Islam before Modernity

Aḥmad al-Dardīr and the Preservation of Traditional Knowledge

This book examines the role of tradition and discursive knowledge transmission on the formation of the ‘ulamā’, the learned scholarly class in Islam, and their approach to the articulation of the Islamic disciplines. This book argues that a useful framework for evaluating the intellectual contributions of post-classical scholars such as Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Dardīr involves preserving, upholding, and maintaining the Islamic tradition, including the intellectual “sub-traditions” that came to define it.

Be the first to review this product

Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC

Availability: In stock

SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4380-7

Formats *
- Hardback (In Print) ISBN 978-1-4632-4380-7

Publication Status: In Print

Series: The Modern Muslim World14

Publication Date: Mar 2,2022

Interior Color: Black

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Page Count: 380

Languages: English

ISBN: 978-1-4632-4380-7

Price: $130.00 (USD)

Your price: $78.00 (USD)

Qty:

Ship to

Shipping Method

Name

Estimated Delivery

Price

No shipping options

This book examines the role of tradition and discursive knowledge transmission on the formation of the ‘ulamā’, the learned scholarly class in Islam, and their approach to the articulation of the Islamic disciplines. The basis of this examination is the twelfth/eighteenth century scholar, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Dardīr, an Egyptian Azharī who wrote highly influential treatises in the disciplines of creedal theology, Mālikī jurisprudence, and taṣawwuf (Sufism). He also occupied a prominent role in the urban life of Cairo, and is accredited with several incidents of intercession with the rulers on behalf of the Cairo populace. This book argues that a useful framework for evaluating the intellectual contributions of post-classical scholars such as al-Dardīr involves the concept of an Islamic discursive tradition, where al-Dardīr’s specific contributions were aimed towards preserving, upholding, and maintaining the Islamic tradition, including the intellectual “sub-traditions” that came to define it.

Overview
Reviews
Contact Us
About the Author
Table Of Contents

This book examines the role of tradition and discursive knowledge transmission on the formation of the ‘ulamā’, the learned scholarly class in Islam, and their approach to the articulation of the Islamic disciplines. The basis of this examination is the twelfth/eighteenth century scholar, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Dardīr, an Egyptian Azharī who wrote highly influential treatises in the disciplines of creedal theology, Mālikī jurisprudence, and taṣawwuf (Sufism). He also occupied a prominent role in the urban life of Cairo, and is accredited with several incidents of intercession with the rulers on behalf of the Cairo populace. This book argues that a useful framework for evaluating the intellectual contributions of post-classical scholars such as al-Dardīr involves the concept of an Islamic discursive tradition, where al-Dardīr’s specific contributions were aimed towards preserving, upholding, and maintaining the Islamic tradition, including the intellectual “sub-traditions” that came to define it.

Your name *

Your email *

Subject: *

Enquiry *

	Contributor	Biography
	WaleadMosaad	Dr. Walead Mohammed Mosaad is a specialist in Islamic theology law, and ethics. He obtained his PhD from the University of Exeter (UK) in 2017 and has studied with traditionally trained scholars throughout the Muslim world, including Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

Table of Contents (v)
Acknowledgments (ix)
Chapter 1. Introduction (1)
Islam before Europe (1)
The Islamic Notion of Tradition (10)
The Political and Social Climate in Ottoman Egypt at the Time of al-Dardīr (26)
The Cultural and Intellectual Climate at the Time of al-Dardīr (34)
Primary Sources (40)
Al-Dardīr’s Writings (41)
Al-Dardīr’s Upbringing (45)
Conclusion (52)
Chapter 2. Al-Dardīr and the Foundations of the Islamic Educational Paradigm (53) Introduction (53)
Intellectual Genealogies, Hermeneutics and Sunni Authoritativeness (61)
Arabic Hermeneutics (71)
The Thabat of al-Dardīr and his Education (79)
Al-Dardīr and the Tradition of Taḥqīq (89)
Definitions (93)
Tarjīḥ (weighted preference) of opinions within the Ash‘arī school (96)
Exposition of Differences between Ash‘arī and Māturīdī Theologies (98)
Al-Dardīr’s Understanding of Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy (99)
Relationship of Rational Affirmations and Spiritual Realisations (103)
Chapter 3. Al-Dardīr’s Sufi-Theology: Synthesis of Kalām and Taṣawwuf Epistemologies (107) Introduction (107)
Al-Dardīr’s Sources of Knowledge (109)
The Ontology of the Intellect (111)
The Epistemology of the Intellect (113)
The Ash‘arī Tradition in the Later Period (117)
Al-Dardīr’s Understanding of God and His Divine Attributes (126)
The Waḥdāniyya (Oneness) of God (134)
Causation and Divine Omnipotence (136)
Divine Essence and Divine Existence (143)
Ta‘alluqāt (cosmic connections) and ‘Ilal (existential causes) (147)
Al-Dardīr’s Synthesis and the Sharī‘a-Ṭarīqa-Ḥaqīqa Paradigm (157)
Waḥdat al-Wujūd (158)
Hierarchical Approaches to Tawḥīd (164)
Ṭarīqa and Ḥaqīqa (166)
Chapter 4. Weighted synthesis (tarjīḥ) and al-Dardīr’s Methodology Regarding the Fiqh Tradition (175)
Introduction (175)
Jurisprudence and Madhhabism (176)
The Synopsis-Commentary-Gloss genre (mukhtaṣar-sharḥ-ḥāshiya) in the Mālikī Tradition (182)
Al-Dardīr’s Commentary on the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl (202)
Khalīl’s Terminology in the Mukhtaṣar (205)
Other Commentaries of the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl (209)
Analysis of al-Dardīr’s Major Commentary on the Mukhtaṣar (211)
Al-Dardīr’s Mukhtaṣar: Aqrab al-Masālik (225)
Structure (228)
Departure from the Mukhtaṣar of Khalīl (232)
Al-Dardīr’s Methodology of Legal Plurality Minimisation (234)
Chapter 5. Al-Dardīr: ‘Ālim, Sufi, and Intercessor for the Masses (241)
Introduction (241)
The ‘Ulamā’ in the Ottoman Egypt of al-Dardīr (255)
Al-Dardīr: Quietest or Activist? (261)
Al-Dardīr the Mufti and Leader of al-Azhar (270)
Al-Dardīr the Sufi Murshid (277)
Conclusion (288)
Conclusions (293)
Appendix. Translation of al-Dardīr’s Minor Creed (297)
Bibliography (301)
Primary Sources in Manuscript (301)
Primary Sources in Print (301)
Secondary Sources (312)
Index (331)
Arabic Terms (331)
General Terms (337)

Customers who bought this item also bought

The Essence of Greek Education since Antiquity

This book attempts to answer the question: what are the essential features of Greek education? In so doing, it explores the extent to which the educational ideals and practices of paideia have displayed continuity from classical Athens until modern times. The views of Plato, Photios the Great (9th century) and Nicodemos the Athonite (18th century) are examined in particular, revealing significant stages of development. The book offers a presentation of what paideia holds up to be its own goal on its own terms. The proponents of the paideia tradition sought an answer to the age-old question, ‘What constitutes the human person?’ The response to that enigma determined everything else. Education took shape accordingly and led to a lifelong process of harmonising the respective functions of the soul and body. On account of its value on both a personal and communal level, paideia is of paramount significance for Plato and other exponents, such as Nicodemos. Their individual legacies stand like bookends on either side of some 22 centuries of Greek education that are appraised within these pages.

$114.95 (USD) $68.97 (USD)

Shbītho

The Shbītho d-Dayroye is a thirteenth-century anthology dedicated to the personal prayer of monks and nuns. The collection comprises the writings of great saints in the Syriac Orthodox tradition including Ephrem the Syrian, Abraham Qidun, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, Philoxenos, Basil the Great, and Isaac the Syrian. For each of the seven daily prayer times (morning, third hour, noon, ninth hour, evening, and night), there is a main prayer and a closing prayer. The present edition is the first translation to make the spiritual treasures of the original Syriac text available to readers in English.

$45.00 (USD) $27.00 (USD)

Baghdad during the time of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī

A study of the life and background of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, putative founder of the Qādiriyya order, investigating the sources for his life and attributed works. The book seeks to elucidate the ideas of al-Jīlānī, and to formulate a picture of the most prominent trends of pious and mystical thought in Baghdad during the twelfth century, providing a cultural and geographical angle to the study of Islamic mysticism and piety.

$115.00 (USD) $69.00 (USD)

Entangled Confessionalizations?

This volume explores the emergence of discourses of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 18th centuries, through empirical studies on confessional dynamics in early modern Muslim, Christian and Jewish sources.

$195.00 (USD) $117.00 (USD)