‛abd al-karīm al-jīLĪ
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- 1. THE TEXT IN ARABIC INTRODUCTION
Chapter 4 AL-KAHF WA AL-RAQĪM The present dissertation endeavors to identify in Al-Jīlī a credible contributor to the seemingly perennial debate within Islam on the dilemma of trying to harmonize God’s transcendence and God’s perceived immanence. That is to say, God’s “otherness” that distinguishes the divine Persona from the contingent order, and at the same time God’s relationship with a universe that has its origin in a divine act of creation and with which God evidently interacts, particularly in relation to humankind. Through the course of history, individual theologians and religious movements provided a number of solutions, often inadequate and inconsistent, in an attempt to grapple with this paradox. Al-Jīlī gave his own original contribution to the debate, mainly through the pages of his literary masterpiece, Al-Insān al-kāmil, but also, this dissertation would argue, through another work of his, Al-Kahf wa al-raqīm. Presumably on the basis of the evidence provided by Al- Jīlī in his other writings, Zaydān (1988) maintains that chronologically this is his first Sufi composition (p. 57). However, he does not provide evidence to justify this assertion. On the contrary, from Section 10.7, where Al-Jīlī seems to quote verses from an earlier longer poem of his, one may deduce that this is not after all the first of his Sufi compositions. Nevertheless, I concur with Zaydān in placing this near the top of the chronological list of Al-Jīlī’s works in the light of the fact that elements of its content are often expanded in other, presumably subsequent books, as I have tried to illustrate in the description of Al- Jīlī’s bibliography. Al-Kahf wa al-raqīm has been adopted here as an exemplification of the author’s interest in the relationship between God and God’s creatures. A treatise on the basmala, its main argument is that this Islamic formula illustrates and typifies this 139 relationship as one in which the universe appears united to its divine origin in a symbiosis mirrored by the nature of Arabic letters such as Alif and Bā’, and their relation to the diacritical dot. Admittedly not a completely original argument - it appears in several other authors, notably in Ibn ‘Arabī himself - however, it addresses more exclusively the issue that, as we have just said, seems to be at the centre of Al-Jīlī’s theological discourse on tawḥīd , namely the apparent paradox of God’s immanence and transcendence.The present chapter offers an edited version of its Arabic text, a translation and annotations. Towards the completion of the translation, I have been able to access two main sources. One is preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge [Ff.6.38 3], running pages 389- 425 of a manuscript that also contains Al-Jīlī’s Al-Insān al-kāmil and that is “written in clear, good naskh, 1 with rubrications, in or about A.H. 1040, 2 by a Christian of Ḥama 3 called” Talja (Browne 1900, p. 15). For easy access, I was able to purchase an electronic copy of this manuscript - henceforth referred to as C. - from the University of Cambridge. A second manuscript - henceforth referred to as L. - preserved in the Library of the India Office, London [666.I fols 23v.-33] is missing several words and the last 3-5 pages. I have checked the manuscripts against an Indian second edition - henceforth referred to as I.2 - published in 1336/1917 and kept at the Library of the University of Cambridge [Moh.130.b.30]. The frontispiece to the book explains that the volume is part of the legacy (ex testamento) of Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926), renowned Cambridge expert on Persian literature and history, to the library. A third edition - henceforth referred to as I.3 - published in 1340/1921 is also available there 1 Neskhi, ordinary cursive script, one of the earliest Arabic calligraphic styles. 2 1631 CE. 3 In Syria. 140 [Adv.b.114.3(2)] in a volume containing in addition Kitāb al-ittiḥāfāt by Muḥammad Al- Madanī. Save for a number of misspellings, marginal notations - duly highlighted when of some relevance – minor variations, and some verses in appendix - contained in C. but not in I.2 or taken in consideration by a French translation of this work by Clément-François (2002) 4 - there is good textual concordance between the manuscripts and the two printed editions that I have consulted. The two Indian editions - neither of them specifying on which manuscript they are based - often seem to contain the same alterations to the text of the manuscripts, apparently motivated by the intent of adding to its clarity, correcting grammatical errors or misspellings, and occasionally deleting redundancies. This would suggest a literary connection between I.2 and I.3 and between I.2/I.3 and each of the two manuscripts from Cambridge and London. Both in the editing of the Arabic text and in my translation I have chosen to adopt the subtitles of the I.2 edition as they offered greater clarity in subdividing Al-Jīlī’s work into its component parts, and because of the close relation between I.2 and I.3 I have used I.2 as the privileged term of reference for the Cambridge manuscript, except when variations in I.3 were of some relevance. Other manuscripts of this text are listed on page 265 of volume II and on page 284 of “Supplementband II” No. 12 of Brockelmann’s (1949) Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur. The lists contain references to manuscripts preserved in libraries in Zabid 4 Clément-François does not specify the text from which his translation is derived, although some internal evidence would suggest that his version may be based on the Indian second edition published in 1336/1917 and kept at the Library of the University of Cambridge (I.2). 141 (Yemen), Berlin, Alexandria, Cairo, Patna (India), Tunis, Rampur (India/Pakistan), Haidarabad (Pakistan), Heidenau or Heidenheim (Germany), Damascus, Es Safa (Syria), among others. Of these manuscripts, only three Haidarabad copies are mentioned with reference to specific dates, namely 1312, 1331, 1336/1894, 1895, 1896, and one of Cairo, 1340/1922. My choice of C., L., I.2 and I.3 for my editing of Al-Jīlī’s work and its translation, was motivated by practical reasons (these being the manuscripts and editions more easily accessible to me), by the relatively earlier dating of the Cambridge manuscript and by the fact that these four volumes are preserved in libraries of the standing of the University of Cambridge and the London India Office renowned for their collections of some of the best editions of any literary work. The fact that the editing and translation of this book represent part of only one chapter of the present dissertation and not its main thrust, in my opinion did not justify making the not insignificant effort of tracing the other manuscripts of the same work. For the purpose of ease, numbers have been inserted at suitable points in the Arabic text and, correspondingly, in the translation and in the annotations. 142 1. THE TEXT IN ARABIC INTRODUCTION (1) 5 (2) 6 (3) (4) (5) ) ( 5 A footnote to I.2 offers here an alternative reading: هدجم تاقدارس لاعتملا which corresponds to C., except for the first word ىلجتملا . 6 C. and L. add: . دودحم لكب ديقم قلط لكب قلطنم 143 7 . (6) ) ( 8 9 (7) 10 11 . 12 . . . ) ( 13 . SECTION 1 7 C. adds here ةأدھلا . 8 An editorial note in I.2 suggests here نيسحلا . 9 Missing in I.2. 10 In I.2 , “provide advice on”. 11 اوفقو in I.2, with a footnote that gives the C. version. 12 in I.2. 13 I.2 adds: , “and He guides along the [right] path.” 144 (8) ) ( 14 (9) ) ( (10) ) ( (11) ) ( , (12) 15 16 14 I.2 always adds here to this formula of blessing the words , “and his family”. 15 I.2 reads which helps to clarify the sense of this sentence. 16 Again, I.2 assists us in our comprehension by replacing with . 145 . ) 13 ( 17 (14) 18 19 (15) 20 21 22 23 17 As in I.2; C. here has (mistakenly?) “his body”. 18 As in I.2; C. here has هيلا 19 As in I.2; C. here has the synonym ةيقب . 20 I.2 adds here اھق , “while [the letter] is on top”. 21 I.2 adds here . 22 This word is missing in I.2. 23 C. has دبع “slave” instead of “when”, which does not make much sense and is therefore probably a misspelling. 146 24 . SECTION 2 ) ( (16) (17) ) ( 25 (18) ) ( . 26 . (19) ) ( (20) 27 28 29 24 I.2 says “You have not just taken my place”. 25 This formula is missing here in I.2. 26 As in I.2 and I.3; C. has ددعتملا which does not make sense in this context. 27 I.2 makes no mention of God’s legs. 28 I.2 adds here . 29 C. only begins the ḥadīth, while I.2 quotes the full verse and adds from the Qur’ān: |
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