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Abstract
The Laif al-ishrt of Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr (d. 465/1072) is a comprehensive, line-by-line
mystical commentary on the Quran. In this article, an analysis of the comments on the first
four sras demonstrates how Qushayr crafted a distinctively cohesive way of responding to the
Quranic text that avoids any sharp or simplistic division of the exoteric and the mystical. This is
partly accomplished by not addressing verses in an overly selective way, and partly by mirroring
the shifting modes of discourse and content of the Quran itself. Qushayr adeptly incorporates
into his commentary the intellectual discourses of his time in exegesis, theology and mysticism,
and then expands his rhetorical repertoire with the more emotive and aesthetic dimensions of
poetry, rhymed prose and metaphor. Qushayrs methodology allows him to use tangible human
experience to explain what might otherwise seem like otherworldly or abstract ideas, and to pro-
vide concrete advice for mystical aspirants. The esoteric and exoteric are seamlessly interwoven
in his commentary through the ethos of adab, understood as a hermeneutic, a sensibility, and a
life strategy for those seeking nearness with the divine.
Rsum
Les Laif al-ishrt dAb l-Qsim al-Qushayr (m. 465/1072) reprsentent un commentaire mys-
tique, intgral et exhaustif du Coran. Dans cet article, lanalyse des quatre premires sourates
dmontre comment al-Qushayr a su concevoir une faon unique et cohrente de rpondre au
texte coranique, faon qui vite toute division tranchante ou simpliste de lexotrique et du mys-
tique. Ceci se ralise en premier lieu en ne sadressant pas aux versets coraniques de faon trop
slective et, dun autre ct, en refltant partialement les modalits de changement de discours et
de contenu du Coran lui-mme. Al-Qushayr fusionne effficacement dans son commentaire le dis-
cours intellectuel de son poque pour ce qui concerne lexgse, la thologie et la mystique, pour
largir ensuite son rpertoire rhtorique grce lutilisation de la dimension plus motionnelle
et esthtique de la posie, de la prose rythme et de la mtaphore. La mthodologie dal-Qushayr
lui permet dexploiter des expriences humaines tangibles pour expliquer ce qui autrement pour-
rait paratre comme des ides abstraites ou tournes vers lautre monde, et fournir des conseils
concrets pour des initis mystiques. Dans son commentaire, lsotrique et lexotrique sentre-
mlent en transparence travers lethos de ladab, conu comme une hermneutique, une sensi-
bilit et une stratgie de vie pour ceux qui recherchent la proximit du divin.
Keywords
adab, commentary, exegesis, Quran, al-Qushayr, Sufism
1In her excellent analyses of Qushayrs Laif al-ishrt, Annabel Keeler has demonstrated
how mystical commentary on the Quran functions as a form of spiritual guidance (irshd).
Annabel Keeler, Sufi Hermeneutics: The Quran Commentary of Rashd al-Dn Maybud (London:
Oxford University Press, 2006); idem, f tafsr as a Mirror: al-Qushayr the murshid in his Laif
al-ishrt, Journal of Quranic Studies 8.1 (2006): 121. Martin Nguyen has noted the admon-
ishing and pedagogical tone of the Laif al-ishrt, suggesting that it was intended for use in
Sufi circles of learning, and that we might use Walid Salehs category of madrasa commentary
to describe it. Martin Nguyen, Sufi Master and Quran Scholar: Abl-Qsim al-Qushayr and the
Laif al-ishrt (London: Oxford University Press, 2012), 131. Walid A. Saleh makes the distinc-
tion between madrasa and encyclopaedic commentaries in his monograph. Walid A. Saleh, The
Formation of the Classical Tafsr Tradition: The Qurn Commentary of al-Thalab (d. 427/1035)
(Leiden: Brill, 2004), 199.
2In the printed edition used for this study, there are six volumes with over 2000 pages of
commentary (Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr, Laif al-Ishrt, ed. Ibrhm Basyn, 6 vols. [Cairo:
Dr al-Kutub al-Arab, 196871]). The printed edition was checked against MS Kprl Library
(Istanbul) 117. I am very grateful to Annabel Keeler for providing me with a digital copy of this
manuscript.
3In this, he was following the lead of Amad b. Muammad al-Thalab (d. 427/1035), whom
Qushayr may have met. See Nguyen, Sufi Master and Quran Scholar, 89, and Saleh, The Forma-
tion of the Classical Tafsr Tradition, 33, 58. In his study of Thalabs al-Kashf wa-l-bayn an tafsr
al-Qurn, Walid Saleh argues persuasively that Thalab was the first to fully integrate adab litera-
ture into Qurnic tafsr. Ibid., 1819, 378, 1735.
K. Z. Sands / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 716 9
[2:13] When it is said to them, Believe as the people believe, they say, Shall we believe
as fools believe? Truly, they are the foolish ones, but they know not.6
The allusion in it is to hypocrites who, when they are called to the Real, describe
Muslims as foolish. Similarly, when the wealthy are commanded to renounce this
world, they describe the people of integrity as lazy and weak. They say the poor
(fuqar)7 have nothing because they have no wealth, no status, no comfort and
no livelihood. In truth, they are the ones who are poor and affflicted. They have
fallen into degradation out of fear of degradation, and struggled in shame out of
fear of shame.
They have constructed castles (qur) but have lived in tombs (qubr).
They have adorned the cradle (mahd) but have been wrapped in the grave (lad).
They have galloped in the fields of heedlessness (ghafla)
4In his study of the poetry in the Laif al-ishrt, Amad Amn Muaf finds over 400
poems cited in the entire work. Amad Amn Muaf, Takhrj abyt Laif al-ishrt li-l-Imm
al-Qushayr (Cairo: Mabaat al-Sada, 1986).
5The tafsr attributed to Sahl al-Tustar (d. 283/896) includes a few poems quoted for their
content rather than philological information. Sahl al-Tustar, Tafsr al-Tustar, trans. Annabel
Keeler and Ali Keeler (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2011). This would precede what Walid Saleh
refers to as Thalabs revolutionary incorporation of poetry qua poetry into tafsr, but does not
really challenge his categorization of it, since there seems to be little evidence that any exegete
before Thalab took on the sacralization of secular adab literary styles to the extent that he
did (Saleh, The Formation of the Classical Tafsr Tradition, 151, 174). The argument here is that
Qushayr not only continues this sacralization but makes it central to his commentary.
6The English translation of the Quran used here is that of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for
Islamic Thought, 2007.
7When Qushayr uses the word fuqar, he means both the poor and those who follow the
Sufi path.
10 K. Z. Sands / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 716
Qushayrs commentary here starts offf with descriptive and explanatory lan-
guage, shifts to a series of metaphors in rhymed prose (saj) and then ends
with poetry.10 It is a remarkably confident way of responding to the Quranic
verseno authorities are cited, metaphors flow freely, and the poetry is amus-
ing. What is also significant here is that the poetry cited is that of a famous
secular poet, Bad al-Zamn al-Hamadhn (d. 398/1008). Although Qushayr
quotes poetry without attribution, as is true of most of his quoted material,11 a
study by Amad Amn Muaf traced many of the verses cited in the Laif
al-ishrt back to secular poets such as Ab Tammm, al-Butur, al-Mutanabb
and Ab Nuws.12 Although Qushayr provides a completely diffferent context
for these poems, it is nonetheless striking that he weaves verses from poets
such as Ab Nuws (d. ca. 200/815), a poet as famous for his libertine practices
as for his literary abilities, into his Quranic commentary.
Qushayr also inserts poetry into his commentary where you might not
expect it. While the commentary just examined could be seen as an elegant
form of admonition,13 Qushayr sometimes uses literary devices in unexpected
places, such as in his commentary on the first part of Quranic verse 2:229 on
divorce:
14Qushayr, Laif al-ishrt, ed. Basyn, 1:193. Muaf states that he was unable to trace this
verse to any other source. Muaf, Takrj abyt Laif al-ishrt, no. 5, 92.
15Qushayr, Laif al-ishrt, ed. Basyn, 1:193.
16An example of the latter is his description of Zakariyyas jealousy regarding the spiritual
states of his ward Maryam, as found in the commentary on Quranic verses 3:3741.
17Saleh demonstrates how Thalabs incorporation of an adab sensibility explains the moral
nexus of the Qurn in a much more expansive way than is possible in forms of exegesis such
as Muammad b. Jarr al-abars. Saleh, The Formation of the Classical Tafsr Tradition, 16778.
This broader understanding of morality is also implicit in Keelers description of the mystical
commentary as spiritual guidance (irshd). Keeler, Sufi Hermeneutics, 7496.
12 K. Z. Sands / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 716
[2:267] O you who believe, expend of the good things you have earned (kasabtum),
and of what We have produced for you from the earth, and seek not the corrupt of it
for your expending; for you would never take it yourselves without closing your eyes
to it; and know that God is Independent, Laudable.
[2:268] Satan promises you poverty and enjoins you to indecency, but God promises
you His pardon, and His bounty; and God is Embracing, Knowing.
Let everyone consider what he expends on his own behalf and what he produces
by the command of his Lord. That which is brought forth against you is from your
account book (dwn): Your worldly portion are the precious things you possess.
[On the other hand], what you [produce] in things of little value is for your Lord.
You give God the tiniest of morsels, while he gives you the most valuable things and
the most perfect of blessings. But see how he forgives you, and even accepts it from
you! He even compensates you!... Everything from him is a favor but he ascribes it
to you as an act. His gift is entrusted to you and the gift is called a reward...21
In this passage Qushayr accepts the idea of a work-reward economy for alms-
giving while pointing out the deficiencies of thinking this way. He does this by
illustrating the absurdity of keeping an account book with God. The economy
of exchangegood deeds for a rewardis not a false one, since God keeps his
promises, but it exists only within a very limited perspective of the nature of
reality. The truer picture is that of a gift economy. From the perspective of the
gift economy, whatever acts of obedience or obligation we perform are always
preceded by divine generosity and while acquired by us, do not originate
in us. The example is a very clear and concrete one which demonstrates the
problem of attributing causality solely to the autonomous individual: whatever
money, material goods, physical well-being or abilities one possesses can easily
be traced to factors beyond an individuals control or merit. The virtuous per-
son gives freely because they perceive correctly that everything they have has
been given freely to them in one way or another, and that their entitlement to
it is therefore not as it appears. Their behavior is not so much an act of efffort
as it is an acknowledgement that, as Qushayr says elsewhere,22 Gods bounty
(fal) is undeserved beneficence (isn).
The cultivation of virtues, then, occurs in tandem with a change in perception
that de-stabilizes conventional notions of human action, ability and posses-
sion. Whereas in Asharite theological treatises,23 the concept of acquisition
(kasb) can seem defensive or vague, Qushayr illustrates it here with tangible
[3:122] When two parties of you were about to lose heart; and God was their Protector,
and let the believers rely on God.
He brings forth everyone in the bodice of free choice, as if the command was theirs
in their negating and afffirming, their acting and abstaining from action. In truth,
they are only turned about by the agency of (his) grasp and the turning of (his)
deliberative power.26
and desire to flee from diffficulty, is not particularly pleasant, Qushayr shows
how the disciplining and the refinement (tadb) of the self is ultimately an
expansive rather than a constrictive process.27 As he says in his commentary
on Quranic verse 3:8,28 There is no increase in nearness without an increase
in adab.29
If one had to choose one word to define Qushayrs exegetical approach in
the Laif al-ishrt, it would perhaps be this word, adab, understood as a
hermeneutic, a sensibility, and a life strategy for those seeking nearness with
the divine. In its secular usage, adab can refer to either literature or to a way
of behaving in the world that is both moral and wise. Both of the elements of
Qushayrs Laif al-ishrt discussed here, which are its use of poetic forms
of discourse and the distinctive way in which it connects the cultivation of
virtues to knowledge, reflect this understanding and practice of adab.
Qushayrs understanding of adab, however, difffers from its secular mani-
festations in its objective. For Qushayr, the purpose of cultivating virtues and
reciting poetry is not primarily to live a good life or even to achieve salvation.
Rather it is a means to radically transform oneself and experience reality in a
far more expansive way. Qushayrs appropriation of the disciplines and lit-
eratures of secular adab for religious purposes was not without precedent, but
perhaps his ability to make full use of them in a Sufi context was.30
Although the admonitory nature of much of the Laif al-ishrt could eas-
ily function as a guide to a sort of soft Sufism or Sufi lite, this is only possible
if one ignores Qushayrs understanding of concepts such as annihilation
(fan). There is an edginess to Qushayrs theology and exegesis that is easily
missed because he is so subtle in his methodology. Qushayr does not need
27For more on the connection between the Sufi notions of annihilation (fan) and blame-
worthy character traits, see the section on Annihilation (fan) and Subsistence (baq) in
Qushayrs Risla. Al-Qushayris Epistle on Sufism, trans. Alexander D. Knysh (Reading: Garnet
Publishing Limited, 2007), 8991.
28Quranic verse 3:8: Our Lord, do not cause our hearts to deviate after You have guided us; and
give us mercy from You; You are the Bestower.
29Qushayr, Laif al-ishrt, ed. Basyn, 1:233.
30Mention has already been made of what Walid Saleh calls the sacralization of secular adab
literary styles in the Quranic commentary of Thalab. For precedents in a more specifically
Sufi context, see Elena Biagis discussion of the intersection of the adab literary tradition and
early Sufi works in her translation of Sulams Jawmi db al-ufiyya: A Collection of Sufi Rules
of Conduct (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 2010). See also Gerhard Bwerings The Adab
Literature of Classical Sufism: Anrs Code of Conduct, in Moral Conduct and Authority: The
Place of Adab in South Asian Islam, ed. Barbara Daly Metcalf (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1984), 6287. For use of secular literary terms, themes and devices within Sufi writings that
predate al-Qushayr, see Michael A. Sellss Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and
Theological Writings (New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1996).
16 K. Z. Sands / Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 716