Muhammad Al-Shahrastani

Abû Al-Fath Muhammad B. `Abd Al-Karim Al-Shahrastânî (1086 - 1153) was a famous historian of the religions and a hérésiographe. It was one of the pioneers who developed a scientific approach in the study of the religions. Al-Shahrastânî was characterized by its desire to describe in the manner the most objective universal religious history of humanity.

Its life

It was identified like a Théologie N “ash `arite”; this is why certain islamologists such as Muhammad Ridâ Jalâlî Nâ' înî, Muhammad Taqî Dânish-Pazhûh, Wilferd Madelung, Jean Jolivet, and Guy Monnot believe firmly that it was a Ismaélien nizârien which practiced the taqiyya (religious dissimulation) since Ismaéliens were persecuted at that time Very few things are known about the Al-Shahrastânî life. It was born in 1086 in the town of Shahristân (Republic of Turkménistan) where it acquired its first traditional education. Later, it was sent to Nîshâpûr where it studied under various Masters who were all the Al-Juwaynî disciples (Mr. 1085). At the age of 30, al-Shahrastânî went to Baghdad to continue theological studies and to teach during three years at the prestigious school ash `arite sunnite, Nizâmiyya. Thereafter, it returned in Perse where it worked like nâ' ib (temporary) of the chancellery of Sanjar, the Saljûq chief of Khurâsân. At the end of its life, Al-Shahrastânî is turned over in its birthplace.

The man and his work

Al-Shahrastânî was an intelligent man and informs having much charm. The true nature of its thought is described better by the Théosophie , in the old direction of the term “of divine wisdom”. However, Al-Shahrastânî was certainly not completely against theology or philosophy, even if he severely criticizes the theologists and the philosophers. As he explained in one of these speeches Majlis , in order to remain on the right way, one must maintain a balance between the Intellect ( “aql ) and the Audition ( Sam `). A philosopher or a theologist must employ his intellect until it reaches the limit of his reason. Beyond this limit, it must listen to the teaching of the Prophètes and Imâms (spiritual Guides). Its works reflect a complex interlacing of the currents intellectual; its thought is a synthesis of this profitable period. In its design of God, creation, prophecy, and Imâma , Al-Shahrastânî adopted several ideas which are reconcilable with the ismaelism nizârien. The need for a Guide, pertaining to the spiritual and physical world, is paramount in its theosophy since Imâm is always present in this physical world. During the Abbasid Caliphate `(750 - 1258), the golden age of the Islamic literature, several schools worked out main works of the Islamic thought. The shî `ism influenced particularly the destiny of Islam in the political arena and advantage philosophy. The ismaelism belongs to Islam shî `ite. Al-Shahrastânî was certainly not a theologist ash `arite, as that was often marked, even if it borrows some concepts commonly shared by various thinkers belonging to various schools. He is a thinker difficult to evaluate because he likes to juggle with various philosophical and theological vocabularies. He controlled various complex traditions and he often spoke in an allegorical way. He was an author very subtle who often revealed his thought indirectly by means of symbols. He preferred his personal vocabulary instead of that used usually. For this reason, it is very difficult to determine its true position. As it was secretly Ismaélien and that Ismaéliens were persecuted at that time, it deliberately chose to speak indirectly about its major thoughts in its work. He believed that those which know the symbols could be disentangled in its evasive ideas. For all these reasons, several researchers who studied Al-Shahrastânî are misled about his religious identity. The richness and the originality of the philosophical and theological Al-Shahrastânî thought are expressed in its principal works. The Kitâb Al-Milal wa Al-Nihal (Book of the religions and the sects), is a monumental work, where it presents the doctrinal points of view of all the religions and philosophies which existed until its time. It was the precursor of a scientific approach to present the religions and their basic principles. The Nihâyat Al-aqdâm fî `ilm Al-kalâm (the Book of the result of the routes in the science of the kalâm ) presents various theological discussions and watch the limits of Moslem theology ( kalâm ). The Majlis is a speech, written for the ripe period of its life, in front of an audience duodécimain. The Musâra `At Al-Falâsifa (the Fight against the philosophers) critical doctrines of Avicenne by underlining some arguments typically ismaéliens on the division of the beings. The Mafâtîh Al-asrâr wa-masâbîh Al-abrâr (Keys of the mysteries and lamps of the servants of God) present of the explanations on the drafting of Qur' ân and gives a complete comment of the first two chapters.

An abtruse theosophy

Contrary to Ash `arites, Al-Shahrastânî presents a gradation in creation ( khalq ). It gives a definition of the prophetic impeccability ( `isma ) opposed to the tradition ash `arite, by maintaining that it remains in the gasoline of the Prophet. Following the example Al-Ghazzâlî, Al-Shahrastânî criticizes hard the Being necessary of Avicenne which knows the universal one but not the private individual. More specifically in the Musâra `has Al-Falâsifa , it has a design ismaélienne of the Founder ( Al-Mubdi `) beyond the being and of the non-being. He affirms in a convincing way the existence of the divine attributes, but he does not allot them directly to God. The true worship consists in affirming the Unicity ( Tawhîd ) of God who transcends all the attributes that the human ones give Him. The Single one is completely transcendent, unknowable, indefinable, above human comprehension and paradoxically also immanent.

As for the theory of creation, in Nihâya , Al-Shahrastânî insists on the fact that God is the only Creator and the only Agent. It also develops an interpretation different from the creation ex-nihilo which does not mean creation from nothing, but that God alone is the Author of creation (Al-Shahrastânî, 1934: 18-9). In the Majlis and the Mafâtîh Al-Asrâr , the angels play a part dominating in physical creation (Al-Shahrastânî, 1998, p. 82; 1989, volume 1, p. 109 back , line 24 to 110 recto line 1). Its theory of the Logos ( Kalima ) reveals a ismaélienne influence; thus the Logoi ( Kalimât ) are conceived like the real causes of the spiritual beings. Al-Shahrastânî works out also this theory in the Nihâya and he writes:

“We say that Its Order is preexistent and that its Logoi ( Kalimât ) is multiple and eternal. Thanks to the Order, its Logoi is the places of appearance of the Order. The spiritual beings are the places of appearance of the Logoi and the bodies are the places of appearance of the spiritual beings. Setting-up ( Ibdâ `) and creation ( khalq ) start appear only starting from the spiritual beings and of the bodies. As for the Logoi and the letters they are eternal and preexistent. As Its Order does not resemble our order, Its Logoi and Its letters is not similar to ours. As the letters are the elements of the Logoi and the Logoi are the causes of the spiritual beings, and the spiritual beings direct the body beings, any existence remains in the divine Logos (Kalimat Allâh) and is preserved in the divine Order ( Amr Allâh)” (Al-Shahrastânî, 1934: 316 extract translated by Diane Steigerwald, 1997, p. 124).

In the Majlis , Al-Shahrastânî presents creation in two pleromes: the spiritual world (C. - with-D. introduction of the spirits ( `Ibda `- I arwah ) in a completed state ( mafrugh ) and the world of physical creation ( khalq ) in becoming ( musta' naf ). In accordance with cosmology ismaélienne, God established His religion with the image of His creation.

The design of the prophecy which is developed in the Nihâya is more close to that of the ismaelism and the Islamic philosophers ( falâsifa ) that of Ash `arites, because Al-Shahrastânî establishes an ontological bond between the miracles and prophetic impeccability ( `isma ). For Al-Shahrastânî, the proof of the veracity ( sidq ) of the Prophet is intrinsic with his nature and is related to its impeccability (Al-Shahrastânî, 1934, pp. 444-445). It explicitly develops a concept of cyclic time in the Milal , the Majlis , and the Mafâtîh and implicitly in the Nihâya .

In the Majlis , its comprehension of the dynamic evolution of humanity is similar to the ismaelism, in which each Prophet inaugurates a new cycle. Al-Shahrastânî takes again the mythical history of Brace in Qur' ân and by the Servant of God and it takes as a starting point the interpretation provided by Al-Naked Qâdî `mân (Mr. 974) in its entitled book Al-Risâla Al-Mudhhiba .

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