Qadi an-Nu'man The Fatimid Jurist and Author

Asaf A. A. Fyzee

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00082630

Qadi an-Nu'man The Fatimid Jurist and Author

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Asaf A. A. Fyzee

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Any complete biography of Qādī an-Nu'mān, the most illustrious of Ismā'īlī jurists, must necessarily be based on two kinds of sources, internal and external. He was a very prolific author, and although not all his works which were extant some 400 years ago have come down to us, a good many of his akhbār and fiqh works are still preserved. It would be necessary to go through all of these and collect all autobiographical information before the definitive biography of the Qāḍī can be attempted. Even purely fiqh works like the Mukhtaṣaru'l-Athār contain occasional references to contemporary events. The brief biography given below does not profess to be exhaustive; it is based in the main on three external sources, which seem to contain all that was definitely known of this great lawyer, the founder and the greatest exponent of Ismā'īlī jurisprudence. The difficulty of writing on Ismā'īlī subjects is well known; it is next to impossible to expect any co-operation from the sectarians themselves. I am trying, however, to obtain information from different sources, and if ever I am able to study all the works extant of the Qāḍī, a more comprehensive biography may be attempted.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , January 1934 , pp. 1 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00082630 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1934

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^{page 2 note 1} Born 608/1211; died 681/1282. See Brockelmann, in EI. ii, 397Google Scholar. The text of Ibn Khallikān is unfortunately not available to me; I have used and referred to de Slane's translation throughout, vol. iii, 565 et seq.

^{page 2 note 2} Born 773/1372; died 852/1449. El. ii, 379.

^{page 3 note 1} Kitābu'-Wulāt, Introduction, 7.

^{page 3 note 2} See Gottheil's remarks on the historians of qāḍīs, op. cit., 224 et seq.

^{page 3 note 3} JAOS. xxvii, 238.

^{page 3 note 4} Kitābu'l-Wulāt, 586–7.

^{page 3 note 5} Kitābul-Wulāt, Introduction, 43.

^{page 4 note 1} Folios 33–41. The references are to a copy of the sixth volume of the 'Uyūn recently transcribed, dated Rajab, 1351/November, 1932, and consisting of 320 folios.

^{page 4 note 2} This work has recently been mentioned by Ivanow, W. in his paper on “An Ismaili Interpretation of Gulshan-i-Rāz”, JBBBA8. (1932), 69, 72Google Scholar; by DrHamdani, in his papers on the “History of the Ismā'īlī Da'wat and its Literature”, JRAS. (1932), 126Google Scholar, and on “The Life and Times of Queen Saiyida Arwā, the Sulaihid of Yemen”, JRCAS. (1931), xcviii, 505, 506, 508 sqq., and 514 sqq.Google Scholar; and by DrKraus, Paul in “Hebräische und syrische Zitate im ismā'īlitischen Schriften”, Der Islam, xix, Heft 4, 243, 244Google Scholar. DrHamdānī, Ḥusain has very kindly drawn my attention to the fact that Aḥmad Zakī Pasha, in his foreword to the recent edition of the Rasā'il Ikhwānu'ṣ-Ṣafā' (Cairo, 1928, p. 36)Google Scholar, doubts the very existence of the 'Uyûn and its author; and that the 'Uyūn is also mentioned in a short note in the Bombay edition of the Rasā'il (a.h. 1306), iv, 409, by Shaikh Muḥammad ‘Alī Rāmpūrl. See also Ivanow, W., Guide to Ismaili Literature, No. 258, p. 62Google Scholar.

^{page 4 note 3} Nos. 14 and 44 in the list given below. This Fihrist seems to be the work of one Ismā'ïl al-Majdū' who lived in central India during a.h. 1150–1168 (about two hundred years ago) and who was a very learned scholar. He later pretended to be the ḥujjat of the occult Imām and thereupon came into the disfavour of the dā'ī of the time. It seems that it was not he whose nose was cut, but it was his son, Hibatu'l-lāh, who paid for the sins of his father; but curiously enough the appellation majdū' has stuck to the father. Ivanow, W., Guide to Ismaili Literature, Preface and No. 336, 73Google Scholar.

^{page 5 note 1} See the section “Apocrypha” in the list below.

^{page 5 note 2} To distinguish him from the “Imam” Abū Ḥanīfa, for whose account see Ibn Khallikān, iii, 555. Ismā'īlïs almost invariably call him “Saiyidnā'l-Qāḍī'n-Nu'mān”, and never by the designation Abū Ḥanīfa. He is also referred to as and .

^{page 5 note 3} Generally designated as “the Abū Ḥanīfa of the Shī'ites”. Strothmann, EI. iv, 355, sub “Shī'a”, evidently following Rauḍātu'l Jannāt of Md. Bāqir al-Khwānsārī (Tehran, 1306), p. 658. Massignon is wrong in giving the kunya of Nu'mān's father as “Abū Ḥanīfa”; he has evidently been misled by the error of Gottheil. Massignon, L., “Esquisse d'une Bibliographie Qarmate” in 'Ajabnāma (A Volume of Oriental Studies presented to Edward O. Browne on his 60th Birthday), 332Google Scholar.

^{page 6 note 4} “Ḥaiyün” is correct, as we read in the Kitābu'l-Wulāt, 596, in the notice of Qāḍī Ḥusain b. 'Alī b. Nu'mān: . Saiyidnā Idrīs and other Ismā'īlī authors have generally . So also Gottheil, op. cit., 238; and on p. 269 (1), he corrects Brockelmann, who has “Haiyan”. Mus. iii, 313, has and Rauḍātu'l-Jannāt, 658¹³, has . Occasionally one also comes across the erroneous .

^{page 6 note 5} 'Uyun, vi, folio 177. The usual nisbas are “al-Iamā'īlī” and “al-Maghribī” (JAOS. xxvii, 238; Kitābu'l-Wulāt, 586), while his sons are called “al-Qairawānī”, Gottheil, op. cit., 240, 243. I have, however, given him only the nisba according to the Ismā'īllī tradition.

^{page 6 note 1} 'Ajabnāma, 332, No. 16. He further mentions that Abū Ḥanīfa was the kunya of Muḥammad, father of Nu'mān.

^{page 7 note 1} Incidentally this also shows that at the time of his father's death in 351, Nu'mān held an important position in life. This is in complete accord with his having been appointed qāḍī in the time of Manṣūr, as we shall shortly see.

^{page 7 note 2} Vol. i, folio 33. The references are to a recent copy transcribed in 1351/1932. (Vol. i consists of 189, and vol. ii of 337 folios.) Saiyidnā Idrīs cites this passage verbatim in 'Uyūn, v, folio 396. The references to the fifth volume of the 'Uyūn are to a copy recently transcribed in 1351/1933 and consisting of 401 folios.

^{page 8 note 1} Op. cit., 228.

^{page 8 note 2} Ibn Khallikān, Rauḍātu'l-Jannāt, Mustadrak, and others.

^{page 8 note 3} Op. cit., 227, n. 3.

^{page 8 note 4} Mustadrak, iii, 313 et seq.

^{page 9 note 1} Ibid.

^{page 9 note 2} See footnote 2 to p. 7 above.

^{page 9 note 3} 'Uyūn, v, folio 378. The name given to Sabra, a suburb of Qairawān, by Manṣūr, who rebuilt it. It was Mu'izz's capital before he came to Egypt. Ibn Khal., iii, 381, notes 1 and 2. It may here be added that “Mahdīya” was the name given to a seaport town lying to the south of Tunis founded by Mahdī in 303 (Ibn Khal., i, 231), and Mu'izz called the new capital he built near old Cairo (Misr) for his own residence by his own name, “Mu'izzīya” (Ibn Khal., iii, 380).

^{page 10 note 1} His words are cited verbatim in 'Uyün, v, folios 378–379.

^{page 10 note 2} 'Uyūn, v, folio 379.

^{page 10 note 3} See Ibn Khallikān's account of Mu'izz, iii, 377 sqq.

^{page 10 note 4} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 188.

^{page 10 note 5} Gottheil, op. cit., 269.

^{page 12 note 1} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 30. This is a curious statement and inconsistent with the accounts of other authorities, and even with the general account of his life given by Saiyidnā Idrīs. It probably refers not to his official rank, but to his real position. It is generally understood that it was his sons ‘Alī and Muḥammad who became Chief Qāḍls, and had the “official” title of Qāḍī'l-Quḍāt, see infra, p. 14, n. 1.

^{page 12 note 2} Ibn Khallikān.

^{page 12 note 3} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 33.

^{page 13 note 1} 'Uyūn, vi, ff. 33, 35.

^{page 13 note 2} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 41.

^{page 13 note 3} Is this a reference to his ta'wīl books ?

^{page 13 note 4} Ibn Khal., iii, 365–6.

^{page 14 note 1} Kitābu'l-Wulāt, 590₂₂.

^{page 14 note 2} Mustadrah, iii, 313 sqq.

^{page 15 note 1} Gottheil, op. cit., 229. The MS. is Berlin, No. 9662.

^{page 15 note 2} (1933) BSOS., vii. 33–9.

^{page 18 note 1} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 40.

^{page 19 note 1} Sing, juz' “part”. It is not possible to say exactly what the extent of the juz' was in those days; to-day it is reckoned as 16 pages. See Hamdānī, in JBAS. for 04, 1933, p. 369Google Scholar.

^{page 21 note 1} . For a similar Shi'ite tradition see the ḥadīth lexicon, Majma'u'l-Baḥrain, s.v. . Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, the learned editor of Ma'ārif (Azamgadh, U.P.), kindly informs me that similar traditions exist also in the Sunnite collections, e.g. Bukhari, Ṣaḥīḥ, (a) Ed. Dāru'l-Kutub al-Miṣrīya, Cairo, a.h. 1327, Kitābu'l-I'tiṣām, iv, 1766Google Scholar; (b) Ed. Musṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, Cairo, a.h. 1345, partix, p. 126, 1. 14, to p. 127, 1. 1. I regret I have no access to Krehl's edition. Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, Ed. Dāru'l-Kutub al-Misrīya, Cairo, a.h. 1327, Kitābu'l-'Ilm, ii, 416₄. Tirmidhī, Ed. Mujtabā'ī Press, Dihlī, a.h. 1342, Kitābul-Fitan, ii, 4₁. Sh. Md. Ṭāhir Fatanī (of Pattan, Gujrat, see El. iii, 696)Google Scholar, Majma' Biḥāru'l-Anwār, , Nawalkishore ed., i, 322Google Scholar; iii, 124.

[f. 34].

^{page 22 note 1} The word walāya has several meanings, including “guardianship”. It may also be pronounced wilāya; but the Ismā'īlīs always pronounce it with a fatḥa. It means, in its technical sense, the love and devotion which the true believer (mu'min) must have towards the Imām and the ahlu'l-bait. This duty is clearly laid down in the waṣīya of ‘Alī preserved in the Da'a'imu'l-I slām. Cf. Fyzee, , Ismaili Law of Wills, 70–1; 74–5Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 2} This letter (sijill) is preserved in ‘Uyūn, vi, folio 268.

^{page 23 note 1} .

^{page 23 note 2} Folio 19. This Risāla consists of 25–30 small folios.

^{page 23 note 3} This is mentioned by Fyzee, in hia “Ismaili Law of Mut'a”: JBBRAS. for 1932, n.s., vol. viii, p. 88Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 4} 'Uyūn, vi, folio 201. This fact is also mentioned by Gottheil, op. cit., 222.

^{page 24 note 1} A copy of vol. i has only recently been acquired by the School of Oriental Studies, London. BSOS. for 1933, vii, 33–9.

^{page 27 note 1} A title never applied to Qāḍī an-Nu'mān, see note 1 to p. 12.

^{page 28 note 1} Although the sections C and D are so divided, it is not always easy to distinguish clearly between a work dealing with ta'wīl and another with ḥaqā'iq.

^{page 30 note 1} Maqrīzī, Khitat, Cairo ed., has (, ii, 163₁₃. See also O'Leary, , His. Fat. Khal., 89Google Scholar.

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