The Book of the Sage and Disciple
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''The Book of the Sage and Disciple'' ( ar, كتاب العالم والغلام, Kitāb al-‘ālim wa-l-ghulām) is a religious narrative of spiritual initiation written in the form of a dramatic dialogue by
Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman ( ar, جعفر بن منصور اليمن) was an Isma'ili missionary () and theological writer of the 10th century. Originally born and raised in Yemen, where his father Ibn Hawshab had established the Isma'ili in the ...
(270 AH/883 CE – c. 347 AH/958 CE). The work describes the encounter of a disillusioned young man with a ''dā‘ī'', or
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- ...
Muslim missionary, who gradually introduces his new disciple to the inner dimensions of Islam as elaborated by the Shi'a
imāms Imāmah ( ar, إِمَامَة) means "leadership" and is a concept in Twelver theology. The Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam. According to Twelver ...
. Isma'ili Muslims are Shi'a Muslims who believe that
Isma'il ibn Jafar Abū Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar al-Mubārak ( ar, إسماعيل بن جعفر; c.719 AD – c.762 AD) was the eldest son of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. He is also known as Isma'il al-Ãraj ibn Ja'far al-Sadiq (اسماعيل الاعرج ...
(b. 100/719) was the true prophetic successor or imam of Ja‘far al-Sādiq (d. 148/765), as opposed to "
Twelvers Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...
" who believe that Musa al-Kadhim (d. 183/799) was designated imam over his younger brother Ismāʿīl. After the
Abbasid Revolution The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early History of Islam, Islamic history, by the third, the A ...
of 750 CE Ismāʿīlīs came to believe that
Muhammad ibn Ismail Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl (), also known in his own time as al-Maymūn and hence sometimes incorrectly identified as Maymūn al-Qaddāḥ, was the son of Isma'il ibn Ja'far; he was an Ismāʿīlī Imam. The majority of Ismā ...
, son of the seventh imam and their awaited
mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a Messianism, messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a de ...
, had entered a state of occultation. In his absence Isma'ilis began widely propagating their faith beyond their base of power in Salamiyah through the institution of the ''da‘wa'', or mission led by a dā‘ī. In addition to presiding over the primary missionary activities of the da‘wa, the dā‘ī was responsible for the education, safety and spiritual health of his community. The personal relationship of the dā‘ī and his students, portrayed so vividly by Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman in his work, would decisively influence the sheikh-murīd bond of later
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
orders. With the rise of the
Fatimid Caliphate The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, 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 ea ...
in the first quarter of the tenth century CE, the Isma'ilis identified these caliphs with their imams. In this manner the ''Kitāb'' is to be viewed as a classic of early Fatimid literature, documenting important aspects of the development of the Isma'ili da‘wa in tenth-century
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. The ''Kitāb'' is also of considerable historical value for modern scholars of Arabic prose literature as well as those interested in the relationship of esoteric Shi'ism with early Islamic mysticism. Likewise is the ''Kitāb'' an important source of information regarding the various movements within tenth-century Shī‘ism leading to the spread of the Fatimid-Isma'ili da‘wa throughout the medieval Islamic world, and the religious and philosophical history of post-Fatimid Musta'li branch of Isma'ilism in Yemen and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.


The Author

Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman was a high-ranking Isma'ili poet, theologian and court companion active during the reigns of the first four Fatimid caliphs. Born to an accomplished Shi'a family of
Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf ...
n origins in Yemen, Ja'far was a son of the famous Isma'ili proselytizer
Ibn Hawshab Abu'l-Qāsim al-Ḥasan ibn Faraj ibn Ḥawshab ibn Zādān al-Najjār al-Kūfī ( ar, أبو القاسم الحسن ابن فرج بن حوشب زاذان النجار الكوفي ; died 31 December 914), better known simply as Ibn Ḥawshab, ...
(d. 302AH/914CE). As a result of his pioneering work establishing the Isma'ili da‘wa of Yemen, Ibn Hawshab was commonly known by the ''
laqab Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also Muslim countries have not had given/ middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout ...
'' Manṣūr al-Yaman (“Conqueror of Yemen”), whence derives Ja'far's
patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
. As the only son of Ibn Hawshab to follow in his footsteps after his death, Ja'far was often at odds with his brother Abu al-Hasan. Their mutual estrangement eventually forced Ja'far to emigrate to
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, where he arrived during the reign of the second Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im (r. 322-34AH/933-46CE). Composed largely during the years 333-36AH/945-48CE, Ja'far's poetry expressed intense loyalty toward Fatimid rule. Many of his compositions also contained allegorical interpretations (''ta'wīl'') for Quranic words and expressions (''Sarā'ir al-nuṭaqā'' and ''Asrār al-nuṭaqā'') as well as Islamic ritual worship, letters of the Arabic alphabet (''Risālat ta'wīl ḥurūf al-muʿjam'') and the hierarchy of the Fāṭimid daʿwa (''Kitāb al-kashf,'' ''al-Shawāhid wa-l-bayān'' and ''Kitāb al-farā'iḍ wa ḥudūd al-dīn'').


The Work

''The Book of the Sage and the Disciple'' is one of several pieces of writing attributed to Ja'far that have survived for centuries in Yemen and
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, serving as an important touchstones for spiritual teaching in these communities. Written as a dramatic dialogue, the ''Kitāb'' is noteworthy evidence for the development of this literary form in the Islamicate world in a manner independent from its Greek iterations. The work also describes the development of Shī'ī religious life in the early medieval period through the proliferation of tariqa Shi'ism and the ethical and spiritual pedagogy of its hierarchical, genealogical structure of filiation and pedigree. These themes are each powerfully in evidence in Ja‘far's ''Kitāb'', and demonstrate the manner in which distinctly Shī'ī religious life was later translated into a more widespread mystical sensibility. The dialogue itself opens with words of gratitude toward the Sage (ālim''), who has called the community of the speaker to the true faith, has directed this community toward knowledge and instructed them in correct religious practice. The speaker asks for further clarification on these matters, and the Sage responds by enjoining obedience to his teachings as a means of thanking him, citing correct practice and leading to the path as the best forms of gratitude. He then offers a parable for his audience about a young man whose journey toward truth takes him from material comfort to spiritual angst, finally culminating in God's illuminating for him the true path—a path which obliges the man to call others to follow him on it. This obligation has been codified in a spiritual hierarchy in which each successive link in the chain of precedence is duty-bound to bring others into the fold. Thus is the man in the parable obliged to wander through many countries as a teacher, until he comes upon a foreign community which is divided on questions of spirituality, and whose interest in religion, proximity to the true path and shared religious affiliation with Islam necessitate the man's intervention. Here he takes on a didactic role, answering questions that the individuals of this community pose to him in order to further pique their interest. The most receptive of these becomes his pupil, and he trains this acolyte in the divine argument (''ḥujja'') concerning the Shī'ī imams and saints ( ''awliyā). The Sage then commands his disciple to adhere to the outer meaning of the Qur'an ( ''ẓāhir''). Indeed, all revealed books are complementary in their divine origin, acting in a successive chain of authority mirroring the spiritual hierarchy of the sheikh-murid relationship. The Sage asks five things of his pupil: to adhere to his commands; to conceal nothing from him; to expect selectivity from the Sage in answering his questions; to wait for the Sage to broach new topics; and to hide any concerns he might have from his father. Indeed, the character of the disciple's father seems to stand in for a potentially hostile community from which Shī'ī Muslims are obligated to conceal their true beliefs for fear of violent reprisal (''
taqiyya In Shi'ism, ''Taqiya'' or ''Taqiyya'' ( ar, تقیة ', literally "prudence, fear")R. STROTHMANN, MOKTAR DJEBLI. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "TAKIYYA", vol. 10, p. 134. Quote: "TAKIYYA "prudence, fear" ..denotes dispensing with th ...
''). After a period of study spent under these strictures, the disciple earns regular contact with the sheikh and delivers his oath ( ''bay'a'') to him. After this point the Sage reveals to him the inner beliefs of the Ismāʿīlī Shī'īs ( ''bāṭin''), including the esoteric interpretation of Qur'anic cosmology, which is structured along the intermediaries of
prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
, imāms and saints linking human and divine.


Citations


References

*Daftary, Farhad (1998). ''A Short History of the Ismailis''. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press. * *Haji, Hamid (2008). “Jaʿfar b. Manṣur-al-Yaman” in ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'' Vol. XIV, Fasc. 4. *Ḥammādi, Moḥammad b. Mālek (1939). ''Kašf asrār al-bāṭeniya wa aḵbār al-Qarāmeṭa'', ed. Moḥammad Zāhed b. Ḥasan Kawṯari, Cairo. *Morris, J.W. (2001). ''The Master and the Disciple: an Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue''. London, LB Taurus. *Morris, J.W. (2005) “Revisiting Religious Shi'ism and Early Sufism,” in ''Reason and Inspiration in Islam''. Ed. T. Lawson. London: LB Tauris. *Poonawala, Ismail K. (1977). ''Biobibliography of Ismāʿīlī Literature'', Malibu. {{DEFAULTSORT:Book of the Sage and Disciple 10th-century Arabic books Islam in Yemen Ismaili theology