanket con-
demnation of self-contentment with ones spiritual standing, Anr confirms
the validity of this sentiment but adds the qualifier, That is, whenever one
refrains from seeking an increase in [his spiritual standing]. Otherwise, he
notes, it is good to be content with ones lot, as the scholars who are pleased
with Gods decree never cease from asking for His increase.78 In another
instance, Qushayr cites an unattributed interpretation of two verses of the
Quran to posit that the grateful believer has a constant eye towards Gods
increase (al-mazd) while the patient believer is always with God. Here, Anr
would appear to disagree with the sweeping nature of this exegesis, as he coun-
ters that both cases describe the predominant situation while there are cer-
tainly grateful believers who do not have an eye towards Gods increase just as
there are patient believers who do not have an eye towards God throughout
their tribulation.79 In a third example, Qushayr explains that the friend of God
is the son of his moment (ibn waqtih) such that he experiences no fear, nor
hope, nor sadness. To this Anr counters that such a description applies to
some of God friends in some of their spiritual states. In fact, the opposite may
be closer to the truth in that most of Gods friends experience these states most
of the time!80 What is perhaps most interesting about this final example is that
Anr has chosen to conclude Qushayrs chapter on Wilya with it,81 thereby
framing the chapter within a new interpretative scafffoldinga technique that
is discussed again below.
78Ibid., 2:5.
79Ibid., 3:72. The Quranic verses cited by Qushayr are 14:7 and 2:153.
80Ibid., 3:218.
81 For the best treatment of the term wilya and a summary of reasons for my leaving it
untranslated here, see Vincent Cornell, Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan
Sufism (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1998), xviixliv.
Another way that Anr recasts the content of the Risla is through his
subtle, if not disguised contradiction of the text by means of an often terse
commentary that serves to ease it in new directions. Here, Anr avoids a
direct confrontation with the Risla in favor of a token afffirmation of it that is
followed by an immediate abrogation. Thus, when Qushayr explains that the
highest aspiration of the Sufis is to be efffaced from witnessing themselves and
never returned to their selves/senses again, Anr immediately adds, And
when He returns them to their selves/senses to fulfill His right and hope for His
bounty this is not a deficiency on their part.82 Similarly, to Qushayrs austere
counsel that a murd should have no fixed income, Anr adds the qualifica-
tion, In excess of what is suffficient for him, thereby changing the import of
the original text entirely and perhaps reconciling it with the predilections of his
own society.83 In another example, Qushayr counsels the murd to separate
himself from all worldly people, as keeping their company is a proven poison
(samm mujarrab). Anr, in turn, afffirms this counsel but only at the early
stages of the path, for when asceticism has established itself in his heart and
his desire for virtue (al-khayr) has grown strong and his knowledge (marifa)
has been perfected, he will not be bothered by keeping their company, as his
asceticism and knowledge will preserve him from inclining towards their lot.84
The text of the original matn is thus undermined and Anrs own religious
ethic replaces that of the master Qushayr.
Another technique that Anr employs frequently to recast the content
of the Risla is his idiosyncratic readings of the original matn. Such readings
may redeploy the text in a variety of directions, which range from the mildly
counterintuitive interpretations to the bizarre. Moreover, idiosyncratic read-
ings may be used for various ends. At the most general level, Anr frequently
interprets Qushayrs text in an idiosyncratic manner in order to reconcile
it with his own worldview. Thus for example, in two instances in the Risla,
specific Sufi masters warn against the dangers of tawlmost likely here
meaning, Interpreting [the Quran] in a manner not according to the obvious
meaning.85 Perhaps because an allegorical interpretation of scripture does
not represent as practical and immediate a danger in Anrs thinking as does
82Wa-mat raddahum ilayhim li-qiym aqqih wa-raj falih lam yakun dhlik naqan. Anr,
Ikm al-dalla, 2:77.
83Filun an kifyatih. Ibid., 4:226.
84Ibid., 4:2267.
;) cf. Ab afs Umar al-Suhraward, Awrif al-marif, reprint in Mulaq Iy ulm

85E.W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 pts. (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1968), 1.1:1267 (s.v.
al-dn (Egypt: Maktabat al-Tijriyya al-Kubr, n.d.), 50. See also Herbert Berg, Polysemy in the
Qurn, in The Encyclopaedia of the Qurn, ed. Jane Dammen McAulifffe (Leiden: Brill, 2004),
4:1558.
immoderation in matters of law, the author interprets Qushayrs tawl as

meaning to talk oneself into legally dubious matters. He thus warns his reader
against less legally-precautious actions and behavior while using the matn of
the Risla as a launching point for such advice.86
In a similar vein, Anr would appear unwilling to accept the obvious read-
ing of Qushayrs statement that supplication (du) is for the beginners on the
path while the tongues of the advanced travelers are silent. Thus he posits that
either their tongues are silent for everything except what knowledge tells them
is the most beloved thing to Goda subtle contradiction of Qushayrs text
or their silence comes at a particular time when silence is preferred. Even in
the latter case, God knows the contents of their hearts and can answer their
prayers without the movement of their tongues. In both cases, it should be
noted, Anr avoids the obvious reading that supplication might be obsolete
for the advanced travelers of the path, as such a reading runs counter to his
view of acceptable scholarly positions.87
In fact, on several occasions Anr employs idiosyncratic readings of
Qushayrs text in order to maintain Sunni scholarly hegemony over ortho-
doxy and orthopraxy. A particularly illustrative example of this appears in his
commentary on the words of Junayd (d. 297/910): The veracious murd has no
need for (ghaniya an) the knowledge of the scholars. Here, Anr explains
that the Sufi is referring to that knowledge which is not necessary to his cor-
rect religious practice, for otherwise, should there exist a religious need for
such knowledge, then it would be obligatory upon him to gather it from the
scholars.88 The author thus eschews the obvious reading of Junayds words as
they appear in the Risla in favor of a creative reading that upholds the author-
ity of the scholars.
Idiosyncratic readings are also employed to advance an agenda that is com-
pletely independent of the original matn. In other words, Anr reserves the
right to take Qushayrs text in whatever direction he chooses through his read-
ings of it. Thus for example, to a statement of Dh l-Nn al-Mir (d. ca. 243/857),
Whoever learns to be content (qania) finds peace from the people of his time,
Anr adds the qualifier in the markets and so forth, thereby recasting the
quote to the needs of his own urban setting.89 In another example, Qushayr
cites a somewhat ambiguous story in which a party of children are reported
to have been playing near a group of elders. When questioned about their
86Anr, Ikm al-dalla, 2:16, 157.

87Ibid., 3:2267; cf. the authors Talkh al-Azhiyya f akm al-adiyya (Beirut: Dr al-Bashir
al-Islmiyya, 2005) on supplication, especially 259.
88Idem, Ikm al-dalla, 3:121.
89Ibid., 3:44.
lack of shame in playing in such a manner, one child responds that because
these elders have few legal scruples (wara), they have little reverence in the
childrens eyes. In his commentary, Anr explains that the story represents
a confirmation of the sound hadith to discipline children and order them to
pray when they are seven years old and spank them [for missing prayer] when
they are twelve.90 In fact, because the story appears in Qushayrs chapter on
Wara (pious scrupulosity), the focus of it would appear to fall on the elders
described therein while the behavior of the children remains rather vague.
Nevertheless, Anr uses the occasion to comment on the proper discipline of
children, and the original text of the Risla is coaxed in a new direction.
Such idiosyncratic readings of the Risla, in addition to Anrs limiting and
qualifying of the text, and his disguised contradictions of it, comprise the three
primary techniques through which the author recasts the Rislas content.
Anrs recasting of the texts form represents a secondary means through
which he achieves objectives both similar to and independent of those that
inform his content-based redirection of Qushayrs original matn. Specifically,
Anr superimposes a framework over the text in order to systematize it, rec-
oncile it with his own theory and definitions, and allow it to function better as
a textbook for his late-medieval readers. He accomplishes such ends through
a variety of strategies.
One form-based technique that Anr uses throughout his shar appears
in the form of a general scafffolding that reconciles perceived discrepancies
within the Risla, particularly terminological discrepancies. While Qushayr
would appear to hold few reservations about presenting materials on a single
theme that espouse a variety of opinions, including contradictory opinions,
Anr aims to systematize the text to the best of his ability. This goal of sys-
tematization may lend credence to the theory that Anr intended his Ikm
as a textbook for students, as students of any age are generally less inured and
thus less receptive to ostensible contradictions. The authors commentary on
Qushayrs chapter on Love (maabba) provides good examples of such a
scafffolding. Here, Anr consolidates Qushayrs four disparate definitions of
Gods love into two general categories: love that stems from Gods will (irda)
and love that stems from Gods speech.91 In a similar vein, Anr posits three
general categories of love from the human perspective: love out of compas-
sion and afffection, love out of appreciation for gifts bestowed by the beloved,
and love out of admiration of qualities in the beloved.92 These categories are
then read into the Risla at various points in order to maintain its theoretical
90Ibid., 2:159.
91 Ibid., 4:86.
92Ibid., 4:878.
consistency throughout the chapter. Thus for example, to a Sufis statement,

[There exists] a love that necessitates the sparing of blood and a love that
necessitates the spilling of it, Anr identifies the former love with appre-
ciation for the beloveds bounty and identifies the latter love with complete
immersion in remembrance of the beloved.93 The two types of love are thus
reconciled with Anrs previous, tripartite division of love (matching the sec-
ond and third categories of love, respectively), and the author thereby imposes
a higher standard of consistency onto Qushayrs Risla.
Anrs preambles to each new chapter of the Risla represent another
important means for his formal recasting of the text. Though they vary consid-
erably in length, detail, and content, Anrs preambles frequently provide a
linguistic and terminological definition for a new chapters subject, alternative
opinions on it, proximate causes and upshots of it, and finally its legal ruling
(e.g. praiseworthy; unlawful). As such, these introductory additions frame the
original text and thereby shape the chapter such that it resembles a chapter in
a standard work of Islamic substantive law (fur).94 Whats more, framing the
original matn in such a legally inspired manner allows the text to function as
a standardized textbook that might appear more readily accessible to a reader
who is better acquainted with the textbooks of traditional madrasa curricula.
A final means of Anrs formal recasting of the Risla that is worth men-
tioning comes in the authors reconciling the disparate definitions of the Sufis
by positioning them within a larger causal nexus. Specifically, Anr identifies
areas of Qushayrs text that appear to contradict previously stated definitions,
and he recasts these problematic passages as either efffects (thamart, liter-
ally fruits) or causes of a particular standardized definition that thereby sub-
sumes them. Such an approach serves to maintain the consistency of the Risla
without directly contravening the statements of the Sufi masters that comprise
it. A subtle and succinct example of this can be found in Qushayrs chapter on
Modesty (al-ay). Here, to a Sufis statement that the greatest knowledge
(ilm) is awe and modesty, Anr interjects five words to yield a completely
new reading: The greatest knowledge, which is knowledge (marifa) of God
the exalted, its fruit is awe and modesty.95 The text now conforms to Anrs
own understanding that knowledge of God is the greatest knowledge, while
the author successfully avoids a direct confrontation with the opinion of an
earlier Sufi master. A similar example can be found in Qushayrs discussion of
93Ibid., 4:92.
94Good examples of these preambles can be found at ibid., 2:110, 147, 1878, 213, 230, 3:312, 36,
46, 64, 74, 83, 93, 989, 107, 1256, 131, 137, 144, 150, 174, 195, 2023, 208, 219, 4:23, 13, 122, 1467, 190.
Additional shorter examples can be found at ibid., 3:40, 115, 155, 168, 185, 4:31, 37, 61, 78, 105, 190.
95Ibid., 3:145.
patience, where to a Sufis statement that patience is to abandon complain-

ing, Anr writes, This is among the signs of patience but not patience itself.96
In another example, Sahl al-Tustar remarks, Repentance is to abandon pro-
crastination, to which Anr explains, This is not repentance but rather one
of its causes.97 In each case, Anrs commentary functions as a scafffolding to
redirect the original matn seamlessly into a consistent, textbook-styled mold.
Beyond these form-based techniques, Anrs recasting of the tone and
objective of Qushayrs Risla represents the third means by which he redi-
rects the original matn within his shar. One of Anrs primary methods of
redirecting the text in such a way is through his employing an unmistakably
legal lens in his commentary to recast the Risla in a mold that is more legal
in its tone and substance than Qushayr had originally intended. The examples
of this are many. For instance, when Qushayr explains that the Sufis do not
leave their daily litanies (awrd) during their spiritual travels (asfr), as dis-
pensations are for him whose travel is out of necessity, Anr provides a par-
ticularly legal-minded addition to this passage, noting that the Sufis take no
dispensations in their travels because the legal conditions for dispensations
are not fulfilled. On the other hand, if we postulate a situation in which the
Sufis intended to visit a particular shaykh and thus specify a particular direc-
tion for their travel, which itself is considered a long travel, then taking dispen-
sations would be permissible.98 In another example, which is almost comical
in its blending of the genres of law and Sufism, Qushayr remarks, It is said
that the Sufi does not change [in his state], though if he changes, [his soul]
does not become soiled. To this Anr adds, This change does not remain
long with himrather he returns to Gods [remembrance] quickly, as a slight
change disappears with a large amount of water quickly (al-taghayyur al-yasr
yazl bi-l-m al-kathr bi-sura).99 Here then Anr analogizes a legal ruling
with Qushayrs matn to derive a novel reading of the text. Whats more, Anr
employs the terms and critical methodology of a legist throughout his com-
mentary. Thus for example, to Qushayrs presenting the two opinions of the
Sufis on whether intimate knowledge of God (marifa) is superior to love of
God or vice versa, Anr comments that both opinions are sound (a) from
the perspective of their respective orientations (tawjhayn), though the first
opinion (in which love of God is given priority over knowledge of him) is more
suitable (awfaq) according to the later specialists (muaqqiqn) as Qushayr
96Ibid., 3:86.
97Ibid., 2:117.
98Ibid., 4:27. Cf. idem, Fat al-wahhb bi-shar Manhaj al-ullb, 2 vols. (Cairo: s al-Bb
al-alab, 1925), 1:70.
99Idem, Ikm al-dalla, 4:12.
himself alludes to in his weighing of the matter (tarj).100 Similar examples

of Anrs quasi-legal methodology and legal discussions that he interjects
throughout the text are too many to list in detail here.
A final means by which Anr recasts Qushayrs Risla is through his
softening and tempering the tone of the text, particularly in those areas that
anathematize other Muslims or appear to limit the mercy of God. Here again,
Anrs approach would suggest that the author intended his work to be
read by students or, in any case, non-scholars. His avoidance of the anathema
(takfr) appears in various forms and contexts. For example, to a Sufis harsh
theological judgment against the Qadariyya theological sect, Anr cites the
statement that the Qadariyya are the Magi of this Muslim Nation, though
he is then quick to remind his reader that they are not deemed disbelievers
according to the later experts.101 In another example, a theologian who sub-
scribed to the Mutazilite position on the eternity of Gods punishment (wad
al-abad) is seen in a dream and remarks, We have found the [hereafter] easier
than we imagined. In his commentary on this story, Anr leaves open the
possibility that God may have forgiven this individual in spite of his hereti-
cal beliefs.102 In a similar vein, to Qushayrs citation of the famous hadith
He will not enter paradise in whose heart is an atoms weight of arrogance,
Anr tempers the literal reading of the text by qualifying such arrogance as
that which leads to disbelief, while anything less than this will merely prevent
a believer from entering paradise with the truly successful (al-fizn).103 In a
final example of Anrs tempering some of the more astringent passages of
the Risla, the author adds the important qualifier unless that God should
reach you with His mercy to a Sufis stern warning that no good will ever come
of the person who has tasted the pleasures of his soul.104 The uncompromising
tone of the Sufis statement is thus mitigated and Qushayrs text is thereby
eased in a new, milder direction.
Implications for Commentary Theory
Through its very nature, the genre of commentary is beset by a number

of defining paradoxes, at least three of which are evident in the analysis of
100Ibid., 4:103.
101 Ibid., 1:55. For the Qadariyya, see, inter alia, W.M. Watt, Free Will and Predestination in
Early Islam (London: Luzac, 1948), passim.
102Anr, Ikm al-dalla, 2:208.
103Ibid., 3:10.
104Ibid., 1:164.
Anrs Ikm al-dalla above. The first paradox emerges in questions of tex-
tual primacy. In one sense, a commentary utterly depends on a foundational
texthere, Qushayrs Rislathe silent dominion of which determines the
boundaries of a commentary and gives life to it by serving as its epistemic goal.105
In another sense however, the commentary itself is primary, as it controls the
foundational text and recasts it, in both form and substance, all while claiming
complete subservience to it.106
A second, related paradox appears when we attempt to ascertain a com-
mentarys temporal allegiances. Commentary, by its nature, sits in the inter-
stices between the past world of the canon and the present world that it imbues
with meaning through this canon.107 The past, in other words, lies at a distance
and yet regains familiarity through the institution of commentary; the pres-
ent remains nonsensical until the pastthat is, the canonprovides it with
context and significance. The commentary, in this regards, plays a critical role
in bringing the past into the present in a meaningful manner.108 It is through
this unique role that commentary, in the words of one scholar, justifies, articu-
lates, classifies, changes, and subverts both the past it purports to comment
upon and the present which it rarely mentions.109 Moreover, the canon rep-
resents a closed system, at least from a synchronic perspective, and as such,
its inherent limitations must be surpassed and its domain must be extended
to encompass entire new worldviews without changing its surface structures.110
One way to conceptualize this commentarial process of extending the domain
of canon is to view canon as the lexicon of its community. Here, commen-
tary functions to superimpose a grammatical framework over this lexicon in
order to derive meaning from it in the face of diachronic change.111 Ultimately
then, the commentary reflects its own worldview and not necessarily that of
105Michel Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archeology of the Human Sciences (New York:
Routledge, 2002), 45.
106Willard McCarty, A Network With a Thousand Entrances: Commentary in an Electronic
Age?, in Classical Commentary: Histories, Practices, Theory, ed. Christina S. Kraus and Roy K. Gib-
son (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 363.
107Aaron Hughes, Presenting the Past: The Genre of Commentary in Theoretical Perspec-
tive, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 15 (2003), 1578.
108Ibid., 1545, 157, 163.
109Ibid., 166; cf. 163.
110Jonathan Z. Smith, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1982), 48; cf. John B. Henderson, Scripture, Canon, and Commentary: A Comparison
of Confucian and Western Exegesis (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 8991, 140, and
passim.
111Cf. Hughes, Presenting the Past, 165: The canon becomes, as it were, the grammar and the
vocabulary by which a community articulates its current concerns.
the canon, which it redeploys to meet the social and intellectual needs of its
later context.112
A third and final commentarial paradox that we find above emerges in our
search for a distinct commentarial voice within a commentary text. Notwith-
standing the concerns of commentary for its contemporary context, commen-
tators in fact strive to keep their own voices and personalities invisible, as is
expected by their audiences. Anrs own attempts to keep his voice incon-
spicuous enable him to steer the Risla in wholly new directions in a man-
ner that might seem underhanded and manipulative when viewed in a more
cynical light. Such attempts to remain inconspicuous stand as little more than
a professional fiction, however.113 Muslim commentators especially have
always excelled at distinguishing their scholarly voices, as would be necessary
to attract patronage from the political sphere for instance.114 More impor-
tantly though, the personal concerns and context-specific preoccupations of
commentators perpetually float just beneath the surface of their commen-
taries. Commentators, in other words, are driven by a need to remain useful,
which in turn makes the nature of their audiences and social settings a par-
ticularly important theoretical consideration.115 Anything in the canon that
would appear as an anomaly or an aggravation to the received tradition in the
commentators social setting, for instance, would likely receive a dispropor-
tionate share of commentarial attention.116 Moreover, shifting conceptions of
the anomalous help to account for the layer upon layer of commentary that
canonical texts, particularly scripture, accumulate with the passage of time.117
112Cf. Christina S. Kraus, Introduction: Reading Commentaries/Commentaries as Reading,

in Classical Commentary: Histories, Practices, Theory, 1, where commentary is deemed to func-
tion as a parasitic literary form for such reasons. For an interesting example of a Brahmanical
bias towards (or recasting of) a famous Tamil poem by a later commentator, see Norman Cutler,
Interpreting Tirukkua: The Role of Commentary in the Creation of a Text, JAOS 112.4 (1992),
5567, 55960, 5624.
113Kraus, Introduction: Reading Commentaries/Commentaries as Reading, 45. In Krauss
words, The I of the commentator tends towards the mute. Ibid., 4. Cf. Cutler, Interpreting
Tirukkua, 557.
114Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Commentaries, Print and Patronage: adth and the Madrasas
in Modern South Asia, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 62.1 (1999), 70.
115Kraus, Introduction: Reading Commentaries/Commentaries as Reading, 8; cf. Glenn W.
Most, Preface, in Commentaries Kommentare, ed. idem (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck and Rupre-
cht, 1999), xiii: The kinds of problems a commentator will discover in his texts are at least in part
a result of the approach he takes to it. What counts as a problem in diffferent periods?
116Robert F. Campany, Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China (Albany:
SUNY Press, 1996), 78; and Hughes, Presenting the Past, 1578, where the author cites exegeti-
cal treatments of the Bibles Song of Songs as a good example of this phenomenon.
117Kraus, Introduction: Reading Commentaries/Commentaries as Reading, 7. For a good
example of this phenomenon, see Cutler, Interpreting Tirukkua, 5614.
It is for such reasons that the history of interpretation has been called a his-
tory of exclusions, as commentators are wont to emphasize those portions of
a canonical base text that are easiest to mold to their own worldview to the
exclusion of other portions.118 In a way then, the commentator seeks to per-
suade his reader to accept a particular reading of a text that seldom if ever
represents a timeless and categorically intuitive interpretation.119
Although commentators preoccupations so clearly inform the methods
and agendas behind their commentaries, their voices are generally muted and
deferential and rarely outspoken. Anrs voice, as it appears in his Ikm
al-dalla, appears as no exception to this trend, and one aim of this study has
been to identify the conventions, styles, and strategies employed by this com-
mentator to disguise his divergences from Qushayrs Risla as mere exposi-
tion on what is implicit in the latter text. The end result is the production of a
single shar-matn supertext that seamlessly bridges two contexts and world-
views while positioning both Anr and Qushayr within a common intellec-
tual pantheon. Disciple thus never outshines master, while master lives on,
albeit in a body that he no longer controls. And though some may continue to
view texts like the Ikm as products of an age of imitation and compilation,120
refusing to acknowledge that creative agency can exist even in something as
seemingly innocuous as parallel text citations,121 a growing number of others
are beginning to recognize the creative merits of even the nadir generation in
whichever classical-decline-enlightenment parabola defines their field.
118Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy: On the Interpretation of Narrative (Cambridge:

Harvard University Press, 1979), 20.
119This persuasive drive that undergirds the genre has led at least one author to classify com-
mentary as a discursive practice within the broader practice of rhetoric. See Carsten Madsen,
The Rhetoric of Commentary, Glossator: Practice and Theory of Commentary 3 (2010): 1930.
120Reynold A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1953), 442.
121Cf. Jean Levi, Quelques exemples de dtournement subversif de la citation dans la littra-
ture classique chinoise, Extrme-Orient, Extrme-Occident 17 (1995): 4165.

Recasting Qushayrī's Risāla in Fifteenth-Century Egypt

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Recasting Qushayrī's Risāla in Fifteenth-Century Egypt

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Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 93120 brill.

Recasting Qushayrs Risla

1Contemporary biographies for Anr in European languages include Carl Brockelmann,

Anr and His Ikm

Zakariyy al-Anr was born in the year 826/1423, in an otherwise inconspicu-

5Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:196.

Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:196.

Muammad al-Qyt (d. 850/1446), Riwn al-Aqab (d. 852/1448), al-Shams

Anr travelled to Ghamrs mosque in the Egyptian delta city of al-Maalla

23Sharn, al-abaqt al-ughr, 41; Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:2001.

Sakhw, Raf, 6970.

sultan: al-Ashraf Qyit By (r. 872901/146895).29 The new sultan appointed

34Ghazz, Kawkib, 1:199.

42Amad b. Al al-Maqrz, al-Mawi wa-l-itibr bi-dhikr al-khia wa-l-thr, 2 vols. (Cairo:

some aspects of this renovation project appear to have been unprecedented in

60Ibn Iys, Badi, 3:448.

Anrs commentary has furthermore reached us in an autographed manu-

Subtle Intellectual Innovation in the Ikm al-dalla

In order to identify where his fifteenth-century voice is most evident, my anal-

the late-medieval Sunni commentary tradition as a whole for that matter) is

;) cf. Ab afs Umar al-Suhraward, Awrif al-marif, reprint in Mulaq Iy ulm

immoderation in matters of law, the author interprets Qushayrs tawl as

86Anr, Ikm al-dalla, 2:16, 157.

consistency throughout the chapter. Thus for example, to a Sufis statement,

patience, where to a Sufis statement that patience is to abandon complain-

himself alludes to in his weighing of the matter (tarj).100 Similar examples

Implications for Commentary Theory

Through its very nature, the genre of commentary is beset by a number

112Cf. Christina S. Kraus, Introduction: Reading Commentaries/Commentaries as Reading,

118Frank Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy: On the Interpretation of Narrative (Cambridge:

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