Da* Wain Islamic Thought: the Work Of'abd Allah Ibn 'Alawl Al-Haddad
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Da* wa in Islamic Thought: the Work o f'Abd Allah ibn 'Alawl al-Haddad By Shadee Mohamed Elmasry University of London: School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD. ProQuest Number: 10672980 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672980 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Imam 'Abd Allah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad was bom in 1044/1634, he was a scholar of the Ba 'Alawi sayyids , a long line of Hadrami scholars and gnostics. The Imam led a quiet life of teaching and, although blind, travelled most of Hadramawt to do daw a, and authored ten books, a diwan of poetry, and several prayers. He was considered the sage of his time until his death in Hadramawt in 1132/1721. Many chains of transmission of Islamic knowledge of East Africa and South East Asia include his name. Al-Haddad’s main work on da'wa, which is also the core of this study, is al-Da'wa al-Tdmma wal-Tadhkira al-'Amma (The Complete Call and the General Reminder ). Six main points can be derived from it. They are: the definition of da'wa , the knowledges of da'wa , the legal rulings on da'wa, the reasons people might avoid da'wa, the eight categories of its recipients, and the probable results of da'wa . His other works reflect his own da'wa and as such confirm and elaborate upon his opinions on da'wa found in al-Da'wa al-Tdmma. The focal points in these works are steadily and consistently upon the most essential aspects of Islam: the heart, the intention, submission, and obedience. While Imam al-Haddad was known among the Ba 'Alawi circles during his life, his teachings spread to the international Islamic community only after his death. In the Fourteenth/Twentieth Century Mufti of Egypt, Hasanayn Muhammad Hasanayn Makhluf oversaw their first modern prints, while Ba 'Alawi scholar Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad was the first to have a sizeable following of Westerners, Today, Imam al-Haddad’s teaching on da'wa is manifest in the institutional form of Dar al-Mustafa in Yemen and his treatises are finding currency in the West for their simple and non-technical style. 2 CONTENTS List of Maps .5 Acknowledgements 6 Abbreviations 7 Transliteration 8 Introduction 9 I. The Topic II. Why it was Chosen III. Literature Review IV. Methodology Chapter 1: Context and Biography o f'Abd Allah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad ......38 I. Yemen and the History ofHadramawt II. Imam al-Haddad and the Al Ba 'Alawi in Context HI. The Al Ba 'Alawi IV. The Life of Imam al-Haddad Chapter 2: His Works ........................................................................71 I. Introduction II. Books HI. Fatwas IV. Maxims V. Letters VI. Poetry VII. Prayers Chapter 3: Dai ' wa in the Primary Sources ................................................... ...103 I. Introduction II. Usages of the Word Da'wa III. Da'wa in the Qur’an and Exegesis ( TafsTr ) IV. Da'wa in the Hadith V. The Da'wa of the Prophet Chapter 4: Zte' wafrom the Companions to Imam al-Haddad ..................... 153 I. The Companions and Successors (al-tdbi'un ) II. Da'wa in Islamic Scholarship III. Conclusion Chapter 5: Imam al-Haddad on Defining Da* w a ..........................................204 I. Introduction II. Definition of Da 'wa III. Knowledges of Da'wa ('ulum al~da'wa) IV. Rulings Relating to Da'wa V. Tawahhumdt VI. Results of Da'wa VII. Summary 3 Chapter 6: The Exhortations of Imam al-Haddad ,238 I. Categories of People II. Summary Chapter 7: His Legacy.......................................................................................... 274 I. After His Death II. The 14th/20"’ Century HI. The 15lh/21st Century IV. Summary Conclusion............................................................................................................... 301 Appendices........................................................................................................ 311 Bibliography.............................................................................................................323 4 LIST OF MAPS Map of Yemen.......................................................................................................... 319 Map of East Africa...................................................................................................321 Map of South East Asia............................................................................................322 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my parents Mohamed Elmasry and Aziza Zaater for encouraging me to do a PhD and making it possible. I thank my wife for helping me through this dissertation and being its biggest fan. At SOAS, I am grateful for having had a flexible supervisor in Dr. Kate Zebiri. I learned how to properly write a book from Dr. Gavin Picken: thank you. Outside of SOAS, I am indebted to Shaykh Muhsin al-Najjar who suggested the idea of writing on Imam al-Haddad in the first place. I am also thankful for Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi’s patience and generosity in sharing his knowledge about the subject. The dissertation would not have been possible without the kind individuals who lent or gave me rare books required to carry out this project. They are: Abd alOAziz Ahmed, Bilal of Eritrea, Yaqub Johnson, Dr. Amr Sherief of Cairo, Dr. Abu Salma, Faisal Matadar, Haris Waseem, and M. Zaineldine for the hadiths about da'wa. Lastly, valuable information and miscellaneous forms of assistance were given to me by the following people whose names may or may not have found their way into the footnotes. They are, alphabetically: Mufti Barakatullah, Imam Hamad Chibli, Dr. Hassan Elmansoury, Dr. Bernard Haykel, Dr. Alexander Knysh, Dr. Yahya Michot, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sami Shaban, Imam Reda Shata, Dr. William Clarence Smith, and Dr. Mona M. Younes. 6 ABBREVIATIONS A. Works of Imam al-Haddad: R, Mudhakara = Risalcit al-Mudhdkara ma' al-Ikhwdn wal-Muhibbin min Ahl la ildha ilia Allah, Beirut 1994. Adah = Addb Suliik al-Murid, Beirut 1994. Ithdf = Ithdf al-Sa’il bi Ajwibat al-Masd'il, Beirut 1994. Nasd’ih = al-Nasd’ih al-DJniyya wal-Wasdyd al-Imdniyya, Beirut 1994. R. Mu'awana - Risdlat al-Mu 'dwana wal-Mudhakara wal-Mii cizara lil-Rdghibina min al-MiCminmfi Suluk Tarlq al-Akhira, Beirut 1994. Sabil — Sabil al-Iddikdr wal-I’tibdr bima Yamiir al-Insdn wa YanqdT lahu min al-A 'mar, Beirut 1994. D,T. = al-Da 'wa al-Tdmma wal-Tadhkira al- 'Amma, Beirut 1992. Fusiil ~ al-Fusfil al-llm iyya wal-Usid al-Hikamiyya, Beirut 1994. Nafd'is . - al-Nafd'is al.-' Ulwiyya fd-M asa’il al-Sufiyya, Beirut 1994. Hikam = Kitdb al-Hikam, Beirut 1994. Durr. = al-Durr al-Manzum li'Dhawl al-'Uqfdi wal-Fuhum, no place 1985. B: Major References: Q = The Glorious Qur'an ; trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with my alterations, Madina 1991. L.A. — Lisdn al-'Arab, Beirut 1956. E.I. = The Encyclopaedia of Islam S.E.I. = The Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam All dates will be given as Hijii/Gregorian. 7 TRANSLITERATION Arabic Letters Long Vowels * ’ ' a <_j b j u c j t lS I ^ th Z J C t t kb Short Vowels <* d = u ^ dh j r = a j z o* s iA sh LE3 s le3 d ** i = a & at for construct (mudaf, Ja Z mudaf ilayh) L ; £ gh «-j f J' = al & ’1 for connecting alif i3 q (wasla ) s k J 1 f m u n Dipthongs a h j = aw j w i / = ay V la 7. = iyy (final form l) l? y j = uww (final form u) INTRODUCTION I. The Topic This dissertation studies what Imam 'Abd Allah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad wrote about da'wa. In terms of chronology, our subject lived from 1044/1621 to 1121/1734,1 a period known as the Post-Classical Period (7th-13th / lS^-lS* Centuries).2 By this time, Islamic scholarship in general had completed its blossoming phase and most scholars followed in the footsteps of their predecessors from the Classical Period. Their works are mostly transmissions and commentaries on their respective schools (madhahib ). Imam al-Haddad followed in the school of Abl Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 504/1111) and thus, the majority of his positions can be traced back to the Persian theologian. If not, then they go back to Ba 'Alawi precedent, and in some cases, particularly onda'wa, the ideas are entirely his own. Because of the Imam’s fondness with al-Ghazali, there will be much mention of the latter, primarily to see how and where Imam al-Haddad departs to formulate his own position on a given matter. In 1114/1702, he authored al-Da'wa al-Tdmma wal-Tadhkira al-'Amma (The Perfect Call and the General Reminder). The book is about da'wa as it should be directed to each of society’s different classes. Its introduction, however, is where most of the Imam’s thoughts on da'wa can be found. We find, that, with Imam al-Haddad, da'wa is obligatory upon every single Muslim so long as a 1 DT, 7, 9. 2 Islamic historians, such as Marshall Hodgson divide Islamic history after the four Caliphs into roughly three major periods. From the Umayyad reign through the 'Abbassid reign is known as the ‘Classical Period.’ From the Mongol defeat of the 'Abbassids (656/1258) to Napolean’s invasion of Egypt (1212/1798) is the ‘Post-Classical Period’ (also known as ‘Decline’) and from then to the present is the ‘Modem Period’ (See Hodgson, Marshall. The Venture of Islam, Volume One, London: University of Chicago Press, 1957; pp.