THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AKBARĪ HERMENEUTICS IN SHAMS AL-DĪN AL-FANĀRĪ’S QUR’AN COMMENTARY ON THE CHAPTER AL-FĀTIḤA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY HALIM CALIS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Halim Calis All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vii Note on Translation, Transliteration, and References ................................................................. viii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: SHAMS AL-DĪN AL-FANĀRĪ: LIFE AND WORKS ........................................... 9 Brief Outline of the Historical Developments .......................................................................... 10 Fanārī’s Life Story.................................................................................................................... 12 Fanārī’s Works ......................................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER II: ‘AYN AL-A‘YĀN: TAFSĪR AL-FĀTIḤA .......................................................... 47 Manuscripts and Published Version ......................................................................................... 48 Dedication ................................................................................................................................ 50 Content ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Fanārī’s Impact on Qur’anic Studies ........................................................................................ 66 CHAPTER III: THE HADITH OF “ẒAHR – BAṬN – ḤADD – MAṬLA‘/MUṬṬALA‘” ........ 70 The Words of the Hadith .......................................................................................................... 71 Variants of the Hadith .............................................................................................................. 72 Interpretations of the Hadith..................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER IV: NATURE OF DIVINE SPEECH (KALĀM) ...................................................... 90 Divine Speech in Islamic Schools ............................................................................................ 91 iii Divine Speech in Fanārī ......................................................................................................... 100 CHAPTER V: SCRIPTURAL HERMENEUTICS IN FANĀRĪ: LAYERS OF QUR’ANIC MEANING .................................................................................................................................. 122 Layers of Qur’anic Meaning in Sufi Writings........................................................................ 123 Esoteric Exegesis According to Fanārī .................................................................................. 138 CHAPTER VI: FANĀRĪ’S PRACTICE OF EXEGESIS .......................................................... 174 Qur’anic Exegesis as a Ground for Communicating Akbarī Ideas ........................................ 175 Literalist Esotericism .............................................................................................................. 197 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 204 Appendix - A: (Images of Manuscripts) ..................................................................................... 207 Appendix - B: SELECTIONS FROM PROLOGUE OF ‘AYN AL-A‘YĀN and COMMENTARY ON THE AL-ISTI‘ĀDHA ............................................................................ 214 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 309 iv List of Tables Table- 1: Chains of narrators of the hadith, transmitted on the authority of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.... 73 Table- 2: Chains of narrators of the hadith, transmitted on the authority of ‘Abdullāh-1 ............ 74 Table- 3: Chains of narrators of the hadith, transmitted on the authority of ‘Abdullāh-2 ............ 75 Table- 4: Chains of narrators of the hadith, transmitted on the authority of ‘Abdullāh-3 ............ 75 v List of Figures Figure- 1: Religious sciences derived from the Qur’an and hadiths ........................................... 153 Figure- 2: Religious sciences that are sources of Tafsīr ............................................................. 155 Figure- 3: Note in the Murad Molla manuscript ......................................................................... 208 Figure- 4: Colophon in the Atıf Efendi manuscript .................................................................... 209 Figure- 5: Mahmud Paşa manuscript .......................................................................................... 210 Figure- 6: Murad Molla manuscript ............................................................................................ 211 Figure- 7: Atıf Efendi manuscript ............................................................................................... 212 Figure- 8: Published version of the ‘Ayn .................................................................................... 213 vi Acknowledgements I am sincerely grateful to my adviser, Professor Michael A. Sells. I have benefited greatly from his guidance and instruction. His constant encouragement and patience made this study possible. I also express my thanks and appreciation to the members of my dissertation committee, Professors James T. Robinson and Willemien Otten, for their invaluable comments and suggestions. I also thank my teachers at the University of Chicago, especially Professor Cornell Fleischer, for helping me to mature my thoughts on this study. I am indebted to Süleyman Dost and Mustafa Ismail Kaya, who read through parts of the dissertation and offered their insights, comments, and suggestions. I am also grateful to my colleague Dr. Walter Wagner. I anticipate that illuminating conversations with him will continue in the future. Special thanks go to Henry Jankiewicz who proofread the dissertation. I owe my deep thanks and gratitude to my parents and parents-in-law, who have always been there for my wife and me. I never thank them enough for making me a better person. This study would not have been possible without their love, support, and encouragement. Finally, I cannot find words enough to express my gratitude to my lovely wife, Nedime Calis. She has shouldered the burden of my study more than anyone else. Nedime has been my source of motivation not only through this process but also through the years we have shared together. She has been my strength when struggling to overcome problems, economic hardships, and psychological tensions we had to go through. I also owe a big thanks to my children, Selim, Nurbanu, Dilruba, and Melih Lutfi, for the patience and love they have shown to their father, who has spent so much time at the computer with a stressful and grumpy face. I dedicate this work to my beautiful family. vii Note on Translation, Transliteration, and References Translations of the Qur’anic passages belong to Yusuf Ali, and the translations of the sources are mine, unless indicated otherwise. The Qur’anic verses are referred to as follows: Q. 15:13. The first number refers to the chapter and the second to the verse. References to the hadiths found in the canonical hadith collections are written according to the Concordance system, as in “Bukhārī, īmān, 5.” The hadith sources are listed in the bibliography with their full bibliographic information. I have amended the transliteration system of IJMES (International Journal of Middle East Studies) for Arabic names, titles and words in the text, footnotes and bibliography. Diacritics are added to personal names, place names, and titles of books and articles. Well- known Arabic terms, such as Qur’an, hadith, Sunnis etc. are not transliterated. Tafsīr, Hadith, and Kalām are capitalized if they refer to the Islamic sciences, but not if they are used in the context of interpretation, Prophetic tradition, and speech. Arabic ibn is shortened to b. in the tables. ‘Abd Allah is written as ‘Abdullāh. In most cases, death years are given according to the Gregorian calendar. Ḥarf al-ta‘rīf (the definite article in Arabic) preceding the nisba (the relative adjective) is omitted if the nisba is mentioned alone (e.g., Suyūṭī); it is retained if the full name is given (e.g., Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī). This rule is also applied in the footnotes and bibliography. Ḥarf al-ta‘rīf preceding the names of a group is omitted (e.g., Mu‘tazila). It is retained in titles (e.g., al- Ma’mūn, al-Aswad, al-Mu’ayyad). Ḥarf al-ta‘rīf preceding book titles and the names of the Qur’anic chapters is kept (e.g., al-Burhān fī ‘ulūm al-Qur’ān and al-Naml). viii Transliteration of Turkish names is written in Turkish script (e.g., the