Pub Date : 2022-11-03DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341619
Mathias Hoorelbeke
Le Kitāb al-Aġānī (Le livre des chansons) consacre une longue notice à la vie d’Abū l-ʿAtāhiya dont l’un des fils conducteurs est peut-être la question suivante : comment le représentant le plus célèbre de la poésie ascétique a-t-il pu faire l’objet d’accusations de zandaqa aussi insistantes ? Discrète apologie du poète, le texte d’al-Iṣfahānī nous montre que la duplicité qui lui est prêtée résulte davantage de sa position paradoxale d’ascète-courtisan que de ses convictions religieuses d’ailleurs fluctuantes. Cette lecture reste une spécificité du Kitāb al-Aġānī, car les grands dictionnaires des siècles suivants s’efforcent de gommer les ambiguïtés et les incohérences d’Abū l-ʿAtāhiya, pour construire la figure qui nous est familière aujourd’hui : celle d’un homme qui, après une jeunesse dissolue, se convertit et se consacre exclusivement à appeler ses contemporains à tourner leurs actions vers la vie future.
{"title":"Un ascète de cour : lecture de la biographie d’Abū l-ʿAtāhiya dans le Kitāb al-Aġānī","authors":"Mathias Hoorelbeke","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341619","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341619","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Le Kitāb al-Aġānī (Le livre des chansons) consacre une longue notice à la vie d’Abū l-ʿAtāhiya dont l’un des fils conducteurs est peut-être la question suivante : comment le représentant le plus célèbre de la poésie ascétique a-t-il pu faire l’objet d’accusations de zandaqa aussi insistantes ? Discrète apologie du poète, le texte d’al-Iṣfahānī nous montre que la duplicité qui lui est prêtée résulte davantage de sa position paradoxale d’ascète-courtisan que de ses convictions religieuses d’ailleurs fluctuantes. Cette lecture reste une spécificité du Kitāb al-Aġānī, car les grands dictionnaires des siècles suivants s’efforcent de gommer les ambiguïtés et les incohérences d’Abū l-ʿAtāhiya, pour construire la figure qui nous est familière aujourd’hui : celle d’un homme qui, après une jeunesse dissolue, se convertit et se consacre exclusivement à appeler ses contemporains à tourner leurs actions vers la vie future.","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46236450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341631
Sheridan Polinsky
The problem of anthropomorphism has been an important source of the conflict between traditionalism and rationalism in Islamic theology. Theologians have had to reconcile the anthropomorphic expressions about God in the Koran and hadiths with their conceptions of His unity (tawḥīd) and transcendence (tanzīh). The Māturīdite theologian Abū l-Yusr al-Bazdawī devoted several chapters of his Uṣūl al-dīn to dealing with the problem. He lays the mainly rational grounds for God’s incomparability and incorporeality before turning to the anthropomorphic expressions, some of which he interprets symbolically, and others simply accepts. He also refutes the later Karrāmite idea that God is “elevated,” which creates ambivalence in his position towards the Prophet’s Ascension. His negotiation between the traditionalist and rationalist approaches to the topic highlights the impact of his intellectual environment on his thought as well as the rise of Māturīdite theology in Transoxania.
{"title":"The Problem of Anthropomorphism in Abū l-Yusr al-Bazdawī","authors":"Sheridan Polinsky","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341631","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The problem of anthropomorphism has been an important source of the conflict between traditionalism and rationalism in Islamic theology. Theologians have had to reconcile the anthropomorphic expressions about God in the Koran and hadiths with their conceptions of His unity (tawḥīd) and transcendence (tanzīh). The Māturīdite theologian Abū l-Yusr al-Bazdawī devoted several chapters of his Uṣūl al-dīn to dealing with the problem. He lays the mainly rational grounds for God’s incomparability and incorporeality before turning to the anthropomorphic expressions, some of which he interprets symbolically, and others simply accepts. He also refutes the later Karrāmite idea that God is “elevated,” which creates ambivalence in his position towards the Prophet’s Ascension. His negotiation between the traditionalist and rationalist approaches to the topic highlights the impact of his intellectual environment on his thought as well as the rise of Māturīdite theology in Transoxania.","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46426922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341643
Riffi Daoud
L’histoire du wahhabisme est le parent pauvre de l’historiographie francophone. Le sujet, plus souvent abordé des points de vue géopolitique et sociologique, n’est que rarement abordé dans son histoire longue, et encore moins depuis le prisme de l’histoire intellectuelle. La parution de la version française du livre de Natana Delong-Bas, Islam wahhabite, qui se caractérise par de nombreuses faiblesses, est l’occasion de faire ici un bilan historiographique : que sait-on de l’émergence du wahhabisme, de la personnalité et de l’œuvre de son fondateur ? Comment écrire cette histoire qui s’inscrit dans celle, plus large, du taǧdīd ? Quelles relations le wahhabisme entretint-il avec les courants réformateurs héritiers, concomitamment, de l’œuvre d’Ibn ʿArabī et Ibn Taymiyya ? La présente note critique est également l’occasion de revenir sur les écueils et enjeux du travail d’écriture et d’interprétation du wahhabisme, doctrine proprement révolutionnaire. Par bien des aspects, le livre de Natana Delong-Bas s’inscrit dans une historiographie plus ancienne – à la fois présente dans des courants de la salafiyya et dans l’orientalisme – établissant une dichotomie entre le wahhabisme et Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, et pensant l’œuvre de ce dernier comme une tentative de sursaut dans un cadre général de décadence généralisée du monde musulman. Le présent article vise à déconstruire ce récit, problématique à plus d’un titre.
{"title":"Historiographie du wahhabisme : écueils et enjeux","authors":"Riffi Daoud","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341643","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000L’histoire du wahhabisme est le parent pauvre de l’historiographie francophone. Le sujet, plus souvent abordé des points de vue géopolitique et sociologique, n’est que rarement abordé dans son histoire longue, et encore moins depuis le prisme de l’histoire intellectuelle. La parution de la version française du livre de Natana Delong-Bas, Islam wahhabite, qui se caractérise par de nombreuses faiblesses, est l’occasion de faire ici un bilan historiographique : que sait-on de l’émergence du wahhabisme, de la personnalité et de l’œuvre de son fondateur ? Comment écrire cette histoire qui s’inscrit dans celle, plus large, du taǧdīd ? Quelles relations le wahhabisme entretint-il avec les courants réformateurs héritiers, concomitamment, de l’œuvre d’Ibn ʿArabī et Ibn Taymiyya ? La présente note critique est également l’occasion de revenir sur les écueils et enjeux du travail d’écriture et d’interprétation du wahhabisme, doctrine proprement révolutionnaire. Par bien des aspects, le livre de Natana Delong-Bas s’inscrit dans une historiographie plus ancienne – à la fois présente dans des courants de la salafiyya et dans l’orientalisme – établissant une dichotomie entre le wahhabisme et Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, et pensant l’œuvre de ce dernier comme une tentative de sursaut dans un cadre général de décadence généralisée du monde musulman. Le présent article vise à déconstruire ce récit, problématique à plus d’un titre.","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46992187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341635
P. Lory
{"title":"Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Hakīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate, written by Aiyub Palmer","authors":"P. Lory","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341635","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43271143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341638
Clément Onimus
{"title":"Matériaux, mentalités et usage des sources chez Ibn Iyās : mise au point du discours historique dans les Badāʾiʿ al-zuhūr fī waqāʾiʿ al-duhūr, written by Ahmad Al Amer","authors":"Clément Onimus","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341638","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45917937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341649
Mounir Saifi
{"title":"Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace, written by Mohammed el-Nawawy and Sahar Khamis","authors":"Mounir Saifi","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341649","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47958538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341640
Andreas Hallberg
The extent to which the diacritic layer (taškīl) of the Arabic writing system is employed in modern typeset text differs considerably between genres and individual texts, with many in-between forms not aptly captured by the traditional binary categories of “vowelled” and “unvowelled” text. This article is the first to present a theoretical account of this variation applicable to modern typeset Standard Arabic. It is suggested that diacritics serve three basic functions: facilitation of reading comprehension; facilitation of prescriptively correct diction; and to evoke associations with other texts. Six modes of diacritization in modern typeset text are identified and related to data on rates of diacritization from a corpus of electronically published books. Further lines of research based on this framework are suggested.
{"title":"Variation in the Use of Diacritics in Modern Typeset Standard Arabic: A Theoretical and Descriptive Framework","authors":"Andreas Hallberg","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341640","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The extent to which the diacritic layer (taškīl) of the Arabic writing system is employed in modern typeset text differs considerably between genres and individual texts, with many in-between forms not aptly captured by the traditional binary categories of “vowelled” and “unvowelled” text. This article is the first to present a theoretical account of this variation applicable to modern typeset Standard Arabic. It is suggested that diacritics serve three basic functions: facilitation of reading comprehension; facilitation of prescriptively correct diction; and to evoke associations with other texts. Six modes of diacritization in modern typeset text are identified and related to data on rates of diacritization from a corpus of electronically published books. Further lines of research based on this framework are suggested.","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43200919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-29DOI: 10.1163/15700585-12341630
Aria Nakissa
Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European empires extended their rule over most of the Muslim world. The present article argues that these empires promoted three interrelated political discourses; namely, a discourse on utilitarianism, a discourse on civilizational progress, and a discourse on liberal imperialism. The empires also encouraged Islamic reform movements, which entailed cooperation between Muslim thinkers, European officials, liberal intellectuals, and Orientalists. Reform movements legitimated the three aforementioned discourses in terms of premodern Islamic religious concepts (e.g. ʿaql, maṣlaḥa, maqāṣid al-šarīʿa, iǧtihād, taqlīd). These concepts were reinterpreted and tacitly linked to imperial policies concerning race, technology, industrial capitalism, and authoritarian violence. The article examines this process by considering the British Empire, and its relationship to Islamic reform projects in India and Egypt. The article discusses nineteenth century British political discourses as developed in the writings of Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and Herbert Spencer. The article then discusses Islamic reform in India, focusing on the Muslim thinkers Sayyid Aḥmad Ḫān and Amīr ʿAlī, as well as their relationships with British figures like William Muir and John Strachey. Next the article discusses Islamic reform in Egypt, focusing on the Muslim thinkers Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rašīd Riḍā as well as their relationships with British figures like Lord Cromer and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.
{"title":"Reconceptualizing the Global Transformation of Islam in the Colonial Period: Early Islamic Reform in British-Ruled India and Egypt","authors":"Aria Nakissa","doi":"10.1163/15700585-12341630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-12341630","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European empires extended their rule over most of the Muslim world. The present article argues that these empires promoted three interrelated political discourses; namely, a discourse on utilitarianism, a discourse on civilizational progress, and a discourse on liberal imperialism. The empires also encouraged Islamic reform movements, which entailed cooperation between Muslim thinkers, European officials, liberal intellectuals, and Orientalists. Reform movements legitimated the three aforementioned discourses in terms of premodern Islamic religious concepts (e.g. ʿaql, maṣlaḥa, maqāṣid al-šarīʿa, iǧtihād, taqlīd). These concepts were reinterpreted and tacitly linked to imperial policies concerning race, technology, industrial capitalism, and authoritarian violence. The article examines this process by considering the British Empire, and its relationship to Islamic reform projects in India and Egypt. The article discusses nineteenth century British political discourses as developed in the writings of Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and Herbert Spencer. The article then discusses Islamic reform in India, focusing on the Muslim thinkers Sayyid Aḥmad Ḫān and Amīr ʿAlī, as well as their relationships with British figures like William Muir and John Strachey. Next the article discusses Islamic reform in Egypt, focusing on the Muslim thinkers Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rašīd Riḍā as well as their relationships with British figures like Lord Cromer and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt.","PeriodicalId":8163,"journal":{"name":"Arabica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47905368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}