QUTBS, ANGELS AND EVOLUTION OF FORMS: ARAB-MUSLIM SOURCES OF IBRĀHĪM AL-QABĀṢĪ AL-SĀMIRRĪ

Annotation

The article is devoted to a currently unexplored monument of Samaritan religious and philosophical thought — “The Way of the Heart to Recognize the Lord” (Sayr al- Qalb fī Maʿrifat al- Rabb) by theologian, liturgist and mystical Ibrāhīm al- Qabāṣī (XV–XVI centuries). This paper demonstrates the degree of al- Qabāṣī’s dependence on the Arab- Muslim discourse and explicates the borrowings gleaned by the Samaritan mystic from Sufi, Arab- Peripatetic and Ismaili sources. The author states that al- Qabāṣī recombines Aristotle’s categories with terms of kalām’s discourse. The relationship between “Sayr…” and Sufi treatises is also shown: Ibrāhīm uses terms like “Meaning Form”, “Structural Form”, “Qutb”, “Watad”, “Law” and “Path”. On other hand the mystical cites “The Upbringing of Morals” by Ibn Miskawah describing metaphysical evolution of forms: from inanimate natures to humans and angels. A detailed analysis of al- Qabāṣī’s work is preceded by an excursion into his biography, as well as into the textual history of “Sayr al- Qalb”.

Keywords

Ibrāhīm al- Qabāṣī, Arab Philosophy, Sufism, Peripatetism, Ismailism, Samaritans, Mysticism

Literature

1. Al- Ǧazālī, ʾAbū Ḥāmid. Aṣnāf al-maġrūrīn [Types of Аrrogant]. Cairo: Maktabat
Qurʾān. 75 s. (In Arabic).
2. Al- Ǧazālī, ʾAbū Ḥāmid (2013). Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn [Resurrection of the Sciences of
Faith]. 2 vols. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmiyyah. (In Arabic).
3. Al-Ǧazālī, ʾAbū Ḥāmid (1416 H.). Maǧmūʿ rasāʾil [Treatises]. Beirut: Dār al-fikr.
302 s. (In Arabic).
4. Al- Ǧazālī, ʾAbū Ḥāmid. (1975) Maʿāriǧ al-quds fī madāriǧ al-nafs [The Rise of the
Saints: About the Soul]. Beirut: Dār al-āfāq. 205 s. (In Arabic).
5. Al- Qabāṣī, Ibrāhīm. Sayr al-qalb fī maʿrifat al- Rabb [The Path of the Heart to Knowing
the Lord]. Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati). Ms 2070. 232 s. (In Arabic and Hebrew).
6. Al- Ḥakīm Ṣadaqah (2014). Šarḥ sifr al- Takwīn. I. [Commentary on Genesis. Pt. 1].
URL: http://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/Sadaqap1.pdf (accessed: 04.03.2024).
7. Al- Ḥakīm Ṣadaqah (2014). Šarḥ sifr al- Takwīn. II. [Commentary on Genesis. Pt. 2].
URL: http://shomron0.tripod.com/articles/Sadaqa2.pdf (accessed: 04.03.2024).
8. Al- Ha̱ṭīb, Lisān al- Dīn (1966). Raqwḍat al-taʿrīf bi-l-ḥubb al-šarīf [Garden Introducing
Saint Love]. Cairo: Dār al-fikr al-ʿarabī. 816 s. (In Arabic).
9. Al- Huǧwīrī, ʾAbū al-Ḥasan (1980). Kašf al-maḥǧūb [Breaking the Сovers]. Beirut:
Dār al-nahḍah. 710 s. (Arabic Translation).
10. Al- Sāmirrī, Munaǧǧā. (2024) Kniga o razlichiiakh [mezhdu iudeiami i samaritianami].
Chast’ 1 [The Book of Differences between Jews and Samaritans. Pt. 1]. Sergiev Posad:
Izdatel’stvo MDA publ. 160 s. (In Russian, Arabic and Hebrew).
11. Al- Ṣū rī , ʼAbū al- Ḥasan (2023). Kniga o Voskresenii [A Book on Resurrection]. In:
Ishrak. Zhurnal islamskoi filosofii. T. 1. № 2. S. 76–95. (In Russian, Arabic and Hebrew).
12. Al- Ṣūrī, ʾAbū al- Ḥasan. Kitāb al-ṭabbāẖ [The Book of Slaughter]. Jewish Theological
Seminary of America. MS 9012. 211 s. (In Arabic and Hebrew).
13. Ibn al- Ṭayyib (2010). Al- Šarḥ al-kabīr li-maqūlāt Arisṭo [The Big Commentary on
Aristo’s “Categories”]. Damascus: Dār al- Takwīn. 653 s. (In Arabic).
14. Ibn Miskawayh (1398 H.). Tahḏīb al-aẖlāq [Education of Morals]. Cairo: al- Maktabah
al-miṣriyyah. 191 s. (In Arabic).
15. Nasyrov I. R. (2023) Osnovaniia islamskogo mistitsizma: genezis i evoliutsiia [The
Origins of Islamic Mysticism: Its Genesis and Evolution]. Moscow: Sadra publ. 552 s.
(In Russian).
16. Nofal F. O. (2017) Abu al- Kasim al- Kabi i zakat bagdadskoi shkoly mutazilizma [ʾAbū
al- Qāsim al- Kaʿbī and the Sunset of Baghdadi Mutazilites]. Moscow: Sadra publ., YaSK publ.
130 s. (In Russian).
17. Nofal F. O. (2021) Apologeticheskie traktaty Ibrakhima al-ʻAiii i samaritianskoe
bogoslovie XVIII v. [Apologetical Treatises by Ibrāhīm al-ʿAyyah and Samaritan Theology of
18th century]. In: Vestnik PSTGU. Seriia I: Bogoslovie. Filosofiia. Religiovedenie. Vyp. 96. S.
20–37. (In Russian).
18. Nofal F. O. (2021) “Samaritianskii Shestodnev” kak arabo- musul’manskii
antropologicheskii manifest. Chtenie pervykh glav tolkovaniia Sadaki al- Khakima na knigu
Bytiia [The Samaritan Haexameron as an Arab- Muslim Anthropological Manifesto: the First
Chapters of Ṣadaqah’s Commentary on Genesis]. In: Islam v sovremennom mire. 3. S. 179–194.
(In Russian).
19. Rasāʾil Iẖwān al-ṣafāʾ [Iẖwān al-ṣafāʾ Epistles]. 4 vols. Cairo: al- Maṭbaʿah al-ʿarabiyyah
bi- Miṣr, 1928. (In Arabic).
20. Chetyre apologeticheskikh traktata Ibrakhima al- Aiii (po rukopisi BL Or 2691) /
Predislovie i podgotovka teksta F. O. Nofala [Four Apologetical Treatises by Ibrāhīm alʿAyyah]. In: Religiia i obshchestvo na Vostoke. Vyp. VI. 2022. S. 180–232. (In Russian, Arabic
and Hebrew).
21. Cowley A. E. (1909) The Samaritan Liturgy, the Common Prayers. Vol. II. Oxford:
Clarendon Press. 540 p. (In English and Hebrew).
22. Florentin M. (2005) Late Samaritan Hebrew. A Linguistic Analysis of its Different Types.
Leiden: Brill. 393 p. (In English and Hebrew).
23. Halkin A. S. (1958) The 613 Commandments Among the Samaritans. In: Ignace
Goldziher Memorial Volume. Vol. II. Jerusalem: Globus, 1958. P. 86–100. (In Hebrew).
24. Weigelt F. (2013) Die exegetische Literatur der Samaritaner. In: Durch Dein Wort
Ward Jegliches Ding! / Through Thy Word All Things Were Made! 2. Mandaistische Und
Samaritanistische Tagung. Wiebaden: Otto Harrasowitz. S. 343–390.
25. Weigelt F. (2017) Samaritan Bible Exegesis and its Significance for Judeo- Arabic Studies.
In: Senses of Scripture, Treasures of Tradition: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians
and Muslims. Leiden: Brill. P. 198–239.