VOLUME 5 201 4

The Mawlana Rumi Review is an annual academic review devoted to the life,
thought, poetry and legacy of Mawlana (an honoric meaning Our master)
Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273). It is a publication of the Rumi Institute, Near East
University, Cyprus, and the Rumi Studies Group at the Centre for Persian and
Iranian Studies, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK.
Website www.mawlanarumireview.com

The Mawlana Rumi Review publishes articles, reports, poems, review articles
and book reviews in English and French. The editor welcomes articles on
Rumis art of story telling, poetic imagery, theology, spiritual psychology,
ecumenism, erotic spirituality, pedagogy, hermeneutics, ethics, epistemology,
prophetology, metaphysics, cosmology, the heritage of Rumis thought in
modern and medieval literary history, the interpretation of and commentary
on his works such as the Mathnawi and Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi, and literary
translations of his poetry.

Submissions
Address all corrrespondence to the Editor:
Dr Leonard Lewisohn
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter,
Stocker Road, Exeter, ex4 4nd, uk
Email: l.lewisohn@exeter.ac.uk

Address general enquiries concerning subscription and distribution to:

Mr Yasin Salazar, Managing Editor,
Mawlana Rumi Review
119 Charterhouse Street, London, ec1m 6aa, uk
Email: info@mawlanarumireview.com

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Postage to the rest of the world, add: 5

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VOLUME 5 201 4

Editor
Leonard Lewisohn
University of Exeter, uk
Managing Editor
Yasin Salazar
Matmedia Productions, London, uk
Assistant Editors
Leili Anvar- Chendero inalco, Paris, France
Roderick Grierson
Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
Franklin Lewis University of Chicago, usa
James Morris Boston College, usa
Shahram Pazouki
Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Tehran, Iran
Muhammad Isa Waley British Library, uk
Poetry Editor
Paul Losensky
Indiana University, usa
First published in 2014 by Archetype
on behalf of the Rumi Institute (Founding Director, Gkalp Kmil),
Near East University, Cyprus,
and the Rumi Studies Group at the Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies,
Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK

Copyright Archetype and the contributors, 2014

All rights reserved.
Except for brief quotations, this work, or any part thereof, may not be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Title calligraphy by Tom Perkins

Figural calligraphy on back cover by Jila Peacock
Typeset by Agnesi Text, Hadleigh, Suffolk
Printed by Imprint Digital, Exeter

issn 20423357
isbn 9781901383478

Mawlana Rumi Review

Advisory Council
William Chittick, State University of New York, Stony Brook, usa
Carl Ernst, University of North Carolina, usa
Husayn Muhyiddin Ghomshei, Tehran, Iran
Talat Sait Halman, Bilkent University, Turkey
Mahmut Erol Kili, Marmara University, Turkey
Alan Williams, University of Manchester, uk
Ian Netton, University of Exeter, uk
 Contents

Cover Illustration: A Mevlevi Neyzen by Jean Brindesi 7

Roderick Grierson
A Little Indicates Much: Structure and Meaning in the Prefaces
to Rumis Mathnawi, Books IIII 14
Carl W. Ernst
Jalal al-Din Rumis Mysticism of Love-based Annihilation 26
Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh
Rumi and Individuality 73
Robert Abdul Hayy Darr
A Sixteenth-Century Interpretation of the Islamization
of the Mongols Attributed to Jalal al-Din Rumi 88
Devin DeWeese
The Vernal Friends Return A Ghazal from Rumis
Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi 106
Translated by Franklin Lewis
All the Invisible Kingdoms: Resuhi Baykara and
the Mevlevi Mukabele 107
Roderick Grierson
cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi of Damascus (d. 1143/1731)
and the Mawlawi Sufi Tradition 136
Ahmad Sukkar
Rumis Spiritual Ornithology: Falcons in Mathnawi, Book II 171
Alan Williams
Sahl Tustaris (d. 283/896) Esoteric Quranic Commentary
and Rumis Mathnawi: Part 1 180
Maryam Musharraf and Leonard Lewisohn
6 contents

book reviews
Nahal Tajadod, Rumi: The Fire of Love
Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love
Reviewed by Marcia Hermansen 204
Ismacil Rusukhi Anqarawi, The Lamp of Mysteries (Misbah al-Asrar):
A Commentary on the Light Verse of the Quran, edited and translated
by Bilal Kuspinar
Reviewed by Alberto Fabio Ambrosio 207
William C. Chittick, In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations
in Islamic Thought, edited by Mohammed Rustom, Atif Khalil,
and Kazuyo Murata
Reviewed by Muhammad Isa Waley 210
Seyyid Fazl Mehmed Pasa, Serh- Evrad- Mevleviyye: Hz. Mevlnnn
Dualarndaki Hikmetler, edited by Tahir Galip Seratl
Seyyid Fazil Mehmed Pasa, Mevleviyye Silsilesi, edited by
Tahir Hafzalioglu
Reviewed by Slobodan Ilic 216
Defter-i Dervsn: Yenikap Mevlevhnesi Gnlkleri, edited
by Bayram Ali Kaya and Sezai Kk
Reviewed by Roderick Grierson 222
Sefik Can, Mevlna: Hayat, Sahsiyeti, Fikirleri
Reviewed by Hlya Kk 233
Lloyd Ridgeons review of Jawid Mojaddedi, Beyond Dogma:
Rumis Teachings on Friendship with God and Early Sufi Theories
Response by Jawid Mojaddedi 238

notes on contributors 243

 cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi of Damascus
(d. 1143/1731) and the Mawlawi Sufi
Tradition
Ah mad Su k k ar

Although cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi of Damascus (16411731) was not

formally a Mawlawi Sufi, he claimed to have absorbed the spirituality
of Rumi and wrote passionately in defence of Rumis Sufi poetry and
the Mawlawi tradition. He ably synthesized Ibn cArabis teachings
concerning beauty and love with Rumis teachings on these topics as
well as sacred music (Sama c) and sacred dance (Tawajud ). This article
introduces the significance of his mystical philosophy and his literary
defence of the dervishes and ideals of the Mawlawi Order. It reviews
those of his works that are relevant to the Mawlawiyya, including al-
Sirat al-sawi sharh dibajat al-Mathnawi ( The Straight Way in the
Exposition of the Elegant Styles of the Mathnawi ) and al-cUqud al-
luluiyya fi tariq al-sada al-Mawlawiyya (The Strings of Pearls in the
Way of the Mawlawi Lords). The conclusion summarizes the impact of
Rumi on Nabulusi, on the one hand, and the significance of Nabulusi
as a commentator and exegete of the Mawlawi doctrine and Rumis
works, on the other.1

1 This is an introductory article to books and articles on Nabulusi and the

Mawlawiyya, which include critical editions, accompanied by introductions and
extended translations of relevant tracts and poems. They discuss interdisciplinary
historical concepts relevant to Nabulusis legal and mystical view of music and
dance and the phenomenology of the body and architecture in the Mawlawi Sufi
Tradition.
I am grateful to Leonard Lewisohn for his guidelines and comments on this
article, to Bakri Aladdin for providing me with relevant sources, to Samer Akkach
and Nader El-Bizri for their academic support, to Wael Samhouri for his con-
tinuous spiritual inspiration about music, and to the Threshold Society for their
lovely encouragement and for triggering my initial interest in Rumi.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 137

i . N a b u lu s i a n d I s l a m i c P h i lo s o p h y a n d S u f i s m

A Short Biography of Nabulusi

cAbd al-Ghani ibn Ismacil al-Nabulusi was born in Damascus to a not-
able Damascene family of religious scholars.2 His family prided itself
on the ancestral lineage of two eminent roots: Jamaca and Qudama.
Both of them were associated with the city of Jerusalem, hence their
appellation maqadisa (the folk from Jerusalem).3 Through the Qudama
family, they traced their genealogy back to the Prophets companion
and second Caliph, cUmar ibn al-Khattab (d. 644).4
One notable member of the ancestry of cAbd al-Ghani settled for a
while in Nablus, a Palestine city to the north of Jerusalem. He moved
to Damascus shortly after the Ottoman takeover. His family was
identified as al-Nabulusi (the one from Nablus).5 cAbd al-Ghanis great-
grandfather and father and cAbd al-Ghani himself built up the reputa-
tion of al-Nabulusis family in Damascus.6

2 For premodern Arabic sources on cAbd al-Ghani, see Husayn ibn Tucma al-
Baytamani, al-Mashrab al-hani al-qudsi fi karamat al-Shaykh cAbd al-Ghani
Nabulusi (Prin. MS. 1808); Kamal al-Din al-Ghazzi, al-Wird al-unsi wa-l-warid al-
qudsi fi tarjamat al- carif cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, ed. Samer Akkach (Leiden: Brill
2012); Muhammad Khalil Ibn cAli al-Muradi, Silk al-durar fi a cyan al-qarn al-thani
cashar, 4 vols in 2 (Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-Isami n.d.), vol. 3, pp. 3038. On the
importance of these sources, see Samer Akkach, cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi: Islam
and the Enlightenment (Oxford: Oneworld Publications 2007), pp. 13739.
3 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 20. 4 Ibid.
5 On the Jamaca and Qudama families, see ibid., pp. 2021; Elizabeth Sirriyeh, Sufi
Visionary of Ottoman Damascus: cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, 16411731 (London and
New York: Routledge Curzon 2005), pp. 34; idem, Whatever Happened to the
Banu Jamaca? The Tail of a Scholarly Family in Ottoman Syria, British Journal of
Middle Eastern Studies 28/1 (2001), pp. 5556.
6 On cAbd al-Ghanis great-grandfather and father, see Akkach, al-Nabulusi, pp. 21
24; and Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, pp. 45. On cAbd al-Ghani, see, in addition to the
aforementioned two sources, Akkach, cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, EI 3 (2012), I, pp.
2028; idem, Intimate Invocations: Al-Ghazzis Biography of cAbd al-Ghani al-
Nabulusi (16411731) (Leiden: Brill 2012); idem, Letters of a Sufi Scholar: The
Correspondence of cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (16411731) (Leiden: Brill 2010); W. A. S.
Khalidi, cAbd al-Ghani b. Ismacil al-Nabulusi , EI 2 (1960), I, p. 60; Barbara Von
Schlegell, Sufism in the Ottoman Arab World: Shaykh cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi
(d. 1143/1731) (Ph.D. dissertation, Berkeley: University of California 1997); idem,
cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (d. 1731) and the Opponents of Sufism in Damascus,
Turkish Studies Association Bulletin 18/1 (1994), p. 124; Wendy Doniger, ed.,
Merriam-Websters Encyclopedia of World Religions (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-
Webster 1999), p. 3; Carl Brockelmann, cAbd al-Ghani, EI 1 (1913), I, pp. 3738; Bakri
138 ahmad sukkar

By the age of five cAbd al-Ghani had memorized the Quran.7 The
loss of his father, his closest teacher, in 1652 at the age of twelve was
partially compensated for by the special aection shown him by his
mother.8 He also lost at the same time his distinguished Hadith
teacher, Najm al-Din al-Ghazzi, who had granted him his general
teaching licence.9 A senior Hanbali scholar, cAbd al-Baqi al-Hanbali (d.
1660), who is said to have acted like a foster-father to him,10 also had a
decisive mentoring inuence on him. By the age of twenty, he had
mastered many core texts of both the exoteric and esoteric sciences of
Arabic language and Islamic religious studies, and he had already read
the works of eminent Sufi masters, such as Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235), and
Ibn cArabi (d. 1240).11
At the age of twenty-five he impressed Damascene nobles with his
poetry praising the Prophet. Shortly after this successful performance
he visited Istanbul. On his way he met the leader of the Qadiriyya Sufi
Order, cAbd al-Razzaq al-Kilani, who warmly welcomed cAbd al-Ghani
and initiated him into the order. In the Ottoman capital he met several
leading figures in the world of learning.12 According to Samer Akkach
it is likely that he was exposed there to the anti-Sufi sentiment of
Qadizade Mehmed (d. 1635).13 His visit, however, seemingly led to his
short appointment as judge at the court of Midan, an old suburb
outside the walls of old Damascus.14 Ten years later cAbd al-Ghani was
initiated into the Naqshbandiyya Order by the renowned Naqshbandi
Shaykh Sacid al-Din al-Balkhi during his stay in Damascus.15 Among
the other major Sufi Orders (tariqas) that Nabulusi encountered, it is
those of the Mawlawiyya and Khalwatiyya that attracted a certain
degree of his attention.16
Akkach writes: cAbd al-Ghani was largely a self-made figure, who
believed in the enlightening power of the word and the epistemo-
logical utility of the text, and who, accordingly, relied more on texts
than on masters in developing his intellectual skills and guiding his

Aladdin, al-Masrad al-naqdi bi-asma muallafat al-Shaykh cAbd al-Ghani al-

Nabulusi, Majallat Majma c al-Lugha al- cArabiyya bi-Dimashq 59/1 (1984), pp. 97
115; 59/2 (1984), pp. 33488; idem, cAbdalgani an-Nabulusi (1143/1731): Oeuvre, vie et
doctrine, 2 vols. (Ph.D. dissertation, Paris: Universit de Paris I 1985).
7 Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, p. 5; Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 25. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid.
10 Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, p. 6; John Voll, The non-Wahhabi Hanbalis of eighteenth-
century Syria, Der Islam 49 (1972), p. 287.
11 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 25. 12 Ibid., pp. 2728. 13 Ibid., pp. 2830.
14 Ibid., p. 28. 15 Ibid., p. 31. 16 Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, p. 113.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 139

own spiritual growth. 17 His devotion to reading and writing, Akkach

adds, marks a phase of spiritual and intellectual growth that can be
identified loosely as extending for about twenty-five years, from the
moment he rose to the literary and mystical scenes in Damascus until
the age of fifty, when he broke out of his last retreat and embarked on
a series of journeys.18 Between 1688 and 1700 he journeyed into
Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the Hijaz region.19
cAbd al-Ghani grew up and lived for over sixty years at the house of
his great-grandfather near the Umayyad mosque.20 He then built a
large house in the suburb of al-Salihiyya on the foothills overlooking
the old city of Damascus, a short walk from the mausoleum of Ibn
cArabi. He settled there with his family, where he remained until the
end of his life.21 He died at the age of ninety-three (according to the
Muslim lunar calendar) and was buried in a domed pavilion he had
built in the garden of his house. The place of his residence was later
developed into a centre for religious learning, and it has continued to
function as such under the patronage of his posterity until the present
day.22

Nabulusis Works
cAbd al-Ghani was a prolific author, with over 280 titles to his name.23
Only about fifty-four of them have been published to date less than
20 per cent of his total oeuvre.24 Some of them are vast and encyclo-
paedic. According to his own autobiographical notes, he contributed
to seven disciplines: mystical sciences, prophetic traditions, theology,

17 Akkach, al-Nabulusi. 18 Ibid., pp. 3435.

19 On cAbd al-Ghanis journeys, see Akkach, The Poetics of Concealment: Al-
Nabulusis Encounter with the Dome of the Rock, Muqarnas 22 (2005), pp. 11027;
Sirriyeh, The Mystical Journeys of cAbd al-Ghani al-NabuIusi, Die Welt des Islams
25 (1985), pp. 8496; idem, The Journeys of cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi in Palestine,
Journal of Semitic Studies 24/1 (1979), pp. 5569; Ziyarat of Syria in a Rihla of cAbd
al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1050/16411143/1731), Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 3/2
(1979), pp. 10922; Von Kremer, Des Scheichs cAbd-ol-Ghanij-en-Nabolsis Reisen in
Syrien, Aegypten und Hidschas, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Cl. VI (1851), pp. 10139; idem, Des Scheichs cAbd-ol-
Ghanij-en-Nabolsis Reisen in Syrien, Aegypten und Hidschas, Sitzungsberichte der
Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Cl. V (1850), pp. 31356, 82341.
20 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 25. 21 Ibid., p. 129. 22 Ibid., p. 131.
23 Akkach, al-Nabulusi; Aladdin, cAbdalgani.
24 Akkach, al-Nabulusi; idem, Intimate; idem, Letters.
140 ahmad sukkar

divine law, Quran recitation, history, and literature.25 His works include
theological, exegetical, legal, and literary studies, four travel memoirs,
four major anthologies of poetry, scores of mystical texts, a major
index of prophetic traditions, a treatise on architecture, a book on
agriculture, a volume on the interpretation of dreams, and many com-
mentaries on mystical poems and religious texts. They also include
many responses to, and critiques of, the works of his contemporaries,
revealing rigorous intellectual exchanges across the Islamic world.26
In his insightful books and articles the architect and historian Samer
Akkach has reviewed not only Nabulusis works but also the
secondary sources concerning them, such as those of Barbara Von
Schlegell, Bakri Aladdin, and Elizabeth Sirriyeh, to name but a few.27
His comprehensive review of their topics examines the contexts in the
East and the West in which the original works and the secondary
sources were written. Akkach groups Nabulusis works thematically
according to the three specifically interrelated categories of consoli-
dation (tasil ), exegesis (tafsir ) and hermeneutics (tawil ), in addition
to more general categories on literature, travel, poetry and other sub-
jects. The first category is concerned with independent reasoning and
active investigation (ijtihad ) in Islamic theology and jurisprudence,
wherein Nabulusi engaged in disputation with the strict scholars of
jurisprudence. The second category is concerned with explaining,
detailing, and reintroducing many of the original sources of the most
prominent scholars of the Islamic tradition in general and the Sufi
tradition in particular. The third category is concerned with herme-
neutics and creative works that deal with religious topics related to
the general public, which represented Nabulusis attempt to introduce
a new understanding of Islamic theology.28
Akkach also refers to Nabulusis works specifically under the fol-
lowing categories: first, Nabulusis early hermeneutical works, which
he wrote in his mid-thirties and which include Nabulusis most
original insights and fresh understanding of the teachings of Islam.29
He wrote, Akkach describes, several position-defining, defensive, and
interpretive texts during this phase, when he was still establishing his

25 Nabulusi, al-Haqiqa wa-l-majaz fi rihlat bilad al-sham wa-misr wa-l-hijaz, ed.

Riyad cAbd al-Hamid Murad, 3 vols (Damascus: Dar al-Macrifa 1989), vol. 1, pp. 266
80.
26 Akkach, al-Nabulusi. 27 Akkach, Intimate, pp. 70*92*. 28 Ibid., pp. 118*38*.
29 Akkach, al-Nabulusi.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 141

authority.30 He also wrote treatises in response to rising anti-Sufi senti-

ment. As for his mature, major, and authoritative works,31 Akkach
refers to the Jawahir al-nusus (The Jewels of the Texts), a two-volume
commentary on Ibn cArabis Fusus al-hikam ( The Bezels of Wisdom)
and al-Wujud al-haqq ( The Real Being), a long and detailed exposition
of the theology of the doctrine of the Unity of Being.32 Aladdin, the
editor of the latter book, claims it to be the most important text in
Arabic Islamic thought in the seventeenth century.33 Lastly, his criti-
cal works include treatises analysing the misunderstanding of the
theology of the Ashcariyyas theory of causality.34 He also composed
some controversial works on topics such as non-erotic, homosexual
love and the legality of smoking.35
Reecting on Nabulusis textual approach, Akkach says:

In choosing the path of spirituality, cAbd al-Ghani did not forsake

completely the familys long interest in Islamic law, nor did he
abandon his engagement with the world but rather tried to bring
spirituality and worldliness into a new harmony. In many ways,
his works document a life-long struggle with the conicting
demands of this two-sided approach.36

Composed with a poetic and aesthetic sensibility towards the land-

scape and urban settings, cAbd al-Ghanis travel memoirs, Akkach
adds, furnish us with valuable details about the personalities, social
customs, buildings, and structures of seventeenth-century Ottoman
Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, and the Hijaz. The memoirs represent
a combination of several literary genres such as travel writing, with
reportage on the virtues of cities and palaces (what is known in Arabic
as fadail ),37 including his precious descriptions of many Mawlawi
lodges in major Middle Eastern cities.
Nabulusi wrote numerous commentaries on key religious texts,
which can be seen as creative attempts to re-cultivate classical Islamic
literature within a new culture of reading and self-education. His com-
mentaries, many of which were extensive, often expand the inter-
pretive horizon of the content far beyond the limits of the original
text. 38 Several of his commentaries represent a convergence of two
30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Nabulusi, al-Wujud, p. 1.
34 Akkach, al-Nabulusi. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid.
37 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, pp. 4142. 38 Akkach, al-Nabulusi.
142 ahmad sukkar

trends of mystical thought: the Andalusian-Maghribi and the Perso-

Anatolian trends. He also wrote on the Sufi Orders into which he was
initiated in general, and on the Mawlawi Order in particular.39 His
mystical writings, among which one finds the first volume of his great
poetry collection (Diwan), one of his most original works, were domi-
nated by the concept of the Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud ).40

Nabulusi s Significance as a Thinker and Mystic

Nabulusi has rightly been described as an eminent Sufi scholar and a
leading Muslim polymath of the early modern period.41 Although he
is often presented as a Sufi saint, Akkach adds, his thought and teach-
ings were of a much wider scope.42 He presents an unconventional
model of a scholar-mystic and an advocate of truth and social justice
(the poor are my soldiers, he often declared, I am devoted to them
in this and the other worlds, . . . ).43 This can be clearly seen in his
defence of the Mawlawi dervishes (see Part II below).
The prominent contemporaries of Nabulusi include the great
Persian philosopher Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1050/1640) and the Otto-
man Turkish Mawlawi master and commentator on Rumis Mathnawi,
Ismacil Rusukhi Anqarawi (d. 1041/1631). Although Nabulusi was not an
Illuminationist philosopher, as was the case with these two prominent
scholars, he composed an important treatise on the human reality,
which represents his own original interpretation of a famous philo-
sophical treatise by the Illuminationist philosopher Shihab al-Din
Yahya al-Suhrawardi, Shaykh al-Ishraq (d. 587/1191).44
Apart from his writings Nabulusi s inuence was felt through a
wide circle of disciples and followers, including inuential figures in
various fields of study and regions.45 However, the inuential legacy
39 Khalidi, al-Nabulusi.
40 Ibid. Nabulusi, Diwan al-haqaiq wa-majmu c al-raqaiq fi sarih al-mawajid al-
ilahiyya wa-l-tajalliyat al-rabbaniyya wa-l-futuhat al-aqdasiyya (Cairo: al-Matbaca
al-Sharafiyya 1306 A.H./1888 or 1889).
41 Akkach, al-Nabulusi. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid.; al-Baytamani, al-Mashrab, f. 36.
44 See Nabulusi, Miftah al-Futuh fi Mishkat al-Jism wa-Zujajat al-Nafs wa-Misbah al-
Ruh (MS. t6099 Z. ah.). My doctoral thesis entitled Structures of Light: The Body and
Architecture in Premodern Islam, currently under the supervision of Samer Akkach,
Nader El-Bizri, Neil Leach, and Mark Cousins at the London Consortium (Birkbeck,
University of London) is an architectural commentary on, and a critical edition of
this text.
45 Akkach, al-Nabulusi.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 143

of al-Nabulusi began to wane, as Akkach observes, with the emer-

gence of the Arab Awakening movement and the rise of new liberal
thought under the inuence of the European Enlightenment in the
nineteenth century.46 Nevertheless, interest in his works has resur-
faced over the past three decades.47
Nabulusis writings are now often discussed in relation to struggles
in the early modern movement of the Arab East that foreshadow those
occurring today.48 A notable example is Akkachs cAbd al-Ghani al-
Nabulusi: Islam and the Enlightenment.49 Nabulusis works include
topics such as Islamic fundamentalism, individualism in religious
teaching and politics, Arab identity, religious rationalism, openness,
and tolerance.50 cAbd al-Ghani drew inspiration for the latter from Ibn
cArabi.

Nabulusi and Ibn cArabi

Ibn cArabi, Akkach says, played a significant role in cAbd al-Ghanis
life, who grew up in the shadow of controversy surrounding the great
master .51 The young cAbd al-Ghani, he adds, was inspired by Ibn
cArabis ideas, avidly read his work, and defended him vigorously
against his critics.52 Unlike Ibn cArabi, however, he did not go through
phases of mystical guidance under Sufi masters, and he depended on
book learning. During some stages of his life he used to focus on the
conventional religious curriculum in the morning, while in the

46 Ibid.
47 For further reflections on the critical aspects of the importance of Nabulusi for
modern readers, see Akkach, Intimate, pp. 87*92*.
48 See Steve Tamari, The cAlim as Public Intellectual: Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (d.
1731 ce) as a Scholar-Activist, in Intellectuals and Civil Society in the Middle East:
Liberalism, Modernity, and Political Discourse, ed. Mohammed Bamyeh (London:
I. B. Tauris 2012), pp. 93109. A version of this article was also published in the
Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn cArabi Society 48 (2010), pp. 12140.
49 For reflections on it, see Akkach, Intimate, pp. 83*84*.
50 Akkach, al-Nabulusi; Abdul-Karim Rafiq, cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi: Religious
Tolerance and Arabness in Ottoman Damascus, in Transformed Landscapes:
Essays on Palestine and the Middle East in Honor of Walid Khalidi, eds. Camille
Mansour and Leila Fawaz (Cairo and New York: American University in Cairo Press
2009), p. 1.
51 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 11. On Ibn cArabi, see Akkach, Cosmology and Architecture
in Premodern Islam: An Architectural Reading of Mystical Ideas (Albany: State
University of New York Press 2005), pp. 2225.
52 Akkach, al-Nabulusi, p. 11.
144 ahmad sukkar

evening he used to switch to mystical sciences, and particularly to the

reading and study of Ibn cArabis works.53 At the heart of Ibn cArabis
teaching is the concept of the Unity of Being, which cAbd al-Ghani
adopted, defended passionately, and developed into a systematic
philosophy of being.54 He often cites Ibn cArabi in his texts, including
those on the Mawlawi tradition in which he synthesizes Ibn cArabis
teaching with that of Rumi. In one place in his Diwan al-haqaiq, in
the context of explaining the concept of the multiplicity of creation
versus the oneness of the Creator, cAbd al-Ghani composed some
enigmatic verses about the similarities and dierences between Ibn
cArabi and himself. He speaks of the light of Ibn cArabi that came from
the West, that is, from Andalusia in Spain where he was born, versus
his own light from the East, that is, from the Levant where he lived,
describing himself as a branch of the tree of Ibn cArabi:

We are one being, which is the Self of which

I am the lightning ash as he is also a ray of lightning.
For light and fire [Ibn cArabi and cAbd al-Ghani] are the same in
the eye of otherness; the fire fades out under the light of the
sun. However, it is a burning fire [cAbd al-Ghanis vigorous
defence of Ibn cArabi against his critics].
It (the Divine Self ) is as the sun behind a wall;
when a hole in it is closed [Ibn cArabi, who passed away]
it appears from another hole [cAbd al-Ghanis transmission
of the doctrine of the Unity of Being].
I sought what relates to me of its aairs (the human reality which
belongs to the divine reality)
just as some of these aairs were concerned with creation.
Divine gratification comes upon his secret and from it, which
is our secret as long as the pigeon sings.55

I I . N ab u lu s i a n d R u m i
Reecting on cAbd al-Ghanis link to the Mawlawiyya, Von Schlegell
cites a symbolic narrative by a close disciple of cAbd al-Ghani:

53 Ibid., p. 35. 54 Ibid., p. 89. On the Unity of Being, see ibid., pp. 8889.
55 Nabulusi, Diwan, p. 258 (vv. 28).
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 145

Safi al-Din al-cAlwani (d. 1193/779) recorded an experience of al-

Nabulusi of great Uwaysi significance [i.e. the significance of
receiving knowledge from the heart of the intimate teacher
according to the Naqshbandi Sufi Order]. Safi al-Din had been
studying al-Nabulusis work on Wahdat al-Wujud (the Wujud al-
Haqq ) with the master in his home. A musician came into the
lesson one day and proceeded to play the ney (ute) for al-
Nabulusi. Safi al-Din relates:

I said to myself, The master must have taken to the Mawlawi

tariqah and this is why he approves of listening to music. After
the ney player had kissed al-Nabulusis hand and gone, al-
Nabulusi turned to me and said When I went to Konya [in
1075/1664] I went to visit the tomb of Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-
Rumi. The gate had been locked but as I approached, the lock
split in half and fell to the ground. Inside, there was the
ruhaniyah [spirituality] of al-Rumi in the form of a large white
bird perched on the head of the sepulchre. When the bird saw
me it began to shrink. It shrank to the size of the tiniest bird. I
opened my mouth, the bird ew in, and I ate it.56

Commenting on the meaning of this narrative, Von Schlegell says:

We knew that al-Nabulusi loved the Mawlawis as a group but that

he never sought formal initiation into the order. By this waking
vision at the young age of twenty-five, al-Nabulusi showed that
he had no need for human instruction in the teachings of Rumi.
In answer to his students unspoken misgivings about al-
Nabulusis condoning of music, in which he supposed al-
Nabulusi was a Mawlawi initiate, al-Nabulusi revealed that he

56 Ghazzi, Al-Wird, p. 340 (ch. 6); Von Schlegell, Sufism, p. 197. See Aladdin,
Muqaddima: Al-Tariqa al-Mawlawiyya: Jalal al-Din al-Rumi (672/1273) fi Muallafat
cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1143/1731), in Nabulusi, al- cUqad al-luluiyya fi tariq al-
sada al-Mawlawiyya, ed. Bakri Aladdin (Damascus: Dar Naynawa 2009), pp. 1516.
This story threw Safi al-Din into an ecstatic state, for it was the first time al-
Nabulusi had spoken to him of anything other than his lessons. He became a close
disciple of al-Nabulusi after this incident, Ghazzi, al-Wird, p. 340; Von Schlegell,
Sufism, p. 197, n. 586. The quotation between the square brackets about the date
in which Nabulusi visited Rumis mausoleum belongs to Von Schlegell.
146 ahmad sukkar

had actually consumed the ruhaniyah of Rumi.57 What use would

an oath to a human Mawlawi shaykh be to al-Nabulusi after such
an experience? 58

Aladdin reects on this vision as follows:

In this symbolic story, cAbd al-Ghani wanted to inform his student

Mustafa al-Hamwi al-cAlwani that he does not belong to the
Mawlawi order. Despite the fact that he was initiated in the Qadiri
and Naqshbandi orders, he had no students in Sufi practice. He
preferred to teach his books and the books of Ibn cArabi that
explain the Unity of Being.
cAbd al-Ghani praised the Sufi shaykhs and used to meet them.
However, he was not content with the popular/folkloric Sufism
which is based on dictating the seeker some rules in mysticism
and memorising some prayers and dhikr.59

For Nabulusi, Rumi was the glorified master (al-mawla al-mu caz. z. am
sultan al-culama ) 60 and the leading spiritual guide, the perfect mag-
nanimous gnostic, the sea of the science of reality, the dragoman of
the divine presence, the king of scholars, who is as clear as the stars in
the sky (al-shaykh al-imam, wa-l-carif al-kamil al-humam, bahr al-
culum al-haqiqiyya, wa-turjuman al-hadra al-ilahiyya, sultan al-
culama, wa-l-z. ahir z. uhur nujum al-sama ).61 Rumis shaykh and
soulmate, Shams al-Din al-Tabrizi, was a knower and a perfect man
(al-carif al-kamil al-muhaqqiq ).62 In his controversial book Ghayat al-
matlub fi mahabbat al-mahbub (The Ultimate Purpose in Loving the
Beloved), Nabulusi referred to the spiritual love between Mawlana
and his disciple Husam al-Din, who edited for him his book of
Mathnawi that takes precedence [among works] concerning the
divine sciences (ucawwal fi al-culum al-ilahiyya calayh ).63

57 Von Schlegell says: I do not believe that al-Nabulusi considered himself an

incarnation of Rumi after the vision. [It is] only that he became united with Rumis
teaching in an intimate way, ibid., p. 198, n. 587.
58 Ibid., pp. 19798. 59 Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 1617.
60 Nabulusi, al-cUqud (2009), pp. 63. 61 Ibid., p. 35. 62 Ibid., p. 63.
63 Nabulusi, Ghayat al-Matlub fi Mahabbat al-Mahbub, ed. Bakri Aladdin and Shirin
Daquri (Damascus: Dar Shahrazad al-Sham 2007), p. 170; Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp.
26, 26, n. 22; Akkach, Letters of Sufi Scholar, p. 22.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 147

Nabulusis Writings on the Mawlawi Order

Apart from Aladdins succinct yet brief writings, little has been written
on the relationship between Nabulusi and the Mawlawi tradition.
There is also hardly anything on this topic in Akkachs otherwise very
informative books and articles on Nabulusi. However, Akkachs
review of the subjects of Nabulusis works, including those on the
Mawlawi tradition and music, do help us to situate Nabulusis works
on the Mawlawi Order and other relevant works in their historical and
intellectual contexts.
Aladdin refers specifically to three texts by Nabulusi, which, he
says, relate to the Mawlawi Order and its ideas. Two of them are
clearly on the Mawlawiyya: the first is a commentary on Rumis
Mathnawi and the second is a treatise on the procedures of the
Mawlawi gathering, especially the legality of Sama c and the Mawlawi
Whirling Dance. But the third, as far as its title reveals Fath al-karim
al-wahhab fi al-culum al-mustaf da mina al-nay wa-l-shabbab (The
Opening of God-the-Giver-and-Generous in the Sciences of the Reed
Flute and the Reed Pipe) is specifically about a link Nabulusi
describes between divine knowledge and two musical instruments.
Nabulusi mentioned it in his own list of books. However, it is neither
available to Aladdin nor me and seems to be lost.64 Given this and the
fact that most of Nabulusi s works are manuscripts that have still not
yet been either critically examined or edited, the list of Nabulusi s
works relevant to the Mawlawiyya is probably longer.
Nabulusi discusses the concept of the legality of listening to music
from the perspective of Islamic Law (shari ca), and the meaning of
dance in other treatises and in his poetry. These include, for instance,

64 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 19; see also al-Masrad, vol. 2, p. 354 (no. 157). Although
nothing in the title of the Fath al-karim and Aladdins concise review of this tract
testifies to a direct link between it and the Mawlawi Order, Aladdin lists it among
the two treatises mentioned above that are clearly about the order. He seems to be
speculating that Nabulusi seems to have focused his discussion in the Fath on his
mystical view of Sama c rather than the traditional, legal view of it, which he
represents in other treatises, noting that the reference to the wind instruments in
the title, which has special importance in the Mawlawi Order, is mentioned in the
first verse of the famous eighteen-verse overture to the Mathnawi. Nabulusi also
cited this verse in Persian in the Arabic text of his al- cUqud al-luluiyya, translated
it into Arabic, and then interpreted it according to his own mystical philosophy.
See Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 42; Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 2324.
148 ahmad sukkar

a treatise entitled Idah al-dalalat fi sama c al-alat (Explaining the

Evidences in Listening to Musical Instruments) and two letters in his
Wasail al-tahqiq wa-rasail al-tawfiq (The Means of Truth-Seeking
and the Letters of Providential Guidance), one on the Sama c and the
other on dance.65 The former discusses, Akkach explains, the legality
of the use of musical instruments and the Islamic understanding of
the concept of entertainment (lahu ), probably sent to Shaykh
Muhammad al-Humydi of Edirne, Turkey, on 7 Rajab 1096/10 June
1685.66 The latter was a response to a legal question received in
Turkish, inquiring about the legality of dancing during religious
invocation sessions, sent to an unnamed correspondent of Hayrabolu,
Turkey, in Shacban 1103/AprilMay 1692.67
In the Idah al-dalalat, Nabulusi refers to his lost work Fath al-karim
under a slightly dierent title: Tuht uli al-albab fi al- culum al-
mustafada mina al-nay wa-l-shabbab (The Masterpiece of the Men of
Understanding in the Useful Sciences of the Reed Flute). He states that
he composed the Idah on Tuesday 27 Shacban 1088/25 October 1677,
from which we may deduce that he probably composed the Tuht uli
al-albab sometime earlier. Nabulusi does not refer to the Mawlawi
Order in particular in his Idah, although he does refer to Sufism in
some passages towards the end of this tract when dierentiating
between the Science of Islamic Law (cilm al-shari ca) and the Science of
Reality (cilm al-haqiqa). Since he focuses on presenting his legal views
about Sama c in this text and on presenting his mystical views on
Sama c in his Tuht or Fath, these two tracts seem to have been written
to complement each other.
Regarding the content of Tuht or Fath and the context of its
composition, in the Idah Nabulusi relates: I mentioned in it some of
what I understand of the divine sciences and knowledge of divine
Oneness through the medium of the musical instruments, even

65 Nabulusi, Idah al-dalalat fi sama c al-alat, ed. Ahmad Ratib Hammush (Damascus:
Dar al-Fikr al-Mucasir 1981); idem, Idah al-Dalalat fi Sama c al-Alat, al-Mawrid 4/13
(1984), pp. 79110; idem, Murasalat al-Nabulusi: Wasail al-tahqiq wa-rasail al-
tawfiq, ed. Bakri Aladdin (Damascus: Dar Naynawa 2010a), pp. 12831 (R. 30), 17980
(R. 55); idem, Wasail al-tahqiq wa-rasail al-tawfiq, ed. Samer Akkach (Leiden: Brill
2010b), pp. 20409 (R. 30), 28183 (R. 55), but see pp. 63, 70, 365.
66 Nabulusi , Wasail (2010a), pp. 129, 256, n. 1 (R. 30); idem, Wasail (2010b), pp. 205206,
p. 206, n. 210 (R. 30); Akkach, Intimate, p. 63* (R. 30). For references to Muhammad
Afandi al-Humydi, see Akkach, Intimate, p. 63*, n. 5; Nabulusi , Wasail (2010a), p. 5.
67 Akkach, Intimate, p. 70* (R. 55).
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 149

though I am one of the people of God whose status and aptitude is

inferior to others.68 He explains that he composed it in response to a
request from some of his spiritual brethren. The expression uli al-
albab (Men of Understanding) in the title appears some sixteen times
in the Quran.69 The word lub (plural: albab) refers to the inner part
and the intellectual power of the mind, mystically referring to the
subtle reality of the Spirit. According to the context of the Idah, the
term refers to the divine gnostics, who are permitted to listen to all
kinds of Sama c in gatherings that are free of fornication, drinking, and
other sundry matters, having the power of self-control. In the Idah, the
expression Men of Understanding or uli al-albab is juxtaposed with
al-ru ca c (the rabble), to whom Ibn Hijar al-Haythami referred in the
title of his treatise: Ka al-ru ca c can muharramat al-lahu wa-l-sama c
(Stopping the Rabble in the Forbidding of Idle Entertainment and
Samac ).70 Concerning the latter title, Nabulusi argues:

It would be enough for the foolish to merely consider the title, for
he entitled it: Stopping the Rabble because Sama c is not forbidden
except to the rabble who are ignorant, evil-minded, base and
vulgar, not because all people of the world are rabble according
to him. So to imagine that he considered Sama c to be utterly
forbidden to everyone is absurd.71

Regarding the Men of Understanding, Nabulusi considers that

Sama c is not only permissible but also favourable and rewarding for
them, for it helps them to witness the signs of divine unity.72
Although the foolish may not recognize the existence of such men,
Nabulusi adds, they do exist in every place and time and will continue
to exist until the Day of Judgement.73 At the beginning of the Idah
Nabulusi states that he composed the treatise for the Men of
Understanding.74 He also refers to himself poetically as one of the
same uli al-albab in a verse praising the Mathnawi, which will be cited
below, where he describes how the spirits (albab) are delighted by it.

68 Nabulusi, Idah, p. 108. 69 E.g. II: 179, 197, 269; III: 7, 190; V: 100.
70 Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Hajar al-Haythami, Kaff al-ra ca c can muharramat al-
lahu wa-l-sama c: hukm al-Islam fi al-ghina wa-l-musiqa wa-l-shatrang, ed. cAdil
Abu al-cAbbas (Cairo: Maktabat al-Quran n.d.).
71 Nabulusi, Idah, p. 90. 72 Ibid., p. 108.
73 Ibid. The expression uli al-albab refers to both men and women. 74 Ibid., p. 80.
150 ahmad sukkar

Nabulusi includes the Idah al-dalalat in the list of his works on the
science of the divine reality; however, Akkach questions this attribu-
tion, declaring that it can be classified among the sciences belonging
to the people of the mainline traditional Sunni community (ahl al-
sunna wa-l-jama ca).75 The Idah, which is approximately seventeen
thousand words in length, was printed using a lithograph technique
as early as the end of the nineteenth century (10 Muharram 1302/30
October 1884) under the supervision of Muhammad Sabri Afandi, the
supreme Shaykh of the Mawlawi Order in Damascus, and was then
reprinted several times under dierent titles, one of which was
featured in a special volume about music prepared by al-Mawrid, a
traditional periodical and publication of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture.76
References to the Idah appear in numerous manuscripts and publica-
tions. Akkach refers to it as one of the treatises that Nabulusi wrote in
response to rising anti-Sufi sentiment.77 In this respect, the Idah has
taken on a special significance in the modern and early modern eras.
Some early modern Muslim scholars were very critical of Nabulusi
and his treatment of the topic of sama c in this tract. For instance,
referring to Nabulusi and the Mawlawiyya, the nineteenth-century
Iraqi Muslim scholar Mahmud ibn cAbd Allah al-Alusi (d. 1854), who is
best known for his exegesis of the Quran: Ruh al-macani (The Spirit of
Meanings), says in this popular commentary:

The most surprising of all is that he [Nabulusi] composed one thou-

sand treatises on the permissibility of these things [instruments of
amusement and entertainment (malahi ), i.e. musical instruments]
which the sect of Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi uses. His argu-
ments are based on very weak proofs, some of them mere baseless
lies, which would be unacceptable to any discerning person.78

75 Akkach, Intimate, p. 119*.

76 Nabulusi, Idah, p. 110; idem, Hadha kitab idah al-dalalat fi sama c al-alat
(Damascus: al-Matbaca al-Hanafiyya 1302/1884); idem, Idah al-dalalat fi sama c al-
alat (S.l.: s.n. n.d.); idem, Al-Musiqa wa-l-Ghina fi mizan al-Islam, ed. Muhammad
cUthman al-Khisht (Cairo: Maktabat al-Macarif al-Islamiyya 1984); idem, Al-Musiqa
wa-l-ghina fi mizan al-Islam, ed. Muhammad cUthman al-Khisht (Cairo: Dar al-Fikr
al-cArabi 1998). For a list of printed editions of the Idah (incomplete), see Akkach,
Letters, p. 365.
77 Akkach, al-Nabulusi.
78 Mahmud ibn cAbd Allah al-Alusi, Ruh al-ma cani fi tafsir al-Quran al- caz. im wa-l-
sab c al-mathani [30 vols in 15], vol. 28 (Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-cArabi 1970),
p. 106 (Commentary on the Quran: LXII: 11).
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 151

This early modern debate has continued into modern times. For
instance, Mashhur Hasan Mahmud Salman, a contemporary Salafi
cleric, includes the Idah in his two-volume list of publications, which
scholars in the Islamic tradition, so he asserts, have considered con-
troversial.79 Salmans treatment of the topic, which lacks all academic
rigour, loosely reiterates Alusis comments cited above. Alusi and
Salman following him pray to God to forgive Nabulusi for what they
consider to be a mistake in Nabulusis interpretation of the Quranic
verse concerning entertainment (lahu ) upon which Alusi commented,
citing and criticizing Nabulusi. Salman sarcastically refers to Nabu-
lusis Tuht uli al-albab as an example of the one thousand treatises
according to Alusi, which Salman says Nabulusi composed on the
permissibility of using musical instruments of all names, shapes, and
kinds.80 He adds that Nabulusis Idah al-dalalat was a target of critical
rebuttals from a number of scholars.81 With no critical treatment of
the topic and without providing any references, he dogmatically con-
cludes: A group of fair-minded scholars [that is, unlike Nabulusi,
according to the context of his excerpt] prohibited singing and [the
playing of ] pipes, which is a righteous saying, according to the Quran
and the Prophetic tradition. 82
This interchange suces to show just how heated the topic was in
the past and still is in the present, and the kind of bigoted criticism to
which Nabulusi has been subjected for some of his treatises. However,
he also has received ample commendation for many of his treatises in
numerous premodern publications and contemporary studies.83
Apart from the topic of music, comparing the treatment of topics
such as love in the writing of Nabulusi and Rumi is necessary for

79 Mashhur Hasan Mahmud Salman, Kutub hadhdhara minha al-culama, 2 vols

(Riyadh: Dar al-Sumayci 1995), vol. 1, pp. 18889; vol. 2, p. 456.
80 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 188.
81 Ibid. He refers to an edition of the Idah printed by Dar al-cIlm in Damascus, which
I could not find.
82 Ibid., pp. 18889. Notable examples of other modern studies that refer to the Idah
include the following studies: Muhannad Ahmad Salim, Ahl al-qalam wa-
dawruhum fi al-hayat al-thaqafiyya fi madinat Dimashq: khilal al-fatra 11211172 H,
17081758 M (Damascus: al-Machad al-Faransi li-l-Sharq al-Adna 2005), p. 196; Yusuf
Qaradawi, Fiqh al-ghina c wa-l-musiqa fi daw al-Quran wa-l-sunna (Cairo:
Maktabat Wahba 2001), p. 245; Khalid Muhammad Aswar, al-Islam wa-l-funun al-
haditha (Mansoura: Dar al-Wafa 2004), p. 109.
83 This will be the subject of my future studies on al-Nabulusis legal view of Sama c
and the Mawlawi Whirling Dance.
152 ahmad sukkar

gaining a full understanding of these two masters. This article briey

refers to relevant concepts such as the double meaning of the Arabic
word tawajud, of both ecstasy and aecting ecstasy, which appears
in Nabulusis al-cUqud.84 Another set of double meanings of this word,
being in place and the ecstasy of being, appears in a text of Nabulusi
that describes his visit to Rumis mausoleum. Al-Ghazzi cited this text
in his biography of Nabulusi, which has recently been edited and
published by Akkach.85
Aladdin reviewed the above three texts of Nabulusi in an intro-
duction he wrote in Arabic, which is entitled Jalal al-Din al-Rumi
(672/1273) in the Works of cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (1143/1731),86
which seems more or less identical to an article he wrote (also in
Arabic), entitled The Mawlawiyya according to cAbd al-Ghani al-
Nabulusi, presented at an international conference on Rumi held in
Aleppo, Syria, in 2008.87 In the following sections I will summarize his
conclusions and those of some other scholars on this matter.

Nabulusi on the Introductions to Rumis Mathnawi

Commenting on the story cited above (in the introduction to Section II)
about Nabulusi, his student and the ney player, Sirriyeh says: In the
late seventeenth century it was not particularly unusual for a
Naqshbandi shaykh to show enthusiasm for the teachings of Rumis
Mathnawi and the Mawlawiyya.88 Nabulusi knew Persian and had

84 Nabulusi, al- cUqud, pp. 4951 (ch. 6). On the ecstasy that itself attacks and that
which is forced, see Jean-Louis Michon, Introduction to Traditional Islam, Illu-
strated: Foundations, Art, and Spirituality (Bloomington, Ind.: World Wisdom 2008),
p. 98. On the concept of ecstasy, see Leonard Lewisohn, The Sacred Music of
Islam: Sama c, in the Persian Sufi Tradition, British Journal of Ethnomusicology 6
(1997), pp. 2225.
85 Ghazzi, al-Wird, pp. 44344. In a forthcoming article on Sama c and the Unity of
Being in the poetry of Nabulusi, I plan to discuss this further.
86 Aladdin, Muqaddima.
87 Aladdin, al-Mawlawiyya bi-hasab cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, in Abhath al-nadwa
al-cilmiyya al-dawliyya: Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, ra cid al-fikr al-insani wa-l-tasawwuf:
1516 Rabi c al-Akhar 1429 H/2122 Nisan (Abril) 2008 M: al-Mun caqada fi qa cat al-
muhadarat (Salat al-Asad al-Riyadiyya), Halab, ed. Muhammad Qajja (Damascus:
Manshurat al-Hay a al-cAmma al-Suriyya li-l-Kitab: Wizarat al-Thaqafa 2009), pp.
8594.
88 See Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, p. 153, n. 30; B. Abu-Manneh, The Naqshbandiyya-
Mujaddidiyya in the Ottoman Lands in the Early 19th Century, Die Welt des Islams
22 (1982), pp. 1819.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 153

apparently been interested in Rumis work even as a young man,

when he claimed to have absorbed Rumis spiritual nature. 89
Nabulusis admiration of Rumis Mathnawi, which was written in
Persian, led him to write a commentary on the Arabic introductions
(Dibajat, singular: Dibaja) to its first, third, and fourth books. It was
entitled al-Sirat al-sawi sharh dibajat al-Mathnawi (The Straight Way
in the Exposition of the Elegant Styles of the Mathnawi ).90
The Arabic word sirat, which means way, occurs some forty-five
times in the Quran, often as al-Sirat al-mustaqim (the straight way), in
reference to the teaching of the Prophets Muhammad, Moses, and Jesus,

Greek word , which later became in Latin: strata (street), and

and the religious way of life in general. The term is derived from the

which in turn entered Arabic via Classical Syriac.91 The expression al-
Sirat al-sawi appears in the Quranic verse XX: 135. In Muslim escha-
tology al-Sirat refers to a bridge as narrow as a strand of hair, over
which every person must pass on the Day of Judgement to enter
Paradise. It is said that it is as sharp as the sharpest sword. Below this
path are the fires of Hell, which burn sinners to make them fall. Those
who performed acts of goodness in their lives are transported across
the path at varying speeds in proportion to their deeds.92
A few months after writing the Idah, when he was in his mid-thirties,
Nabulusi wrote his commentary on 5 Muharram 1088/10 March 1677 in
response to a request from those he calls some of the dervishes of the
(Divinely) aided Mawlawi order.93 The text is an extended commentary
(approximately six thousand words) in which Nabulusi explains
Rumis prose introductions mentioned above by tracing the meaning
of the words and phrases that appear in red in the manuscript copies.
Akkach refers to it as one of Nabulusi s works in the category of
exegesis, which was mentioned earlier. This places it alongside some

89 Sirriyeh, Sufi Visionary, pp. 113, 153, n. 31; Von Schlegell, Sufism, pp. 19798.
90 Nabulusi, al-Sirat al-sawi sharh dibajat al-Mathnawi (MSS. 19t13872 Ahm.; 1653 AsE.;
5499 Che.; 17979 Maw.; 295 Prin.; 10t1377 Z. ah., 4t4008 Z. ah.). On it, see Aladdin,
Muqaddima, pp. 1719; Akkach, Intimate, p. 124*, 127*. A critical edition of the
complete Arabic text accompanied with extended English translations and an
introduction is being prepared for publication.
91 Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran (Baroda: Orintal Institute 1938),
pp. 19596.
92 Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Saghani, al- cUbab al-zakhir wa-l-lubab al-fakhir, ed.
Muhammad Hasan Al Yasin, vol. t (Baghdad: Dar al-Rashid 1979), p. 109.
93 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 35.
154 ahmad sukkar

works belonging among Nabulusis juvenilia and early hermeneutical

works, written when he was still establishing his authority, in which
he commented on the poetry of prominent scholars.94 He wrote this
commentary a few months after writing his treatise on the
Naqshbandi Sufi Order.
Aladdin refers to it as a traditional commentary.95 Nothing in it, he
says, indicates that Nabulusi has made a thorough study of the
Mathnawi or its author. Yet he introduces his ideas, as is the case with
other followers of Ibn cArabi, through the concepts of the doctrine of
the Unity of Being, which was common during the Ottoman era to the
point of nearly becoming the formal doctrine of the mystical philo-
sophy of the Ottoman Empire. 96
Aladdin provides a concise review of Nabulusis al-Sirat in Arabic.
He says: In the first Introduction in which it is mentioned that the
Mathnawi is the paradises of the eyes, Nabulusi says: The human
reality is a manifestation of all names of God Almighty.97 Drawing on
the double meaning of the Arabic word cayn (eye and spring),
Nabulusi cites a verse from the Khamriyya of Ibn al-Farid:

I wish good appetite for the people of the convent, who are fully
drunk with it.
Actually, they did not drink from it but rather attempted to do so.98

Aladdin adds: The cayn according to Nabulusi refers to the one divine
Self, for it refers to the very Self and not the attributes.99 In his
explanation of the term tariqat al-zuhhad (the path of the ascetics),
Nabulusi cites two verses from the poetry of the Egyptian Sufi master
cAli Wafa:

My heart ascended above the status of asceticism.

For You are the reality in my witness.
How can I practise asceticism when nothing
I see except You, O You Who are the secret of existence.100

94 Akkach, Intimate, p. 124*. 95 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 18. 96 Ibid.

97 Ibid.; Nabulusi, al-Sirat (MS. 1653 AsE.), ff. 111b112a.
98 Ibid., f. 112a; Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 18.
99 Ibid.; Nabulusi, al-Sirat (MS. 1653 AsE.), f. 112a.
100 Cited in Ibid. f. 116a; Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 1819.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 155

By the end of the first introduction, he explains a saying attributed to

Husam al-Din Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Akhi Turk (the disciple of
Jalal al-Din Rumi): I slept as a Kurd and woke up as an Arab; Nabulusi
says: He means: I am Kurdish in body and Arabic in spirit.101
In the second introduction of the al-Sirat, that is, the introduction
to the third book of the Mathnawi, he explains the meaning of the
word hikma (plural: hikam) (wise maxim) in Rumis expression: wise
maxims are divine soldiers (al-hikam junud Allah). So he says: The
wise maxim is a divine secret comprehended in the perfection of the
existents.102 Citing Ibn cArabi he refers to the wise maxims in the
Quran and Hadith.103
As for the third introduction of the al-Sirat, that is, the introduction
to the fourth book of the Mathnawi, in which the concept of the
journey, safar is mentioned under the Arabic word da cn, Nabulusi
divides it into four sections as is the case in the well-known doctrine
of Ibn cArabi, which later Mulla Sadra Shirazi adopted and made the
title of his famous work al-Asfar al-arba ca (The Four Journeys).104
Nabulusis al-Sirat al-sawi can be compared to Anqarawis
commentary entitled Simat al-muqinin (Spiritual Food for the People
of Certainty).105 Unlike most commentaries on Rumis Mathnawi,
which were composed in Persian, the commentaries by Nabulusi and
Anqarawi were written in Arabic. Writing a commentary in Arabic on
the introductions to Rumis Mathnawi has special importance,
Anqarawi explained, as Kuspinar has elaborated.106 Like Anqarawi,
Nabulusi clarifies the Arabic terms and the symbolic meanings of the
Mathnawi, most notably the title, which they both agree refers to the
concept of the pair, which appears repeatedly in the Quran. Intro-
ducing Anqarawis commentary, Kuspinar cites the Quranic verses
LXXVIII: 8, XIII: 3, and XI: 40 about Gods creating everything in pairs.107

101 Ibid., p. 19; Nabulusi, al-Sirat (MS. 1653 AsE.), f. 118b.

102 Ibid., f. 120b; Aladdin, Muqaddima, 19.
103 Nabulusi, al-Sirat (MS. 1653 AsE.), f. 123b.
104 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 19; Nabulusi, al-Sirat (MS. 1653 AsE.), f. 129a.
105 On Anqarawis Simat al-muqinin, see Bilal Kuspinar, Simat al-muqinin (Spiritual
Food for the People of Certainty): Ismacil Anqarawis Arabic Commentary on the
Introduction to the Mathnawi , Mawlana Rumi Review 3 (2012), pp. 5167. See also
Alberto F. Ambrosio, Boundless Love: Ismacil Anqarawis Commentary on the Pre-
face to the Second Book of the Mathnawi , Mawlana Rumi Review 3 (2012), pp. 6894.
106 Kuspinar, Simat , pp. 5354.
107 Ibid., p. 55. It is not clear to me from Kuspinars explanation whether these examples
are actually cited in Anqarawis commentary or what other examples Anqarawi uses.
156 ahmad sukkar

Nabulusi, however, focuses on the famous seven opening verses of

seven chapters of the Quran (I: 17), which are known as the al-sab c
al-mathani (the seven oft-repeated verses).108
Nabulusi concludes his commentary with a poem of twenty-five
verses praising Rumi and his Mathnawi.109 It opens with the following
two verses:

bi-kitabi al-Mathnawi taba al-wujud

wa-tawala kullu in camin wa-jud.
wa-bihi al-albab minna farihat
bi-cuqudin hiya min abha al-cuqud.

By the book of the Mathnawi existence is blessed;

grace and blessing continue to exist.
It delights our soul,
by strings which are the nicest strings.110

Nabulusis Ten Chapters on the Mawlawi Sufi Order

From the second verse of the poem above, Nabulusi derived the title
of his second text on the Mawlawi Order: al-cUqud al-luluiyya fi tariq
al-sada al-Mawlawiyya (The Strings of Pearls in the Way of the
Mawlawi Lords), where he cites the poem in full. Drawing on the
double meaning of the Arabic word caqd (string and arch; plural:
cuqud ), he likens the Mawlawi Order to an arched path (tariq, path,
way, method, hence tariqa, order), which the Mawlawi Sufis follow.
The strings and pearls poetically refer to the Mawlawi adepts, includ-
ing himself, as well as to the chapters of his treatise.
He declares that he wrote this treatise in two stages, and that during
the latter stage he finished o the text in three days, finally revising it
on Wednesday 30 Shacban 1096/31 July 1685.111 This was eight years
after writing al-Sirat al-sawi and Idah al-dalalat. He was forty-four

108 Nabulusi, al-Sirat, f. 110a. Nabulusi cites the poetry of Ibn cArabi about the Quran
and the sab c mathani , ibid., f. 128b. The reference here is to the Quran XV: 87: We
have given you the Seven Oft-repeated Verses and the mighty Quran.
109 A critical Arabic edition, a full English translation and a review of this poem are
being prepared for future publication.
110 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), pp. 3536; Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 23.
111 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), pp. 8, 68. See Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 20; Sirriyeh, Sufi
Visionary, p. 144, n. 24.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 157

years old and he had already written some of his critical works. Several
quotations and arguments originally cited in Idah al-dalalat appear
again in al-cUqud al-luluiyya. The text is around seven thousand
words in length. It appears before the end of a list of important works,
mentioned according to their importance, which Nabulusi wrote
during the period of his seclusion, as al-Ghazzi records.112 Akkach
refers to it as one of Nabulusis works belonging to the category of
consolidation, placing it among his writings related to the science of
jurisprudence, which are concerned with legal matters and eschewing
the pursuit of vice.113
Nabulusi opens his text with reference to the poor, especially those
of the Mawlawi Order, and their lodges (buyut al-fuqara ) in Damascus.
Each one who harms them, he says, God the Almighty punishes
him. 114 Throughout his text he refers to them, the blessings realized
through attendance in their gatherings, and their right to remember
God via Sama c and their Whirling Dance.
He refers to himself merely as a Hanafi scholar, neither mentioning
his initiation into the Qadiri and Naqshbandi Sufi Orders, nor com-
menting on his relationship with the Mawlawi Order. However, he
refers to himself as the poor servant (al-cabd al-faqir ). Muslims often
use this expression to stress that they have no autonomous power
apart from God, so they are poor servants of God, hence the name
cAbd al-Ghani (the servant of God-the-Rich). Nabulusi is keen to
emphasise this meaning when he refers to himself as the poor
servant, cAbd al-Ghani, who is in need of his powerful Lord.115 In the
context of his introduction, we may interpret this to mean that he
belongs to the poor of the Mawlawi Order in particular.
He never uses the Persian word darwish (dervish; plural: darawish)
to refer to the followers of the Mawlawi Order. Instead he refers to
them as fuqara (the poor), fuqari al-Mawlawiyya (the poor of the
Mawlawi Order), al-sada al-Mawlawiyya (the Mawlawi lords), and
commonly as al-taifa al-Mawlawiyya (the Mawlawi sect).116

112 Akkach, Intimate, pp. 144*45*. 113 Ibid., p. 120*. 114 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 4.
115 Ibid., p. 8. A famous poem by the Shadhili Master Abu al-Hasan al-Tastari chanted in
religious ceremonies opens with the following verse: We came with our poverty to
You, O God-the-Rich. You are always the Beneficent. The poem attracted the atten-
tion of cAbd al-Ghani, who included the verse and similar verses in one of his poems;
see Nabulusi, Di wan, p. 375 (vv. 2627); p. 376 (vv. 78); and also p. 153 (v. 15).
116 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), pp. 89.
158 ahmad sukkar

Stating his two objectives in writing this treatise, he explains: This is

a treatise in which I explained the circumstances of the Mawlawi
Order and mentioned what I was honoured to comprehend of their
blessed signs. This is so every ignorant person may obtain a better
understanding and the believer may enjoy drinking from the freshest
springs.117 Nabulusi meant his treatise to be useful for the fair-minded
believers (al-mu cmin al-munsif ) and those who are interested in
knowing more about the truth of this order and the Islamic bases for
the procedures of the gatherings of the Mawlawi mystics in Damascus
and the rest of Islamic countries.118 However, he stressed on several
occasions in his text that he wrote it mainly to inform common folk
who were ignorant of the Mawlawiyya. Alluding to some political
problems that had beset the Mawlawi mystics in Damascus, he states:

They were troubled by some pretentious scholars whose know-

ledge was limited (mutafaqqiha qasirun al-cilm), who were colla-
borating with those who were unjust (ahl al-z. ulm). But God
Almighty failed this attacker when the one on whom he
depended no longer came to his aid.119

On one occasion he abruptly halted his explanation about the meta-

physical relationship between the Mawlawi Whirling Dance and the
universal orbit of the planets to comment sarcastically:

If we were to be prolix here, nobody will understand our utter-

ances except those who are gnostics of Almighty God, so we must
keep our discourse brief. This is because the ignoramuses who
pretend to be scholars are no better than braying donkeys who
take no delight in delicacies and merely feed on straw and hay,
each tribe knew their drinking-place.120 Let us reign in our pen to
address the needs of the troughs and drinking-places of these
ignoramuses, so as to narrow down the scope of this religious in-
vestigation and make it comprehensible to their narrow minds.121

117 Ibid., p. 8. 118 Ibid., pp. 89. 119 Ibid., p. 9.

120 The Quran. The Meaning of the Glorious Quran: An Explanatory Translation: New
Modern English Edition, trans. Marmaduke Pickthall, 12th imprint (Birmingham:
Islamic Dawah Centre International 2012), VII: 160.
121 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 47 (ch. 6).
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 159

Nabulusi also refers to this tract in a letter that he sent in mid-Safar

1097/mid-January 1686 to Muhammad Afandi al-Humydi in Istanbul
about his newly written treatises. Here, the title appears with the word
bayan (exposition) instead of the tariq, namely: al- cUqud al-luluiyya fi
bayan al-sada al-Mawlawiyya. The title also appears with the word
bayan in the list of Nabulusis works that Aladdin prepared, where it is
described as a small tract ( jiz latif ).122 Nabulusi states in his letter to
al-Humydi that he wrote it for the dervishes of the Mawlawi Order as
an exposition of the Mawlawi Sama c.123
Several manuscript copies and Ottoman Turkish translations of this
text appear in archives in Damascus, Istanbul, Birmingham, Princeton,
Rabat, and Baghdad,124 pointing to its popularity in the premodern
period. Despite its small size, it is considered an important document
concerning the condition of the Mawlawi Order in Damascus by the
end of the eleventh century of the Islamic calendar and the seven-
teenth century of the common era.125
The text was published as early as 1326/19081909 by al-Muqtabas
Press in Damascus. It was republished twice in 1329/1911 under the
supervision of Muhammad Sacid Afandi, the shaykh of the Mawlawi
Mosque (Takiyya) in Damascus, and his son.126 This edition was based
on a manuscript written by Nabulusi himself.127 In 1932 al-Taraqqi
Press in Damascus republished a second imprint of this text.128 There
seems to be no dierence between this and its first imprint.129
Seemingly unaware of all these printed versions, Ibrahim Gk
examined this treatise in his doctoral thesis at the University of Lan-
caster in 1977 in comparison with two other relevant texts.130 He
provided a handwritten critical edition of it based on two manuscript

122 Aladdin, al-Masrad, vol. 2, p. 353 (no. 146).

123 Nabulusi, Wasail (2010a), p. 139 (R. 33); idem, Wasail (2010b), p. 223 (R. 33); Akkach,
Intimate, p. 64*.
124 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 28. 125 Ibid.
126 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 20, n. 14; pp. 27, 3132. 127 Ibid., p. 27.
128 Nabulusi, al- cUqud al-luluiyya fi tariq al-sa da al-Mawlawiyya, 2nd edition
(Damascus: Matbacat al-Taraqqi 1932).
129 Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 27.
130 Nabulusi, al- cUqud al-luluiyya, in Ibrahim Gk, Three Treatises on the Mawlawi
Order: Being a Critical Edition of al- cUqud al-Luluiyyah by cAbd al-Ghani al-
Nabulusi, al-Tuhfah al-Bahiyyah by Trabzoni Ahmad Kse, and al-Suhbah al-
Safiyah by Darwish Mahmad Ascad Ghalib, together with a critical introduction by
Ibrahim Gk (Ph.D. dissertation, Lancaster: University of Lancaster 1977).
160 ahmad sukkar

copies in al-Sulaymaniyya Library in Istanbul.131 He provides compre-

hensive notes on the text in Arabic, including information about the
figures it mentions and references to the quotations in the printed
sources.132 He also includes a list of the topics as they appear in the
text.133
Seemingly unaware of Gks work, Bakri Aladdin republished the
second print of al-Taraqqi Press in 2009. He took into consideration
the comments and corrections of Shaykh Muhammad al-Mubarak al-
Jazairi, who, Aladdin says, included numerous comparative refer-
ences (muqabalat ) on several manuscripts of Sufism in the collection
of the Z. ahiriyya Library.134 Aladdins critical edition included an
extended Arabic review of Nabulusis text and an introduction to the
Mawlawi Order and Nabulusis anity with it.135 He includes an
introduction to the editing process, which contains references to the

A dervish performing in front of a mihrab (prayer niche). The front and

back cover of Nabulusis al- cUqud al-luluiyya, ed. Bakri Aladdin, 2009.

131 Ibid., p. 21. 132 Ibid., pp. 74161 (Arabic). 133 Ibid., pp. 16267 (Arabic).
134 Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 2728.
135 For the review, see Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 2025.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 161

various manuscripts, edited versions, and Ottoman Turkish transla-

tions of this text.136 Further information about this appears in his
doctoral thesis on Nabulusi.137 He includes references to the Quranic
verses and a comprehensive list of the prophetic sayings mentioned in
Nabulusis text, along with references to them in the books of Hadith
and a summary of their various degrees of authenticity.138
Unlike Gks extensive annotation, Aladdins contains few refer-
ences apart from those concerning the dierences between the manu-
scripts and printed sources. His edited text contains typographical
errors in indicating the end of Nabulusis quotations. If a compre-
hensive critical edition of this text is ever to be obtained, a version
synthesizing both Gks and Aladdins edited versions along with
other references needs to be made.
Unlike al-Sirat al-sawi, al- cUqud al-luluiyya contains a systematic
representation of the Mawlawi order as witnessed by Nabulusi by the
end of the eleventh century of the Islamic calendar.139 Aladdin adds:

He divides his book into ten chapters on the ceremonies of listen-

ing to mystical melody (Sama c ) and its spiritual secrets and
educational significance for the seekers. However, the main aim
of Nabulusi is to defend listening to music, whether it is created
by the reed ute and the frame drum or the industrial musical
instruments.140

It will be useful here to provide an outline of Aladdins and Gks

summaries of the main topics of the ten chapters of al- cUqud al-
luluiyya.141 The first chapter is on the defence of congregational
prayer in the mosque as the opening of the Mawlawi meeting. The
second chapter is on the recitation of the Quran and the mentioning
of Hadith as the noblest prayers during the Mawlawi meeting. The
third chapter is on Mawlawi activities such as preaching and giving
advice to dervishes, and recitation of the stories of the prophets,
apostles, and pious people. The fourth chapter is on the recitation of
the Mathnawi and the contemplation of its references to Quranic
verses, prophetic sayings, stories, sermons, anecdotes, and maxims,
and on the procedures and arrangement of the Mawlawi meeting.
136 Ibid., pp. 2728. 137 Aladdin, Abdalgani, vol. 1, p. 223.
138 Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 6980. 139 Ibid., p. 20. 140 Ibid.
141 Aladdin, Muqaddima, pp. 2225; Gk, Three Treatises, p. 45.
162 ahmad sukkar

These four chapters constitute remarks meant to introduce the

main topic: the Sama c and Mawlawi Whirling Dance, which appear in
the fifth and sixth chapters. The fifth chapter is on listening to musical
instruments such as the reed ute and the frame drum for recreation
and the energizing of ascetic practice. The sixth chapter is on the
ecstasy of whirling by the Mawlawis and periodic and celestial
movements in the World of Creation, and the periodical and renewed
movements in the World of the divine Command.142 The seventh
chapter is on defending the practice of bowing as a matter of showing
respect to the shaykh during the whirling ceremony and on defending
the practice of whirling as a form of invocation, which is sometimes
accompanied by uttering invocations. The eighth chapter is on their
prayers for themselves, the dervishes, the audience and believers in
general, the sultan, and the soldiers. The ninth chapter is on the
eulogies of the saints, especially Rumi and his Shaykh, Shams al-Din
al-Tabrizi. The tenth chapter is on thinking positively about other
attendees and the legitimization of listening to mystical melodies by
the Sufis, each according to his sincerity and aptitude for making good
use of it.143
Although Nabulusi, as Aladdin puts it, was not content with the
popular/folkloric Sufism, he defended popular practices of the
Mawlawiyya in this tract, while never mentioning any personal
engagement with this Sufi Order. This is one of the texts that Nabulusi
wrote in response to rising anti-Sufi sentiment during the seventeenth
century, which was evidently aecting him personally. There seem to
have been some specific political problems or events that confronted
the Mawlawiyya in Damascus during his lifetime to which he merely
alludes. However, he clarifies at the end of his text that he is not
referring to any specific person when describing the person who
pretends to be a scholar as ignorant.144
In sum, it is clear that in this text, Nabulusi wrote about the
Mawlawis, not for them. Although writing as an outsider to the
Mawlawi Order, the works authenticity is apparent in its defence of
142 On the meaning of these two technical terms the World of Command and the
World of Creation see Akkach, Cosmology, pp. 12047; and Nasr Hamid Abu
Zayd, Falsafat al-tawil: dirasa fi tawil al-Quran cinda Muhyi al-Din ibn cArabi
(Beirut: Dar al-Tanwir 1983), pp. 97131.
143 Gk strangely omits all mention of this chapter, stating that there are only nine
chapters.
144 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 67.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 163

the Mawlawi tradition against its attackers, and its promotion of those
he calls the fair-minded believers. Although Nabulusi maintained a
neutral outsiders voice in this text, he eectively wrote it as an
insider, as if he were a Mawlawi, which is probably one reason that
this text gained such popularity in premodern times, with many
manuscript copies, including translations into Ottoman Turkish,
appearing in several archives.145

i i i . C o n c lu s i o n : nab u lu s i a n d t h e M aw l a w i S u f i
Tradition
The impact of Rumi on Nabulusi was so strong that Nabulusi claimed
that he had absorbed the spiritual nature of Rumi. Following in Rumis
footsteps, Nabulusi deeply appreciated music and dance and wrote
passionately on beauty and love in the style of Rumi.
Rumis importance for Nabulusi is apparent both in his biography
and in several of his works. The latter include a commentary on Rumis
Mathnawi, a critical work on the Mawlawi doctrine, a poem praising
the Mathnawi, and two narratives in al-Ghazzis biography of
Nabulusi. On one occasion he cited Rumis Persian poetry in the
course of an Arabic tract, translated Rumis Persian verse into Arabic,
and then interpreted it according to his mystical philosophy.146
Furthermore, Nabulusis poetry is rich with concepts relevant to the
Mawlawi Order, such as Sama c and Tawajud.147
Nabulusi wrote his two main tracts on the Mawlawi Order during
his early years when he was establishing his authority as a scholar. He
continued to refer to this order in his prose and poetry, where he
presents his legal and mystical views on the propriety and probity of
Sama c and Tawajud. His own prose and poetry contain reections on
relevant Sufi genres such as dhikr (remembrance of God) and naz. ar
(the Platonic gaze on the beauty of the human body, especially the
faces of women and youths in order to witness the divine wisdom in
the hidden reality of the human spirit). They also contain significant
145 This requires further investigation, including consultation of these manuscript
copies and of the Turkish correspondent Shaykh Muhammad al-Humydi of Edirne,
whom he mentioned in this text, and to whom Nabulusi probably sent his letter
on Sama c, as explained above.
146 Nabulusi, al- cUqud (2009), p. 42; Aladdin, Muqaddima, p. 2324.
147 This will be the subject of my future studies but here are some notable examples:
Nabulusi, Diwan, p. 59 (vv. 1828); p. 153 (vv. 211); p. 200 (vv. 1221).
164 ahmad sukkar

information about Nabulusis mystical experiences during his visits

(ziyarat ) to Mawlawi lodges in Damascus, Tripoli, Jerusalem, Cairo, and
Konya. These topics make his writing on the Mawlawi tradition
attractive from the perspective of modern studies, such as the pheno-
menology of the human body and theoretical approaches to archi-
tecture.148
The significance of Nabulusi as a commentator and exegete of
Mawlawi doctrine and Rumis works appears in his documentation of
various aspects of Mawlawi gatherings, especially their main pro-
cedures in Damascus, thus promoting the order to the general public.
His writings also had the eect of consolidating, as it were, Mawlawi
concepts by defending the order against anti-Sufi scholars and
formalist theologians, elucidating Mawlawi texts to the Mawlawis
themselves and those interested in Mawlawi concepts, and inter-
preting Mawlawi concepts according to the doctrine of the Unity of
Being. In this respect he ably synthesized Ibn cArabis teachings
concerning beauty and love with Rumis teachings on these topics, as
well as music and dance.
Nabulusis defence of music and dance came at a time when the
playing of musical instruments had come to be viewed by some
classes of society as a species of heretical innovation in Islam (bid ca).
At the same time a campaign against smoking and drinking coee was
being waged by, Akkach says, the strict jurists who refuse the new
social and religious phenomena straight away and the religious
scholars who presented new ideas and exegeses contradictory of the
original sources, causing oppression and intellectual stagnation.149
Even in todays world, several centuries after the time of Nabulusi,
music in many Muslim societies is often viewed suspiciously or
condemned outright without any critical examination of its content or
context according to what constitutes good or bad from a traditional
Islamic perspective. A very recent example of this puritanical tendency
can be seen in the utterly unnecessary bowdlerizing change to the
title of one volume of Nabulusi s four-volume poetry collection
(published in Damascus in 1988) by the texts editor from Khamrat
babil wa-ghina al-balabil (The Wine of Babel and the Singing of
Nightingales) to Burj babil wa-shadu al-balabil (The Tower of Babel
148 These will also be the subjects of my future studies, for which this article serves as
an introduction.
149 Akkach, Intimate, pp. 116*, 120*.
 ca b d a l - g h a n i a l - n a b u l u s i o f d a m a s c u s 165

and the Melodies of Nightingales).150 Nabulusi had encountered the

same problem in a similar historical context in Damascus during his
own day, and in the Idah al-dalalat he voiced his frustration as follows:
It can be asked of the ignorant who consider that all forms of Sama c to
be impermissible: Is listening to the warbling of birds religiously for-
bidden, for that is also very moving? If they reply: Yes, it is im-
permissible, we will say that they are mad in addition to being
ignorant and inventing a falsehood about God.151 Nabulusi , a critical
and progressive thinker of the early modern era, had no problem in
citing the original symbolic title of this text in his Idah al-dalalat, a
text that repeatedly refers to the permissibility of participating in
Sama c in Sufi gatherings, albeit subject to certain strict conditions.152
As Aladdin asserts: During the Ottoman period in which the
Mawlawi Order spread and took its final shape, one can hardly find
anyone defending it and writing about it with the same vigour showed
by Shaykh cAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi , especially in Syria and Egypt.153
While this is true as regards Ottoman Syria and Egypt, a comparative
study of the works of Nabulusi and scholars such as Anqarawi needs
to be carried out to further situate Nabulusi s contribution to the
legacy of Rumi in later Islamic philosophy and mysticism.

Bibliography

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Ahm.: Ahmadiyya Library Listing, The National Library, Damascus.

AsE.: Ascad Efendi Library Listing, al-Sulaymaniyya Library, Istanbul.
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tion, Dublin.
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150 Nabulusi, Burj babil wa-shadu al-balabil, ed. Ahmad al-Jundi (Damascus: Dar al-
Macrifa 1988). See Akkach, Intimate, p. 10*, n. 25.
151 Nabulusi, Idah, p. 90.
152 Ibid., p. 87. Nabulusi also employed similar mystical symbolism in the titles of
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166 ahmad sukkar

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248 contributors

towards completing the six books of Rumis magnum opus, and has
already published a translation of the second book (2007). He received the
Lois Roth Prize for the translation of Persian literature into English in 2005
from the American Institute of Iranian Studies in recognition of this work,
after the publication of The Masnavi: Book One. His translation of Book
Three was published in 2013. In addition to his translations, he has also
published several other books, which include The Biographical Tradition
in Susm (2001) and, as co-editor and co-translator, Classical Islam: A
Sourcebook of Religious Literature (2003). His most recent publication is
Beyond Dogma: Rumis Teachings on Friendship with God and Early Su
Theories (2012).

Maryam Musharraf is a writer, poet, and Associate Professor of Persian

Language and Literature at Shahid Bihishti University (SBU) in Tehran,
where she teaches various courses on classical Persian poetry and prose,
literary criticism, rhetoric, Arabic literature, and modern Persian literature
at undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. Among her many publica-
tions may be mentioned: The Jubilant Crystal (a collection of her Persian
poetry: 2003), The Semiotics of Quranic Exegesis: A Hermeneutical
Approach to Mystical Commentaries on the Quran (2005), A Handbook of
Literary Criticism (2006, reprinted 2007), Debates on Persian Didactic
Poetry (2010), and Parvin Itisami: Founder of Neoclassical Persian Poetry
(2012). Prof. Musharraf is also one of Irans leading translators. She has
translated Poetry and Mysticism in Islam: The Heritage of Rumi, edited by
Amin Banani, Richard Hovannisian, and George Sabagh, from English into
Persian (2007, currently in its third edition) and Fritz Meiers Baha-i
Walad: Grundzuge Seines Lebens und Seiner Mystik (1989) from German
into Persian (2002). She has also translated Muhammad cAbbas cAbd al-
Qahir Jurjani and Modern Approaches to Literary Criticism from Arabic
into Persian (2009).

Ahmad Sukkar is a doctoral candidate at the London Consortium, an

academic programme within Birkbeck College, University of London, which
comprises a unique collaboration between the Architectural Association,
the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Science Museum, and the Tate.
His thesis, Structures of Light: The Body and Architecture in Premodern
Islam, is an architectural commentary on texts by Nabulusi, Suhrawardi,
and Ibn cArabi, which focuses on the intricate relationship between
philosophy, mysticism, cosmology, architecture, and spiritual psychology.
 contributors 249

He received a diploma in architecture (summa cum laude) from the

University of Damascus, Faculty of Architecture, and worked in leading
architectural rms on award-winning projects in Europe and the Middle
East. His main elds of interest are the intellectual and social history of
Islam, focusing on the architectural humanities in Islamic philosophy and
mysticism, with connections to Graeco-Islamic philosophy, interreligious
studies, Arabic literature, sacred music and dance, and creative writing. He
has recently been awarded a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Oxford
Centre for Islamic Studies 20142015.

Muhammad Isa Waley graduated from the University of Cambridge in

Oriental Studies. He was appointed as Assistant Keeper in charge of
Persian and Turkish manuscripts at the British Museum in 1971. On the
creation of the British Library in 1974, he was transferred there on
secondment. He was responsible for the same collections until 2010, when
he became part-time Lead Curator for Persian. He embraced Islam in 1974
and performed Hajj in 1976. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1990 by London
Universitys School of Oriental and African Studies for a thesis on the
Tarji cat or stanzaic poems of Jalal al-Din Rumi. He has published many
articles on classical Su literature and spirituality, as well as on Islamic
manuscript studies and bibliography, besides editing numerous books,
articles and works of reference, including the English edition of Islamic
Codicology: An Introduction to the Study of Manuscripts in Arabic Script
(2005). His most recent work is a translation of the Chihil kalima or
Arba cin (Forty Traditions of the Prophet) by cAbd al-Rahman Jami.

Alan Williams is Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion

at the University of Manchester. His translation of the rst book of the
Mathnawi into English blank verse was published by Penguin in 2006 as
Rumi, Spiritual Verses. Although he began to read classical languages at
Oxford, he was inspired by Nicholsons famous edition and translation of
the Mathnawi to read Persian and Arabic instead. After graduating from
Oxford, he completed a doctorate in old and middle Iranian studies and
Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the Uni-
versity of London. He has published extensively on the history of Iranian
religion as well as Susm. In 2010 he was joint winner of the Ehsan
Yarshater Book Award for The Zoroastrian Myth of Migration from Iran
and Settlement in the Indian Diaspora (2009).
A review of this article was published
in Persian in 2014 by one of Iran's
leading scholars in the field of
classical Persian literature, Majdoddin
Keyvani, in the pioneering journal
Gozaresh-e Miras (Heritage Report).

Gozaresh-e Miras
Bimonthly Journal of Textual Criticism,
Codicology and Iranology
Second Series, vol. 8, no. 1 - 2, April - July 2014

Properietor:
The Written Heritage Research Institute

Managing Director & Editor-in-Chief:

Akbar Irani
Assistant Editor:
Ali Safari Agh-Ghaleh

Managing Editor:
Soheila Yousefi

Layout:
Arezoo Rahmati

Cover:
Mahmuod Khani

Printing and Binding:

Noghre Abi

Unit 9, Second Floor, No. 1182, Between

Daneshgah and Aburayhan streets, Enqelab
Avenue, Tehran. Iran

Post Code: 1315693519

Tel: 66490612, Fax: 66406258
Site: www. mirasmaktoob.ir
E-mail: gozaresh@mirasmaktoob.ir
 Table of Contents

Editorial
An editor-in-chief and his problems .............................................................................................................................. 3

Articles
Comparison between Aristotle and Bozorgmehrs pont of view in confronting enemies / Vahid Sabzianpour ..................6
A learned villager (a note about Dr. Bstn Prz) / Ali-Akbar Jafari Nadoushan...........................................................10
Naqb al- Mamlik, the storyteller of Rumz-I Hamzah / Raziyeh Rostami.....................................................................13
Some points about the new edition of Trkh-I Bayhaq /Seyyed Amir-Hosein Mortezayi & Reza Rezayi Moqaddam.............19
Home Printery / Mohsen Jafari Mazhab..........................................................................................................................23
A look at the marginal notes of Khqns Tuhfat al-Irqayn / Soheil Yari Goldarreh.....................................................28
The necessity of rewriting the catalogue of the manuscripts in Vaziri library, Yazd / Hosein Masarrat...........................32
Tree, old man and bird in Bihzad miniatures / Seyyed Reza Feiz............................................................................35
The importance of pronouncing some words in editing some Shhnmah verses / Vahid Idgah Torqabeh....................45
The biography of two anonymous Bastm poets / Seyyed Hadi Mir-Aghayi...................................................................55
New meanings in translation of some words in Nahj al-Balghah / Amin Hagh-Parast..................................................64

Treatises
Two treatises by Tughr-yi Mashhad / Seyyed Reza Sedaghat Hoseini..............................................................................67

Varia
The watermill working with blood / Vahid Sabzianpour..................................................................................................76
Munjk-I Tirmiz and Shahnamah (a look at two verses in Munjk) / Ehsan Shavarebi..................................................78

Iran in Ottoman Texts and Studies (9)

Nyzs writings / Nasrollah Salehi.................................................................................................................................82

Textology
Another manuscripts ascribed and gilded by Hasan ibn al-Makrim / Said Khoddari Naini..........................................86
One thousand and one nights in Shaykh al-Mashayikh Muazis hand list in Golestan Palace Library / Ali Bouzari..89

Proposals to Researchers and Editors

Manuscripts Worthy for Critical edition......................................................................................................................96
Research Subjects........................................................................................................................................................98

Critical Review
Nmi-yi Nm, a book worth to be appreciated / Farzad Ziyai Habib-Abadi..................................................................100
Az Alefba ta Hunar (from Alphabet to art) / Hamid-Reza Ghelichkhani..........................................................................114
Dr. Mohammad Mohammadi Malayeris festschrift / Soheila Yousefi...........................................................................119
In Salsil ki tu dr hama r hayrn skht: critical review of the article autobiography of Hajj Zayn al- Abedin
Shirvani/ Mohammad-Ebrahim Irajpour...........................................................................................................................123
The remained works from the ancient people (introduction to the Persian translation of al- thr al- Bqyah an al-
Qurn al- Khlyah( / Alireza Zakavati Gharagozlou..........................................................................................................131
Iskandarnamah (A Middle East version) / Alireza Zakavati Gharagozlou......................................................................133
Critical review of the new edition of Al- Tanwr f al- Tibb / Ali Safari Agh Ghaleh.......................................................134
Mawlana Rumi Review (5) / Majdoddin Keyvani..........................................................................................................143

Some Notes on the Previous Issues

Defending Ostad Motahharis opinion: A response to book burning claimants / Akbar Sobout ...................................150

Second Series,
vol. 8, no. 1 - 2,
April - July 2014
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5- Seyyid Fazil Mehmed Pasa, Serh-I Evrad-I Mev- ( )

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