Brill Islamic Law and Society: This Content Downloaded From 152.118.24.10 On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC

usayn b.
Abd al-amad al-mil's Treatise for Sultan Suleiman and the Sh Shfi Legal
Tradition
Author(s): Devin J. Stewart
Source: Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2 (1997), pp. 156-199
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399493
Accessed: 29-09-2016 03:52 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399493?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Islamic Law and Society
This content downloaded from 152.118.24.10 on Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMIL'S TREATISE FOR

SULTAN SULEIMAN AND THE SHI'I SHAFI'I LEGAL
TRADITION*
DEVIN J. STEWART
(Emory University)
Abstract
This study draws on the work Nur al-haqiqah wa-nawr al-hadlqah, a treatise on
ethics written by Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi extant in two autograph
manuscripts, in an effort to explain how the author and his close companion Zayn
al-Din al-'Amili, two of the most important Twelver Shi'i jurists of the sixteenth
century, were able to obtain appointments as professors of law at Sunni madrasahs
under Ottoman control. Evidence from Nur al-haqiqah, corroborated by information

from biographical sources, shows that they obtained these appointments by claiming affiliation with the Shafi'i madhhab and presenting themselves as accomplished
Shafi'i jurists. Their efforts were in fact part of a long and developed tradition of
association with the Shafi'i madhhab among Twelver Shi'i scholars.
GEORGE MAKDISI has likened the Islamic legal madhhabs to professional guilds, stressing, among other features, their claims to autonomy
-meant to maintain independence from the caliphs-and exclusivitymeant to keep out the philosophical theologians, particularly the Mu'tazilis.' The jurists, he argues, claimed a monopoly on religious authority
and established an educational-cum-professional system designed to
close and regulate the ranks of qualified doctors of Islamic law. This
insightful characterization helps explain many facets of Islamic reli-
gious and legal history, yet its implications, overall accuracy, and
applicability to specific periods and geographical areas will be subject
to debate for some time to come. Prominent among these concerns are
questions relating to the formality and rigidity of the madhhab as an
institution that controled the educational system, which some recent
treatments of medieval Islamic education have discounted or de-
emphasized.2
* This research was supported in part by the National Humanities Center
(Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) and the Research Triangle Foundation of
North Carolina.
1 E.g., George Makdisi, The Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the
Christian West, with Special Reference to Scholasticism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1990), 16-23.
2 See, e.g., Jonathan Berkey, The Transmission of Knowledge in Medieval
? Brill, Leiden, 1997
Islamic Law and Society 4,2
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMIL'S TREATISE
157
One method of gauging the hegemony of the madhhabs, and particularly their success in maintaining formal exclusivity, is to examine
the efforts that marginal groups expended in order to fit into the system
defined by the four Sunni madhhabs-Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, and

Hanbali-which had become solidly established by the eleventh century
A.D. Makdisi notes that Mu'tazili and Ash'ari theologians were able to
participate in the legal system by "infiltrating" the Hanafi and Sh&fi'i
madhhabs, respectively.3 A similar phenomenon may be seen in the
Twelver Shi'i tradition of participation in the Shafi'i madhhab, which
goes back to the fourth/tenth century and boasts such scholars as the
famous historian al-Mas'idi (d. 345/956) and the prominent jurists al'Allimah al-Hilli (d. 726/1325) and Muhammad b. Makki al-Jizzini (d.
786/1384).4 These traditions suggest that while scholars from a variety
of backgrounds with a variety of ideological commitments could

participate in one of the four Sunni madhhabs with some success, the
madhhab itself was not an entirely malleable entity and exerted a

hegemonic influence on the interpretation of religion and the transmission of knowledge in Muslim societies.
Nevertheless, little is known about specifically how such marginal
groups successfully joined and participated in the various madhhabs,
or how they negotiated their identities once having done so. Outward
adoption of the Shifi'i madhhab by Shi'is was essentially a form of
taqlyah, "precautionary dissimulation," a practice interpreted widely in
Shi'i tradition to include a variety of behaviors designed to ease the
position of a persecuted religious minority living among a potentially
hostile majority.5 Taqiyah here denotes the complex patterns of

behavior adopted by Shi'is to modify their identities when living and
working in Sunni environments. It is a type of dramaturgical discipline
controlling a careful and sustained role that the performer adopts in
order to conceal discrediting information about himself from a

Cairo: A Social History of Islamic Education (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1992); Michael Chamberlain, Knowledge and Social Practice in
Medieval Damascus, 1190-1350 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
3 George Makdisi, The Rise of Humanism, 42.
4 Devin J. Stewart, Twelver ShE'i Jurisprudence and its Struggle with Sunni
Consensus, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1991, pp. 151-201.
5 On Twelver Shi'i taqiyah in general, see Devin J. Stewart "Taqiyyah as
Performance: The Travels of Baha' al-Din al-'Amili in the Ottoman Empire (99193/1583-85)," Princeton Papers in Near Eastern Studies 4 (1996): 1-72, particularly pp. 20-34 and the sources cited there. In addition, see Etan Kohlberg, "Taqiyya
in Shi'i Theology and Religion," in Hans G. Kippenberg and Guy G. Strousma,
Secrecy and Concealment.' Studies in the History of Mediterranean and Near
Eastern Religions (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995), 345-80.
158
DEVIN J. STEWART
potentially hostile audience. It sometimes involved the concealment of

controversial views from the Sunni majority, at other times modifying
one's identity in order to pass as a Sunni, and at others, complete

impersonification, as in the case of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1314/
1897), an Iranian Shi'i scholar who gained recognition as an Afghani,
Sunni intellectual and reformer in late nineteenth-century Egypt. The
collection of behaviors under this rubric varied according to region and
period and from performer to performer, but the regularity of certain
institutions such as the legal madhhab and the form of the Arabic name
created recurring patterns in performances of taqlyah over space and
time.6
Explicit indications that Shi'is passed as Shafi'i jurists in order to

function in Sunni educational and juridical circles, while they exist, are
few and far between. A number of influential Shi'i jurists lived and
worked for extended periods in Sunni environments, and it is clear in
some instances that their open presentation of themselves as Shi'is
would have caused significant tensions or difficulties. There are, however, few direct, unambiguous documents showing that they claimed to
be ShUfi'is or practiced as S-hafi' jurists; much evidence in this regard is
implicit or circumstantial, based on conjecture or uncorroborated

reports. In addition, explicit evidence has often been suppressed, either
by the practitioners themselves or by later scholars in the Shi'i tradition.
Shi'i dissimulators were apparently concerned to conceal their close ties
with Sunnism from a wide audience, including Shi'i commoners,

patrons, or peers who might disagree with their views or discredit them
in Shi'i circles. Completed in 945/1539, the work Nir al-haqlqah wanawr al-hadlqah by the sixteenth-century Shi'i scholar Husayn b. 'Abd
al-Samad al-'Amili is a rare document that demonstrates explicitly that
Shi'is presented themselves as Shafi'is to Sunni audiences. The two

extant MSS of the work allow a comparison which reveals not only the
Shi'i author's presentation of himself as a Sunni adherent of the Shfafi'i
legal school, but also the Shi'i concern to suppress this information and
conceal the extent of his efforts to gain acceptance in Sunni circles. At
the same time, the work throws important light on the careers of
Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad and Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, two leading

figures in sixteenth-centuy Twelver Shi'i intellectual history.
The study will first look at the closely related careers of Zayn al-Din
and Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad, bringing out an important question
raised by the sources-how were two Shi'i scholars appointed

6 See Stewart, "Taqiyyah as Performance," 1-72.
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILI'S TREATISE
159
professors of law by the Ottoman government, a Sunni institution?

After examing what may be gleaned from biographical sources, the
study turns to Husayn's work Nar al-haqlqah, analyzing it as part of a
performance of taqlyah and assessing its implications for his and Zayn
al-Din's careers. A discussion of their performance of taqlyah and its
place within the Shi'i Shafi'i tradition follows.
Zayn al-Din al-'Amill and Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi

Zayn al-Din b. 'All al-'Amili (911-65/1506-58), known in Shi'i tradition as al-Shahid al-Thani "the Second Martyr," and Husayn b. 'Abd
al-Samad al-Harithi al-Hamdani al-Juba'i al-'Amili (918-84/1512-76)
were important participants in the Shi'i tradition of legal study under
Sunni teachers. Both introduced significant innovations into Shi'i legal
and hadlth studies through the incorporation of Sunni methods and
concepts.7 They were natives of the town of Juba' (or Juba') near the
coastal town of Sayda (Sidon) in Jabal 'Amil, the Shi'i region in what
is now southern Lebanon. Born shortly before the Ottoman conquest of
the region, they completed their early studies in private contexts with
Shi'i teachers in Jabal 'Amil. Zayn al-Din first studied with his father
'Ali b. Ahmad (d. 925/1519) in Juba', then with his uncle (his mother's
sister's husband) 'All b. 'Abd al-'Ali al-Maysi (d. 938/1531-32) in the
village of Mays, then with Sayyid Ja'far b. Hasan al-Karaki (d.

936/1530) in Karak Nih. Husayn studied first with the same Sayyid
Ja'far al-Karaki in Karak Nuh,8 then completed his studies under Zayn
al-Din.9 Zayn al-Din spent two periods in Damascus, in 937-38/153031 and 942/1535, studying with Sunni teachers.10 He then went to
Cairo, where he studied in a Sunni environment for over a year, in 942-
43/1535-37.11 The available sources do not show that Husayn joined

7 Note, for example, their works on hadith criticism, which were clearly
inspired by Sunni works in the field. See Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, Sharh al-biddyah
(n.p., 1309 a.h.); IHusayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi, Wusul al-akhydr ila usil
al-akhbdr, ed. 'Abd al-Latif al-Kuihkamari (Qum: Matba'at al-khayyam, 1981).
Zayn al-Din is also known as the first Twelver jurist to write "interwoven commentaries" (sharh mazj), which were widely used in Sunni legal texts by the fifteenth
century and perhaps earlier-see e.g., al-Mahalli's (d. 864/1459) commentary on

al-Waraqat of al-Juwayni. 'All b. Muhammad al-'Amili (d. 1103/1692), al-Durr
al-manthur min al-ma'thur wa-ghayr al-ma'thur, 2 vols. (Qum: Maktabat alMar'ashi al-Najafi, 1978), 2: 185.
8 See Husayn al-'Amili, Arba'un hadlth, ed. Husayn 'Ali Mahfiz (Tehran:
Matba'at al-haydari, 1957), 2; idem, Wusul al-akhydr ila usul al-akhbar, 39.
' 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthir, 2:149-98.
10 Ibid., 2:159.
1 Ibid., 2:161-68, 191.
160
DEVIN J. STEWART
Zayn al-Din during either of his stays in Damascus, but record that he
accompanied Zayn al-Din to Cairo. After their sojourn in Egypt, they
made the pilgrimage to Mecca and returned to Juba', where Zayn alDin built a new house with an adjacent mosque. Except for a trip to
Jerusalem in Dhf al-Hijjah 948/March 154312 and about a two year
stint teaching in Ba'labakk, Zayn al-Din spent the rest of his days
studying and teaching in Jabal 'Amil. He began having trouble with
local authorities in 956/1549.13 These problems escalated over the
years, and he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca in 964/1557 in order
to escape local authorities. In the Hijaz, he was apprehended by

Ottoman officials, taken to Istanbul, and executed as a heretic in 965/
1558.14 While Husayn spent a number of years with Zayn al-Din after
returning from Cairo, their career paths subsequently diverged. Husayn
left Jabal 'Amil ca. 956/1549 and traveled to Iraq and then on to Iran,
where he arrived ca. 960/1553. He soon rose to a position of promi-
nence under the patronage of the Safavid king Shah Tahmasb I (93084/1524-76). After serving as shaykh al-islam of Qazvin, Mashhad,
and Herat for nearly twenty years, he left the Safavid empire to make
the pilgrimage to Mecca in 983/1575. He then traveled to Bahrain,
where he died in 984/1576.15
Perhaps the most striking indication of the efforts of Husayn and
Zayn al-Din to participate in the Sunni legal system is the fact that they
obtained appointments as professors of law in Sunni madrasahs under

Ottoman control.16 In 952/1545 they traveled together to Istanbul and
12 Ibid., 2:169-70.
13 Ibid., 2:182-83.
14 On Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, see Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Hurr al-'Amili,
Amal al-dmil fi 'ulamd' Jabal 'Amil, 2 vols. (Baghdad: Maktabat al-andalus,
1965-66), 1:85-91; Y0suf b. Ahmad al-Bahrani, Lu'lu'at al-Bahrayn, ed. Muhammad Sadiq Bahr al-'Ulum (Najaf: Matba'at al-nu'man, 1966), 28-36; Mirza 'Abd
Allah Afandi al-Isfahani, Riydd al-'ulamd' wa-hiydd al-fudald', 6 vols., ed. Ahmad
al-Husayni (Qum: Matba'at al-khayyam, 1980), 2:365-86; 'All al-'Amili, al-Durr
al-manthtur, 2:149-99; Muhammad Baqir al-Khwansari, Rawddt al-janndtfi ahwdl
al-'ulamd' wa al-saddt, 8 vols. (Beirut: al-Dar al-islamiyah, 1991), 3: 352-87;

Muhsin al-Amin, A'ydn al-shtah, 10 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-ta'aruf li 'l-matbu'at,
1984), 7:143-58; Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, Tabaqdt a'ldm al-shrah. Ihyd' al-dathir
min al-qarn al-'ashir, ed. 'All Naqi Munzavi (Tehran: Danishgah-i Tihran, 1987),
90-92; Devin J. Stewart, "Twelver Shi'i Jurisprudence," 175-83; idem, "A Biographical Notice on Bahi' al-Din al-'Amili (d. 1030/1621)," Journal of the American
Oriental Society 111(1991): 564-65; Ja'far al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqahd' abtdl (Beirut:
al-Majlis al-islami al-shi'i al-a'la, 1994), 131-86.
15 On Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad, see Devin J. Stewart, "The First Shaykh allslam of the Safavid Capital Qazvin," Journal of the American Oriental Society
(forthcoming) and the sources cited there.
16 'All al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthdr, 2:170-82, 191.
161
successfully petitioned officials connected with the court of Sultan
Suleiman (926-74/1520-66) for positions as law professors. As a

result, Zayn al-Din was appointed to the Nuriyah madrasah in Ba'labakk and Husayn to an unspecified madrasah in Baghdad.17 Muhammad b. 'Ali Ibn al-'Awdi al-Jizzini, the servitor (khadim) of Zayn alDin, studied with him during this period (from 10 Rabi' I 945/6 August
1538 until 10 Dhfi al-Qa'dah 962/26 September 1555) and subsequently wrote a biography of his teacher entitled Bughyat al-murld min
al-kashf 'an ahwtil al-Shaykh Zayn al-Din al-shahid ("The Seeker's

Goal, Revealing the Circumstances of the Martyred Master, Zayn alDin"). In the extant portions of this work, he provides a fairly detailed
account of the trip to Istanbul in 952/1546, drawing on Zayn al-Din's
autobiographical notes.'8 Zayn al-Din and Husayn left Juba' on 12

Dhu 'l-Hijjah 951/24 February 1545 and, after making extended stops
in Damascus, Aleppo, and Tokat along the way, arrived in Istanbul on
17 Rabi' 1952/29 May 1545. Before meeting with anyone, Zayn al-Din
spent eighteen days writing a treatise on ten topics in ten different
fields, including law, Qur'anic exegesis, and the rational sciences. He
sent the treatise to the Qadi al-'askar, Muhammad b. Qutb al-Din b.
Muhammad b. Qadi-zadah al-Rfmi (d. 957/1550),19 who recognized
Zayn al-Din's talent, praised him highly, and eagerly supported his
petition. After twelve days, the Qidi al-'askar sent him the record book
of professorships and other positions (wazd'if wa-maddris) and told
him he could choose any position he wanted in Damascus or Aleppo.20
Zayn al-Din opted for a position as professor of law at the Niriyah
madrasah in Ba'labakk. The Qadi al-'askar petitioned Sultan Suleiman
on Zayn al-Din's behalf, and the sultan wrote a decree granting Zayn
17 Ibid., 2:175, 177.
18 Ibid., 2:170-77; see also Marco Salati, "Ricerche sulo sciismo nell'Impero
ottomano: il viaggio di Zayn al-Din al-gahid al-Tgni a Istanbul al tempo di
Solimano il Magnifico (952/1545)," Oriente Moderno 9 (1990): 81-92.
19 This scholar was appointed Qadi al-'askar for Anatolia in 945/1538-39,
after having served in a number of other posts as qadi and mudarris. See Najm alDin al-Ghazzi, al-Kawdkib al-sd'irah bi-a'yan al-mi'ah al-'ashirah, 3 vols. (Beirut:
al-Matba'ah al-amirkaniyah, 1945-58), 2:19; Tak6priizade, al-Shaqd'iq al-
nu'manlyah fi 'ulamc ' al-dawlah al-'uthmdniyah (Beirut: Dar al-kitab al-'arabi,

1975), 266-67. These references escaped Salati, though he did consult Ta?k0priizade's work. Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano," 85 n. 24.
20 During this period, the Qadi al-'askars-there were two, one of Anatolia and
one of Rumelia-were authorized to fill vacancies in madrasahs and appoint judges
whose stipends were less than 150 akces. They sat on the imperial council (diwan-i
humdyun), where they would present such petitions. This function was later taken
over by the mufti of Istanbul, apparently at the instigation of the famous mufti Abu
al-Su'id Efendi (952-82/1545-74). "Kadi 'Askar," El2, 4: 375-76 [Gy. Kaldy
Nagy].
162
DEVIN J. STEWART
al-Din the position and assigning him the monthly stipend stipulated by
the founder, the Ayyubid ruler Nur al-Din Maihmud b. Zangi (54169/1146-74). All together, Zayn al-Din spent three and a half months in
Istanbul; he left on 11 Rajab 952/18 September 1545. He reports that
Husayn stayed behind in Istanbul for three more weeks trying to

change his appointment when he found out that the Baghdad madrasah
to which the Qadi al-'askar had assigned him lacked adequate endowment funds.
After the delay, Husayn and Zayn al-Din traveled to Iraq before
returning to Jabal 'Amil. While Zayn al-Din states that the reason for
their trip was to visit the shrines of the Imams,21 they probably also
intended to evaluate Husayn's new position. They ended up staying in
Baghdad for a week, 8-15 Shawwal 952/13-20 December 1545, and in
addition to visiting the shrines of the seventh and ninth Imams at alKazimiyyah,22 they could presumably have investigated the madrasah
to which Husayn had been assigned. Husayn apparently did not

assume the post after all, perhaps again because of insufficient endowment funds, but instead accompanied Zayn al-Din back to Juba', where
they arrived on 15 Safar 953/17 April 1546.23 Soon afterwards, they
went to Ba'labakk, where Zayn al-Din assumed his post at the Niriyah
madrasah. The fact that Husayn's son Baha' al-Din Muhammadtwas

bor in Ba'labakk on 27 Dhi al-Hijjah 953/16 February 1547 shows
that Husayn had indeed accompanied Zayn al-Din there.24 For nearly
two years, Zayn al-Din taught law and other topics at the madrasah
and also held a regular lesson at the adjacent mosque.25 Husayn
presumably acted as his assistant during this period. They returned to
Juba' before the end of 954/February 1548.26
The Ottoman appointments of these two Shi'i scholars present something of a puzzle for the historian. The fact that they were able to obtain
such posts suggests a rather benevolent attitude toward local Shi'is or a

certain amount of indifference to sectarian matters on the part of the
Ottoman government. Drawing on a statement by Zayn al-Din that he
taught law according to the five madhhabs while in Ba'labakk,

21 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthtr, 2: 178.
22 Ibid., 2: 180.
23 Ibid., 2: 182.
24 al-Isfahani, Riydd al-'ulama', 2:109-10.
25 The mosque, like the madrasah, was built by Nir al-Din Mahmud b. Zangi.
The modem Lebanese scholar Ja'far al-Muhajir reports that both the mosque and
the madrasah, which stood just east of it, are now in ruins. al-Muhajir, Sittat
fuqaha' abtdl, 153.
6 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthur, 2:182.
163
Caroline Beeson interprets .Husayn's and Zayn al-Din's attempt to gain

Ottoman appointments as part of a plan to follow a career in the "Ottoman way" while nevertheless representing the fifth school of law, the
Twelver or Imami Shi'i madhhab. She observes, "It appears that at this
moment in Ottoman history the system could accommodate the Shi'ite
clergy." She believes that Sultan Suleiman himself tried deliberately to
incorporate Shi'i scholars into the Ottoman system and suggests that
the decree appointing Zayn al-Din to the position at the Niiriyah

madrasah specifically stipulated that he was to teach Immi law.27
Drawing on the same statement, Andrew Newman suggests that Zayn
al-Din was appointed specifically to teach the law of the five madhhabs and sees these Ottoman appointments as indications that the Ottoman government did not pursue a particularly oppressive or antagonistic policy towards the Shi'i communities living under their hegemony.28
Marco Salati, having examined this episode in greater detail, views

Zayn al-Din's obtainment of a teaching post from the Ottoman government as one among other indications that the Ottoman government did
not always marginalize Shi'is and discriminate against them.29
Nevertheless, it is widely held by scholars of the Shi'i tradition as
well as historians of the period that the Ottoman government was a
fervently Sunni institution often violently opposed to Shi'ism, particularly in the course of its military conflicts with the officially Shi'i
Safavid empire (907-1134/1501-1722).30 For this reason, Ja'far al27 Caroline Joyce Beeson, The Origins of Conflict in the Safawi Religious
Institution, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1982, 111-14.

28 Andrew J. Newman, "The Myth of the Clerical Migration to Safawid Iran:
Arab Shi'i Opposition to 'Ali al-Karaki and Safawid Shi'ism," Die Welt des
Islams 33(1993): 66-112, here p. 106.
29 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano"; idem, Ascesa e
caduta di una famiglia di Alrdf sciiti di Aleppo: I Zuhrdwi o Zuhrd-zdda (16001700) (Rome: Istituto per l'Oriente C.A. Nallino, 1992).
30 The modem Iraqi scholar Muzaffar identifies the Shi'is' greatest enemies in
Islamic history as the Umayyads, the Abbasids, and the Ottomans. [Muhammad
Rida Muzaffar, 'Aqd'id al-imdmiyah (Cairo: Matba'at nfir al-amal, 1961), 74.] A
number of modem scholars have argued that the Ottomans were ideologically
opposed to Shi'ism in general and that Ottoman-Safavid conflict had important
sectarian repercussions on the Shi'i communities in Jabal 'Amil. [Ja'far al-Muhajir,
al-Hijrah al-'amiliyah ild Irdn fi al-'asr al-safawl (Beirut: Dar al-rawdah, 1989),
32-39; idem, Sittat fuqahd' abtdl, 180-81; 'Ali Ibrihim Darwish, Jabal 'Amil bayn
1516-1697 (Beirut: Dar al-hadi, 1993), 30-33, 229; Rula Jurdi Abisaab, "The
Ulama of Jabal 'Amil in Safavid Iran, 1501-1736: Marginality, Migration and
Social Change," Iranian Studies 27 (1994): 103-22, esp. pp. 104-5, 110-14.] Adel
Allouche treats this prevalent view with regard to the Ottoman-Safavid conflict in
The Origins and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid Conflict, 906-962/1500-1555
(Berlin: Klaus Scwharz Verlag, 1983), 4-5, 104-28. On the Ottoman persecution of
Shi'is see Elke Eberhard, Osmanische Polemik gegen die Safawiden im 16. Jahr-
164
DEVIN J. STEWART
Muhyjir characterizes Zayn al-Din's bid to obtain an Ottoman appointment as "the strangest possible step for a Shi'i jurist to undertake at that
time."31 It is well known that Zayn al-Din himself was eventually

executed by the Ottomans as a heretic in 965/1558.32 Moreover, his
execution was not an isolated incident. In Damascus in 942/1535-36,
the deputy judge Muhammad b. Sayf al-Dimashqi and a man named
Husayn al-Ba'li al-Buqsumati were tried and convicted of Shi'i heresy
(thabata ... 'inda qddl Dimashqa annahumd rdfidlydn). On 9 Rajab

942/3 January 1536, they were bound to posts and burned alive in the
square below the citadel; their ashes were thrown into the Barada
River.33 It therefore seems improbable that two openly Shi'i scholars
would have been able to study with ease in Sunni environments or
obtain appointments in Sunni madrasahs through officials at the Ottoman court. Contemporary sources provide little help in resolving this
issue; Mirza Makhdim al-Sharifi al-Shirazi (d. 995/1587) merely

reports that Zayn al-Din was driven to seek an Ottoman position by his
envy of the Shi'i scholars in Iran who were supported by the Shah.34
Ibn al-'Awdi's account of the trip Zayn al-Din and Husayn made to
Istanbul is maddeningly reticent on certain crucial points, particularly
their motives for seeking appointments and the problems they, as Shi'is,
would face in obtaining them.35 Most of the statements in the account
hundert nach arabischen Handschriften (Freiburg, 1970); Hanna Sohrwiede, "Der

Sieg der Safaviden in Persien und seine Riickwirkung auf die Shiiten Anatoliens im
16. Jahrhundert," Der Islam 41 (1965): 95-223; C.H. Imber, "The persecution of the
Ottoman Shi'ites according to the miihimme defterleri, 1565-1585," Der Islam 56
(1979): 245-73. These studies have focused on Anatolia, and few conclusions can
be drawn about the nature of sectarian relations in the Ottoman provinces of Syria
and Iraq, about which see the remarks of Newman in "The Myth of the Clerical
Migration," 67, 93, 104-6. The importance of the religious factor for the conflict
has been called into question and other geopolitical factors emphasized in Allo-
uche's The Origins and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid Conflict, J.R. Walsh,
"The Historiography of Ottoman-Safavid Relations in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries," in Historians of the Middle East, ed. B. Lewis and P. M. Holt (London,
1962), 197-211; and Jean-Louis Bacqu6-Grammont, Les Ottomans, les Safavides,
et leurs Voisins (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, 1987).
31 al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqaht' abtdl, 146.

32 The death date 965 A.H. is preferable to that of 966 A.H. which appears in
Mustafa al-Tafrishi's Naqd al-rijdl and is cited in Amal al-dmil and later sources.
See Devin J. Stewart, "A Biographical Notice," 565. There are a number of
questions concerning the extent of Sultan Suleiman's responsibility for Zayn alDin's death. See Beeson, "The Origins of Conflict," 115-18; Abisaab, "The Ulama
of Jabal 'Amil," 112.
33 al-Ghazzi, al-Kawakib al-sd'irah, 2: 35.
34 Mirza Makhdfm al-Sharifi al-Shirazi, al-Nawdqid fi al-rawdfid, MS,
Princeton University Library, Garrett 2629, fol. 122b.
35 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthar, 2:170-77.
165
which touch on these issues are vague allusions couched in pious

terms. Zayn al-Din remarks that he decided to go to Istanbul and meet
the scholars at the court of Sultan Suleiman only as a consequence of
"divine signs" (al-awdmir al-ildhiyah wa'l-ishdrdt ar-rabbdnryah), and
that "this was contrary to my own inclinations and the dictates of
common sense" (wa-kina dhdlika cald khilafi muqtadd 't-tab'i wa-sdqi
'l-fahm).36 Here he alludes to the fact that this was an unusual if not
dangerous undertaking for a Shi'i scholar, but he neither names the
specific obstacles he would encounter nor reveals the methods he would
use to overcome them. Zayn al-Din's choice of the Niriyah madrasah
in Ba'labakk may have been due to considerations for his safety as a
Shi'i. Ba'labakk and the surrounding region harbored a significant

Shi'i population, and Zayn al-Din may have decided he would be safer
in this smaller town than in Damascus or Aleppo.37 In this case as
well, he alludes to his motives for doing so in only vague terms: "The
situation required that I choose the Nuriyah madrasah from [the

register of available positions] for considerations I thought important
and because it became clear that God's command had settled on [that
madrasah] specifically" (fa-qtadd l-hdlu an ikhtartu minhu l-madrasata l-nurlyata bi-ba'labakka li-masdliha wajadtuha wa-li-zuhuri amri
'Llahi ta'dld bihd 'ald l-khusus).38 Husayn seems to have opted on purpose for a post in Baghdad, but the reasons for this choice are unclear.
Zayn al-Din's desire for a post in Syria, closer to Jabal 'Amil, seems
more logical. Husayn may have had family ties in Iraq, or he may have
felt that Baghdad, with a sizable Shi'i population, would provide a less
tense atmosphere with regard to sectarian issues than Damascus or
elsewhere in Syria.39 He may also have wanted to be near the Shi'i
shrines in southern Iraq. Zayn al-Din's remarks concerning his reasons
for leaving Ba'labakk are again vague: "Then we moved away from
them [the inhabitants of Ba'labakk] to our village [Juba'] in obedience
to the divine command [manifested] earlier at the Noble Shrines [of the
Imams in Iraq], then later at the noble shrine of the prophet Seth"
36 Ibid., 2:170. See also Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero otto-
mano," 83.
37 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano," 90, also makes this
point.

39 The Safavid chronicler Qadi Ahmad Qummi, writing at the end of the
sixteenth-century, remarks in his account of the Safavid conquest of Baghdad in
914/1508 that the majority of Baghdad's inhabitants were Shi'is. Qummi,
Khuldsat al-tawdrikh, 2 vols., ed. Ihsan Ishraqi (Tehran: Intisharat-i danishgah-i
Tihran, 1981-85), 2:934.
166
DEVIN J. STEWART
(thumma 'ntaqalnar 'anhum ild baladind bi-nlyati 'I-mufdraqah, imtithilan li 'l-amr al-ildhlyi scbiqanfi 'l-mashahidi 'sh-sharifah, wa-lahiqan
fi 'I-mashhadi 'sh-sharifi mashhadi Shitha 'alayhi 's-saldm).40 These
vague explanations provide little on which the historian might build a

case. The account provides no mention of taqryah, the two scholars'
intention to present themselves as Sunni jurists, or the specific methods
they used to get around discrimination against Shi'is.

The only specific indication in the account of Zayn al-Din's special
situation has to do with a document termed 'ard al-qadl, apparently a
type of recommendation from the judge of one's home district which

one was generally required to present when seeking a position.41 His
student and biographer Ibn al-'Awdi explains that after much deliberation, Zayn al-Din decided not to ask for this official introduction from
Ma'rif al-Shami, the Sunni qddl of Sayda, the principle town in the
vicinity of Juba', despite the fact that this went against standard Ottoman practice. He had debated whether he should inform the judge that
he was going to Istanbul at all, but eventually decided to have his

student Ibn al-'Awdi let the judge know that he was going without
asking for an 'ard. Ma'rif was taken aback when he realized Zayn alDin was not going to request this document from him, and told Ibn al'Awdi that even if Abiu Hanifah himself were to show up in Istanbul,
the Ottoman functionaries would require an 'ard from him, being
bound by the dictates of their qdnun. Zayn al-Din got around this
problem by writing a particularly impressive treatise to present to the
Qadi al-'askar. Ibn al-'Awdi relates an exchange which shows that this
quasi-'ard in effect established Zayn al-Din's credentials.
He-God bless his soul-told us that he met with a certain scholar in
Istanbul, who asked him, "Do you have the 'ard al-qdadl with you?"
[Zayn al-Din] answered, "No." He said, "In that case, your situation is
difficult and will require a lengthy delay." [Zayn al-Din] then took out
the above-mentioned treatise which he had authored, and said, "This is
my 'ard." [The scholar] said, "With this, you will need nothing else."42
While we may only speculate concerning Zayn al-Din's exact motives,

it is possible that he avoided requesting an 'ard because he feared the
local judge would expose him as a Shi'i or otherwise jeopardize his

chances of obtaining a post.
40 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthur, 2:182, reading li'l-amr al-ilahi for li-
amr al-ilahi in the text.
41 On this point, see also Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero otto-
mano," 89-90.
167
As Beeson and Newman have noted, Zayn al-Din states that the
time he spent at the Nfiriyah madrasah was especially pleasant and
rewarding, adding that he taught law there according to the five

madhhabs-that is, according to the Twelver Shi'i tradition in addition
to the four Sunni madhhabs.43 He writes,
Then we stayed in Ba'labakk and taught there for a time in the five
madhhabs and in many subsidiary fields (fiunn). We associated with
its inhabitants in the best manner, irrespective of their opinions, and
lived among them in an ideal fashion. Those were days of good fortune
and times of joy, the likes of which our fellows [i.e., Twelver Shi'is]
have never seen, throughout the ages.44
His student Ibn al-'Awdi adds to this description.

I was in his service in those days, and I will never forget how he
enjoyed the highest status, [serving as] an authority for the people and
a recourse for high and low alike, granting legal opinions to each group
according to its madhhab, and teaching the works of each madhhab.
He held a lesson in the Great Mosque in addition to that which he has
mentioned above, and all the inhabitants of the town came to follow
him and obey his wishes, with hearts filled with affection and kindness
for him as well as faith in him. The market of learning prospered there
as well as one could possibly wish, learned men would come from far
and wide to consult him, and the honor of Sayyids and our fellows
increased. For them, those days were like festivals.45
These statements show clearly that Zayn al-Din taught both Sunni and
Twelver Shi'i law and imply in addition that he granted legal opinions
to both Sunnis and Shi'is.46 They should not be taken, however, as
direct evidence that Zayn al-Din was appointed specifically to do so or
that he did so with the knowledge and approval of the Ottoman govern-
ment and the Sunni legal hierarchy. This would go against what is
known of Ottoman-Safavid relations during the period, the treatment of
Shi'is within Ottoman territory, and pre-moder Islamic legal education. Calder, for example, expresses doubt that Twelver Shi'i law could
be taught officially in Ottoman Syria in this period, despite statements
in Shi'i biographical material suggesting that Zayn al-Din did just

that.47 It is more likely that HIusayn and Zayn al-Din were performing
43 Ibid., 2:182.
44 Ibid., 2:182.
45 Ibid., 2:182.
46 Beeson translates this section of the passage incorrectly: "A mufti of each
sect taught the books of his own school." Beeson, "The Origins of Conflict," 113.
47 Norman Calder, The Structure of Authority in Imdml Shri Jurisprudence, Ph.
D. diss., School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1980, 96.
168
DEVIN J. STEWART
taqlyah, passing as Sunni jurists. If they successfully presented themselves to Ottoman officials as qualified Sunni jurists, it would not be so
strange for them to obtain appointments as professors of law at

officially Sunni institutions.
Not only Ottoman officials but also the endowment document of the
madrasah itself would have required that Zayn al-Din belong to one of
the four recognized madhhabs. In fact, the Niriyah madrasah in Ba'labakk was an officially Shffi'i institution; it was one of the Shifi'i mad-
rasahs in Ba'labakk, Hims, Hamah, and Manbij that Niir al-Din had
built after 550/1155-56 for the prominent Shafi'i jurist Sharaf al-Din
'Abd Allah b. Muhammad Ibn Abi 'Asrun (d. 585/1189-90).48 Zayn al-
Din stresses, concerning his stipend, that the Ottoman officials

followed the dictates of the original waqf of Nfr al-Din, and the same
document must have stated explicitly that Zayn al-Din be a Shafi'i jurist
in order to be appointed mudarris. It would appear, therefore, that
Zayn al-Din must have presented himself as a Shafi'i jurist in order to
obtain the position, and that his official duties were to teach Shffi'i law
and ancillary subjects. Once in Ba'labakk, however, Zayn al-Din probably reinterpreted his duties according to his own goals and inclinations
and the needs of the local community. He may have given private
lessons to Shi'i students in Shi'i law while publicly teaching Sunni law.
Alternatively, it may be that in this minor center in a predominantly
Shi'i region, it was not a problem for Zayn al-Din to teach Shi'i law
publicly and that local officials would have turned a blind eye to his
activities as long as he did not cause public disturbances.
It therefore would seem likely that taqiyah enabled Zayn al-Din and
Husayn to obtain Ottoman appointments. Shi'i scholars in the region of
Syria often practiced taqlyah; certainly this is the implication of al-Hurr
al-'Amili's (d. 1104/1693) discussion of the issue, where he states that

only those who have lived for extended periods among Sunnis and
have had to practice taqtyah among them-that is, understood, people
like himself-can fully understand its workings.49 While the conjecture
48 Nikita Eliss6eff, "Les Monuments de Nir ad-Din: Inventaire, notes archeologiques et bibliographiques," Bulletin d'etudes orientales 13(1949-51): 5-49, pp.
17, 31-33; idem, Nur al-Din: Un grand prince musulman de Syrie au temps des
croisades 511-56911118-1174, 3 vols. (Damascus: Institut francais de Damas,
1967), 3:933-34. Ja'far al-Muhajir makes the erroneous claim that the Niriyah was
a Hanafi madrasah. Ja'far al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqahd' abtdl, 179. It appears that alMuhajir bases this claim on the fact that the more famous Niriyahs, the Greater
Nfriyah and the Lesser Nuriyah in Damascus, were Hanafi institutions. See 'Abd
al-Qadir b. Muhammad al-Nu'aymi, al-Ddris fi tdrikh al-maddris, 2 vols. ed.
Ja'far al-Hanafi (Cairo: Maktabat al-thaqafah al-diniyah, 1988), 1: 606-49.
49 Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Hurr al-'Amili, al-Fawd'id al-tusiyah (Qum: al-
169
that Zayn al-Din and Husayn were performing taqiyah may be logical,
it has been difficult to demonstrate. The Shi'i sources often mention the
fact that Husayn and Zayn al-Din studied with Sunni teachers, but do
not explicitly state that they were passing as Sunni jurists.
Husayn's Work Nar al-haqlqah wa-nawr al-hadlqah:

Though it was not written during the trip Zayn al-Din and Husayn
made to Istanbul in 952/1545, IHusayn's work Nar al-haqlqah provides
evidence of an explicit nature that he and Zayn al-Din were passing as
Sunni scholars and Shafi'i jurists in particular and that it was by this
means that they were able to obtain appointments from the Ottoman
government. After Husayn and Zayn al-Din returned to Jabal 'Amil
from their studies in Cairo in 944/1537, H.usayn wrote a literary antho-
logy on Islamic philosophical and ethical topics entitled Nur al-haqrqah

wa-nawr al-hadiqah, "The Light of Truth and the Blossoms of Paradise." Two autograph MSS of this work have been preserved. In 1983
Muhammad Jawad al-Husayni al-Jalali published an edition based on
MS 3820 in the Chester Beatty collection in Dublin, Ireland and an

incomplete MS in the Mar'ashi Library in Qum, Iran.50 The less
important Mar'ashi MS is preserved in Majmi'ah no. 393 together
with laydt al-arwdh wa-mishkat al-sabdh by Ibrahim b. 'Ali alKaf'ami (d. ca. 895/1489).51 According to al-Jalali, about three pages
from the beginning and roughly the last half of the MS is missing. It is
dated Jumiad II 1059/June-July 1649, and al-Jalali concludes that it

was probably copied from the Chester Beatty MS.52 The Chester Beatty
MS was acquired earlier this century from the library of 'Abd al-
Husayn al-Tihrani (d. 1286/1869), known as "Shaykh of the Two

Iraqs," in Karbala'. Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani examined it himself in
Karbala' and describes it in his catalogue of Shi'i works, al-Dhariah
ild tasdnlfal-shrah.53
While al-Jalli's edition is on the whole excellent, a few important
points bear questioning. According to al-Jalali, the manuscript is dated
Matba'ah al-'ilmiyah, 1983), 469.
50 Husayn ibn 'Abd al-Samad al-'Amili, Nir al-haqiqah wa-nawr al-hadlqah,
ed. Muhammad Jawad al-Husayni al-Jalali (Qum: Matba'at Sayyid al-Shuhada',
1983).
51 Ibid., 27.
52 Ibid., 27-28.
53 Ibid., 7-9; Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, al-Dharl'ah ila tasanEf al-sh'ah, 27
vols. (Tehran and Najaf, 1934-78), 24: 367-68; Arthur J. Arberry, The Chester
Beatty Library. A Handlist of the Arabic Manuscripts, 8 vols. (Dublin, 1955-66),
vol. 4, p. 21 and plate no. 108.
170
DEVIN J. STEWART
3 Sha'ban 945 (25 December 1538).54 Both Arberry and Agha Buzurg
al-Tihrini give the date as 3 Ramadan 945 (23 January 1539) rather
than 3 Sha'ban 945.55 The month given in the colophon is a bit difficult
to read and is followed by the adjective al-mu'azzam, generally an epithet of Sha'ban; normally Ramadan would take the epithet al-mubdrak.
Nevertheless, close examination of the word in question shows that it is
almost certainly Ramadan and that al-Jalali is probably mistaken on
this point.56 More importantly, al-Jalali's claim that the Chester Beatty
MS is not an autograph merits reconsideration. He suggests that the
manuscript was copied by a relative of the author, Taqi al-Din b. 'Ali'
al-Din b. Taqi b. 'Abd al-Samad, because its script matches that of a
couplet the latter wrote on the book's cover. This assessment goes
against that of Arberry and Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, who both identify
the MS as an autograph.57 It is entirely possible that Taqi al-Din simply had the MS in his possession and wrote the couplet on the cover at a
later date. Al-Jalali also argues that many errors appear in the manuscript which would not occur if an author were writing his own work; a
word, half a line, or an entire line frequently had to be added in the
margin.58 This is not a very strong argument, for such omissions occur
quite frequently when an author copies out his own work from a draft.
Given that the script matches other extant examples of Husayn's

distinctive handwriting and that there is no mention of another scribe in
the colophon, it seems clear that this MS is an autograph, as Arberry

and Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani suggest.
Al-Jalali did not consult the other extant autograph MS of the work,
MS 979 in the Oriental collection of the University Library in Leiden,

for his edition. Dozy includes a description of the MS in his 1851 catalogue of Arabic manuscripts in the Leiden collection, noting that it is an
autograph completed in Istanbul in 945 A.H. and dedicated to the

Ottoman Sultan Suleiman.59 Brockelmann cites Dozy's description.60
54 Husayn al-'Amili, Nar al-haqiqah, ed. al-Jalali, 285.
55 Agha Buzurg, al-Dharrah, 24: 367; Arberry, Handlist, vol. 4, before plate
no. 108. I do not know why Arberry gives the equivalent Christian date as 3 May
1539.
56 See the colophon reproduced in Arberry, Handlist, vol. 4, plate no. 108.
57 al-Dharrah 24: 367; Arberry, Handlist, vol. 4, p. 21.

58 Husayn al-'Amili, Nar al-haqiqah, ed. al-Jalali, 26.
59 R. P. A. Dozy, Catalogus codicum orientalium bibliothecae academiae Lugduno Batavae, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1851), 343-44. See also Petrus Voorhoeve, Handlist
of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden and Other Collections in the Netherlands, 2nd ed. (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1980), 257.
60 Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, 2nd ed., 2 vols.

(Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1943-49) + 3 suppls. (1937-42), SII: 576. Brockelmann notes
171
Agha Buzurg al-Tihrani, however, does not cite this manuscript in alDharl'ah; this is apparently why al-Jalali was not aware of it and did
not use it for his edition. Examination of the MS itself confirms that it is
an autograph dated 12 Dhii 'l-Qa'dah 945/1 April 1539 and completed

in Istanbul (fol. 150a). The manuscript probably remained in Istanbul
until it was acquired for the Leiden collection. A note on the front folio
indicates that it belonged to a certain Husayn Akhi-zadah, a member of
a prominent Ottoman scholarly family (fol. lb). The two MSS thus
have distinct histories; while the Chester Beatty MS was preserved in a
Shi'i environment in Iraq, the Leiden MS was preserved in a Sunni
environment in Istanbul.
Few scholars have drawn attention to the work. Caroline Beeson
and Andrew Newman have both noted that it was dedicated to Sultan
Suleiman.61 Rula Jurdi Abisaab notes Husayn's expression of his

pious views and disdain for wealth and entanglement in worldly affairs
in one of its chapters.62 Nur al-haqlqah contains a number of indica-
tions that Husayn was presenting himself in the work as a Sunni

author. The sources and figures mentioned in Nur al-haqlqah are either
well-known Sunnis or else belong to a general bellettristic tradition in
which doctrinal considerations were deemed relatively unimportant.
.Husayn cites the Qur'an and hadlth of the Prophet frequently. He cites
many poets in particular: al-Hutay'ah (d. ca. 30/650) (p. 145); Labid
(d. 40/660) (p. 281); al-Sha'bi (d. 103/721) (pp. 92, 212); Ibn Sirin
(d. 110/730) (pp. 184-85); Abu 'l-'At5hiyah (d. 210/825) (pp. 119, 124,
279); al-Asma'i (d. 213/828) (pp. 160, 173); Abu Tammam (d.
231/846) (p. 256); al-Riyashi (d. 257/871) (p. 145); Ibn al-Rumi (d.
283/896) (pp. 222, 260); al-Mutanabbi (d. 354/965) (p. 129); Ibn
Nubatah (either al-Fariqi, d. 374/984-85 or al-Sa'di, d. 405/1016)
(p. 261); Abu 'l-Fath al-Busti (d. 400/1010) (pp. 169, 263). Many other
figures cited belong to the category of secretaries or bellettristic prose
writers, including the famous Umayyad secretary 'Abd al-Hamid

(d. 132/749) (p. 155, 243); Ibn al-Muqaffa' (d. 142/759) (pp. 109, 206,
218); al-Fadl b. Sahl (d. 202/818) (p. 208); al-Fadl b. al-Rabi' (d. 207
or 208/822-24) (p. 173); al-J.hiz (d. 255/869) (pp. 163, 182); Ibn althat the manuscript is dated 945/1538, when it was actually completed in 1539. He
gives the title of the work incorrectly as Nar al-haqiqah wa-nur al-hadlqah,
whereas Dozy has the correct voweling nawr al-hadiqah.
61 Beeson, "The Origins of Conflict," 121, translates the title incorrectly as
"The Light of Truth on the Light of Subtle Points." Newman, "The Myth of Clerical Migration," 106 n. 88, gives the date as 945/1538, following Brockelmann.
62 Rula Jurdi Abisaab, "The Ulama of Jabal 'Amil," 106.
172
DEVIN J. STEWART
Zubayr (d. 256/870) (pp. 104, 209, 214); Ibn Durayd (d. 321/933) (pp.
85, 237); Ibn al-'Amid (d. 359/969) (p. 92). Literary critics mentioned
include the well-known grammarian and theoretician of poetry alKhalil b. Ahmad (d. ca. 160-75/777-91) (pp. 96, 101); al-Mubarrad (d.
285/898) (p. 88); and Ibn al-Mu'tazz (d. 296/908) (pp. 67, 72, 269).
The famous calligraphers Ibn Muqlah (d. 328/940) (p. 109) and Ibn al-
Bawwab (d. 413/1022) (p. 109) also appear. Only a few figures
associated primarily with fields of endeavor other than belles-lettres are
mentioned in the work. These include the early grammar expert Abu '1-
Aswad al-Du'ali (d. 69/688) (pp. 172, 194), the mystic Abui Yazid al-
Bistami (d. 261/874 or 264/877-78) (p. 121), the well-known early

jurists al-Awza'i (d. 157/774) (pp. 74, 150), Sufyan al-Thawri (d.
161/778) (pp. 102, 112, 127, 231), and al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820) (pp. 102,
156, 242, 259), and the philosophers Abfi al-Nasr al-Farabi (d.
339/950) (p. 65) and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209), the latter of
whom Husayn calls "the Imam" (p. 37). Nearly all of the figures
mentioned date from the first four Islamic centuries, the only exception
being the philosopher and Shffi'i jurist Fakhr al-Din al-Rizi, who died
in the early seventh/thirteenth century. Husayn rarely mentions the titles
of specific works, referring to authors alone. The only titles he mentions
are Manthur al-hikam, an anonymous collection of aphorisms and

anecdotes cited many times (pp. 38, 100, 151, 154, 181, 186, 190, 192,
194, 197, 209, 211, 213, 218, 226, 243, 265, 266)63 and the famous alBaydn wa al-tabyin of al-JTihiz, cited once (p. 282). It is striking, in
comparison with Husayn's other works, that neither the four major
Shi'i hadith collections nor the major figures in the Shi'i legal tradition
such as al-Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022), al-Sharif al-Murtada (d.

436/1044), al-Shaykh al-Tisi (d. 460/1067), Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli
(al-'Allmah) (d. 726/1325), or Muhammad b. Makki al-Jizzini (alShahid) (d. 786/1384) appear at all. The choice of a bellettristic genre
seems intended to avoid doctrinal issues in general, yet within that
specific genre, it is surprising that Nahj al-baldghah, the famous Shi'i
collection of eloquent statements attributed to 'Ali, does not appear.
The way in which certain important Sunni historical figures are presented, including the phrases of blessing which occur after their names,
also indicates that the work was directed toward a Sunni audience. As
is well known, Shi'is disapprove of the first three Sunni caliphs for
63 See Brockelmann, GAL, SI:829; SII:1031. This might be the work of Abu '1-
Wafa' al-Mubashshir b. Fatik al-Qa'id, written in 445/1053, or of Abu 'Ali
Muhammad b. 'Uthman al-Hadrami (ninth/fifteenth c.).
173
usurping the right of 'Ali (d. 40/661) to leadership of the Muslim

community, but the author refers to the first four caliphs as al-Khulafd'
al-Rdshidun "the Rightly-Guided Caliphs" (p. 263). He mentions Abf

Bakr (11-13/632-34) (p. 184) and 'Umar b. al-Khattab (13- 23/634-44)
without any disparaging remarks (pp. 135, 143, 281) In another

instance, 'Umar's name is followed by the formula of blessing radiya
'Llahu 'anhu "may God be pleased with him" (p. 208). 'A'ishah (d.
58/678) is mentioned twice with the blessing radiya 'Llchu 'anhd.64 A
number of Umayyad caliphs and their descendants, loathed by Shi'is,
are mentioned: Mu'awiyah (41-60/661-80) (pp. 176, 178, 217); Sulay-
man b. 'Abd al-Malik (96-99/715-17) (p. 283); and 'Umar b. 'Abd al'Aziz (99-101/717-20) (pp. 152, 216, 281). A number of Abbasid
caliphs, including al-Mansir (136-58/754-75) (p. 214), al-Rashid
(170-93/786-809) (p. 281), al-Ma'min (198-218/813-33) (p. 148), and
al-Mutawakkil (232-47/847-61) (pp. 177, 178), also appear in the text
without any of the criticisms normally expressed in Shi'i works.
The names of the Shi'i Imams are also presented in a way which
suggests that the work was directed at a Sunni audience. 'Ali appears a
few times with the typical Shi'i blessing 'alayhi al-saldm "peace be
upon him" (pp. 49, 65, 94, 100) which in the Sunni tradition is generally reserved for prophets. 'Ali's name is much more often presented with
a phrase of blessing typical of Sunni texts, appearing many times with

the phrase radiya 'Lldhu 'anhu (pp. 95, 134, 153, 157, 168, 169, 188,
204-6, 210, 212, 220, 223, 234, 276, 278), and once with the phrase
karrama 'Llihu wajhah "may God honor him" (p. 192). The names of
Hasan (d. 49/669) and Husayn (d. 61/680) appear without any
formula at all (p. 178), as does the name of the eighth Imam, al-Rida
(d. 203/818) (p. 243). The name of the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq (d.
148/765) appears with the typical Sunni phrase radiya 'Llahu 'anhu
(p. 211).
The presentation of the names of the Companions and the Imams in
the Leiden MS also indicates an intended Sunni audience, showing

only slight variations from the other text. The name of Abf Bakr
appears with a tardiyah (fol. 92b). The four occurrences of 'Umar's
name appear with tardiyah (fols. 60b, 66a, 106b, 147b). The Umayyad
caliph 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz is followed by a tardiyah four times

(fols. 21a, 51b, 136b, 147b). 'All appears consistently with a tardiyah
64 On fols. 25b and 85b in the Chester Beatty MS, which correspond to pp. 96
and 263 in al-Jalali's edition. In the first instance, the blessing and the following
hadith attributed to 'A'ishah have been crossed out (but not effaced), so al-Jalali
does not include them in his text.
174
DEVIN J. STEWART
(fols. 16b, 18a, 21b, 23a, 24a, 27a, 35b, 37b, 38a, 38b, 40b, 50a, 54a,
59a, 67a, 81b, 82b, 90b, 95a, 97b, 103b, 104a, 104b, 107a, 108a,
112a, 114a, 117a, 117b, 119b, 145a, 146a), even in the passage where
the other text has karrama 'Lldhu wajhah (fol. 97b). The only exception
is one instance where the phrase 'alayhi 's-salam appears (fol. 76a). As
in the edited text, the name Ja'far al-Sadiq appears with a tardiyah (fol.
107b). 'A'ishah appears only once in the manuscript, without a

tardiyah (fol. 137b). The passage which appears to begin relating a
hadtth from her in the edited text does not appear in this MS (fol. 38a).
There are a number of other hints in the published text of Nar alhaqiqah that Husayn was presenting himself specifically as a Sunni
and a Shifi'i jurist. The work usually avoids doctrinally marked topics
such as law or theology and other sensitive topics, where one assumes
the author would have had to modify the ideas he expressed in order to
accord with standard Sunni views. Husayn refers to Fakhr al-Din al-
Razi as "the Imam" (p. 37), and this characterization implies that
Husayn had a certain attachment to or background in philosophy-alRazi was indeed a Shafi'i jurist but was much better known for his
philosophical works. Only two passages mention theological or legal
divisions within the Muslim community. While discussing differences
of opinion which arise within a single religion and result in reprehensible conflict and discord, Husayn criticizes the Mu'tazilah (p. 140). He
follows their mention with the imprecation qdbalahumu 'Llihu bi-md
yastahiqqanah "may God meet them with what they deserve!" and
opposes them to ahl al-haqq "the people of the truth," whom he blesses,
rafa'a 'Llihu darajatihim "may God raise their statures!" (p. 140). He
also implies here that justice has been done now that the Mu'tazilah
have been eradicated. In another passage, H.usayn refers to "a large
group of our Shafi'i fellow-jurists" (ummatun min ashdbind al-shdfi'yah) (p. 40), implying a claim to belong to the Shafi'i school of law.
There are, however, two crucial differences between the two MSS,
to be found in the colopha and in the introductions. In the colophon of

the Chester Beatty MS, the author signs his name "Husayn b. 'Abd al-
Samad al-Harithi al-Hamdani" (fol. 93 a). In the colophon of the

Leiden MS, though, he adds the adjective al-Shafi'i, signing his name
"Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Shdfi'c al-Harithi al-Hamdani" (fol.

150b). This signature is an explicit claim of membership in the Shafi'i
madhhab. It is conclusive evidence that the work Nur al-haqlqah was
part of a performance of taqlyah in which Husayn intended to present
himself as a Sunni scholar and a Shafi'i jurist.
175
The second crucial difference between the two MSS appears in the
introduction. Al-Jalali notes several lacunae in this passage of the
Chester Beatty MS.65 It is nevertheless clear from the remaining text
that it originally included a dedication to a ruler, for it includes the
blessing fa-khallada 'Lldhu 'ala dhdlika 'izza dawlatih "May God

preserve the glory of his reign in this manner for eternity."66 Compari-
son of the two MSS shows that the opening pages in the Chester Beatty
MS, the bottom half of fol. 4a and top half of fol. 4b have been cut or
torn out-the top section of fol. 5a, the recto of fol. 4b, is also missing
-and the intervening leaf has been removed.67 It is unlikely that this
large lacuna is a mere accident due to the ravages of time, for though
the corers of some other pages are worn, none are mutilated this
badly, and no other leaves are missing. This specific passage remains
intact in the Leiden MS: it is a lengthy and bombastic dedication of the
work to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman. The physical mutilation of the
MS, which begins just before the sultan's name would have occurred in
the text, seems to have been done on purpose to edit out this dedication.
The Arabic text of the complete introduction, together with an English

translation, is appended to this study.
The dedication opens with a passage comparing Sultan Suleiman

with Solomon, the King of Israel, held up as a paragon of the wise and
prosperous ruler in both the Bible and the Qur'an. Husayn likens himself to the ant mentioned in verses 18-19 of Sarat al-naml in the story
of King Solomon's encounter with the Queen of Sheba (Q 27:15-44).

There, the ant warns its companions to enter their habitations lest
Solomon's advancing army crush them, at which Solomon, who is able
to understand the speech of animals, bursts out laughing. The dedication draws on a well-known elaboration of this story, reporting that the
ant presented Solomon the gift of half a locust's leg and that he
accepted this gift graciously. Husayn then observes that if the tiny ant
could present a gift to King Solomon, he, despite his limited means and
humble status, could present a gift to the Solomon of his own era, the
great Sultan Suleiman. He could also entertain the hope that the latter
would deign to accept his paltry offering, for, as the story implies,
65 Husayn al-'Amili, Nar al-haqlqah, ed. al-Jalali, 34-35.
66 Ibid., 34.
67 Comparison of the two MSS shows that there was one intervening leaf-and
not more-between the two torn pages. The missing passage takes up about 4
pages in the Leiden MS. If there had been one intervening leaf in the Chester Beatty
MS, the original passage would have been about 2 and one half pages long, which
would represent roughly the same amount of text, given that the script is larger and
the margins wider in the Leiden MS.
176
DEVIN J. STEWART
noble men take the stature of the donor into account when judging the
value of a gift. Though this particular account does not appear in the
Qur'an, many similar elaborations of the Solomon story are contained
in works in the genre of qisas al-anbiyd' "tales of the prophets." For
example, in his 'Ard'is al-majalis al-Tha'labi (d. 427/1035) tells that on
one occasion Solomon prevented his army from crushing the nest of a
pair of larks. To express their gratitude, they present him with a date
and a locust they had been storing as food for their young, and he
accepts their humble gift graciously, anoints them, and prays for
them.68 The trope of presenting a humble gift to Solomon seems to have
been fairly common in dedications to rulers. In a poem preserved in alBarq al-shaml, the famous secretary 'Imad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani
(d. 597/ 1201) compares the work he is presenting to his patron Nur alDin Mahmid b. Zangi with the ant's present to Solomon in a statement
quite similar to that of Husayn.69 In Husayn's case, however, this

rhetorical device is all the more fitting, for the sultan's name is also
Suleiman, i.e., Solomon. The dedication goes on to praise the sultan
and his ancestors extravagantly, something which seems shocking
coming from a Shi'i scholar and particularly from a man who would
later become a leading legal authority in the Safavid empire and

defend, on behalf of the Shah, Shi'i doctrinal positions against Sunni
criticisms leveled at them by the Ottomans. Particularly striking is his
praise of the Ottomans as ghdzis or frontier warriors for the faith,
which could be seen as offensive by Shi'is who had experienced

Ottoman rule or maintained connections with the Safavid empire,
which had by then suffered defeats at the hands of Ottoman armies at
Chaldiran in 920/1514 and in Iraq in 941/1534.
The Ottoman Appointments of Husayn and Zayn al-Din
Husayn completed the Leiden MS of Nar al-haqlqah in Istanbul,

dedicated it to Sultan Suleiman, and explicitly claimed therein to be a
Shifi'i jurist. The conclusion one draws from these facts is that he
petitioned at the Ottoman court in 945/1539 for a post as professor of
law in a Sunni madrasah, as he and Zayn al-Din did seven years later.
The decision of the two scholars to seek Ottoman patronage in

952/1546 was thus not taken suddenly and without precedent. Husayn
68 Abu Ishaq Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Nisaburi al-Tha'labi, Qisas al-anbiyd'
or 'Ara'is al-majdlis (Beirut: Dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyah, 1985), 295.
69 al-Fath b. 'All al-Bundari, Sand al-barq al-shdmi, ed. Ramazan Se?en
(Beirut, 1971), 145.
177
made this first trip to Istanbul on his own, without his teacher Zayn al-
Din. The two had returned to Juba' on 24 Safar 944/2 August 1537
after their prolonged stay in Egypt and a pilgrimage to Mecca.70 Zayn
al-Din reports that he stayed in Juba' from then until 946/1539.71 In
addition, Zayn al-Din's biographer reports that Husayn accompanied
Zayn al-Din to Istanbul "the first time," in reference to their trip there
together in 952/1545.72 The "second time" would have been when Zayn
al-Din was taken there to be executed in 965/1558.73 In 945/1539,
therefore, Zayn al-Din did not accompany Husayn.

Zayn al-Din, following a pattern typical of Shi'i scholars in Jabal
'Amil that would continue until the twentieth century, set up a personal
madrasah in his home town upon returning from Egypt.74 Ibn al-'Awdi
stresses the revival of learning Zayn al-Din's return meant for the
region, and reports that at this juncture Zayn al-Din built a house and
an adjacent mosque (masjid) which were completed in 945/1538-39.75
Though Ibn al-'Awdi does not say so explicitly, one may assume that
the mosque was intended to serve as the local madrasah where Zayn
al-Din could hold his lessons.76 Husayn, however, chose to seek an

appointment at a Sunni madrasah rather than setting up a personal
madrasah in Juba' to rival that of his teacher Zayn al-Din or teaching
as the latter's assistant. The Chester Beatty MS is probably a draft
Husayn wrote in his hometown of Juba' before setting out for the
Ottoman capital. It is dated 3 Ramadan 945/23 January 1539, about
three months before the Leiden MS was completed in Istanbul. When
Husayn and Zayn al-Din traveled to Istanbul seven years later, the
journey took about three months-they left Juba' on 12 Dh 'l-Hijjah
951/24 February 1545 and arrived in Istanbul on 17 Rabi' I 952/29
May 1545, but this was after a number of unforseen delays and
70
71
72
73
'All al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthur, 2: 168.

Ibid., 2:168-69.
Ibid., 2:189, 191.
Ibid., 2:153, 189.
74 See Muhsin al-Amin, Khitat Jabal 'Amil, ed. Hasan al-Amin, vol. 1
(Beirut: Matba'at al-insaf, 1961), 50-53. For the example of Mfis Shararah, who
ca. 1301/1884 established a personal madrasah in Bint Jubayl which Muhsin alAmin attended, see idem, A'ydn al-shE'ah, ed. Hasan al-Amin, 10 vols. (Beirut:
Dar al-ta'aruf li 'l-matbi'at, 1984), 10:342.
75 'All al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthur, 2:168.

76 Ibn al-'Awdi's description of Zayn al-Din's daily activities when he came to
work for him beginning on 10 Rabi' I 945/6 August 1538-the year when the house
and mosque were completed-suggests that the mosque was used for teaching.
Zayn al-Din would pray the morning prayer (one assumes in the mosque) and then
teach for the rest of the day (presumably also in the mosque). 'All al-'Amili, alDurr al-manthur, 2:151, 155.
178
DEVIN J. STEWART
extended stops.77 Husayn would have had ample time to travel to

Istanbul and complete a fair copy of Nar al-haqlqah between 3
Ramadan 945/23 January 1539 and 12 Dhf 'l-Qa'dah 945/1 April
1539.
The treatise Nur al-haqlqah is itself the only evidence we have of
IHusayn's petition for an Ottoman position in 945/1539. No other

mention of this journey occurs in the available sources, and there is no
documented evidence that he succeeded in obtaining a position on this
occasion. Indeed, nothing specific is known about Husayn's whereabouts between the dates 945/1539 and late 951/1545, when he and
Zayn al-Din set out on their trip to Istanbul. The only evidence which
may be adduced to throw light on this question is circumstantial. As
mentioned above, Husayn was awarded a position at a madrasah in

Baghdad in 952/1545, and it seems that Zayn al-Din traveled with him
to Iraq to see whether it would be suitable. While we do not know why
Husayn was appointed to a madrasah in Baghdad specifically in

952/1545, he probably chose to teach there on purpose, for Zayn alDin's remarks show that the petitioner was able to exercise considerable personal discretion concerning possible positions. Zayn al-Din at
first only considered positions in Damascus and Aleppo, and then

chose a position in Ba'labakk instead, so it would appear that Husayn
himself opted for a position in Iraq, rather than Syria. If he expressed
this preference in 952/1545, he may have done the same in 945/1539 as
well. There may have been increased opportunites to obtain teaching
positions in Iraq in particular at this time, following the Ottoman
annexation of Iraq from the Safavids in 941/1534. Five months after
.Husayn completed the copy of Nar al-haqlqah in Istanbul, Zayn al-Din
set out on a trip to Iraq. He left Juba' on 27 Rabi' II 946/11 September
1539 and returned on 15 Sha'ban 946/27 December 1539, together with
a group of companions.78 Although Ibn al-'Awdi's account does not
mention Husayn specifically, he may have been one of the group. The
time Zayn al-Din set out for Iraq would correspond roughly to the date
of Husayn's return to Juba', given that they had spent about four
months in Istanbul when they applied for positions in 952/1545. It
seems likely, therefore, that Husayn had indeed been awarded a teaching position in Baghdad and that Zayn al-Din and he made the trip to
Iraq at this juncture in order to evaluate the position, as they did seven
years later. It remains unclear whether Husayn actually taught in

77 Ibid., 2:170-74.
78 Ibid., 2:168-69.
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMIIi'S TREATISE
179
Baghdad; he may have decided against accepting the position and

returned to Juba' with Zayn al-Din.
Nur al-haqlqah throws considerable light on other facets of Husayn's career as well as on that of his teacher, Zayn al-Din. The fact
that Husayn presented himself to the Ottoman sultan as a Shafi'i jurist
in this document implies that he had probably been passing as a Shafi'i
during his studies in Cairo in 942-43/1535-37. He must also have

presented himself as a Shafi'i jurist when he applied for a post as law
professor in Istanbul six years later, in 952/1545. It would have been
inconsistent and perhaps aroused suspicion for him to change his

claimed legal school between the two dates. In addition, Husayn's
claim to membership in the Shafi'i legal school suggests that Zayn alDin was also passing as a Shafi'i jurist, both while studying in Damascus and Cairo and when the two sought positions as law professors in
Istanbul in 952/1545. Salati has suggested that while one should not
forget the role taqiyah played in Shi'i environments, it is improbable
that the Qadi al-'askar and the other officials at Istanbul did not know
that Zayn al-Din was a Shi'i scholar.79 The work Nur al-haqiqah
would suggest, on the contrary, that Husayn and Zayn al-Din, despite
their background, were quite convincing in their presentation of themselves as Shafi'i scholars. This supports the view that Zayn al-Din was
appointed as a professor of Shifi'i law to teach at an officially Shifi'i
madrasah, and was neither recognized by Ottoman officials as a Shi'i
jurist nor expected to teach the law of the five madhhabs. Husayn as
well must have been considered for Shefi'i positions in particular.
The Performance of Taqiyah
Nur al-haqiqah shows a number of features typical of Twelver Shi'i

performances of taqiyah.80 Documents served as important supports for
such performances. Scholarly treatises like Nur al-haqlqah were of

course a standard part of scholar-patron relationships in general, but
were also used by Shi'is to present themselves as Sunnis to Sunni
audiences and particularly to Sunni rulers and officials. In order to
obtain an Ottoman appointment, .Husayn had to present himself as a
Sunni scholar, and the treatise Nar al-haqiqah would provide significant evidence that this was so while at the same time demonstrating his
rhetorical skill and wide range of learning. The treatise for the Qadi al-
79 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano," 88.

180
DEVIN J. STEWART
'askar that Zayn al-Din wrote in Istanbul in 952/1545 served a similar
purpose.8s Zayn al-Din's remarks about this treatise indicate the

importance of such documents for the successful petition for a post and
the successful performance of taqiyah. Husayn must have written a
treatise similar to Nar al-haqiqah to present in 952/1545 as well,

though the sources do not mention a specific work. Although neither of
the latter two documents is extant, both scholars presumably presented

themselves as Sunnis and Shafi'is in those treatises as well, and
dedicated them either to Sultan Suleiman himself or to the Qadi al'askar. A generation later, .Husayn's son Baha' al-Din wrote a similar
work when he traveled through Ottoman territory in 991-93/1583-85. A
short treatise on tafsir that Baht' al-Din includes in his Kashkul

presents itself as a Sunni work, citing Sunni sources exclusively, and
was probably dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan Murad III (9821003/1574-95).82 This text may be the work mentioned by the Sunni
scholar Abf 'l-Wafa' al-'Urdi (d. 1071/1660), a native of Aleppo, who
reports that Baha' al-Din wrote a treatise on tafsir dedicated to the
Ottoman sultan to protect himself in the event that he were detained by
Ottoman officials while making the pilgrimage to Mecca.83 Nur alhaqiqah is thus one among a number of such treatises used by Shi'is to
establish a Sunni identity and gain the patronage of Sunni rulers.
The modification of one's nisbah is a common strategy employed by
Shi'is when performing taqiyah, for often a nisbah reflecting a place of
origin would give away a Shi'i identity. In Nar al-haqlqah, Husayn

gives his nisbah three times as al-Harithi al-Hamdani (fols. 5a, 6a,
150b) in reference to his reputed ancestor Harith b. 'Abd Allih of the
southern Arab tribe of Hamdan (d. 65/684-85), who was a companion
81 This work, which he wrote in eighteen days in Istanbul itself and which
treats ten problems in ten different sciences, should not be confused with the short
treatise al-Risalah al-istanbuliyah fi 'l-wdjibit al-'ayniyah. [al-Durr al-manthuir,

2:187, 189] 'Alwan b. Barakah b. Husayn b. 'Ali b. Sharaf al-Din al-Shir'awi,
who copied the latter treatise on 25 Shawwal 966/31 July 1559, claims that Zayn
al-Din wrote it in Istanbul itself [MS Mashhad, Astan-i quds-i radavi, Fiqh 653,
fol. 5a], but this cannot have been the case. Zayn al-Din completed the original in
one sitting on 12 Safar 952/25 April 1545. [MS Mashhad, Astan-i quds-i radavi,
Fiqh 654, fol. 13a] His notes show that on that day he had arrived in Tokat in
Anatolia, on the way from Aleppo to Istanbul. [al-Durr al-manthur, 2:172-73] Ibn
al-'Awdi apparently called the work al-Risalah al-istanbfulyah because Zayn al-
Din wrote it while on the trip to Istanbul and not actually in Istanbul itself.
82 The treatise appears in Baha' al-Din al-'Amili, al-Kashkul, 2 vols., ed.

Muhammad Sadiq Nasiri (Qum: Dar al-'ilm, 1958-59), 1:480-91. It is discussed in
greater detail in Stewart, "Taqiyyah as Performance," 38-41.
83 Abu al-Wafa' al-'Urdi, Ma'ddin al-dhahab fi 'l-a'yan al-musharrafah bihim

Halab, ed. Muhammad al-Tunji (Damascus: Dar al-mil.h li 'l-tiba'ah wa al-nashr,
1987), 288-89.
181
of 'Ali b. Abi Talib. In using this name he is not falsifying facts, but is
omitting important information, particularly concerning his place of
origin. He does not use the nisbah by which he is usually identified in
Shi'i sources, al-'Amili, indicating that he originates from Jabal 'Amil,
nor does he use the nisbah al-Juba'i, derived from the name of his
native town, Juba'. Either of these may have given away his Shi'i
identity, since Jabal 'Amil was widely known as a Shi'i region.
Apparently the nisbah al-'Amili, like the nisbah al-Bahrini in Bahrain,
was used only or primarily by Shi'is. Nearly fifty years later, .Husayn's
son Baha' al-Din adopted the same strategy and used the nisbah alHarithi al-Hamdani in order to avoid the nisbah al-'Amili when facing
a Sunni audience in Ottoman territory.84 Zayn al-Din presumably also
used another nisbah to avoid using the nisbah al-'Amili. In his manual
on hadith criticism, Sharh al-biddyahfi 'ilm al-dirayah, he discusses the
various uses of the nisbah and the proper order for listing them when
referring to someone whose name includes several, and writes that
someone from the village of Juba' might use the nisbahs al-Juba'i
referring to the village, al-Saydawi referring to the district, or al-Shami
referring to the region.85 In the same work, he signs his name Zayn al-
Din b. 'Ali b. Ahmad al-Shami al-'Amili.86 One assumes that when
avoiding the nisbah al-'Amili, he would have given his name simply as
Zayn al-Din b. 'Ali b. Ahmad al-Shami.
While documents served as important props for the performance of
taqlyah, it is equally clear that documentary evidence of taqiyah was
often suppressed through editing. Specific points which might be seen
as compromising or detrimental if revealed to a Shi'i audience were
removed. Baha' al-Din al-'Amili's treatise on Qur'inic exegesis provides an example of this type of editing. It appears that he dedicated it
to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, intending to pass as a Sunni author,
but one cannot be sure about the dedication because the name of the
sultan in the dedication has been removed.87 Similarly, the colophon of

the treatise, where Bahi' al-Din, like his father, may have claimed to
belong to the Shafi'i legal school, has been omitted. Bahi' al-Din may
have altered the document when he returned to the Safavid empire for
fear of offending the Shah or a Shi'i audience, or a later Shi'i scholar
may have found the flattering mention of the Ottoman sultan offensive
85 Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, Sharh al-bidayah fi 'ilm al-dirdyah (n.p., 1891),
174.
86 Ibid.
87 Stewart, "Taqiyyah as Performance," 38-41.
182
DEVIN J. STEWART
and effaced it. Al-'Urdi reports that Baha' al-Din merely replaced an
introduction dedicating his work on tafsir to Shah 'Abbis88 with an
introduction dedicated to the Ottoman sultan.89 This is unlikely, for the
entire work, rather than simply the introduction, would have to be

written for a Sunni as opposed to a Shi'i audience, as is clearly the case
with Nur al-haqiqah. Nevertheless, the story concerning Baha' al-Din
indicates the prevalence of modifying introductions in such circumstances.
The text of Nur al-haqlqah provides clear examples of modifications

to cover up taqlyah; no conjectures are necessary. Husayn deliberately
chose to designate himself as a Shifi'i in the Leiden MS, though he
omits this nisbah in the Chester Beatty MS.90 While writing in Istanbul,
he presumably felt it incumbent to make this claim explicitly in the text,
as he must have had to state it repeatedly in the course of his petition

for a teaching position. While writing in Juba', however, he either felt
that this was unnecessary or that to do so might subject him to criticism
for hypocritical or nefarious behavior should the work fall into the
wrong hands. In addition, someone deliberately excised the dedication
to Sultan Suleiman from the introduction in the Chester Beatty MS.
This process of editing was not a painstaking or careful effort to
remove all traces of a claimed adherence to Sunnism; otherwise, the

statement concerning "our Shifi'i fellows" in the body of the work
would not have been allowed to stand. Rather, the editing seems to
have been intended to remove mention of the Ottoman sultan. The identity of the editor is something of a mystery. One can easily imagine that
Husayn himself tore out the passage in question for fear of offending
Shah Tahmasb when he went to Iran to seek Safavid patronage ca.

960/1553. It would have been a potential embarrassment to him that he
had extolled Shah Tahmasb's greatest enemy, especially when Sultan
Suleiman was still ruling-he reigned until 974/1566-and had personally led three major military campaigns against the Safavids, in 941-
42/1534-35, 955-56/1548-49, and 960-61/1553-54.91 The effect of

.Husayn's laudatory dedication to Shah Tahmasb in his work Wusal al88 As Newman has pointed out, this cannot have been the case, for Shah
'Abbas I had not yet assumed the throne. The reigning Shah would have been
Muhammad Khudabandah. Andrew J. Newman, "Towards a Reconsideration of the
'Isfahan School of Philosophy': Shaykh Baha'i and the Role of the Safawid
'Ulama," Studia Iranica 15(1986): 165-99, 173 n. 26.
89 al-'Urdi, Ma'ddin al-dhahab, 288-89.
90 Chester Beatty MS, fol. 93a; Nur al-haqiqah, ed. al-Jalali, 285.
91 Adel Allouche, The Origins and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid
Conflict, 138-45.
183
akhydr ild usul al-akhbdr, "The Path for Clever Scholars to the Sources
of Oral Tradition," completed in Mashhad ca. 960/1553,92 where he
describes the Ottomans as tyrants and hypocrites,93 would be seriously
undercut if read alongside his equally effusive dedication to Sultan
Suleiman in Nar al-haqlqah wa-nawr al-hadiqah. Evidence that he had
praised Suleiman would only have damaged his reputation in Iran,

particularly when, from ca. 963/1556 until ca. 970/1563, he served as
shaykh al-isldm of the capital, Qazvin, acting as the leading spokesman
for Shi'ism in the Safavid empire and defending Shi'i doctrinal

positions against Ottoman criticism.
It is also possible that a later scholar in the Shi'i tradition removed
the passage because he was offended that Sultan Suleiman, an enemy
of the Shi'i Safavid state and a leading representative of Ottoman

Sunni oppression of Shi'i communities in the regions of Syria and Iraq,
could be described in such positive terms. Sultan Suleiman was, after
all, the same Ottoman sultan responsible for several crushing defeats of
the Safavids, the executions of Anatolian Shi'is, and the death of

IHusayn's mentor, Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, in 965/1558. A later Shi'i
editor may also have acted out of a desire to preserve Husayn's
reputation as a prominent figure in the Shi'i scholarly tradition by
removing evidence that he had engaged in what might be interpreted as
consorting with the enemy or hypocritical behavior.
Participation in the Shi'i Shdfi'f Legal Tradition
HIusayn's claim to belong to the Shafi'i madhhab was one of many

such claims Shi'i scholars had made since the rise to prominence of the
madhhabs in the fourth/tenth century. It is among the very few cases,
though, for which the historical record has preserved clear documentation, leaving no doubt whatsoever that this Shi'i jurist was passing as a
Shafi'i and thus confirming other less direct pieces of evidence. Hu-
sayn's particular case shows the importance documents played in

establishing a public or official persona as a qualified Sunni jurist, and
gives some idea of how Shi'is in potentially hostile environments went
about doing so. While Husayn's other works and subsequent career
show that he was a Twelver Shi'i by conviction, his claim to be a
92 M. T. Danishpazhih and 'A.N. Munzavi, eds., Fihrist-i nuskhahd-yi khattiyi kitdbkhdnah-yi markazi-yi ddnishgdh-i Tehran (Tehran, 1952-79), 15:4241. See
the discussion of this point in Stewart, "The First Shaykh al-lsldm of Qazvin."
93 Wusul al-akhydr ild usul al-akhbdr, ed. 'Abd al-Latif al-Kuhkamari (Qum:
Matba'at al-khayy&m, 1981), 30-31.
184
DEVIN J. STEWART
Shifi'i jurist was not mere window-dressing, a lie concocted ad hoc for
simple convenience. It is easy to dismiss a claim to membership in the
Shafi'i madhhab made by a Shi'i during the course of a heresy trial as
a mere expedient to avoid execution. Similarly, one might also claim
that Husayn was performing taqlyah simply to obtain employment, but
this would overlook significant evidence. Both Husayn and Zayn alDin were actually accomplished jurists trained in the Shafi'i tradition.
Zayn al-Din left a fairly detailed account of his studies in Cairo,94 and
it is reasonable to assume that he and Husayn had studied, by and

large, the same works under many of the same teachers. Zayn al-Din's
teachers include the leading Shafi'i law professor of the time, Shihab al-
Din Ahmad al-Ramli al-Ansiri (d. 957/1550), as well as other prominent Shifi'i jurists such as Abui al-Hasan al-Bakri (d. 953/1546-47)
and Shihab al-Din Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Haqq al-Sinbati al-Misri (d.

950/1543). He received general ijdzahs from them and many other
teachers.95 Under al-Ramli, Zayn al-Din studied al-Minhaj of alNawawi (d. 676/1278), the most important textbook of Shfi'i fiqh at
the time, as well as a number of Shifi'i works on usul al-fiqh, such as
al-Waraqdt by al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085), the Mukhtasar of Ibn alHajib (d. 646/1249) with the famous commentary of 'Adud al-Din al-Iji
(d. 756/1355), and Jam' al-jawdmi' by Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771/
1369-70) with the commentary of Jalil al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459).
Like Zayn al-Din, Husayn had probably studied all these works and
had an extensive background in Shafi'i law. Like Zayn al-Din, he had
probably received a number of ijdzahs from his Shifi'i professors

which he could display to Ottoman officials in order to support his
claim to be a qualified Shafi'i jurist and strengthen his credentials. It
cannot be said, therefore, that Husayn's adoption of the Shifi'i

madhhab in particular was a mere expedient. It was part of a sustained
and careful plan that involved extensive study and took years to carry
out. Zayn al-Din does not report that he obtained a license to teach law
and grant legal opinions during his stay in Cairo. Though this
certificate was commonly granted during Zayn al-Din's time, he would
presumably have had to stay in Cairo for a much longer period in order
to obtain it. The importance of his Shifi'i legal studies in Cairo is

shown, however, by his statement that he reached the level of ijtihdd in
944/1537-38, the year of his return to Jabal 'Amil from Cairo, though
94 Stewart, "Twelver Shi'i Jurisprudence," 178-82.
95 The Arabic term for such certificates is ijdzah 'ammah, which indicates a
blanket permission granted to the student to transmit all the works which his
teacher is authorized to transmit.
185
he did not make this claim known until four years later.96 Husayn's
Shafi'i legal studies in Cairo must have assumed a comparable

importance for his intellectual formation and the establishment of his
formal credentials in the field of law as well.
By going to Cairo to study law and to Istanbul to obtain positions,
H.usayn and Zayn al-Din were following a pattern which was not
unusual for Syrian Shafi'is of their era. During the Mamluk period,
Cairo had become a major center for Shafi'i legal studies, and many
scholars from Damascus and elsewhere in the Syrian region went there
to study for several years before returning to Syria in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. The Shafi'i jurist Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-Safadi

(d. 954/1548) studied in his native Safad, then Damascus, then Cairo
and eventually returned to his native town as mufti and mudarris.97
Another Shifi'l, Baha' al-Din Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Fassi alBa'li (d. 941/1534), was born in 857/1453 and studied as a youth in his
native Ba'labakk. He performed his oral memorization exam ('ard; not
to be confused with the 'ard al-qddl discussed above) of al-Nawawi's
Minhdj for Badr al-Din b. Qadi Shuhbah in Damascus in 871/1466-67.
He continued studying law there under Taqi al-Din b. Qadi 'Ajlin, who
granted him the license to grant legal opinions some years later. He
then traveled to Cairo, where he studied under the famous Shifi'i
professor Zakariya al-Ansari (d. 926/1520) and, in 885/1480-81 at the
age of twenty-seven, received the license to grant legal opinions and
teach law. After completing his studies in Cairo, he returned to Ba'labakk and became the mufti of the town.98 After the Ottoman conquest,
it became quite common for scholars from the provinces to travel to

Istanbul to obtain positions or conduct other official business.99 The
well-known Damascene Shafi'i scholar Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi (d.

984/1576), a contemporary of Husayn and Zayn al-Din, traveled to
Istanbul to submit a complaint concerning his post in Damascus.'l? The

Egyptian Shafi'i Muhammad b. Sha'ban al-Dayriti (d. 949/1543) was
rather abruptly ousted from his position as professor of law at alShafi'i's shrine in Cairo by a newcomer in 941/1534. He traveled to
Istanbul in 941-42/1534-35 to submit a complaint and succeeded in

regaining his original post and, in addition, in obtaining a position as
97 al-Ghazzi, al-Kawdkib al-sa'irah, 2:62.
98 Ibid., 2:11.
99 Muhammad Adnan Bakhit, The Ottoman Province of Damascus in the
Sixteenth Century (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1982), 138-39.
100 al-Ghazzi, al-Kawtkib al-sd'irah, 3:3-10.
186
DEVIN J. STEWART
professor of Shafi'i law at the Khashshabiyyah madrasah.'0l The

efforts of two Syrian outwardly Shifi'i jurists such as Zayn al-Din and
Husayn to obtain positions would not have seemed out of the ordinary,
from the Ottoman point of view.
Affiliation with the Shifi'i madhhab was an established tradition
within Twelver Shi'ism, and not just a series of coincidences. The

participants in it were aware that they were following in the footsteps
of important Shi'i predecessors. Husayn and Zayn al-Din must have
been aware that another prominent Shi'i jurist from their region had
studied in Cairo several decades earlier, probably also passing as a

Shafi'i. 'Ali b. 'Abd al-'Ali al-Karaki (d. 940/1534), famous for the
role he later played as ideological spokesman for the early Safavid
state, was a native of Karak Nuh near Ba'labakk, a village where both
Zayn al-Din and Husayn had studied, still during the lifetime of alKaraki. In the late 800s/1400s, al-Karaki went to Cairo and studied
there under the leading Shafi'i jurist Abi Yah.y Zakariyya al-Ansari
(d. 926/1520).102 Zayn al-Din and Husayn were certainly also aware
that Muhammad b. Makki al-Jizzini, known as al-Shahid al-Awwal

("the First Martyr"), had studied extensively with Sunni teachers and
had claimed adherence to the Shifi'i madhhab.'03 A generation later,
.Husayn's son Bahi' al-Din would carry on this tradition, studying

under and engaging in scholarly exchanges with Shafi'i jurists in
Jerusalem and Cairo and probably claiming adherence to the Shifi'i
madkhab during the course of his travels in Ottoman territory.l04 These
performances of taqiyah were not isolated cases, and were not limited
to the sixteenth century or to areas under Ottoman control. The Shi'i
Shifi'i tradition remained remarkably regular, if intermittent, over space
and time, including scholars from Abbasid Baghdad, Mamluk Syria,

Ilkhanid Iraq, and Safavid Iran as well as Ottoman Syria. The choice
of the Shifi'i madhhab in particular seems to reflect less simple

expedience than important ideological commitments. It was not due to
al-Shifi'i's professed love for the family of the Prophet, nor to the
superficial coincidence of Twelver and Sh&fi'i positions on certain

points of the law, but rather to the fact that the Shifi'is' particular
combination of reliance on scripture with rationalist tools of analysis,
setting them apart from what the Twelvers saw as the excessive use of
101 Ibid., 2:36.
102 Stewart, "Twelver Shi'i Jurisprudence," 172-75.
103 Ibid., 164-71.
104 Stewart, "Taqiyyah as Performance."
187
analogy by the Hanafis and the literalism of the Hanbalis, most suited
the dominant trends within Shi'i jurisprudence.
The careers of Zayn al-Din and Husayn show that Twelver Shi'i
scholars were indeed able to participate in the educational and juridical
system dominated by the four Sunni madhhabs, but this cannot be
taken as evidence of the flexibility of the madhhab system or an

ecumenical view of Islam on the part of the Ottoman government or of
Syrian or Egyptian society in the sixteenth century. These two Shi'i
scholars were only able to participate in such Sunni circles through a
sustained performance of taqryah, involving years of study, which
enabled them to establish formal membership in the Shafi'i madhhab as
well as extensive competence in Sunni jurisprudence.
There remain, of course, many unanswered questions concerning the
extent to which Husayn and Zayn al-Din kept their Shi'ism secret and
the ways in which they reconciled their public Sh&fi'i persona with their
private Shi'i convictions in the course of daily social and academic

interaction. Zayn al-Din states that he taught law of the five madhhabs,
and Ibn al-'Awdi claims that his teacher even acted as a mufti to all
five groups. There is little reason to doubt the authenticity of these
statements, but, given that they were made for an exclusively Shi'i
audience, it is difficult to gauge how public Zayn al-Din's avowal of
Shi'ism was during his stay in Ba'labakk. Could knowledge of his

Shi'ism have been limited to local Shi'i circles, or perhaps to natives of
the town, without government officials being aware of or concerned
about it? Could local officials have known about it without informing
higher Ottoman functionaries? Ja'far al-Muhajir believes that Ottoman
government officials discovered that Zayn al-Din was a Shi'i and that
he engaged in teaching law of the five madhhabs against their dictates.
It was for this reason, he holds, that Zayn al-Din left Ba'labakk less
than two years later; the Ottomans, alarmed by his popularity and
authority with the local population, removed him from his position and
drove him out.105 This conjecture is not too far-fetched; it is known that
Najm al-Din al-Tfif (d. 716/1316), a rare example of a Twelver Shi'i
scholar who claimed membership in the Hanbali madhhab, was

removed from his position at a madrasah in Mamluk Cairo for Shi'i
heresy, flogged, imprisoned, and then sent into exile.106 Al-Muhajir
105 al-Muhajir, Sittat fuqaha' abtdl, 155-56. Al-Muhajir claims that when
Zayn al-Din left, Husayn stayed in Ba'labakk for the next ten years, until Zayn alDin's death in 965, when he went to Iran. This is probably not the case. See Stewart, "A Biographical Notice," 564-67; idem, "The First Shaykh al-Islam of Qazvin."
106 Muhsin al-Amin, A'ydn al-shiah, 7:301-2.
188
DEVIN J. STEWART
suggests that problems with Ottoman authorities in Ba'labakk may

have been partly responsible for Zayn al-Din's execution ten years
later.107 According to one account, it was the same Qadi Ma'ruf of
Sayda whom Zayn al-Din offended by not asking for an 'ard when
leaving for Istanbul who denounced him to Ottoman officials in the
chain of events that led to his martyrdom. This occurred after a
disgruntled 'Amili litigant complained to him about the outcome of a
case Zayn al-Din had decided. In his denunciation, Qadi Ma'rif

allegedly reported that Zayn al-Din was a heretic "outside the four
madhhabs."'08 This last account is not very reliable, for it was recorded
over a century after the events themselves and contains a number of
logical inconsistencies and improbabilities.109 It nevertheless seems
likely that it was some aspect of Zayn al-Din's legal career which got
him in trouble with Ottoman authorities. It may not be a coincidence
that Zayn al-Din left Ba'labakk in 955/1548, when Sultan Suleiman
was in Aleppo organizing his third expedition against the Safavids,
involving massive recruitment efforts in Syria and Iraq.10
If it was necessary to perform taqiyah before Ottoman officials, it
was not always necessary to do so before Sunni peers, such as the

Hanafi Sunni scholar with whom Husayn held a private debate on
sectarian issues and whom he allegedly converted to Shi'ism in Aleppo
in 951/1545.l" It is clear from Zayn al-Din's record of his discussion
of the insularity of the Islamic legal madhhabs with his Egyptian

Shifi'i professor Abi 'l-Hasan al-Bakri (d. 953/1546-47)-on the way
to Mecca in 943/1537-that he did not hide his sectarian allegiance
from that scholar in particular.112 The present state of research allows
little generalization about Shi'is' management of their identity or the
extent of their performances of taqiyah in such situations. A larger
question which remains unanswered has to do with the intentions

underlying Shi'i scholars' attempts to pass as Sunni jurists. Many of
107 al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqahd' abtal, 154-60, 182-83.
108 al-Hurr al-'Amili, Amal al-amil, 1: 90. Abisaab states that Ma'rif was the
name of one of the litigants in the case, but this is not so.
109 al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqahd' abtdl, 162-68, 172.

110 Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano," 92.
11I Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-'Amili, Mundzarat al-'Amill ma'a ba'd

'ulamd' Halab, MS Maktabat al-Mar'ashi, Qum, majmu'ah 1161, fol. la; in
Persian translation in Mir Sayyid Ahmad Rawdati, Guftugu-yi shifah va-sunni

(Isfahan: Intishiart-i amiri, 1967), 139. See also the discussion of this debate in
Abisaab, "The Ulama of Jabal 'Amil," 118-19.
112 'Ali al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthar, 2:164-65. It is possible, though, that
Zayn al-Din waited on purpose until they had left Cairo before broaching this topic
with al-Bakri.
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILi'S TREATISE
189
the Shi'i jurists who passed as Shafi'is, it seems, did so out of a

conviction that it was important for them to participate in the majority
legal system for the good of Shi'is and the Muslim community at large.
Familiarity with Sunni legal scholarship and methodology would bring
significant benefits for Shi'i jurisprudence, education, and communal
life beyond the mundane prospects of steady, paid employment for a
handful of scholars.113
113 For some provisional observations on this point, see Stewart, "Twelver
Shi'i Jurisprudence," 197-201. Salati states that Zayn al-Din's goal was not inte-
gration into Sunni society and suggests that his acceptance of a post at the Nuriyah
was part of a larger plan to enhance the role and authority of jurists in the Shi'i
community, a project which would coincide with some of the ideological positions
he adopted in his writings. Salati, "Ricerche sullo sciismo nell'impero ottomano,"
91-92. While this argument has merit, I believe it is premature to establish a direct
link between the two, given the state of research on Zayn al-Din's life and work.
190
DEVIN J. STEWART
APPENDIX A:
Manuscript Folios of Nuir al-haqiqah wa-nawr al-hadiqa
.': . . ~ . ,. ~~~.r-:t -' 0. 0. : .: $:.
Plate no. 1: Chester Beatty MS 3820, fol. 4.
Plate no. 2: Leiden MS Or. 979, fol. 6.
HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILI'S TREATISE 191
, ?. ' 6s j^',/ , oS , o . ? o-.

Z b. p I ? /.. -! "~l
V
,&/
Il''r ,'.l ', ,,.. ? . ,, . -ll. ,_*1l'_&;XJ -E.
Plate
no.
3:
Leiden
MS
Or.
979,
fo
Plate
no.
4:
Leiden
MS
Or.
979,
fo
192
DEVIN J. STEWART
i^
I~
*,
Plate no. 5: Leiden MS Or. 979, fol. 9.

I
X^vSIi>g I . sp;l @
&( A,J Ld
I I (I1^1/r l
Plate no. 6: Leiden MS Or. 979, fol. 150a.
193
APPENDIX B:
The Preface to Nuir al-haqiqah wa-nawr al-hadiqa
((uej Sj- - 2j )) l JL
4yLL.. a I . lJu 4, . . i
Vau (J J ) ,Lj .t 1 C cJ1l . I wA - i L.Jl bl
Ulb."JI LJj' L4.a "J2jj * 4LjG Lii .tj U ll L * C.?* Lj5 kL Uj-ij.UI
,I- L.J I t: J^3 L ,-J .-Io .jC,.JLI al j, ?l WI tJLjA a .^ ?,, JiAll y b--lI tl.l L "
tLJ.JI '# Lijlu <L. U IJl Ji: * j.i4jLj JIj I P & LJkJL ipwAllj * a-A j
;.L.^ ij4 t I I 4I IJ y I .lj * WL L ûi <j JJ ptl A ft 5L&lj * 4LJI
J r i (jl . l3~ * JJLJbII 3jkL&ji JI LAL & r j * IJJ1t4J mL3a- LA..JL
4.3(j (^-SJ * I&.b'4.A 4J Lt^-JL Jljk J I =,Ltj.*. L,L J3J 4J j4 '.I caJ I.j jj
lA, 4 r',lj lJl J LtA C ,,.c1 U , .i ,: , l.3 J j ..l CL J_t4 l y (.J
.j^ ij.A u-1L j 1 1 ? * * f;j lV _I I ,& *VI 1 "Cif i4'

. (:- j- ) | A ; rI jr'^ jJ >LJ
IL )) I&l-J (( J^^ irJ )) IjjLj?, JIA-I :> Lj Sjj- < \ I Y? J1 SjLAl r-JI p A11
Z ' ' V L ,1pI tl_ k JljtlI ..!A IVJ) LLI. ((1 VA

J
.(((,I ... ..)) : I ..'
194
DEVIN J. STEWART
t . !A JI 4 c I 4-i Lamj {^ ? I<^ CU W l 11I L jill ) JJ?!.A jj-
t. U^jJ -lI tJ * <L { (< J * c( ;L) <d1H Z I. lsl jJl

LA?,l
* t iLAjj5
< Jp,
cj-I LA-.
^ *l. iL.,
I * L..,.
LL* 'LA
)_-I Aj
L~;,I~J
: ,.j,
L..,~L
,1 ,Z..
, o.f
,'L,
). ,.
Lk l+J ULIL V Sii * IjLaI ? (I.. j < J. L-.? L.LA CLj
Lt L 41 ..I & - LJ. * iWI t L4Yj IJ tl * ;l- t L4J A- J L - )L b*

* uLJ: 1 *! J14 ,J I Lj:t -^sl tj L LL; 1 Lui L?j LjjJ li;il *J i. jLe
jj,ii A3 ? 4> Jj? J * ? J.;4 A * .jLL ( L- Jx* 4 1 LLi L;iAU
(Iv)
fl.4w.z <..j ,4 ,<- ,,Al LL, j 14_'1 i .-.,I , Jj. fJ * J1V1 I ...jL, C j
41; uJlJ * C1 L; OiL Ug * f 4J . J j; Ji tl4Jc * IJ L iJ

.IUI &I.j. 'VLa.U,I I 1A._ (..jj ^ 1 J I * f - JlJ1 -81, . *. ^v . iL.4
ULliUI (oLL -a- - rl,,j sdlj ) iLj j ULJIj JU JLh^ i ^L ; Le 1
jL- ,:, . Le f . I . lJl J iL L . .i I ,eJ. .tL LJ :
.* j ,, (( I,.. )) US
^4rj i6 (( JLy j4 $3tl LJ )) : UJUI ;LJ I J>l Ji ^^ u^.L - J 4 -t^^LI~
~~ b;~,, ( JLJJ L~Jc; ~; ~= J ) :ZfW( i4rll ;.llJ L.?i uJ., C JJ?
195
(-V)
.,jaj ~:l_l JJ. , :'.. - j. j.j,..,aJ 3 C - ....Il , :, .L.,?l, '" J::Y..' -j':~.,. 4 1.? il3I
OL.y.Jl t... ! 'lJ ,l- -lj ^Ji . ,, L. JL: J.L.lj .L.M,i ,.-11 t
*
J!j'JLYJ
(1 A)
d AJ.L(4I <3^j <.M * .xJl*1 C^jJL) <. 1 (i $ 13 JI ki. j *
.j,fIji,j ,^ ..L .. L.L j c j&1 * cJ.I . 1 A.I I . Ji j * .

e : x> * c* r;uI AfL1 J,I ; I * *J=,?.,r crVJl 1LJ.3 * *,-is A^4JI
jL.M I .-* L , . . J*L, ;L,-J * i I J I L- I.+JI 4* L- *b a1

.u1 * (Jljl j&-5 6J uA JIVUC * d3= 4Ai 3< Jl;.1
* c*' ogs > ;iX
o .,
JILL1 t - .J I LL L L .....lL ..JI > + .. (jLJ I e jL- L IUJJ I

ÂlAU ;J Ll ' *Jj L: .L
^ LAJ yJ3 _>. J4J1 )) UjJIj J JA- C l 4 1uLL>^
.((LAtjZ JeJIji
196
DEVIN J. STEWART
(-A)
t * J *'J 4L' . I l * ^ +IL'tJ ) A >. ? ?i ty.4?ij * fII (ÂJjJI ?ljJDj
I* 4 jLULL ]J 11 tJ * 6- 4'l Jj LI .I.I (JJ juji <I. V mA! J, L .Uj

Ji1LJ1 bJ&LA *> (JL4d Il J. -e 1 eJ1 * jj * ] 4UJs JI d a15J * (lJLi UJij
k,I . 1 I VA 1 ,,1 ?. * .LtiI I,.,. t.j. .I .J l{ CL J. .

'4 -"L iJL-Jlj J, 4<Jj-5 " ?iA A L,
fJJ * JLA.CI C .. ,.Jj * J.ljI L.ll,, < AJ Lu,.' I'Y dl Ji ti^ vj ,<.
JliJW J* JUiJ lJ U JILL
L a^ji , .:: -} C.- LA jLjIa .J *-JII - L}J .- JUl t- I , I jj. '
JL LiJ ,3. , j L..A ,,lj- . * JI: , (1(. I ,I_ uL4 , ,,j J. I ( * J
l 'a.JI , -i * J,li LJA' l <..z L (I,.,) (. * J l lj ,.- J., j
>CU L) JI a(( 4Jlm J Ij ~i!(,) )., Jt , JJJl I l
l.L ((.,1 ,.(( .: ))1 (( H)) ~ .

' ((J'^-ll)) ql"
. ~ a .L. J..4,J J ((J~ L,... jL,.-..J )) '.. ji ,.--
197
APPENDIX C
The Preface to Nur al-haqlqah wa-nawr al-hadiqah

(English translation)
(fol. 6a) In the Name of God, The Merciful, the Beneficent
Praise be to God Who, through His absolute Power created Reason,
through His benevolent Wisdom made it capable of knowing that by
which man's soul may be perfected, through His Grace guided it to
knowledge of the various means of gaining a livelihood, and through
His Mercy encouraged it to adorn itself with the most pleasant manners
and to adopt the most moderate of states. He is the One Who, through
the Power of His Dominion, is above the blemish of taking a consort or
companion, and Who, through the Magnificence of His Glory, is too
holy to adopt a son or brother, "... for whoso ascribeth partners unto
God, it is as if he had fallen from the sky and the birds had snatched
him or the wind had blown him to a far-off place" (Q 22:31). I praise
Him as one does when asking for sustenance from the springs of His
gifts, or pleading for rain from the clouds of His bounty. And I witness
that there is no god but God, averring that which, if accepted, ensures
escape from being cast into deadly perils, and which, if denied, causes
regret at that time when all paths [to salvation] are obstructed. And I
witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, whom He

entrusted with watching over creation in order to honor him, and whose
sacred being (fol. 6b) He raised up to the Holy Presence of His

Magnificence to show him esteem and honor. May God bless him, his
family, and his Companions and grant them peace.
The most needy of God the Almighty's worshippers for the mercy of
his Lord, Who needs no one, .Husayn son of 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi
al-Hamdani, may God envelop him in His mercy and settle him in His
spacious Paradise, says the following:
I saw that the ant, despite her weakness, gave as a gift to the
Solomon of her age that by which she hoped to raise her position and
increase her standing. Her gift was but half a locust's leg, yet Solomon
disdained
powerless
according
have been
not to accept it from her, it so happened, since she was

to give anything more and since presents should be judged
to the station of their givers. Otherwise, [this gift] would
too paltry for the station of her Solomon, just as the world
198
DEVIN J. STEWART
and all its contents are too small for our Solomon [i.e., Sultan
Suleiman]. I therefore exclaimed, "Woe is me! Am I unable to be like
this ant, and give to the Solomon of my age that which I am able to
bear?! How can I fail to do this, when the acceptance of trifles is still
the custom of those of high station (fol. 7a) and to open of the gate of
excuses is still the way of nobility? When I thought about what to give,
I found I was limited to my prose writings. Thereupon I contemplated
the issue, and found that our forebears, may God be pleased with them
all, authored many works in all the sciences, both rational and transmitted, of long, short, and medium length, both texts and commentaries.
They taught these works to those who lived in their times and spared
their successors the hardship of such undertakings, so that there is now
no reason for anyone to venture to join them in authorship other than to
divert the mind or augment the mass of idle talk.
By the grace of God, in my writing I have struck out on a course

which will benefit those who desire to follow it and which has rarely, if
ever, been rivaled. I have included in this book choice selections relating to reason, knowledge, ethics, and virtuous behavior, and adorned it
with turbans of Koranic verses, robes of Prophetic traditions, sashes of
eloquent aphorisms, belts (fol. 7b) of lofty exhortations, and trousers of
eloquent verses of poetry. I have named it "The Light of Truth and the
Blossoms of Paradise"-may the perspicacious scholar ignite his

firebrands from its lights and the literateur pluck from its blossoms.
Then I have exalted [the work] by [addressing it to] the lofty presence
of Suleiman, the Light of the Pure Faith, the Sultan of Sultans over
Arabs and non-Arabs, the Orient of the Sun of Islam and Justice over
the Darknesses created by Unbelief and Oppression. He combines all

human perfections and is supported by divine grace! The horizons are
perfumed with his fame and men's tongues honored by his praise! His
brilliant blaze has dazzled the sun and his ambition outstripped the heavens! His determination has made time its servant and his resolution
tamed fate! His sword has defended the faith and his generosity
engulfed the entire Muslim community! His joy is to fight in the path of
God and his goal is to give profusely! His heart is not troubled by
doubt (fol. 8b) and his judgment is constantly vigilant in guarding the
truth! His mind is brilliant and his blessed conduct emulates that of the
Prophet! When he speaks, fate listens; when he is silent, a God-inspired
peace settles upon him. How could this not be so, when the tribulations
of fate are his soldiers and the kings of the earth his servants? When he
rises, he worries the mind of time with his power! He demolishes the
199
thrones of kings with his awe-inspiring image; they find themselves in

one of two camps, those determined to flee or those certain to perish!
When he walks, terror walks with him! When he promises, his deeds
precede his statement! Fate acts in accordance with his wishes, and the
seas are but a drop from his largesses!
I sought to praise him, yet no virtue did I consider
but that he was too great for it, and it too paltry!
Sultan Suleiman, son of Sultan Selim, son of Sultan Murad, son of

Sultan Bayezid, son of Sultan Muhammad, son of Sultan Murad:
Names which do not identify him any better,
but which I mention for the mere joy of it!
(fol. 8b) These are the men who built up the faith of God through their
holy wars and revived the path of His Prophet with their commands,
prohibitions, and prayers. They devoted their works to God alone and
gave their lives and wealth for His sake. Then, after their passing, the
best of their clan weaved upon their loom, emulating them in their
words and deeds. May God preserve the glory of his reign as he
continues to do so, and grant him power over his enemies-the enemies
of the faith-beyond his desires! May God protect his rule from the
vagaries of fate, and bless his hand and tongue by having their
commands obediently carried out in the seven climes, so that the
believers might continue to enjoy complete favor, glory, and safety!
Since each creature has an important share in this invocation, it behooves God, the Wise and Generous, to accept it, or indeed increase it.
In this book of mine, I have striven for brevity inasmuch as this is
possible, and I have not given free reign to the pen, lest it take the slack
(fol. 9a) and go on at length, perhaps leading to boredom and consequent neglect.
I ask from the generosity of the Giving, Almighty God that He

enable me to finish it in the best possible manner, that He make it meet
with approval and enthusiasm, and that He make me a man of deeds,

just as He has made me a man of speech. Indeed He is the Giving and
Most Generous.
Let us first speak of reason, for it is the first of God's creations, and
the origin of all uprightness and salvation.
The Chapter on Reason...

Brill Islamic Law and Society: This Content Downloaded From 152.118.24.10 On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Brill Islamic Law and Society: This Content Downloaded From 152.118.24.10 On Thu, 29 Sep 2016 03:52:25 UTC

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

usayn b.

HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMIL'S TREATISE FOR

under Ottoman control. Evidence from Nur al-haqiqah, corroborated by information

association with the Shafi'i madhhab among Twelver Shi'i scholars.

insightful characterization helps explain many facets of Islamic reli-

Islamic Law and Society 4,2

HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMIL'S TREATISE

defined by the four Sunni madhhabs-Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, and

of backgrounds with a variety of ideological commitments could

madhhab itself was not an entirely malleable entity and exerted a

hostile majority.5 Taqiyah here denotes the complex patterns of

order to conceal discrediting information about himself from a

potentially hostile audience. It sometimes involved the concealment of

one's identity in order to pass as a Sunni, and at others, complete

created recurring patterns in performances of taqlyah over space and

Explicit indications that Shi'is passed as Shafi'i jurists in order to

implicit or circumstantial, based on conjecture or uncorroborated

Shi'i dissimulators were apparently concerned to conceal their close ties

with Sunnism from a wide audience, including Shi'i commoners,

Shi'is presented themselves as Shafi'is to Sunni audiences. The two

Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad and Zayn al-Din al-'Amili, two leading

and Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad, bringing out an important question

raised by the sources-how were two Shi'i scholars appointed

HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILI'S TREATISE

professors of law by the Ottoman government, a Sunni institution?

Zayn al-Din al-'Amill and Husayn b. 'Abd al-Samad al-Harithi

village of Mays, then with Sayyid Ja'far b. Hasan al-Karaki (d.

43/1535-37.11 The available sources do not show that Husayn joined

century and perhaps earlier-see e.g., al-Mahalli's (d. 864/1459) commentary on

1 Ibid., 2:161-68, 191.

to escape local authorities. In the Hijaz, he was apprehended by

obtained appointments as professors of law in Sunni madrasahs under

al-Husayni (Qum: Matba'at al-khayyam, 1980), 2:365-86; 'All al-'Amili, al-Durr

al-manthtur, 2:149-99; Muhammad Baqir al-Khwansari, Rawddt al-janndtfi ahwdl

al-'ulamd' wa al-saddt, 8 vols. (Beirut: al-Dar al-islamiyah, 1991), 3: 352-87;

16 'All al-'Amili, al-Durr al-manthdr, 2:170-82, 191.

HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILI'S TREATISE

successfully petitioned officials connected with the court of Sultan

Suleiman (926-74/1520-66) for positions as law professors. As a

al-kashf 'an ahwtil al-Shaykh Zayn al-Din al-shahid ("The Seeker's

autobiographical notes.'8 Zayn al-Din and Husayn left Juba' on 12

al-Matba'ah al-amirkaniyah, 1945-58), 2:19; Tak6priizade, al-Shaqd'iq al-

nu'manlyah fi 'ulamc ' al-dawlah al-'uthmdniyah (Beirut: Dar al-kitab al-'arabi,

al-Su'id Efendi (952-82/1545-74). "Kadi 'Askar," El2, 4: 375-76 [Gy. Kaldy

Husayn stayed behind in Istanbul for three more weeks trying to

to which Husayn had been assigned. Husayn apparently did not

madrasah. The fact that Husayn's son Baha' al-Din Muhammadtwas

such posts suggests a rather benevolent attitude toward local Shi'is or a

taught law according to the five madhhabs while in Ba'labakk,

HUSAYN B. 'ABD AL-SAMAD AL-'AMILI'S TREATISE

Caroline Beeson interprets .Husayn's and Zayn al-Din's attempt to gain

the decree appointing Zayn al-Din to the position at the Niiriyah

Marco Salati, having examined this episode in greater detail, views

Institution, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1982, 111-14.

time."31 It is well known that Zayn al-Din himself was eventually

(thabata ... 'inda qddl Dimashqa annahumd rdfidlydn). On 9 Rajab

issue; Mirza Makhdim al-Sharifi al-Shirazi (d. 995/1587) merely

would face in obtaining them.35 Most of the statements in the account

hundert nach arabischen Handschriften (Freiburg, 1970); Hanna Sohrwiede, "Der

1962), 197-211; and Jean-Louis Bacqu6-Grammont, Les Ottomans, les Safavides,

et leurs Voisins (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, 1987).

31 al-Muhajir, Sittatfuqaht' abtdl, 146.

of Jabal 'Amil," 112.