Table Of ContentDoubtsonAvicenna
Islamic Philosophy, Theology
and Science
texts and studies
Editedby
HansDaiber
AnnaAkasoy
EmilieSavage-Smith
volume95
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/ipts
Coverillustration:Al-Mabāḥithwa-l-shukūk(InvestigationsandObjections)ineasternKufic,byMustafa
Jafar(2015),followingthetitlepageoftheShirazmanuscript,f.2a.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Shihadeh,Ayman,author.
DoubtsonAvicenna:astudyandeditionofSharafal-Dinal-Mas'udi'scommentaryontheIsharat/by
AymanShihadeh.
pagescm.–(Islamicphilosophy,theologyandscience;v.95)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-30252-5(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-30253-2(e-book)1.Mas'udi,
MuhammadibnMas'ud,active12thcentury.Mabahithwa-al-shukuk.2.Avicenna,980-1037.Isharat
wa-al-tanbihat.3.Islamicphilosophy.I.Title.
B751.I63M375372016
181'.5–dc23
2015026093
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issn0169-8729
isbn978-90-04-30252-5(hardback)
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Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
1 Al-Masʿūdī’sLifeandCareer,inContext 7
1.1 TheContext:EasternAvicennismintheTwelfthCentury 7
1.2 Al-Masʿūdī’sBiography 11
1.3 Al-Masʿūdī’sOeuvre 20
1.4 TheologicalCommitments 28
2 TheShukūk:AporeticCommentary 44
2.1 TwoGenres:AporeticCommentary(Shukūk),Exegetical
Commentary(Sharḥ) 44
2.2 TheBroadOutline 49
2.3 ASynopsis 59
2.4 Interpretation:Al-Masʿūdī’sPhilosophicalTheology 78
3 EfficientCausationandContinuedExistence:Problem9 86
3.1 TheClassicalKalāmBackground 86
3.2 Avicenna’sTheoryofEfficientCausation 89
3.3 Avicenna’sCriticismofKalāmintheIshārāt 93
3.4 Al-Ghazālī’sCriticism 95
3.5 Al-Masʿūdī’sCommentary 98
4 TheOntologyofPossibility:Problems10and14 109
4.1 AvicennaonDispositionalPossibilityandPerSePossibility 111
4.2 Al-Ghazālī:AnAshʿarīRejoinder 120
4.3 Al-MasʿūdīontheOntologyofPossibility(Problem10) 127
4.4 Al-MasʿūdīontheIndestructibilityoftheHumanSoul
(Problem14) 136
4.5 ConcludingRemarks:DispositionalPossibilityandPerSePossibility
Post-Avicenna 141
5 Avicenna’sProofoftheExistenceofGod:Problem7 143
5.1 Avicenna’sProoffromPossibility 143
5.2 AvicennaonInfiniteTemporalSeries 147
vi contents
5.3 Al-Ghazālī’sCriticism 149
5.4 Al-Masʿūdī’sCommentary 151
6 MatterandForm:Problem1 156
6.1 Avicenna’sTheoryofMatterandCorporeity 156
6.2 Avicenna’sProofofPrimeMatterintheIshārāt 158
6.3 Abūl-Barakātal-Baghdādī’sCompetingTheoryofMatter 160
6.4 Al-Masʿūdī’sCommentary 164
7 TheManuscriptsandCriticalEdition 169
7.1 TheManuscripts 169
7.2 IntroductiontotheCriticalEdition 173
Bibliography 175
IndexofIndividuals,GroupsandPlaces 187
IndexofSubjects 190
8 CriticalEdition:Sharafal-Dīnal-Masʿūdī,al-Mabāḥithwa-l-Shukūkʿalā
l-Ishārāt 193
Preface 196
1 EstablishingtheExistenceofMatter 197
2 EstablishingtheFinitudeofBodies 201
3 ThatthePowerthatPreservestheMixtureistheSoul 205
4 TheRealityofPerceptions,andtheExternalandInternal
Senses 209
5 ThattheRationalSoulisnotImprintedintheBody 239
6 ThatSomeExistentsarebeyondtheGraspoftheSenses 246
7 EstablishingtheExistenceoftheNecessaryofExistenceandthe
FinitudeofCauses 248
8 EstablishingtheOnenessoftheNecessaryofExistence 251
9 ThattheContinuedExistenceoftheEffectDependsonthe
ContinuedExistenceofItsCause 262
10 ThatthePossibilityofComing-to-beisanAttributethatExistsPrior
toComing-to-be 270
11 ThatfromOneOnlyOneEffectCanProceed 275
12 ThattheActivitiesofCorporealPowersareFinite 279
13 ThattheHumanSoulisnotAffectedbytheLossoftheBodythrough
Death 282
14 ThattheHumanSoulCannotPossiblyPassAway 285
15 TheKnowledgethattheNecessaryofExistenceHasofItselfandof
ThingsOtherthanItself 287
IndexoftheArabicText 289
Preface
MyinterestinSharafal-Dīnal-Masʿūdībeganmorethanadecadeagowhen
I was able to establish a link between a figure who featured prominently in
an autobiographical work of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and a text transmitted in
threemanuscriptshousedattheSüleymaniyeLibrary.Al-Masʿūdī’sphilosoph-
icaloutputhadpreviouslyremainedalmostcompletelyunknownandunstud-
ied, as it fell strictly outside the narrow bounds of what, in those days, was
deemedworthahistorian’swhile.AndyetIwasimmediatelystruckbythegreat
historicalinterestofthisnewsource:itrevealedapreviouslyunknowndialec-
ticalmilieuandthuseffectivelyopenedanentirenewchapterinthehistoryof
medievalArabicphilosophyandIslamictheology,asIendeavouredtoshowin
thefirstarticleIpublished.Thankfully,thefieldhasnowmovedon,suchthat
our twelfth-century source no longer belongs to the onset of the ‘later’ ‘dark
ages’ofIslamicthought,butoccupiesacentralplaceinwhatItermthemiddle
period.
The present monograph, consisting of an interpretive study and a critical
edition of al-Masʿūdī’s Shukūk, is the most substantial output to date of a
wider long-term project on the development of Avicennan philosophy and
Ashʿarī theology during this middle period, which culminates by the end of
the twelfth century in the systematic philosophical theology of al-Rāzī. The
book, as I would like to think, offers much more than ‘an edition with an
extendedintroduction’;foroverhalfoftheinterpretivepartconsistsoffocused
case studies that examine not only a selection of al-Masʿūdī’s metaphysical
aporias,butalsotheirbackgroundstartingwithAvicenna.Thereremainsmuch
room,ofcourse,forfurtherresearch:mostobviously,severaldiscussionsinthe
Shukūkawaitstudy,andsodoesthelaterreceptionofal-Masʿūdī’scriticisms
andideas,especiallyinal-Rāzī’sthought.
The publication of this monograph has been made possible with gener-
ous support recently, and gratefully, received from the Arts and Humanities
ResearchCouncilformyproject,‘TheReceptionofAvicennanPhilosophyin
theTwelfthCentury’.Iwouldliketoexpressmysincerethankstothenumer-
ouscolleagueswhoassistedinvariouswayswiththisproject,bothdirectlyand
indirectly,inparticulartoTaneliKukkonenwhoreadanentiredraftandpro-
vided invaluable feedback, and Frank Griffel who read, and commented on,
Sections 1.2–3 which cover al-Masʿūdī’s biography and oeuvre, as well as to
Roshdi Rashed, Judith Pfeiffer, Himmet Taşkömür, Robert Wisnovsky, Evrim
Binbaş,LauraHassan,AbdurrahmanAtçıl,TunaTunagöz,SamarMikatiKaissi
andCarlaChalhoub.IamgratefultotheeditorsoftheIslamicPhilosophy,The-
viii preface
ologyandScienceseries,HansDaiber,EmilieSavage-SmithandAnnaAkasoy,
for accepting to publish this monograph and for offering very helpful com-
mentsonmyfirstdraft.Mythanksalsogototheeditorialandproductionteams
atBrill,particularlyKathyvanVliet-LeighandTeddiDols.Finally,Iwouldlike
tothanktheproductionteamofTATZetwerkfortypesettingthebook,espe-
ciallyLaurieMeijers.
Introduction
ThisvolumeshedsvitalnewlightonthemiddleperiodofmedievalArabicphi-
losophyandIslamictheology.1Traditional,nineteenth-andtwentieth-century
accounts of this period have advocated a narrative in which Ashʿarī theolo-
gianslaunchedanoffensiveagainstphilosophy,resultinginitsdeclineinlater
Islamic culture, or at least in Sunnism.2 The loci classicus of this offensive
areconsideredtobeal-Ghazālī’s(d.505/1111)Tahāfutal-falāsifa(TheIncoher-
enceofthePhilosophers)andFakhral-Dīnal-Rāzī’s(d.606/1210)comprehen-
sive commentary on Avicenna’s (d. 428/1037) al-Ishārātwa-l-tanbīhāt (Point-
ers and Reminders), which are often interpreted as implementing the same
basicagenda:tounderminethephilosophicaltraditionofNeoplatonisedAris-
totelianismindefenceofatheologicalorthodoxy.Itisnowbecomingincreas-
ingly evident that this reading is reductive and simplistic, and that to gain a
sounder and more critical understanding of intellectual activity in this piv-
otal period further empirical investigation is needed. To this end, an urgent
desideratumistoredresstheorphanedstatusoftheillustrious‘classics’ofour
traditionalcanon,suchasthetwotextsjustmentioned,by‘repopulating’the
interimgaps.Keytothiscontextualisationistheexploringof‘twilight’sources,
by which I mean sources that attest intellectual tensions, often expressed
dialectically, between established thought systems and nascent trends, and
hencerevealgradualshiftswithintheirmilieuandepoch,whichattimeslead
uptoamoredefinitiveturn.
Inthemajorshiftsthatweretakingplaceduringthetwelfthcentury,par-
ticularlyintheinterimdecadesseparatingal-Ghazālīandal-Rāzī,oneofthe
mostimportanttransitionalsourcesisSharafal-Dīnal-Masʿūdī’sal-Mabāḥith
wa-l-Shukūkʿalākitābal-Ishārātwa-l-tanbīhāt(InvestigationsandObjectionson
thePointersandReminders, henceforth the Shukūk), as I argued when I first
broughtthissourcetolight.3Al-Masʿūdī’sphilosophicalactivityhadremained
obscureforcenturies,thoughinhislifetimeheappearstohavebeenapromi-
nent figure in the East.4 His Shukūk, the earliest extant commentary on Avi-
1 Bythemiddleperiod,Ireferheretothetransitional,lateclassicalandearlypost-classical
phase,stretchingroughlyfromthelateeleventhcenturyandintothefourteenthcentury.
2 Foracritiqueofthescholarlytrendsthatunderpinthisnarrative,seeGutas,‘TheStudyof
ArabicPhilosophy’.
3 Shihadeh,‘Fromal-Ghazālītoal-Rāzī’,148ff.
4 Previously,hereceivedoccasionalmentionasanastronomer,butmanysecondarysources
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2016 | doi:10.1163/9789004302532_002
2 introduction
cenna’sIshārāt,shouldbeclassedasanaporeticcommentary,thatistosay,a
commentarywhichtargetsoneormoreworksofanearlierauthoritativefig-
urewiththeexclusivepurposeofraisingproblems,orobjections,onselected
pointstherein.Inthefifteensectionsofthistext,theauthorraisesphilosoph-
icalcomplaintsagainstanarrayofdiscussionsonphysicsandmetaphysicsin
theIshārāt,andhefrequentlysubmitsanddefendsalternativeviewsofhisown.
Thediscussionsdisplaytheinfluenceofal-Ghazālī’sTahāfutandAbūl-Barakāt
al-Baghdādī’s(d.before560/1164–1165) Muʿtabar,twosourcesthatal-Masʿūdī
citesandpraiseshighly.
Whileal-Masʿūdī’stextwasprobablynotthefirstcommentarytobewritten
ontheIshārāt,itistheearliesthistoricallysignificantcommentary.Itprovoked
thecommentator’syoungercontemporaryFakhral-Dīnal-Rāzītocomposea
dedicatedresponse, Jawābātal-masāʾilal-bukhāriyya(Responsetothe[Philo-
sophical]ProblemsfromBukhara)—thustitledbecauseal-Masʿūdīatthetime
wasbasedinthecity.The Jawābāt,asIshowedelsewhere,ismostprobablyal-
Rāzī’searliestextantphilosophicalwork,anditwasfollowedapproximatelya
decadelaterbyhiswell-knownfullcommentaryontheIshārāt,whichinaugu-
ratedthelongandvenerablecommentarialtraditiononthisAvicennantext.5
Lateron,Naṣīral-Dīnal-Ṭūsī(d.672/1274)hadaccesstoal-Rāzī’s Jawābāt,and
throughittoal-Masʿūdī’sobjections,bothofwhichgetcitedinhisowncom-
mentaryontheIshārāt.6However,beinganaporeticcommentary,asopposed
toanexegeticalone,al-Masʿūdī’sShukūkbearsanalmostaccidentalaffinityto
this later commentarial tradition, for despite having the same target text, in
termsofformandobjectivesitgenealogicallybelongstothegenreofaporias,
whichincludessuchtextsasAbūBakral-Rāzī’s(d.313/925)aporiasonGalen
andIbnal-Haytham’s(d.ca.430/1039)aporiasonPtolemy.
Intwomainrespects,however,theinterestofal-Masʿūdī’sShukūkgoeswell
beyonditsmarkingthenascenceofthecommentarialtraditiononAvicenna.
Foremost is the vital insight that, when read in context, the text affords us
intothedevelopmentofphilosophyandrationaltheologyintheEastduring
conflatedhimwiththetwelfth-centuryastrologerẒahīral-DīnAbūl-MaḥāmidMuḥammad
ibnMasʿūdibnMuḥammadal-Ghaznawī,authorofKifāyatal-taʿlīmfīṣināʿatal-tanjīm.On
thisconfusion,seeĀlDāwūd,‘Jahān-idānish’.
5 Onal-Rāzī’sJawābātandSharḥ,see,respectively,Shihadeh,‘Fakhral-Dīnal-Rāzī’sResponse’,
2–3;‘Al-Rāzī’sSharḥ’.OntheearlytraditionofcommentariesontheIshārāt,seeWisnovsky,
‘AvicennismandExegeticalPractice’.
6 Al-Ṭūsī,Ḥall,2,189–190;2,354;2,366.Inafurtherdiscussion,heappearstorefertoal-Masʿūdī
as‘oneobjector’,withoutnaminghim(Ḥall,3,10),althoughBadral-Dīnal-Tustarīreportsthat
Afḍalal-Dīnal-Kāshī(d.610/1213–1214)isintended(Muḥākamāt,f.51a).
