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The Teachers of Shihāb al-Dīn ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
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We are informed by Ibn al-‘Imād that Shihāb al-Dīn ‘Umar b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Suhrawardī (d. 632/1234), the celebrated Ṣūfi and founder of the Suhrawardīya Order, “heard Traditions from a number (of scholars)”, and that he wrote “a Mashyakha in an attractive section (fijuz’inlaṭtīf)”. This Mashyakha was known to Ḥājjī Khalīfa,4 but no copy is noted by Brockelmann. Now it is always interesting to have the names of the teachers of famous men, more especially when such information rests on the authority of the celebrities themselves, and it is therefore a fortunate chance that a manuscript of Shihab al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī’s essay in autobiography has actually survived. What is more, this unique copy is in the autograph of an eminent scholar; the colophon is signed Muhammad b. Shukr al-Shāfi‘ī, and is dated 738/1337. To complete the good story, the recension mounts to the author himself, and the learned copyist has transcribed from his archetype a note of samā’ with al-Suhrawardī dated 620/1223 at Baghdad.
The author gives the names of fifteen of his teachers, together with the texts of a small number of Traditions heard by him from each; each Tradition is furnished with a full isnād; and in some instances the dates of the teacher's birth and death are provided. The list begins with Shihāb al-Dīn's uncle, Diyā’ al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Qāhir b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Suhrawardī, himself a well-known Ṣūfī scholar (d. 562/1168, see Brockelmann I 436, Suppl. I 780); significantly enough no mention is made of ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561/1167) who is commonly reported to have initiated al-Suhrawardī into Ṣūfism.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 1950 , pp. 339 - 356
- Copyright
- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1950
References
page 339 note 1 Shadharāt al-dhdhab V 153; Ibn al-‘Imād names the Tabaqāt [al-Shāfi'īya] of Ibn [Qādī] Shuhba (d. 851/1448, see Brockelmann II 50, Suppl. II 51) as his authority.
page 339 note 2 For other compilations having this title see Brockelmann, index to G.A.L. and Suppl.; Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-zunūn (Turkish edition) II 1696–7.
page 339 note 3 The term juz’ is commonly used to indicate a small collection, particularly but not exclusively of Traditions; it does not necessarily imply extraction from a larger work.
page 339 note 4 Kashf ed-zunūn II 1697 (Turkish edition).
page 339 note 5 In MS. Arab. 495 (foll. 84–94) of Mr. Chester Beatty's collection.
page 339 note 6 Muhammad b. Shukr al-Dairī al-Shāfī’ī al-Nāsikh al-Dimashqī, a well-known calligrapher, died in Dhu'l-Ḥijja 753/January 1353; see Ibn Ḥajar, al-Durar ai-kāmina, iii, 456.
page 339 note 7 Fol. 94b, see also fol. 84b; the full transmission of the text is detailed at the end of this article.
page 340 note 1 Also al-Nīsābūrī, Musannid of Khurāsān, died in Rabī’ II 533/Deoember 1138, see Shadharāt IV 102. The author's object in giving these isnād is clearly to trace back the Tradition to the Prophet by as few links as possible—a favourite diversion of some Traditionists.
page 340 note 2 Aḥmad b. ‘Abd al-Malik b. ‘Alī al-Nīsābūrī al-Ḥāfiz, Muḥaddith of Khurāsān, is stated to have received 1,000 Traditions from 1,000 different teachers, and to have travelled to Iṣfahān, Baghdād and Damascus; he died in Ramadan 470/April 1078 at the age of 82, leaving behind him a number of books and rough drafts, see Shadharāt III 335.
page 340 note 3 Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Mahmish b. ‘All b. Dāwud b. Aiyūb al-Ziyādī al-Shāfl'ī, Musannid of Nīsābūr, b. 317/929, d. 410/1019, see Shadharāt III 192.
page 340 note 4 Ahmad b. MuḤhammad b. YaḤhyā b. Bilāl al-Nīsābūrī, d. 330/942, see Shadharāt II 325.
page 340 note 5 Abū MuḤammad ‘Abd al-RaḤmān b. Bishr b. al-ḥakam b. Ḥabib al-'Abdi al-Nīsābūrī, d. 260/874, see al-Khatīb, Ta'rīkh Baghdād X 271–2.
page 340 note 6 Abū Muḥammad Sufyān b. ‘Uyaina b. Abī ‘Amrān, b. 107/725, d. 198/814, see Ta'rikh Baghdād IX 174–84.
page 340 note 7 Abū Muḥammad ‘Amr b. Dinār al-Jumaḥī, d. 126/744 at age of 80, see Shadharāt 1171.
page 340 note 8 ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Amr b. al-'Aṣs al-Sahmī, d. 65/685, see Shadharāt I 73.
page 340 note 9 This Tradition is thus a tusā’ī (having nine links in the chain of isnād), remarkable for an author writing in the 7/13th century; but al-Bukhārī's editor was able to extract from his al-Jāmi’ al-ṣsahīh a choice selection of Traditions connected in that work (written in the first half of the 3/9th century) by only three links with the Prophet (thulāthīyāt, see Brockelmann I 159, Suppl. I 264). Quite a considerable literature of Tradition developed along this curious line; and the Chester Beatty collection contains a unique copy of a work entitled al-Sābiq wa-'l-lāḥiq, a biographical dictionary of Traditīonīsts who died at widely different dates and yet transmitted the one from the other; the author of this remarkable and valuable work was the celebrated Abū Bakr Aḥmad b. ‘Alī al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463/1071), writer of the Ta'rīkh Baghdād.
page 340 note 10 Muhammad b. Sa'īd b. Ibrāhīm b. Nabhān al-Kātib al-Karkhī, Musannid of ‘Irāq, d. 511/1117 at the age of 100 precisely, see Shadharāt IV 31.
page 341 note 1 Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. Shādhān al-Baghdādī, b. 339/950, d. on the last day of 425/1034, see Shadharāt III 228–9.
page 341 note 2 Ab¯ Muḥammad Da'laj b. Aḥmad b. Da'laj b. ‘Abd al-Raḥman al-Sijistānī al-Mu'addil, d. 351/962, see Shadharāt III 8, Ta'rīkh Baghdād VIII 387–92; he travelled extensively to study Traditions in Khurāsān, Raiy, Baghdād, Baṣra, Kūfa and Makka, and was renowned for his piety and charitable works.
page 341 note 3 ‘Alī b. ‘Abd al-'Azīz al-Baghawī, d. at Makka in 286/899 at the age of over 90, see Shadharāt II 193.
page 341 note 4 Abū ‘Ubaid al-Qāsim b. Sallām al-Harawī al-Baghdādī, b. 154/770, d. 224/838, the famous philologist and theologian, wrote a number of books on gharīb al-ḥadīth, see Brockelmann I 106, Suppl. I 166–7 with references.
page 341 note 5 Ṣafwān b. ‘Isā al-Zuhrī al-Baṣrī Abū MuḤammad al-Qassām, d. 200/816, see Shadharāt I 359 (other dates given in Ibn Ḥajar, Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb IV 430).
page 341 note 6 Al-Ḥārith b. ‘Abd al-Rahmān b. ‘Abd Allāh b. Sa'd al-Dūsī al-Madanī, d. 146/763, see Tahdhīb al-Tahdīb II 147–8 No. 249.
page 341 note 7 Abū Muḥammad Sa'id b. al-Musaiyib al-Makhzūmī al-Madanī, d. 94/713, see Shadharāt I 102–3.
page 341 note 8 The fourth Caliph, d. 40/661.
page 341 note 9 On the margin of al-Ghazālī, Ihyā,’ (Cairo 1306/1889) I 213; Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī repeatedly cites his uncle Diyā’ al-Dīn as an authority on Traditions in that work.
page 341 note 10 It is not clear which Ḥajjāj (there are several Traditionists of that name) is here intended.
page 341 note 11 Ḥammād b. Salama b. Dīnār al-Baṣrī, d. 167/784, see Shadharāt I 262.
page 341 note 12 ‘Alī b. Zaid b. Jadh'ān al-Qurashī al-Taimī al-Baṣrī, d. 129/745 or 131/747, see Shadhārat I 176.
page 341 note 13 Abū Sa'īd al-Ḥasan b. Abi ‘l-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, the famous ascetic and preacher, d. 110/728: al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī could not, of course, transmit direct from the Prophet as he was not born until 21/642, see Encyclopaedia, of Islam II 273, Brockelmann I 66, Suppl. I 102.
page 342 note 1 I 78. A very different interpretation of the word 
, is given in Ibn al-Athīr, al-Nihāya fi gharīb al-ḥadīth III 42, cf. Lisān al-'Arab X 109.
page 342 note 2 At the age of 88, see Shadharāt IV 181, V 153; al-Subkī, Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi'īya V 143.
page 342 note 3 Abū Naṣr Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī al-Hāshimī al-‘Abbāsī al-Zabīnī [sic], Musannid of ‘Irāq, last surviving pupil of al-Mukhallis, d. 479/1086 at the age of 92, see Shadharāt III 364; his nisba is correctly given as al-Zainabī in Ta'rīkh Baghdād III 238, cf. al-Sam'ānī, al-Ansāb 284b.
page 342 note 4 Also al-Baghdādī al-Dhahabī, “musannid of his age”, d. 393/1003 at the age of 88, see Shadharāt III 144, Ta'rīkh Baghdād II 322–3.
page 342 note 5 ‘Abd Allāh b. Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-'Aziz al-Marzubān b. Sābūr b. Shāhanshāh Abu'l Qāsim b. Bint Aḥmad b. Manī', d. 317/929 at the age of 103; he was a fine calligrapher, and first wrote Traditions in 225/840, see Shadharāt II 275, Ta'rīkh Baghdād X 111–7.
page 342 note 6 ‘Abd al-Malik b. ‘Abd al-'Azīz, d. 228/843, see Shadharāt II 64, Ta'rīkh Baghdād X 420–3.
page 342 note 7 Died 167/784, see Shadharāt I 264.
page 342 note 8 Al-Ḥuddānī al-Baṣrī, see Tahdhīb al-Tahdhib X 438–9 No. 796 (obiit not given).
page 342 note 9 Abū Salama b. ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf al-Zuhrī al-Madanī, d. 94/713, see Shadharāt I 105.
page 342 note 10 ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‘Auf al-Zuhrī, d. 32/653, see Shadharāt 138.
page 343 note 1 The celebrated author of the Musnad and founder of the Ḥanbalī school, d. 241/855.
page 343 note 2 Abu ‘l-Fawārīs Ṭirād b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī al-Naqīb al-Kāmil al-Hāshimī al-'Abbāsī al-Baghdādī, Musannid of ‘Irāq, d. 491/1098 at the age of 93, see Shadharāt III 396.
page 343 note 3 Ibn Rizqūya Muṣammad b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Rizq al-Baghdādī al-Bazzāz, b. 325/937, d. 412/1021, see Shadharāt III 196.
page 343 note 4 Al-Ṭā'ī al-Mauṣilī, d. 340/951, see Shadharāt II 357–8.
page 343 note 5 Abū ‘l-Ḥasan al-Ṭā'ī al-Mauṣilī, d. 265/879, see Shadharāt II 150.
page 343 note 6 Abū Shihāb MuḤammad b. Muslim b. ‘Ubaid Allāh, d. 124/742, see Encyclopædia of Islam IV 1239–10.
page 343 note 7 Sālim b. ‘Abd Allāh al-'Adwī al-Madanī, d. 106/724, see Shadharāt I 133.
page 343 note 8 ‘Abd Allāh b. ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, d. 73/693 at age of 84, see Encyclopaedia, of Islam 128–9.
page 344 note 1 Ibn al-Baṭṭ al-Ḥājib al-Baghdādī, Musannid of ‘Irāq, d. 564 at age of 87, see Shadharāt IV 213, ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi'īya V 143, mentioned in Ibn Khallikān (tr. De Slane), No. 89, frequently quoted in 'Awārif al-ma'ārif, of. I 99, 124, 142, etc.
page 344 note 2 Ibn al-Farrā’ al-Baghdādī, burnt to death at the age of 87 in the great fire of Baghdād in Jumādā II 485/July 1092, see Shadharāt III 376.
page 344 note 3 Ibn al-Ṣalt al-Ahwāzī, b. 324/936, d. 409/1018, see Shadharāt III 188.
page 344 note 4 Abū ‘Alī (Abū Isḥāq) Ibrāhīm b. ‘Abd al-Ṣamad b. Mūsā b. Muḥammad al-Amīr, last direct transmitter of Mālik b. Anas' al-MuioaṬṬtta' from Abū Muṣ'ab, d. Muḥharram 325/November 936, see Shadharāt II 306, Ta'rīkh Baghdād VI 137–9.
page 344 note 5 Abū Muṣs'ab al-Faqīh, Qādī and Muftī of Makka, heard al-MuwaṬṬa' from Mālik b. Anas, d. 242/856 at age of 92, see Shadharāt II 100.
page 344 note 6 Founder of the Mālikī school, d. 179/795, see Encyclopædia of Islam III 205–9.
page 344 note 7 Muḥhammad b. Muslim b. ‘Ubaid Allāh b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Zuhrī, d. 125/743, see Tahdhīb cd-Tahdhīb IX 445–51 No. 732.
page 344 note 8 This tradition occurs with the same isnād in al-MuwaṬṬa' (Cairo 1348) II 212.
page 344 note 9 This tradition also oocurs with the author's isnād as quoted in al-MuwaṬṬa' 1309.
page 345 note 1 See Shadharāt IV 217; he is frequently quoted in the ‘Awārif al-ma'ārif, cf. I 121, 126, 136, 139, etc., II 32, 46, 54, 63, etc., etc.
page 345 note 2 ‘Abdūs b. ‘Ubaīd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ‘Abdūs, Ra'īs and Muḥaddith of Hamadhān, d. 490/1097 at the age of 95, see Shadharāt III 395.
page 345 note 3 Muḥammad- b. Aḥhmad b. Muḥammad b. ]Ḥam<lūya, d. c. 405/1014, see Ta'rīkh Baghdād I 277.
page 345 note 4 Muḥhammad b. Ya'qūb b. Yūsuf b. Ma'qil b. Sinān al-Umawī al-Nīsābūrī al-Warrāq [great-great-grandson of the Companion Ma'qil b. Sinān al-Ashja'ī, d. 63/683 at the Battle of Ḥarra, see Shadharāt I 71], d. 346/957 at the age of 99, see Shadharāt II 373.
page 345 note 5 Al-'Abbās b. al-Walīd b. Zaid, d. 270/884 at the age of 100, see Shadharāt II 160.
page 345 note 6 Hind bint Abī Umaiya, a wife of the Prophet, d. 61/681 or 59/679, see Shadharāt I 69–70.
page 345 note 7 One of the six canonical collections of Traditions; the author was born in 209/824 and died in 273/886, see Brockelmann 1163, Suppl. 1270.
page 346 note 1 Muhammad b. al-Husain b. al-Haitham al-Qazwini, d. c. 484/1091 at the age of over 80, see Shadharāt III 372.
page 346 note 2 Also al-Qazwīnī, d. 409/1018 or 410/1019, see Shadharāt III 189.
page 346 note 3 Also al-Qazwīnī, d. 345/956, seeShadharāt II 370. Ibn Māja was himself a Qazwīnī, so that al-Suhrawardī received a sound and unbroken local transmission.
page 346 note 4 Not mentioned in Shadharat.
page 346 note 5 Naṣr b. Ahmad b. ‘Abd Allāh b. al-Nadr al-Bazzāz, Musannid of Baghdād, d. 494/1101, see Shadharāt III 402.
page 346 note 6 Al-Baiyi' al-Mu'addib al-Baghdādī, d. 408/1017 at the age of 87, see Shadharāt III 187, Ta'rīkh Baghdād X 39.
page 346 note 7 Al-Mahāmilī al-Pabbī al-Baghdādī, d. 330/942 at the age of 95, see Shadharāt II 326.
page 346 note 8 Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf b. Mūsā b. Rāshid al-Qattān al-Kūfī, d. 253/867, see Ta'rikh Baghdad XIV 304–5.
page 346 note 9 Abū 'Abd Allāh Jarīr b. ‘Abd al-Hamīd al-Dabbī, d. 188/804 at the age of 78, see Shadharāt I 319.
page 347 note 1 Abū Muhammad Sulaimān b. Mihrān al-Asadī al-Kāhilī, d. 148/765, seeShadharāt I 220-1.
page 347 note 2 Ibrāhīm b. Yazīd al-Taīmī al-Kūfī, d. 92/711, see Shadharāt I 100.
page 347 note 3 Yazīd b. Sharik b. Tāriq al-Taimī, see Ibn Ḥajar, al-Isāba fī tamyīz al-Sahāba III 1390 No. 8913.
page 347 note 4 Abū Mas'ūd ‘Uqba b. ‘Amr b. Tha'laba al-Ansārī, see al-Isāba IV 337 No. 1034.
page 347 note 5 Abū 'Attāb Mansūr b. al-Mu'tamir al-Sulamī al-Kūfī al-Hāfiz, d. 132/750, see Shadharāt I 189.
page 347 note 6 Sālim b. Abi 'l-Ja'd al-Kūfī, d. c. 100/719, see Shadharat I 118.
page 347 note 7 Abū 'Abd Allāh Thaubān al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī, freedman of the Prophet; this anecdote is given on the same authority in Abū Nu'aim al-Isbahānī, Hilyat al-auliyā’ I 182.
page 347 note 8 The Prophet's favourite wife, d. 58/678.
page 347 note 9 At the age of 83, see Shadharāt IV 208.
page 348 note 1 Daughter of the Prophet, d. 11/632.
page 348 note 2 Mundhir b. Mālik al-'Abdi al-Baṣri, d. 108/726 or 109/727, see Shadharāt I 135. This forms part of the Prophet's khutba said to have been delivered during the “Farewell Pilgrimage”, see Ahmad Zaki Safwat, Jamhara khutab al-'Arab I 59, with authorities there quoted.
page 348 note 3 Khālid b. Zaid, d. 51/671 or 52/672 at the siege of Constantinople, beneath whose walls he was buried, see Shadharāt I 57.
page 348 note 4 Of Baghdād, died over 80 years of age, see Shadharāt IV, 218.
page 349 note 1 Hudhaifa b.al-Yamān al-‘Absī al-Kūfī, d. at Madā in 36/656, see al-Isāba I 651–2 No. 1640.
page 349 note 2 Also of Baghdād, see Shadharāt IV 222.
page 350 note 1 Died in 32/653 or 33/654, see Encyclopædia of Islam II 403–4. A differently worded version of this incident is given in Ḥilyat al-auliyā’ I 124.
page 350 note 2 Uncle of Anas b. Mālik, killed at the Battle of flunain in 8/630, see al-Isāba I 653–4 No. 1646.
page 351 note 1 Died in 57/677 or 58/678 at the age of 78, see Encyclopædia of Islam I 93-4.
page 351 note 2 Ka'b al-Aḥbār, famous for his information about the ancient scriptures, d. 32/652 or 34/654, see Encyclopædia of Islam II 582–3.
page 351 note 3 The Israelite, d. 43/663, see Shadharāt I 53, Encyclopædia of Islam I 30–1.
page 351 note 4 Al-‘Attār al-Hanbalī, d. Monday, 8 Rajab 560, and was prayed over by ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jilānī the celebrated mystic; his name was originally Hudhaifa but he changed it to ‘Abd Allāh; see Shadharāt IV 189.
page 351 note 5 Abu Talha (Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān), d. 78/697, see al-Isāba II 49–50 No. 2880.
page 351 note 6 Hakīm b. Hizām b. Khuwailid b. Asad al-Qurashī al-Asadī, nephew of Khadīja, d. 54/674 at the age of 120, see Shadharāt I 60; the Tradition is explained in al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-hadīth IV 21.
page 352 note 1 Not mentioned in Shadharāt.
page 352 note 2 Presumably Abū Maslama al-Azdi, see Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqāt VII2 21.
page 352 note 3 See al-Nihāya fī gharīb al-badīith IV 267, Lásān al-‘Arab XVI 134.
page 353 note 1 Not mentioned in Shadharāt.
page 353 note 2 See above, p. 340, n. 1.
page 353 note 3 Author of the celebrated Risāla and other Sūfī books, b. 376/986, d. 465/1074, see Encyclopædia of Islam II 1160.
page 353 note 4 Not mentioned in Shadharāt.
page 354 note 1 Abu ‘l-'Abbās al- ‘Abbās b. Mirdās b. Abi ‘Āmir, panegyrist of the Prophet, poet of Sulaim, see Encyclopædia of Islam I 12.
page 354 note 2 Not mentioned in Shadharāt. d. 532/1138 according to al-Subkī, Tabaqāt al-Shāfi'īya IV 220, where his name is given as al-Bawāranji [sic]. The nisba refers to Bawāzīj, near Takrit in al-Mauṣil, see Yāqūt, Mu'jam al-buldān (Cairo edition) II 297, al-Sam'ānī al-Ansab 93a.
page 355 note 1 Abū Naṣr Fatḥ al-Mauṣilī, a well-known early Sūfī, d. 220/835, see Ta'rīkh Baghdād XII 381–3, al-Sha'rānī,al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā (Cairo 1925) I 68.
page 355 note 2 Abū Ya'qūb Yūsuf b. Ibrāhīm b. Mūsā b. Ibrāhīm al-Sahmī al-Qazzāz al-Jurjānī, see Ta'rikh Baghdād XIV 325.
page 355 note 3 A well-known “mad” saint who lived in the second half of the 2nd/8th century.
page 355 note 4 Of Nīsābūr, d. 406/1015, see Brockelmann I 156, Suppl. I 254; this anecdote occurs on pp. 81–2 of the Cairo 1924 edition.
page 355 note 5 Not mentioned in Shadharāt; b. 502/1109, see Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi'īya IV 235, where his name is given as Ibn al-Zarif.
page 355 note 6 Not mentioned in Shadharāt.
page 356 note 1 Ibn Ḥajar, al-Durar al-kāmina III 365.
page 356 note 2 Ibid. I 102–3.