Abu Ya'qub Ishaq ibn Ahmad al-Sijistani ( ar, أبو يعقوب إسحاق بن أحمد السجستاني) or al-Sijzi () was a 10th-century
Persian Ismaili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al ...
missionary active in the northern and eastern Iranian lands. His life is obscure, but he was a prolific writer, who played a crucial role in the infusion of
Neoplatonic
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
ideas into Isma'ili theology.
Life
Al-Sijistani's life is obscure, as references to him are found mostly in isolation in hostile
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...
heresiological works, while
Isma'ili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al- ...
sources usually do not provide any details about him. He was given the nickname 'cottonseed' (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: ,
Persian: ) in several near-contemporary non-Isma'ili works that mention him, but the origin and significance of it are unknown. What can be gleaned from the sources is that he was a senior missionary () in the Iranian lands of the eastern Islamic world.
Nizam al-Mulk
Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk ( fa, , , Order of the Realm) was a Persian scholar, jurist, political philosopher and Vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising fr ...
reports that a certain Ishaq succeeded
Abu Hatim al-Razi as chief at
Rayy
Shahr-e Ray ( fa, شهر ری, ) or simply Ray (Shar e Ray; ) is the capital of Ray County in Tehran Province, Iran. Formerly a distinct city, it has now been absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran as the 20th district of municip ...
upon the latter's death on 934, while
Ibn al-Nadim
Abū al-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Nadīm ( ar, ابو الفرج محمد بن إسحاق النديم), also ibn Abī Ya'qūb Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Warrāq, and commonly known by the ''nasab'' (patronymic) Ibn al-Nadīm ...
mentions a certain Abu Ya'qub ase chief at
Rayy
Shahr-e Ray ( fa, شهر ری, ) or simply Ray (Shar e Ray; ) is the capital of Ray County in Tehran Province, Iran. Formerly a distinct city, it has now been absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran as the 20th district of municip ...
in . This Abu Ya'qub was also in charge of the missionary movement () in
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, with the brothers Abu Muslim and Abu Bakr ibn hammad in
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
and Ibn Nafis in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
as his agents. This is likely to have been the same person as al-Sijistani, as it agrees with a statement in one of al-Sijistani's works that he was in Iraq in 934. Earlier opinion among scholars was that he was executed along with
Muhammad al-Nasafi in 943, but this is now disproven. In reality, he was al-Nasafi's successor, both as chief in
Khurasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plat ...
, as well as in continuing the development of al-Nasafi's theological ideas. Other sources maintain that he was active in
Sijistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...
(whence his ), both during and after al-Nasafi's tenure.
The movement he headed was not initially affiliated with the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a ...
, but at some point, during the caliphate of
al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah
Abu Tamim Ma'ad al-Muizz li-Din Allah ( ar, ابو تميم معد المعزّ لدين الله, Abū Tamīm Maʿad al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, Glorifier of the Religion of God; 26 September 932 – 19 December 975) was the fourth Fatimid calip ...
(), he accepted the Fatimids as the legitimate imams, and many of his views were taken over by the Fatimid-sponsored . According to
Rashid al-Din Hamadani
Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb ( fa, رشیدالدین طبیب; 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, fa, links=no, رشیدالدین فضلالله همدانی) was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilk ...
, al-Sijistani was executed by the
Saffarid
The Saffarid dynasty ( fa, صفاریان, safaryan) was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to emer ...
emir of Sijistan,
Khalaf ibn Ahmad (). Al-Sijistani's work ''Kitāb al-iftikhār'' was written around 971, this provides a ''
terminus post quem
''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items..
A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...
'' for his execution. The introductions to two of his other works indicate they were written during the reign of the Fatimid caliph
al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah
Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr (13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh ( ar, الحاكم بأمر الله, lit=The Ruler by the Order of God), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili i ...
(), but they are likely later interpolations. Al-Sijistani died in 971.
Works
Several of al-Sijistani's works survive, having been copied and studied by the
Tayyibi Isma'ili communities of Yemen and India. However, as they are regarded as "highly esoteric and restricted", they have been slow to be studied by modern scholars and published in critical editions. Furthermore, as the historian Paul Walker comments, "
they exist now, it is in some cases difficult to determine the original form of the texts", as many survive only in translations or paraphrased summaries. Some works are only known by title or in fragments, being cited or quoted in other works.
Kashf al-mahjub
The ('Unveiling of the Concealed'), was the first of al-Sijistani's works to become available to scholars. It only survives in a Persian translation, or even paraphrase, of the Arabic original, produced in the 11th century. It comprises seven chapters, each further divided into seven parts. The aim of the work is to 'unveil' divine knowledge (, ), and deals with the concepts of the Oneness of God (), the stages of creation, the nature of prophethood, and resurrection (). Based on its containing passages supporting the idea of
metempsychosis
Metempsychosis ( grc-gre, μετεμψύχωσις), in philosophy, is the Reincarnation#Conceptual definitions, transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has be ...
, it likely belongs to the early phase of al-Sijistani's career, before he accepted Fatimid orthodoxy.
Excerpts of the work were first published by Mahdi Bayani in 1938 (, Tehran, Shirkat-i Chāp-i Khudkār). The Persian text was published with a French commentary in 1949 by
Henry Corbin
Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 – 7 October 1978)Shayegan, DaryushHenry Corbin in Encyclopaedia Iranica. was a French philosopher, theologian, and Iranologist, professor of Islamic studies at the École pratique des hautes études. He was in ...
(Tehran, Institut Franco-Iranien & Paris, A. Maisonneuve). Corbin also published a full French translation in 1988 as (Lagrasse, Verdier). A partial English translation was published by Hermann Landolt (''Kashf al-maḥjūb, Unveiling of the Hidden'') in S.H. Nasr and M. Aminrazavi (eds.), ''An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Volume II'' (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001).
Ithbat al-nubu'at
The or ('Proofs of Prophecies'). In its seven sections, al-Sijistani "puts forward a variety of proofs for the necessity of prophecy (), also explaining different prophetic eras". According to Paul Walker, it shows signs of later editing, and all available manuscripts are missing the final two sections.
The work was published in Arabic in 1966 by Arif Tamir (Beirut, al-Matba'a al-Kathulikiyya). According to Walker, this edition "contains errors, faulty readings, pages out of order, and extraneous passages".
Kitab al-iftikhar
The ('The Book of Boasting'), is likely the last of al-Sijistani's works, being written around 971. As its title suggests, it is "strikingly polemical and strikingly defensive and apologetic" work; Walker describes it as "an exceedingly frank confession of the points of difference between himself and the Ismaili , on the one hand, and the intellectual, religious world all around him, on the other". For Walker, it is perhaps the "
estplace to look for a definition of
sma'ili Shiismin its fourth / tenth-century manifestation", while
Farhad Daftary, points out that it "presents a summary exposition of Ismaili doctrine and preserves remnants of the mythological cosmology propounded by the early Ismailis, including the spiritual beings called , and which mediated between the spiritual and the physical worlds".
The work was first partially published by Mustafa Ghalib in 1980 (Beirut, Dar al-Andalus), but "suffers from inaccuracies and serious omissions". In 2000 a "definitive" edition with an English commentary was published by Ismail K. Poonawala (Beirut, Dar al-Gharb al-Islami).
Al-Yanabi
The ('Book of the Wellsprings/Sources
f Wisdom), was written around 961, and extensively paraphrased by the 11th-century
Nasir Khusraw
Abu Mo’in Hamid ad-Din Nasir ibn Khusraw al-Qubadiani or Nāsir Khusraw Qubādiyānī Balkhi ( fa, ناصر خسرو قبادیانی, Nasir Khusraw Qubadiani) also spelled as ''Nasir Khusrow'' and ''Naser Khosrow'' (1004 – after 1070 CE) w ...
in his own . The work is a collection of treatises on about forty themes or 'wellsprings'. According to Daftary, the work's primary theme is "the wellsprings of human knowledge and spiritual life in each era of religious history", while Walker emphasizes that "portions of this work are purely Neoplatonic in the tone and in the content of its teachings; other sections bring these concepts in line with the author's Shiite interpretation of religious knowledge and its purveyors".
The work was first published in a critical edition, with a partial French translation () in Henry Corbin's 1961 ''Trilogie Ismailienne'' (Tehran, Département d’Iranologie de l’Institut Franco-Iranien and Paris, A. Maisonneuve). An Arabic edition was published by Mustafa Ghalib in 1965 (Beirut, al-Maktab al-Tijari), and an English translation by Paul Walker in 1994 as part of ''The Wellsprings of Wisdom: A Study of Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani's Kitab al-Yanabi'' (Salt Lake City, University of Utah Press).
Al-Maqalid
The ('Book of the Keys'), comprises seventy chapters. According to Walker, it is of exceptional importance as it is "relatively late and by any account the most comprehensive" of al-Sijistani's works, but remains unpublished.
Al-Nusra
The ('Book of the Support/Defence'), is no longer extant, except for extensive quotations in
Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani
Hamid al-Din Abu'l-Hasan Ahmad ibn Abdallah al-Kirmani (; CE) was an Isma'ili scholar. He was of Persian origin and was probably born in the province of Kirman. He seems to have spent the greater part of his life as a Fatimid ''da'i'' (missiona ...
's . The work is one of al-Sijistani's earlier writings, composed as a defence of his predecessor and teacher,
Muhammad al-Nasafi, against the accusations of
antinomianism
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
by
Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi
Abū Ḥātim Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān al-Rāzī ( fa, ابو حاتم احمد بن حمدان الرازی) was a Persian Ismaili philosopher of the 9th century, who died in 322 AH (935 CE). He was also the Da'i al-du'at ''(chief missionary)'' o ...
.
Sullam al-najat
The ('Ladder of Salvation') survives only in an incomplete form. In it, al-Sijistani gives a summary of the Isma'ili doctrine (). According to Walker, these can be summarized as "faith in God, His angels, His books, His emissaries, the last day, salvation after death, and paradise and hellfire".
Its Arabic text was published by Muhtadi Mustafa Ghalib in 2002 (Salamiyya, Dar al-Ghadir). An English translation is part of a 1983 doctoral dissertation by M. Alibhai (''Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistānī and Kitab Sullam al-Najāt: A Study in Islamic Neoplatonism'', Harvard University).
Epistles
The epistle expounding on Isma'ili doctrine was published by Arif Tamir in and reprinted since in in March/April 1967, and in Tamir's .
The epistle was published by Boustan Hirji in 1992 (, Vol. 7), with a Persian-language translation by Abdallah Nurani. An English-language translation was published as part of B. Hirji's doctoral thesis ''A Study of al-Risālah al-Bāhirah'' (McGill University, 1994).
References
Sources
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External links
Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistaniat the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original p ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sijistani, Abu Yaqub
10th-century executions
10th-century Iranian philosophers
10th-century Ismailis
Neoplatonists
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Iranian Ismailis
Executed Iranian people
Ismaili theologians
Ismaili da'is