Journal of Sufi Studies 2 (2013) 16

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Introduction: Al-Qushayr and His Legacy

Martin Nguyen
Fairfield University USA

Matthew Ingalls
University of Puget Sound USA

Abstract Ab l-Qsim Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr (d. 465/1072) is a pivotal figure in the development of the Sufi tradition. The articles that comprise the present issue of the Journal of Sufi Studies propose to shed new light on understudied areas in Qushayrs thought, corpus, and posthumous reception. Rsum Ab l-Qsim Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr (m. 465/1072) reprsente une figure-clef du dveloppement de la tradition soufie. Les articles inclus dans ce numro du Journal of Sufi Studies essayent dapporter un nouvel clairage sur des aspects de la pense de Qushayr auparavant non tudies, ainsi que sur son corpus dcrits et sur lhistoire posthume de sa rception. Keywords Kubrawiyya, Laif al-ishrt, Nishapur, Quranic exegesis, al-Qushayr, Risla, Sufism, tafsr

Ab l-Qsim Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr (d. 465/1072) is a pivotal figure in the development of the Sufi tradition. Nishapur, his city of residence, was home to a rich milieu of often competing, but sometimes complementary, forms of theology and Islamic spirituality; in this city a variety of mystics and ascetics lived alongside Shiite devotees and Karrmi pietists. The citys anafis and Shfiis actively opposed one another in social and political spheres of influence and the nascent Ashari school of theology, which was closely aligned with Shfiism and Sufism, was targeted for persecution during Qushayrs lifetime. In fact, Qushayr was arrested and imprisoned for his adherence to the school. In this heated and contentious environment, scholarly and spiritual identities were continuously in states of negotiation and self-assertion.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/22105956-12341247

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With this context in mind, the Sufism that Qushayr adopted and would later transmit to future generations represents a coalescing of the eastwardly migrating Baghdad Sufi tradition as well as the local Khurasani tradition of mysticism and piety. Under the tutelage of his first Sufi master Ab Al al-Daqqq (d. 405/1015), Qushayr became the recipient of the former.1 After Daqqqs death, Ab Abd al-Ramn al-Sulam (d. 412/1021) became his new spiritual teacher, and he continued Qushayrs immersion in the Baghdadi tradition, while also positively introducing him to the teachings of Khurasani spiritual masters like Ab Uthmn al-r (d. 298/910) of the Malmatiyya.2 Qushayr also studied with the Nishapuri Sufi teacher, Ab Sad al-Khargsh (d. 406 7/101516) as well.3 Like his teachers, Qushayr would ultimately develop his vision of Sufism through his numerous compositions, many of which have fortunately survived into the present time. Although nearly all of Qushayrs works address Sufism in some way, his larger corpus comprises a truly diverse assortment of texts on a wide range of subjects and intellectual concerns. As a result, modern studies of Qushayr have largely focused on important individual works from his corpus. The earliest European research done on Qushayr dates back to 1835 and rightfully addresses his most famous text the Risla, an early and influential handbook on the history and principles of Sufism.4 The scholarly studies of Qushayr that would follow continued to focus on the Risla,5 and a number of translations of the textto varying degrees of completionhave since appeared.6
1Jacqueline Chabbi, Ab Al Daqqq, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, 16 vols. to date (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 19822012), 1:2557. 2See Sara Sviri, The Early Mystical Schools of Baghdad and Nishapur: In Search of Ibn Munzil, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 30 (2005): 45082; idem, Hakm al-Tirmidh and the Malmat Movement in Early Sufism, in The Heritage of Sufism, Volume I: Classical Persian Sufism from its Origins to Rumi (7001300), ed. Leonard Lewisohn (Oxford: Oneworld, 1999), 583613. 3That Qushayr also studied with the Sufi writer Khargsh is indicated by the fact that the former is the transmitter of the latters sra work Kitb Sharaf al-muaf. Khargsh, Manil al-shif wa-manhil al-af bi-taqq Kitb Sharaf al-muaf, ed. Ab im Nabl b. Hshim b. Abd Allh al-Ghamr, 6 vols. (Mecca: Dr al-Bashir al-Islamiyya, 2003). 4Joseph Franz von Allioli, ber die Risalet des Koschairi, Abhandlungen der PhilosphischPhilologischen Classe 1 (1835): 5578. 5Richard Hartmann, al-Kuschairs Darstellung des Sftums (Berlin: Mayer and Mller, 1914); Arthur J. Arberry, Al-Qushair as Traditionist, in Studia Orientalia Ioanni Pedersen: Septuagenario A.D. VII Id. Nov. Anno MCMLIII A Collegis Discipulis Amicis Dicata, ed. Johannes Pedersen (Hauniae: Munksgaard, 1953), 1220; Nejib Ayed, Kalm & Taawwuf: Essai sur les rapports entre lAarisme et le fisme travers luvre dAb l-Qsim al-Quayr (376465/9861072) (PhD diss., Universit de Paris-Sorbonne, 1983); Alan Godlas, Stations of Wisdom and Battlefields of Love: Introduction and Translation, Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 5 (1985): 8798; Reuven Snir, Bb al-Maabba (The Chapter on Love) in al-Risla al-Quayriyya: Rhetorical and Thematic Structure, Israel Oriental Studies 19 (1999): 13159; Jawid A. Mojaddedi, Legitimizing Sufism

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Notwithstanding the scholarly rigor of these early studies into the Risla, the past few decades have witnessed a broadening of scholarly attention to include more of Qushayrs textual legacy, and studies have appeared on his spiritual grammars,7 other mystical texts,8 theological tracts,9 and Quranic exegesis (tafsr).10 This stream of original scholarship has advanced our understanding
in al-Qushayris Risala, Studia Islamica 90 (2000): 3750; idem, The Biographical Tradition in Sufism: The abaqt Genre from al-Sulam to Jm (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001), 99124; Kenneth S. Avery, A Pyschology of Early f Sam: Listening and Altered States (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004); Diana Lobel, On the Lookout: A Sufi Riddle in al-Sulam, al-Qushayr, and Bay ibn Paqda, Studies in Arabic and Islamic Culture 2 (2006): 87120; and Michel Chodkiewicz, Mirj al-kalima: From the Risla Qushayriyya to the Futt Makkiyya, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society 45 (2009): 119. 6Mntebt- Nfia-y Risle-yi ueyriyye [Ottoman Turkish], tr. Abd al-Nfi (Istanbul: At apiye Soanda 63 Numaral Mabaa, 1307); Traite sur le soufisme de limam erudit Abou L-Kasim Abd Oul-Kerim ibn Hawazin el-Kochairi [French], tr. Lbdew Olga (Rome: Casa Editrice Italiana, 1911); Wilson McClaughry Hume, A Translation with Introduction and Notes of The Rislah of Al-Qushairi Concerning the Science of fism, [English] (PhD diss., Kennedy School of Missions [Hartford Seminary], 1935); Risle [Turkish], tr. Tahsin Yazc, 2 vols. (Istanbul: Mill Eitim Basmevi, 1966); Risla-yi qushayriyyah [Urdu], tr. Pr Muammad asan (1970); Kueyr risalesi [Turkish], tr. Sleyman Uluda (Istanbul: Dergh Yaynlar, 1978); Risale-i Kueyriye [Turkish], tr. Ali Arslan (n.p.: zdemir Basmevi, 1978); Qushayr, Tarjama-yi risla-yi qushayriyyah [Persian], ed. Bad al-Zamn Furznfar, 2nd ed. (Tehran: Markaz-i Intishrt-i Ilm va Farhang, 1982); Das Sendschreiben al-Quayrs ber das Sufitum [German], tr. Richard Gramlich (Stuttgart: Frank Steiner Wiesbaden, 1989); Principles of Sufism [English], tr. Barbara R. von Schlegell (Oneonta, NY: Mizan Press, 1990); Cinzia Favi, Al-Risla al-Quayriyya: traduzione ed analisi dei tre capitolal-tawd, al-marifa, al-maabba [Italian] (MA thesis, Rome, Pontificio Istituto di Studi Arabi e dIslamistica, 1990); Giuseppe Scattolin (tr.), Esperienze mistiche nellIslam: II. Le tappe di un camminoSecoli X e XI. [Italian] (Bologna: Editrice Missionaria Italiana, 1996); Sufi Book of Spiritual Ascent (Al-Risala Al-Qushayriya) [English], tr. Rabia Harris (Chicago: ABC Group International, 1997); Ar-Risla al-Quayriyya czyli Traktat o sufizmie imama Ab al-Qsima al-Quayrego (9861072) [Polish], tr. Jerzy Nosowski (Warsaw: Dialog, 1997); The Risalah: Principles of Sufism [English], tr. Rabia Harris (Chicago: Great Books of the Islamic World, 2002); Kueyr Rislesi: Sflerin nan ve Ahlk [Turkish], trans. Dilaver Selvi (Istanbul: Semerkand, 2005); and Al-Qushayris Epistle on Sufism: al-Risala al-Qushayriyya fi ilm al-tasawwuf [English], tr. Alexander Knysh (Reading: Garnet Publishing, 2007). 7Tams Ivnyi, Towards a Grammar of the Heart: Al-Quayrs Nahw al-qulb, The Arabist 17 (1996): 4154; Francesco Chiabotti, Naw al-qulb al-ar: La Grammaire des Curs de Abd al-Karm al-Quayr Prsentation et traduction annote, Bulletin dtudes orientales 58 (Septembre 2009): 385402; F. Dominic Longo, Spiritual Grammar: A Comparative Theological Study of Jean Gersons Donatus moralizatus and Abd al-Karm al-Qushayrs Naw al-qulb (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2011). 8Fritz Meier, Quayrs Tartb as-sulk, Oriens 16 (1963): 139; Qsim Samarr, The Theme of Ascension in Mystical Writings: A Studay [sic] of the Theme in Islamic and Non-Islamic Mystical Writings (Baghdad: National Print. and Pub. Co, 1968); Frederick S. Colby, Narrating Muammads Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn Abbs Ascension Discourse (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2008), 118123; al-Sulam, The Subtleties of the Ascension: Early Mystical Sayings on Muammads Heavenly Journey, tr. Frederick S. Colby (Louisville, KY: Fons

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of Qushayr considerably and fortunately shows no signs of abating. Moreover, the reception of the corpus of his works throughout the centuries of Islamic intellectual history represents a promising anchor in tracing the trajectory of Sufi thought, and remains to be interrogated thoroughly. Indeed, with an eye towards such scholarly exigencies, the articles that comprise the present volume of the Journal of Sufi Studies propose to shed new light on understudied areas in Qushayrs thought, corpus, and posthumous reception.
Vitae, 2006), 1822; Florian Sobieroj, Funktionen von Dichtung in al-Quairs Kitb Uyn al-awiba. Ein sufischer Diskurs ber die Liebe (maabba), in Arabische Welt: Grammatik, Dichtung und Dialekte: Beitrge einer Tagung in Erlangen zu Ehren von Wolfdietrich Fischer, ed. Shabo Talay and Hartmut Bobzin (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2010), 179206; idem, Die Responsensammlung Ab l-Qsim al-Quairs ber das Sufitum: Kritische Edition der Uyn al-awiba f funn al-asila (Wiesbaden: Harrassowtiz Verlag, 2012); Eliyahu Stern, On the Authenticity of the Mytical Treatise Tartb al-Sulk Ascribed to Al-Qushayr, Studia Islamica, nouvelle edition/new series 3 (2012): 83118; and Mojtaba Shahsavari, Ab Nar al-Qushayr and His Kitb al-Shawhid wa-l-amthl, Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook 3 (2012): 279300. 9Richard M. Frank, Two Short Dogmatic Works of Ab l-Qsim Al-Qushayr, First Part: Edition and Translation of Luma f l-itiqd, Mlanges: Institut Dominicain dEtudes Orientales du Caire 15 (1982): 5374; idem, Two Short Dogmatic Works of Ab l-Qsim Al-Qushayr, Second Part: Edition and Translation of Al-Ful f l-Ul, Mlanges: Institut Dominicain dEtudes Orientales du Caire 16 (1983): 5975. 10Rashid Ahmad, Ab al-Qsim al-Qushair as a Theologian and Commentator, Islamic Quarterly 13 (1969): 1669; Muammad Sad Muammad Aiyya Irm, Al-Imm al-Qushayr wa-kitbuh Laif al-ishrt f al-tafsr (PhD diss., Azhar University, 1981); Abdlbaki Turan, Kueyri ve Letiful-iart isimli tefsiri, Seluk niversitesi lhiyat Fakltesi Dergisi 4 (1991): 3554; Roger Arnaldez, Quelques remarques sur le commentaire mystique de Qushayr: Laif al-Ishrt, Annales du Dpartement des Lettres Arabes 6-B (19912): 99106; Muammad Mamd Ysuf Ab Zawr, Manhaj al-Qushayr f kitbih Laif al-ishrt (MA thesis, University of Jordan, 1993); Sleyman Ate, r tefsr okulu (skdar, Istanbul: Yeni Ufuklar Neriyat, 1998), 98105; Hugh Talat Halman, Where Two Seas Meet: The Quranic Story of Khidr and Moses in Sufi Commentaries as a Model for Scriptural Guidance (PhD diss., Duke University, 2000); Sufia Uddin, Mystical Journey or Misogynist Assault?: Al-Qushayris Interpretation of Zulaikhas Attempted Seduction of Yusuf, Journal for Islamic Studies 21 (2001): 11335; Gerhard Bwering, The Light Verse: Quranic Text and Sufi Interpretation, Oriens 36 (2001): 11344; Rniy Muammad Azz Nam, al-Manhaj al-ishr f tafsr al-imm al-Qushayr (Alexandria, Egypt: Munshaat al-Marif, 2002); Madjid Yaddaden, Exgse coranique: Laif al-ishrt de Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr (m. 4651072) (PhD diss., cole Pratique des Hautes tudes, Sorbonne, 2005); Kristin Sands, f Commentaries on the Qurn in Classical Islam (London: Routledge, 2006); Annabel Keeler, f tafsr as a Mirror: al-Qushayr the murshid in his Laif al-ishrt, Journal of Quranic Studies 8.1 (2006): 121; Abd Allh b. Al al-Maymn al-Muayr, al-Taysr f ilm al-tafsr li-Imm Abd al-Karm b. Hawzin al-Qushayr, min awwal al-kitb il nihyat Srat al-baqara dirsatan wa-taqqan (PhD diss., Umm al-Qur University, 1427/[2006]); Martin Nguyen, Sufi Master and Quran Scholar: Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr and the Laif al-Ishrt (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012); idem, Letter by Letter: Tracing the Textual Genealogy of a Sufi Tafsr, in Aims, Methods and Contexts of Quranic Exegesis (2nd/8th9th/15th Centuries), ed. Karen Bauer (London: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

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The original impetus for this volume traces back to late 2009, when we saw the need for a scholarly panel dedicated to Qushayr to be held at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. In preparing such a panel, we solicited paper proposals from a shortlist of scholars in Europe and North America who were actively engaged in new research into Qushayrs life and thought. The panel that would finally emerge, entitled Revisiting al-Qushayr and His Legacy and held on the morning of Saturday, 30 October 2010 at the AARs annual meeting in Atlanta, provoked a stimulating discussion between our panel presenters, our panel respondent Annabel Keeler, and the audience in attendance which would continue throughout the weekend and beyond. The articles that follow represent the most tangible fruits of these papers and the thought-provoking discussions that ensued from them. The first article, by Kristin Sands, focuses on Qushayrs methodology and style in his most famous exegetical work the Laif al-ishrt. Here, Sands examines the texts sophisticated methodology of blending the exoteric and esoteric themes of the Quran by way of a lucid language that reflects both practical human experience and the primary intellectual discourses of the authors day. In a similar vein, Martin Nguyen continues with an assessment of Qushayrs exegetical work, though his article examines what potentially remains of a comparatively obscure text by the author that bears a markedly more exoteric tone and methodology than that of his Laif. The three remaining articles explore the posthumous reception of Qushayrs thought and corpus through a variety of lenses. Francesco Chiabottis article does so by considering the role of Qushayrs son Ab Nar (d. 514/1120) in shaping the immediate reception of his fathers thought in Nishapur, as demonstrated through two hitherto-unpublished texts by this latter figure. The next article by Alan Godlas returns to Qushayrs Laif, though in this case, the analysis focuses on the texts influence upon both an early twelfth-century Persian author and the Kubrawi Sufi order that emerged later in the same century. The final article by Matthew Ingalls examines a popular fifteenthcentury commentary on Qushayrs Risla that was written by an Egyptian Sufi and chief Shfii qadi during the Mamlk period and is still used today in traditional curricula around the Muslim world. For its part, the commentary employs a variety of devices and techniques to recast the original Risla to meet the intellectual needs of a community and setting quite diffferent from those of Qushayr. As can be seen in the descriptions above, the present volume seeks to strike a balance between an author-centered approach to intellectual history and a reception-centered approach. In other words, while Qushayr himself is certainly the thematic glue that binds the following articles together, his influence

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upon the larger intellectual tradition is assessed in light of both his texts and their reception within various intellectual and institutional structures throughout the centuries. It is hoped that such a multi-sided examination will stimulate the broadest range of analytical lenses in both the study of Qushayr and the study of Sufism writ large.