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Sufi Commentaries on the Qur1an in Classical Islam SÁFI COMMENTARIES ON THE QUR1AN IN CLASSICAL ISLAM The Classical period of Islam, from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, was the period in which the most influential commentaries on the Qur1an were written. Sufi Commentaries on the Qur1an in Classical Islam looks at the unique contributions of Sufis to this genre and how these contributions fit into the theological and exegetical discussions of the time. The study begins with an examination of several key hermeneutical assumptions of Sufis, including their understanding of the ambiguous and multivalent nature of the Qur1anic text, the role that both the intellect and spiritual disciplines play in acquiring knowledge of its meanings, and the ever-changing nature of the self which seeks this kind of knowledge. The second half of the study is an analysis and comparison of the themes and styles of several different commentaries on the Qur1anic story of Musa (Moses) and al-Khadir; the figure of Maryam (The Virgin Mary); and the Light Verse. It demonstrates that, while Sufi interpretation has often been characterized as allegorical, these writings are more notable for their variety of philosophical, visionary, literary, and homiletic styles. Sufi Commentaries on the Qur1an in Classical Islam is the first comprehensive study of the contributions of Sufis to the genre of commentaries on the Qur1an and is essential reading for those with research interests in Sufism, Qur1anic exegesis and Islam. Kristin Zahra Sands is a Mellon Fellow and Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Sarah Lawrence College. Her research interests include Sufism, Qur1anic exegesis, and Islam and media. ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN THE QURAN Series Editor: Andrew Rippin University of Victoria, Canada In its examination of critical issues in the scholarly study of the Quran and its commentaries, this series targets the disciplines of archaeology, history, textual history, anthropology, theology, and literary criticism. The contemporary relevance of the Quran in the Muslim world, its role in politics and in legal debates are also dealt with, as are debates surrounding Quranic studies in the Muslim world. LITERARY STRUCTURES OF RELIGIOUS MEANING IN THE QUR1AN Edited by Issa J. Boullata THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXEGESIS IN EARLY ISLAM The authenticity of Muslim literature from the Formative Period Herbert Berg BIBLICAL PROPHETS IN THE QUR1AN AND MUSLIM LITERATURE Robert Tottoli MOSES IN THE QURAN AND ISLAMIC EXEGESIS Brannon M. Wheeler LOGIC, RHETORIC AND LEGAL REASONING IN THE QUR1AN God’s arguments Rosalind Ward Gwynne TEXTUAL RELATIONS IN THE QUR1AN Relevance, coherence and structure Salwa M.S. El-Awa SÁFI COMMENTARIES ON THE QUR1AN IN CLASSICAL ISLAM Kristin Zahra Sands SÁFI COMMENTARIES ON THE QUR1AN IN CLASSICAL ISLAM Kristin Zahra Sands First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2006 Kristin Zahra Sands This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any from or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN10: 0–415–36685–2 (Print Edition) ISBN13: 9–78–0–415–36685–4 CONTENTS Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 PART I Hermeneutics 5 1 The Qur1an as the ocean of all knowledge 7 The hadith of Ibn Mas2ud8 Sayings from 2Ali and Ja2far al-Sadiq 12 2 The Qur1anic text and ambiguity: verse 3:7 14 The clear and ambiguous verses (muhkamat wa mutashabihat) 14 Those in whose hearts is a turning away and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge (al-rasikhun fi1l-2ilm) 17 3 Uncovering meaning: knowledge and spiritual practice 29 Reading the Qur1an with presence of the heart (hudur al-qalb) 30 4 Methods of interpretation 35 Abu Nasr al-Sarraj and the methods of understanding (fahm) and allusion (ishara) 35 Al-Ghazali and the method of striking similitudes (darb al-mithal) 37 Ibn 2Arabi and the method of allusion (ishara) 39 v CONTENTS Al-Nisaburi and al-Kashani and the method of esoteric interpretation (ta1wil) 42 Al-Simnani and commentary on the seven inner senses (tafsir al-butun al-sab2a) 44 5 Attacking and defending Sufi Qur1anic interpretation 47 The problem of distinguishing sound exegesis from exegesis by mere personal opinion (tafsir bi1l-ra1y) 47 Al-Ghazali on tafsir bi1l-ra1y 48 Ibn al-Jawzi and Ibn Taymiyya on the importance of transmitted information 50 Ibn Taymiyya on sound interpretation of the Qur1an55 Al-Ghazali’s defense of ta1wil 56 Problems with al-Ghazali’s defense of ta1wil 59 Al-Ghazali’s final defense of Sufi interpretation 60 PART II Commentary 65 6 Sufi commentators on the Qur1an67 Al-Tustari 68 Al-Sulami 69 Al-Qushayri 71 AbuHamid al-Ghazali 72 Rashid al-Din al-Maybudi 73 Ruzbihan al-Baqli 74 Al-Kashani 76 Al-Nisaburi 77 7 Qur1anic verses 18:60–82: the story of Musa and al-Khadir 79 2Ilm laduni 82 The journeys of Musa 88 “I wanted,” “we wanted,” and “your Lord wanted” 95 8 Qur1anic verses on Maryam 97 Muharrar 97 Prayer 101 The virgin Maryam 105 vi CONTENTS 9 Qur1an 24:35 (The Light Verse) 110 God is the light of the heavens and the earth 110 Sufi interpretations of God is the light of the heavens and the earth 114 The similitude of His/his light is as a niche 118 Sufi interpretations of the similitude of His/his light is as a niche 121 Conclusion 136 Appendix: commentators on the Qur1an 140 Al-Tabari 140 Al-Zamakhshari 141 Fakhr al-Din al-Razi 141 Al-Qurtubi 142 Ibn Taymiyya 143 Glossary of terms 145 Notes 147 Works cited 177 Index of Qur1anic verses 186 Index of Ahadith and sayings 189 Index of selected names and terms 191 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am very grateful to have had so many people help and support me in the writing of this book. In its beginning draft as a PhD dissertation at New York University, I benefited greatly from the thorough and thoughtful comments of my advisor, Philip F. Kennedy. Other key readers of the manuscript at this stage were Peter J. Chelkowski and Alfred L. Ivry, teachers whose encouragement and generosity toward me has been unfailing. I would also like to thank several people outside of New York University who carefully read and commented on the entire manuscript in this early stage: Ali Campbell, Ruqiyya Hutton, and Omar Trezise. My primary debt for the book in hand is to Andrew Rippin, the editor of this Routledge Studies in the Quran series, for his astute suggestions and detailed comments. Abd al-Rahman Tayyara was kind enough to check the Arabic transliterations. Any errors that remain, however, are my own. My thanks to David M. Buchman and Brigham Young University Press for allowing me to include excerpts from Dr Buchman’s translation of al-Ghazali1s Niche of Lights. Finally, I thank my husband Michael for the generosity of spirit he has shown in never complaining about the seemingly endless hours, days, and years spent on this project. viii INTRODUCTION The Qur1an, for Muslims, represents the word of God revealed to Muhammad. Its interpretation, then, requires a certain audacity. How can one begin to say what God “meant” by His revelation? How does one balance the praiseworthy desire to understand the meanings of the Qur1an with the realistic fear of reducing it to the merely human and individualistic? Is interpretation an art, a science, an inspired act, or all of the these? Sufi commentators living in the classical time period of Islam from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries answered these questions in their own unique way, based on their assumptions regarding the nature of the Qur1anic text, the sources of knowledge considered necessary for its interpretation, and the nature of the self seeking this knowledge. The commentaries they wrote are distinct from other types of Qur1anic commentaries both in terms of content, which reflects Sufi ideas and concepts, and the variety of styles ranging from philosophical musings to popular preaching to literary narrative and poetry. Early Western scholarship on Sufi Qur1anic interpretation focused on the ori- gins of Sufi thought. In his Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, Ignaz Goldziher characterized the Sufi approach as eisegesis, the reading of one’s own ideas into a text.1 Goldziher firmly believed that Sufi thought is radically dif- ferent from “original, traditional Islam,”2 finding little basis for their beliefs in the Qur1an. Not surprisingly then, he viewed Sufi Qur1anic commentary as an attempt to reconcile these different belief systems and to justify the Sufi worldview within an Islamic framework through the method of allegoresis. According to Goldziher, the Sufis were influenced in this by Platonic thought which contrasts the world of appearances with the world of Ideas, just as Sufi exegetes distinguish the exoteric (zahir) from the esoteric (batin) levels of meaning of the Qur1an. Although Sufis insisted that they were uncovering deeper meanings of the Qur1an, Goldziher found them reading ideas into a text essentially alien or even hostile to their sys- tem of thought.
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