An evaluation of the Qut Al-Qulub of Al-Makki with an annotated translation of his Kitab Al-Tawba

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AN EVALUATION OF THE QUT AL-QULUB OF AL-MAKKI WITH
AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION OF HIS KITAB AL-TAWBA.
W. Mohd Azam b. Mohd Amin
Ph.D
University of Edinburgh
1991
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
Firstly, I wish to express my profound thankfulness
to my supervisor, Dr. Carole Hillenbrand. I am deeply
grateful to her for e}tpert guidance and continuous
encouragement for the past three years. She also
patiently supervised the whole of this work and
frequently made useful suggestions for alterations or
additions. Her advice and criticism have been of great
value, sustaining this work especially during the period
of its preparation.
I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. M.V.
McDonald who thoroughly supervised this work especially
for the translation part. His guidance and assistance
throughout my studies deserve a special vote of thanks.
I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to Dr.
I.K.A. Howard for lending me a number of his useful
books for my research. The departmental secretary, Miss
Irene Crawford, certainly deserves my gratitude. She has
been most helpful and co-operative in every possible
way.
Secondly, I would like to acknowledge a debt of
gratitude to the Public Service Department of Malaysia
for granting me the Academic Staff Training Scheme
Program scholarship (SLAB} for almost three years.
i
ABSTRACT
This thesis seeks to study in depth the
contribution to Sufism made by the little-known 4th/10th
century figure Abu 'fa lib al-Makk1. The first chapter
deals with an analysis of the life and works of al-Makki
against the background of the religious milieu of his
time. A major section of the thesis (the second and
third chapters) provides for the first time in English a
translation of the Ki tab al-tawba of al-Makki. The
fourth chapter assesses the originality of al-Makki 1 s
Kitab al-tawba and compares it with similar works
~ufi
of the period. The fifth chapter attempts to compare and
contrast al-Makki and al-Ghazal I 1 s approach to Suf ism
through an analysis of their respective Kitab al-tawba.
It has long been known that in his work on Sufism,
al-Ghazali depended very heavily upon al-Makki. This
thesis conclusively proves this dependence whilst
pointing to the more sophisticated presentation of al
Ghazali. Al-Makki is shown to have been one of the early
figures who tried to harmonise the views of the
~ufi
and Baghdad groups and to effect a synthesis
Ba~ran ~ufi
between moderate Sufism and the Shari'a.
iii
NOTES ON TRANSLITERATION
The system of transliteration of Arabic that has been
adopted throughout this work is the one employed by the
Encyclopaedia of Islam with the following modifications.
j instead of 9.1 for t;.
kh instead of kh for L.
q instead of 1$ for '-'
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Acknowledgements i
Abstract iii
Notes on Translation iv
Table of contents
V
Abbreviations viii
CHAPTER ONE: ABU 'fALIB AL-MAKKI
1.1 Birth, Name and Early Education 1
1.2 Life at 4
Ba~ra
1.2.1 The Salimiyya 5
1.3 Life at Baghdad 8
1.3.1 The School of
~ufi
Baghdad 9
1.4 Al-Makki's Death 15
1.5 Al-Makki's Attitude Towards Tradition 16
1.6 The Image of al-Makki As presented
In Muslim Sources During the Pre-
Modern Period {10th-17th centuries) 20
1.7 Modern Scholarship on al-Makki 27
1.8 The Works of Abu Talib al-Makki 34
1.8.1 The contents of cilm
al-Qulub 35
1.8.2 The contents of Qut
al-Qulub 42
Notes 45
CHAPTER TWO: THE TRANSLATION OF AL-MAKKI 'S KITA B AL-
TAWBA I
{The Translation of al-Makki's
Kitab al-Tawba} 53
Notes 101
CHAPTER THREE: THE TRANSLATION OF AL-MAKKI'S KITA B AL-
TAWBA II
{The Continuation of The
Translation of al-Makki's
V
Kitab al-Tawba) 109
Notes 155
CHAPTER FOUR: THE ORIGINALITY OF AL-MAKKI'S WORK 158
4.0 The Plan Of al-Makki's Chapter of
Repentance 158
4.1 ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER 166
4.1.1 Contents of the Chapter 166
4.1.2 The Method of Presentation
and Style used by al-Makki 169
4.1.3 A Brief Comparison Between
al-Makki's Chapter of
Repentance with similar
chapters on this topic
written by his predecessors
and his contemporaries. 172
4.1.4 A Brief Comparison Between
the Qut and the Cilm
al-Qulub. 178
4.2 THE CONTRIBUTION OF AL-MAKKI 182
4.2.1 Al-Makki's Attitude
towards innovation. 182
4.2.2 Al-Makki's Attitude
towards Sahl, al-Junayd
and Abu Yazid al-Bistami. 185
NOTES 187
CHAPTER FIVE: THE INFLUENCE OF AL-MAKKI ON AL-GHAzALI
5.0 Introduction 190
5.1 Comparison Between al-Makki And
al-Ghazali With Special Reference
to the Kitab al-Tawba 192
5.1.1 The Plan of al-Ghazali 's
Chapter of Repentance 192
5.2 Analysis of The Chapter 193
vi
5.2.1 General Introduction 194
5. 2. 2 Summarising al-Makk1's 195
Material
5.2.3 Enlarging al-Makk1's 197
material
5.2.4 Summarising And Enlarging 210
al-Makki's Material
5.2.5 New Material Added By
al-Ghazali 212
5.2.6 Stylistic Approach 215
5.3 General Comments And Conclusion. 220
Notes 223
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 230
Primary sources 230
Secondary sources 235
vii
ABBREVIATIONS.
Bidaya :Ibn Kathir,al-Bidaya wa '1-Nihaya.
De Slane :Ibn Khallikan,Wafayat al-Acyan,(Tr.
De Slane} .
Doctrine :M.A.Shukri,The Mystical Doctrine of
Abu Talib as Found in His
al-Makk~
Book Qut al-Qulub.
E.r1 :Encyclopaedia of Islam (Old
edition, 1913-1936).
E.r2 :Encyclopaedia of Islam (New
edition, 1954- }.
E.I(s) :Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam.
GAL :Brockelmann, Geschichte der
Arabischen Literatur.
Ghunya :Al-Jilani,Kitab al-Ghunya li Talib
Tarig al-Hagg.
Hilya :Al-Ieyfahani,Hilyat al-Awliya'.
Huffaz :Al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz.
crbar : Al-Dhahabi, Ki tab al- c I bar fi
Khabar man Ghabar.
I.C :Islamic Culture.
Ihya' :Al-Ghazali,Ihya' culum al-Din.
crlm :Al-Makki,cilm al-Qulub.
:Islamic Quarterly.
I.S :Islamic Studies.
Isaba : Ibn ijajar fi Tamyiz al
,~l=~ba
Sahaba.
JRAS :Journal of The Royal Asiatic
Society.
Kamil :Ibn al-Athir,al-Kamil fi '1-Tarikh.
Kashf :Al-ijujwiri, Kashf al-Mahiub,(Tr.
R. A. Nicholson} .
Kubra :Ibn sacd,Tabaqat al-Kubra.
viii
Lis an :Ibn ijajar al-'Asqalani Lisan al
1
Mizan.
Luma' :Al-SarrajiKitab al-Luma'.
Mir 1 at :Al-Yafi'I~Mir 1 at al-Janan.
Muntazam
:Al-Jawzi~Al-Muntazam.
Mu'tamad : Al-Farra 1 al-Mu' tamad fi Usul al
I
Din.
:Muslim World.
Mystics Of Islam.
:R.A.Nicholson~Mystics
Mystical :G.Bowering The Mystical Vision of
1
Existence in Classical Islam.
Passion Passion of al
:L.Massignon~The
Hallaj.
al-Qulub.
:Al-Makki~Qut
Rabi'a the Mystic.
:M.Smith~Rabi'a
Rasa1 il :Al-Rundi~al-Rasa1 il al-Sughra.
Ri'aya :Al-MuQasibiial-Ri'aya li Huqug
Allah.
Salimiyya :L.Massignon~"Salimiyya" 1 E.rl.
Sezgin :F.Sezgin,Geschichte Des Arabischen
Schrifttums.
Shadharat :Ibn al-'Imad al-ijanbali, Shadharat
al-Dhahab.
Shafi'iyya :Al-Subki,Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya al
Kubra.
Si fat :Al-Jawzi,Sifat al-Safwa.
Sufism :A.J.Arberry,Sufism.
Tabaqat :Al-Sulami,Tabaqat al-Sufiyya.
Tadhkirat : Farid al-Din 'Attar Tadhkirat al
I
Awliyal.
Talbis :Al-Jawzi Talbis al-Iblis.
1
ix