Hollenberg Neoplatonism in Pre-Kirmanian Fatimid Do

NEOPLATONISM IN PRE-KIRMANIAN FAIMID DOCTRINE
NEOPLATONISM IN PRE-KIRMANIAN FAIMID DOCTRINE

A CRITICAL EDITION AND TRANSLATION
OF THE PROLOGUE OF THE
KITAB AL-FATARAT WA-L-QIRANAT*
Introduction
This article presents a critical edition and translation of the prologue

of the hitherto unpublished Kitab al-fatarat wa-l-qiranat (The Book of
Periods and Conjunctions) attributed to Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman1.
The text is a fourth/tenth-century Ismaili genethlialogy intended to es-
tablish that the reigns of the Faimid Imams occurred in conjunction with
the movements of the heavenly spheres2. Its fifteen-page prologue, how-
ever, is of a different character. It consists of allegorical interpretations
of Neoplatonic philosophical and scientific statements on metaphysics
and creation. Because the presence of Neoplatonica in a mid fourth/
tenth-century Faimid source does not fit with the generally accepted
picture of early Ismaili doctrines development, the publication of the
prologue of the Kitab al-fatarat contributes to our understanding of this
important moment in Ismaili history.
Historians of Ismailism have consistently claimed that unlike their
co-sectarians in Iran and Transoxania, Faimid-Ismaili missionaries
prior to al-Kirmani (d. ca 411/1020) rejected the incorporation of
*My thanks to Everett Rowson, Joseph Lowry, Ccile Bonmariage, Patricia Crone,
Robert Morrison, Sarah Stroumsa, Donna Hellenberg, Miriam Goldstein, Gad Freuden-
thal, and Alfred Ivry for their comments on various sections of the Arabic text and
English translation. My thanks to Farhad Daftary and Alnoor Merchant for facilitating
study of the manuscripts at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.
1
C. BROCKELMANN, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur. Supplement 1, Leiden,
1943, p. 324. F. SEZGIN, Geschichte des arabischen Schriftums I. Leiden, 1967, p. 578. I.
POONAWALA, Biobibliography of Ismaili Literature, Malibu, 1977, p. 73-74. H. HALM,
Zur Datierung des ismailitischen Buches der Zwischenzeiten und der zehn Konjunk-
tionen (Kitab al-fatarat wal-qiranat al-aara) Hs Tbingen Ma VI 297, in Welt des
Orients, 8 (1975), p. 91-107 (= H. HALM, Zur Datierung). For Jafar ibn Manur al-
Yamans biography, see H. HEINZ, art. Djafar ibn Manur al-Yaman, in Encyclopaedia of
Islam. New Edition (Supplement), Leiden, 1960-2004 (= EI2).
2The genre of Arabic historical astrology was adapted from the ancient Greek,
Sasanian, and Indian traditions in the middle of the eight century. For the historical devel-
opment and bibliography on this genre, see E.S. KENNEDY D. PINGREE, The Astrological
History of Mashaallah, Cambridge, 1971. K. YAMAMOTO C. BURNETT, Abu Mashar on
Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties, Leiden, 2000.
Le Muson 122 (1-2), 159-202. doi: 10.2143/MUS.122.1.2037156 - Tous droits rservs.

Le Muson, 2009.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 159 6/7/09, 11:36 am

160 D. HOLLENBERG
Neoplatonic thought in their doctrinal compositions3. The presence of

Neoplatonic themes in the Kitab al-fatarats prologue, a text that Heinz
Halm has dated to the reign of the North African period of Faimid his-
tory, thus presents a problem: Either the text has been misdated, or our
view of the character of early Faimid-Ismailism should be revisited. As
I explain below, this problem is relevant not only for the history of
Faimid doctrine, but also for understanding the relationship between the
Faimids and the non-Faimid Ismaili missionaries who had long been
composing Neoplatonic doctrine.
The goal of the present publication is neither to dispute this long-
standing historical account of Ismaili doctrine, nor to challenge Halms
proposed dating of the text. My aim, rather, is to raise the problem, and
to publish the key evidence for solving it, the first critical edition of the
Kitab al-fatarats prologue.
al-Muizz li-din Allah and Neoplatonic ta'wil

Since the publication of Wilferd Madelungs classic article Das
Imamat in der frhen Ismailitischen Lehre, scholars have agreed on the
broad strokes of early Ismaili doctrines development4. Ismailism be-
gan in the latter half of the ninth century as a chiliastic movement whose
members awaited the return from occultation of the Prophet's great-
great-grandson, the Mahdi-Qaim ("rising guided one") Muammad ibn
Ismail. He would reward those who had served the divine mission, ab-
rogate the law of the last Prophet Muammad, and initiate the End of
Days. After the rise of the Faimids in 297/909, the Ismaili community
was split between those who accepted that the Faimid ruler Abd Allah
(and not Muammad ibn Ismail) was the long-awaited redeemer, and
3
During the entire North African period of the Fatimid caliphate, the Neoplatonic
speculations made no headway there; the works that were written in Ifriqiya such as
those by Jafar b. Manur al-Yaman, or later on by the Qai al-Numan are completely
free of them. H. HALM, The Empire of the Mahdi, The Rise of the Fatimids, transl. by
Michael BONNER, Leiden, 1996, p. 297); M. BRETT, The Rise of the Fatimids: The World
of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Fourth Century of the Hijra, Leiden,
2001, p. 218 (= BRETT, The Rise of the Fatimids); W. MADELUNG, amdan Qarma and
the Dai Abu Ali, in W. MADELUNG et al. (ed.), Proceedings of the 17th Congress of the
UEAI [Union Europenne des Arabisants et Islamisants], St. Petersburg, 1997, p. 112-113
(= MADELUNG, amdan Qarma); P. WALKER, Exploring an Islamic Empire: Faimid
History and Its Sources, London, 2002, p. 34. In a side comment in an article on the
Iranian dawa, Farhad Daftary offers the contrary view. He writes that al-Muizz also
attempted a limited doctrinal rapprochement with the Qarmais, including a partial en-
dorsement of the Neoplatonic cosmological doctrine propounded by the Iranian dais.
F. DAFTARY, The Medieval Ismailis of the Iranian Lands, in C. HILLENBRAND (ed.), Stud-
ies in Honour of Clifford Edmund Bosworth, vol. II, The Sultans Turret: Studies in Per-
sian and Turkish Culture, Leiden, 2000, p. 55 (= DAFTARY, The Medieval Ismailis).
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 160 6/7/09, 11:36 am

NEOPLATONISM IN PRE-KIRMANIAN FAIMID DOCTRINE 161
those who rejected Abd Allah's claim and continued to await the re-ap-
pearance of Muammad ibn Ismail. Among the latter were missionaries
in Iran and Transoxania who synthesized Ismaili cosmology with con-
ceptual schemes derived from Neoplatonic philosophy; they used these
syntheses to debate philosophers at court and win over viziers to the
Ismaili cause. In contrast, the Ismaili missionaries in North Africa and
Egypt, writing on behalf of the Faimid Imams, rejected the incorpora-
tion of falsafa into Faimid-Ismaili doctrine and continued to compose
tawil in the gnostic tradition of the pre-Faimid movement. The
Faimid rejection of Neoplatonic tawil is thought to have prevailed until
the tremendously influential Faimid missionary amid al-din al-
Kirmani (d. ca 411/1020) rehabilitated the Iranian-Ismaili missionaries
and adopted concepts of near contemporary philosophers in the Arabo-
Greek tradition in service of the mission of the Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr
Allah (r. 386/996-411/1021)5.
The fact that non-Faimid Ismaili missionaries in Iran engaged in
Neoplatonic speculation, and that Faimid missionaries in North Africa
did not, is clear from the content of the extant doctrinal sources them-
selves. The clearest evidence that the Faimid and Iranian dioceses not
only diverged, but that the Faimids consciously rejected a Neoplato-
nized form of earlier doctrine comes in a report recorded by al-Qai
Numan, the chief-judge for the Faimid caliph al-Muizz li-din Allah
(d. 365/975). In al-Numans account, a visitor from an eastern
Ismaili diocese, that is, one of the dioceses in Iran, was brought before
al-Muizz, who interrogated him on the doctrinal teachings that the visi-
tor had learned there. When the visitor described the Neoplatonic form
of Ismailism that he had been taught6, al-Muizz expressed his astonish-
ment (taajjub). He objected to this teaching, explaining that blending
(takhli) philosophy and religious doctrine neither taught the discourse
of philosophy as its specialists expound it, nor elucidated the religion of
4
W. MADELUNG, Das Imamat in der frhen Ismailitischen Lehre, in Der Islam, 37
(1961), p. 43-135 (= MADELUNG, Das Imamat). Since the publication of Das Imamat, sub-
sequent studies have provided a more nuanced understanding of various phases of early
Ismaili doctrine, but have not significantly departed from Madelung's basic historical
account. For the most important of these studies, see the publications of F. DAFTARY, D.
DE SMET, H. HALM, A. HAMDANI, S. HAMDANI, I. POONAWALA and P. WALKER listed in
F. DAFTARY, Ismaili Literature: A Bibliography of Sources and Studies, London, 2004.
5MADELUNG, Das Imamat, p. 87-91, 102-112.
6
Stern wrote that the doctrine that the visiting dais description of the Imams seven
names (corporal, psychical, spiritual, natural, essential, external, and internal) fits
Sijistani to perfection (S.M. STERN, Heteredox Ismailism at the Time of al-Muizz, in
Studies in Early Ismailism, Jerusalem, 1983, p. 265).
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 161 6/7/09, 11:36 am

162 D. HOLLENBERG
God as he [scil. the visitor] claimed. Rather, this blend encourages

believers to secede from the community and call for unbelief7.
Al-Muizzs explicit rejection of blending philosophy and doctrine is
consistent with the absence of Neoplatonica in his missionaries compo-
sitions. It is no wonder then, that Madelung, in a more recent article on
the topic, has written that Faimid partisans such as Jafar ibn Manur al-
Yaman and al-Qai al-Numan not only avoided philosophy, they ac-
tively spurned the Neoplatonic speculation undertaken in contempo-
rary eastern dioceses8.
If the prologue to the Kitab al-fatarat, a Neoplatonic Faimid text,
was indeed composed under al-Muizz, it would militate against this ac-
count. However, the texts composition history is complicated and
somewhat uncertain. The Ismaili tradition ascribes the Kitab al-fatarat
to Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman (d. ca 348/960), but, as Heinz Halm has
pointed out, sections of the text were clearly written in the period of the
Faimid Caliph al-akim bi-Amr Allah (d. 411/1021), or later9. In his
attempt to ascertain a date for the source, Halm proposes that the text
contains several strata composed over different periods, and reasons that
for those Faimid missionaries who did employ Neoplatonic speculation,
amid al-din al-Kirmani was highly influential. It is unlikely, Halm ar-
gues, that any Faimid Neoplatonic tawil composed after al-Kirmani
would have been free of his influence. Based largely on this premise,
Halm argues that the texts earliest strata, including the prologue, was
composed during the reign of the Faimid Caliph al-Manur (d. 341/953)
or al-Muizz li din Allah (d. 365/975)10.
It must be pointed out that although Halms rationale for authenticat-
ing the date of the Kitab al-fatarat is sensible, his conclusions are hardly
certain. A thorough examination of Neoplatonic themes in later Tayyebi
literature may prove his presumptions of Kirmanian influence unsound.
However, there are two additional mid tenth-century Faimid sources
which also contain Neoplatonic themes, and thus support Halms date
for the prologue of the Kitab al-fatarat.
7Al-. AL-FAQI et al. (ed.), Al-Qai AL-NU MAN, Kitab al-majalis wa-l-musayarat
[The Book of Salons and Convivial Conversations], Beirut, 1997, p. 374 (= AL-NUMAN,
Kitab al-majalis).
8
MADELUNG, amdan Qarma, p. 112-113.
9
Since Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman most likely died prior to the Faimids move to
Egypt in 909, the traditional ascription of the entire Kitab al-fatarat to Jafar ibn Manur
al-Yaman must be false. However, the prologue, which Heinz Halm claims to be from the
earliest strata of the text, might have been composed by Jafar. H. HALM, Zur Datierung,
p. 101-105.
10
Ibid., p. 102-103.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 162 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Besides Kitab al-fatarat, the al-Risala al-mudhhiba (The Epistle

which Drives off [Satans Whispers]) attributed to al-Qai al-Numan,
and the Sarair al-nuaqa (The Secrets of the Speaker-Prophets), com-
posed by Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman, also have philosophical themes11.
While the authenticity of al-Risala al-mudhhiba is also questionable12,
the Sarair fits Madelung's criteria for establishing the date of sources to
the period of al-Muizz13. Both these sources, and particularly the
Sarair, thus provide further support for Halms dating of the prologue
of the Kitab al-fatarat and the suggestion that al-Muizz seems to have
lifted his earlier ban of Neoplatonic tawil.
The resolution of this problem has broader implications than merely
establishing the date of a single source or a shift in Faimid doctrine. The
issue bears on our understanding of the nature of Ismailism and its rela-
tionship to the Faimid state during the reign of al-Muizz. Paul Walker
has shown that the missionary Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani accepted the
Faimid Caliph in the latter half of his career14. Philosophical themes
in the Kitab al-fatarat could be understood as evidence that during the
latter half of his reign, al-Muizz responded in kind by lifting his ban on
philosophical ta'wil and accommodating philosophically minded mis-
sionaries such as al-Sijistani. Faimid Neoplatonica would then be taken
as evidence for Farhad Daftarys claim that the regime attempted to out-
reach to rogue dioceses which had left the fold15, and support Michael
Bretts thesis that al-Muizz adopted al-Sijistanis Neoplatonic theory as
part of his attempt to win over the Iranian dioceses to the Faimid
cause16.
11
A. TAMIR (ed.), al-Qai AL-NUMAN, al-Risala al-mudhhiba, Beirut, 1988 (= AL-
NUMAN, Al-Risala al-mudhhiba). M. GHALIB (ed.), Jafar IBN MANUR AL-YAMAN,
Sarair wa-asrar al-nuaqa, Beirut, 1404/1984 (= IBN MANUR AL-YAMAN, Sarair),
p. 17-26. For a discussion of Neoplatonic themes in the Sarair and a critical edition of
this section of the text, see D. HOLLENBERG, Interpretation After the End of Days: The
Fatimid Ismaili tawil (interpretation) of Jafar b. Mansur al-Yaman (d. ca. 960), Phila-
delphia, 2006, p. 239-261 (= HOLLENBERG, Interpretation).
12
Contra Halm, Tamir ascribes the work to the Faimid wazir Ibn Killis and claims
that the work was composed during the late tenth-century in Egypt, AL-NUMAN, Al-Risala
al-mudhhiba, p. 7-10.
13As Madelung shows, the most important element for authenticating sources to the
reign of al-Muizz is the explicit mention of the awaited Mahdi Muammad ibn Ismail,
MADELUNG, Das Imamat, p. 52-60; IBN MANUR AL-YAMAN, Sarair, p. 259-260.
14P. WALKER, Early Philosophical Shiism: The Ismaili Neoplatonism of Abu Yaqub
al-Sijistani, Cambridge, 1993, p. 21-24.

15See note 2 above. DAFTARY, The Medieval Ismailis, p. 55.
16
For Brett, al-Sijistanis theology served as a prescription for universal empire and
became the formula of the caliphate in Egypt. BRETT, The Rise of the Fatimids, p. 218.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 163 6/7/09, 11:36 am

164 D. HOLLENBERG
Description of the text

In the prologue of the Kitab al-fatarat wa-l-qiranat, an anonymous
sage discloses and explains cryptic statements regarding the true nature
of the universe and its creation. Sub-topics include Gods unknow-
ability; the origination (ibda{) of the pleroma; the intellect and soul;
natures, elements, and their combination; the celestial spheres; the be-
ginning of material creation including minerals, plants, animals, and hu-
mans; the particular soul and how it might be saved; prophets and
prophecy; and the links between these different levels of the universe.
The beginning of the universe is discussed repeatedly, and the End of
Days, only briefly.
In the prologue, the sage names and interprets statements drawn from
a broad variety of sources. In descending order of frequency, these
sources include the Quran, ancient Greek philosophers and scientists
(Aristotle, Plato, and Euclid are named), pre-Islamic prophets (David,
Jesus, Moses, Daniel), the Prophet Muammad, and the fifth Imam of
the Ismailis Jafar al-Saiq (d. 148/765). In comparison with the rela-
tively orderly treatises of fourth/tenth century Iranian Ismaili missionaries
such as al-Sijistani, the Kitab al-fatarat is unruly, a compilation of cryp-
tic philosophical and scientific aphorisms that the sage is meant to de-
code. Some of these paragraphs are perfectly sensible and would not look
out of place in a fourth/tenth century treatise of a near-contemporary
faylasuf; the sense of other statements is utterly obscure.
While it is possible, and in some cases, likely, that the obscurity of
several of these passages are due to faulty transmission of the text, such
an explanation does not account for inconsistencies in core metaphysical
principles. For example, in one section, God is referred to as the First
Cause17, a common philosophical topos, but one that all philosophi-
cally minded Ismailis studiously avoided18; elsewhere, the text indicates
that God did not cause, but originated (abda{a) the first hypostases,
language typically used by precisely those Ismailis and philosophers
who rejected the position that God can be described as a cause19. No at-
tempt is made to resolve or harmonize these inconsistent elements into a
single, coherent set of doctrines.
There is, of course, no shortage of similarly eclectic, complex, and
mixed up Gnostic texts that were composed in antiquity20. In my view,
17
See 13 in the critical edition below.
18See, for example, D. DE SMET, La Quitude de lintellect. Noplatonisme et gnose
ismalienne dans luvre de amd ad-Dn al-Kirmn, Louvain, 1995, p. 136.
19
1 in the critical edition below.
20For a description of these sources, see B. PEARSON, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 164 6/7/09, 11:36 am

the most likely explanation is that the author culled and interpreted max-
ims attributed to ancient Greek philosophers without concern with their
philosophical content. As opposed to philosophical speculation, the au-
thor used philosophical themes as materials to create complex simili-
tudes with the cosmos, the prophets, the Imams, and other themes in
Ismaili allegories, an approach characteristic of North African tawil
generally.
If Halm is right and the text was indeed composed under al-Muizz,
the question remains as to why he changed his mind on the use of Greek
philosophy in tawil, and what this change was intended to signal. My
own argument, developed in a forthcoming article21, is that this section
of the Kitab al-fatarat, the Sarair, and the Risala al-mudhhiba were in-
deed composed under al-Muizz, and that the Neoplatonica in these texts
were not meant as al-Muizzs attempt at a detente with the Iranian
Ismailis, but, rather, as a response: the tawil of falsafa demonstrated
that only missionaries working with true [Fatimid] Imam had the capac-
ity to accurately interpret Greek wisdom.
Department of Philosophy and Religion David HOLLENBERG

MSC 8006
61 East Grace Street
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807, USA
[email protected]
Abstract This article is a critical edition and translation of the prologue to

the Kitab al-fatarat wa-l-qiranat (The Book of Periods and Conjunctions), a
hitherto unpublished Ismaili genethlialogy attributed to the Faimid missionary
Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman (d. c. 348/960). The prologue, a pastiche of
Neoplatonic philosophical and scientific passages describing the pleroma and
cosmos, is of interest to scholars of Ismaili doctrine because of its provenance
and date of composition. Although the harmonization of philosophy and doc-
trine was common in the non-Faimid Ismaili dioceses in Iran, the Faimid
Caliph al-Muizz li-din Allah (d. 365/975) is known to have disapproved of this
practice. A Faimid author's recourse to falsafa in a text dated to the reign of
al-Muizz thus presents a problem for the history of Ismaili doctrine.
and Literature, Minneapolis, 2007, p. 19-25, 60-100. My thanks to Alan Kirk for this ref-
erence.
21
D. HOLLENBERG, The Faimid Empire Writes Back: Neoplatonica as Ornament in
the writings of Jafar ibn Manur al-Yaman. For now, see, HOLLENBERG, Interpretation,
p. 85-265.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 165 6/7/09, 11:36 am

166 D. HOLLENBERG
TEXT AND TRANSLATION

OF PROLOGUE TO KITAB AL-FATARAT WA-L-QIRANAT
Conventions for critical edition

The edition is based on four manuscripts, three of which have been
described by Adam Gacek and Delia Cortese22. All of the manuscripts
are of Gujarati provenance.
I base the edition on manuscript A, and note where I used a reading of
one of the other manuscripts or emend the text. I also adopted modern
orthography, punctuation, and placed Quranic references in curly
quotes. I have not emended grammatical disagreement in gender,
number, or case (in the case of duals and sound plurals). The standard
orthography for hamza was used. In the Arabic text, Quranic citations
are put in curly brackets; in the English text, translations of the Quran
are italicized.
Manuscripts consulted
A = The Institute of Ismaili Studies, Accession Number 726. (Copied in 1355/
1936), p. 3-22 (of the signatures).
B = The Institute of Ismaili Studies, Accession Number 1254. Zahid Ali col-
lection. (No date), folios 2-13. Sections 18-24 (according to my critical
editions enumeration) are missing.
C = The Institute of Ismaili Studies Accession Number 1134. Zahid Ali col-
lection. (Copied in 1358/1939), p. 4-30 (of the signatures). Sections 11-
15 (according to my critical editions enumeration) are missing.
T = Tbingen University Library, HS Tbingen Ma VI 297.
Abbreviations and conventions

acc B = following the reading of B; used only when a reading from B is used
instead of A.
ins a = instead of a. This denotes an emendation not supported by any of
the manuscripts.
add = adds
del = deletes
om = omits
[] (in the Arabic text) =a lacuna or indecipherable passage in the manu-
script.
[] (in the English translation) =either a lacuna in the manuscript, or
indecipherable text in the edition that has been placed in a footnote in
the Arabic.
22
A. GACEK, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of The Institute of
Ismaili Studies, London, 1984 and D. CORTESE, Ismaili and Other Manuscripts: A
Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of the Institute of Ismaili Studies,
London, 2000.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 166 6/7/09, 11:36 am

CRITICAL EDITION
w U tU U tOK

tK uK rUF UI []
d* 24nzUDK WKUI uI w WOKIF U* u_ bQ {23tKL}
_ b u fO s 25UN b WF WKI* bu* WuJ*
29WOM 28w s 27_ b U uB) q 26d c
UL I
ULJ( tL [31] WuIF w UN u w 30WDO
33U b s WLKJ UF 5 sJ r {32ULK } tOK
ud
U X 34t UU% qIF u 5 e
q
s UN {rKI}u qIF 5 q e
U 5 WD UB []
s
UF i b U uFH r b s q
U r U
dOJH W!U dOL{ bIF 36U 35WOKJU b dO UHB uFM
39d
{38Uu
} 37UUL WOKJ fHM w qFHM d qIF s []
WOFOD 40UO_ u XU w WOKIF UNFzU! WO
b UuI UNO fHM
UNI v vuON s!U s 43uIU XU 42UN 41WOUL'
23
Similar to Quran 42:11 {w tKL fO}
24
T nzUDK WHODK
25
T tU A marginal correction in T reads t
26B d
27Acc C; A, B om_ b ; T _ qIF
28
T TO s
29
B WOM q; T om
30
c
31
A, B, C b U#O
uKF
WK
rN b( t XU WLKJ d_ i; bu sO

T b UB uKF WK
rN b( t XU WKLJ d i; bu 5
32Quran 3:94
33
Acc T; A C U b
34
T t U$
35
Ins A, B, C, T WOKJ
36
Acc C, T; A U ; B U
37T Uu WOKJ fHM UUL
38Quran 22:85
39
T dQ

40
B UO_
41
Ins A, B, C, T UNO WOUL'
42
Ins A, C UN; T UN
43T uI
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 167 6/7/09, 11:36 am

168 D. HOLLENBERG
b ed d d U Ud& v Wd( s b 44U* U []

XF c v b
U UN{uN w uI XUM UL 45US
c v WDU WOUL' 47uI 46tM
tM XuJ
qH UNOK U2 U d( U
UNu s ed*U uI bU []
s Wu!d XLIU tM WMOK 48d_ XU t dB ed*U U d
WOzU WbF dO u vK
_ db* rI WuO
UNu s pKH {50UU!} dOM 49UNu {uL l}UB []
51
UU _ U dz Ud dA
vMU rIM rOI
t 52U U lOL$ UNIU& dQ UBI_ dN- UN_ Xd []
u_ -_ v WLIM WOK WOd WOU W
U sdA
WF w UNb
tOK
VUG e* s UF* bu UNeQ _ XD []
53bu UO_ lOL WU( bu vK
b w b l! UN d
rU
55ddNe vK
b u Wu!d 54d( tOK
VUG e* s UM
uO( bu 56 tO dO_ vK
b w Wu!d d( s uO( bu U*
rOJ( U pc lzU! t UM rU
u dO_ tOK
VUG dBMF s
WdA WOLON uO( fH _ 57oLF _ uD s uO(
58tM
44Ins A, B UL; T U
45
T UMzU
46
T tM
47
c
48
T d
49T
50Quran 67:3 {UU! uL l oK& c}
51
T pK
52
T X!U
53
B, T bu
54
T om d(
55T add tO dO_, om U* rU
56B del tO dO_ vK

b w Wu!d d( s uO( bu

57
T dF
58
c
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 168 6/7/09, 11:36 am

61u 60WOUM UF* w 59UL' w uJ u WuJ* []

`

U UNO UNdA uO( dzU w UM_ w u WOLON UM w
b v uI cN UM_ s b fM b s
WFOD 62d0 s
uN- s tOK c r' w U q tO WMzUJ tuI tM d0 fM q w
UNH qUA 64UU u/ s tO qIM w WOM' tuB 63fM q
UN& 65UNF!
s 67tK p b qF 66v d UM_ dzU qF []
tU tu p UNU dQ UNO 69u bF UOU tuJ 68UNO bu _
tOK
Ò* U {70d& U rJd0 UNM rbOF UNO rUMIK& UNM}
s U U vd UL vU UL s U U uO( 71UOb UM w
dzU W$ nzUJ nzUDK s We2 W' vI _ wH _
WOU
tU tKdQ Wd( rU
v UNH WOU _ w uO(
w 72u dNE WOU u rUF w uO( s fM qJ []
73XbI U dO dU- tu dO u rUF w bu WOuON U_
rKFO rK
U q uJO U U q tOK
U pct
b t
bb w fLA X% fO
59T add
60
T WOzU*
61
A om u
62
B, T d0
63
T add U
64T in marginal correction UNU
65T UNFO!
66
Ins A, B, T u t v d
67
Acc C, T; A tK om
68
T UNM
69
T
70Quran 20:55
71B om UOb
72
C om Uu
73
Acc marginal note in A, T; A UN XF
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 169 6/7/09, 11:36 am

170 D. HOLLENBERG
dzU UM UM UOUMdzU UuJ* UM_ lOL dNE []

UO rKF qUI 75wU 74wLON uO( UM
fHM uI QON*
fHM qIF dOQ WKUI WI!UM
s tO tK aH} c _ 77dK UO 76f UB []
w 5MzUJ uM tO Wd w td fQO {79tJz t b$} {78t
s 5KUI WOUd 81rUF w 80Wu_ uc w jO uM bI
uU WLJ(U 83U
WOud 82rU
w v_ WKF uKF* uIF*
84sD w U/ r b
WHD ju dO s WO
b
W dA
l w UN d XO w fLA XU U* p b q []
dA* eO* s 85W sdA
b w t d XO w dLI qL( s
w t d XO w ad* U!d s W dA
fL& w t d XO w
s W sdA
l w t d XO w de b' s W sdA
UL
w VuJ lOL WKM s W dA
fL& t d XO w UD
u(
U!d d lUD 86UN d
UJ
_ XFLU _ uI db* Xd _ UN b []
te UBI_U t!&U uN d tF UU UQ U0 b
UB
bu* uN d
l b U* U pc U0 p bBI UN_U
W uO( lOL 88W Xd&Q vM* dOE 87dD _ dDQ U vL*
74
B WOLON
75
T U
76
Ins A, B, C f
77
T d U_ fM$
78Quran 32:9
79Quran 2:34
80
T Wu_
81
T rU
82
B rU
83
Acc B, T; A wU
; T add 5KUI
84T U
85T add W sdA
b w t d XO w q u s U
86
T om UN d w VuJ lOL
87
A dD
88
Ins A, B, C W'
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 170 6/7/09, 11:36 am

UNDO w UNuB qU( vuON s 91tM!u ruF du- 90lOL 89dA

UNO rbOF r UU _ s rJ tK} q e
tK U pc UNOd
_ s rJ tK} 94 tOK
Ò* U {93Ud& 92rJd0
WO uI 95w WHD dO s w w W' uNE {UU
WuJ*
c }bu v 97qKF ruF d 96WOJKH bOF WHdA WbF* WU
{98rOKF lOL u w tKL fO
s qUM p bF U r tu pKH 99W$O dAU []
v UuJ* uu* dzU UM s uJ 100U lOL v d
n 1015 n WzU b p UN d uO v VuJ ld
WM
102bF U uI qL U tU w p ULJ( iF d b []
rJuK uKF WJUH UuO(U rJI d bU) WO( du$K rJLN
X
UdO rKF uI rJLN WLd rJM 103rJLK
WHO
rb
tK UM p s o r b* XUM tOK
rUF U []
U b vK
Uu V vK
fM q s b b u cK
wUd rUF w pKH w bu w d q w w W' s dN-
89
Acc B; A, C, T dU*
90
Ins A, B, C, T lOL
91
Acc B; A UNHOD UNHOJ UNM!u; C UNHOD UNHOJ UNM!U s
92C rJd0 T rJd0 UNO pbOF
93Quran 71:17-18
94
T tOK
tK vK
95
B uIU
96
T WOJKH
97
Acc B; A, C qKFU ; T om
98Quran 42:11
99T W0H
100
C om U
101
Ins A, B, T uF
102
T bF U
103
T rJKL
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 171 6/7/09, 11:36 am

172 D. HOLLENBERG
sOOK
_ sOK_ s uI uK! dOQ U W u U r []
1055bI* ULJ( iF U pc dOJ rUF u V 104UU scK
107 106
U( c vK
ju w d&_ vK
ULb UD& uJ
O UJ p U vK
VOKB tOK
Ò* V pc
ULb vL d&_ vK
ULb 109Udz UUB 5K_ 108vK
pKH VKI rOI* pKH dU uI* pKH d&_ rOI* pKH
t s buO dG* v dA* s 110W#ON* tK WKOK u q w uI*
WOFOD nzUJ WOUd nzUDK WO{_ WuL ruF lOL
b
UB U* vK
ULd d
u uJ 111b WOUuO XU []
dOM VuJ d uL tF! s oK0 tM U&b dNE tM U0
tU tu 1135* UJ w p bU Ud* _ UNUF 112s
Ud U
u! UOz UN UI } U& w {114UL v u r}
{1155FzU! UMO UU
q oK& tK} UI UL _ w uu* p s oK0 []
s rNM 5K vK
wA1 s rNM tMD vK
wA1 U rNML U s W
b WF p UM q b {116UA U tK oK0 l vK
wA1
UNUN w WO{_ ruF dOb uKF rUF 117v t U0 v
104
T U
105
c
106T Ub
107T d&, add c
108
T add q
109
c
110
Ins A, C WON; B om
111
C t
112T om
113T 5
114
Quran 2:29
115
Quran 41:11
116
Quran 24:45
117
T om v
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 172 6/7/09, 11:36 am

v d& b uI w U U q rJ d tOK

vu U UNO
X r rUF pKN 119dOb 118tU tK nD u u
UN- UUI rNKF UHK) WLz UO_ UO_ U pc []
bUH XO w du' s 121V* 120fHM uu tJL UO tb
XO0 fOK bUH fO U
UN_ du b' u 122bF u9 WI!UM fHM qO pc []
UNM bu w lzUDK WI!UM fHM c d bM
tO b{ du s
UI_ UN_ qL
_ Wd WOLON WO( WOUM uIU b'
U pc UNu v ruF lOL l _ u UN*U
v XF
fHM _ Wd s bu* UuI WOLON fH_ XOI Vd*
WbC
123
qIF rU
v X$ UNOd w qIF WI!UM Xb& XU S []
fHMK b
125Uu_ Xb& 124UNuNA XU UNd X
5N* cF w udU dH dO_ rUF XI( Xb0 WI!UM
w UNK UO_ s 126uB lOL d& UN*U
v WI!UM fHM ud
XH 127bJ lOL XU b w UNEH v U% UN
rKF qzUC s bu XU W WHOD uB b WUdOB
WON WLJ(
uJ b w o U vK
WON W tA WOud rU
_ []
WObuU128t dU Wc vK
bNF c& 5 WOud rU
b w
118
Acc B; A tU
119Ins A, T db
120T fH
121
Ins A, B, C V
122
Ins A, B, T d
123
Ins A X; C X%
124
Acc C; A, B om U
125Acc C; A, B om
126T add s
127
T d
128
T bOuU t
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 173 6/7/09, 11:36 am

174 D. HOLLENBERG
UNKU l rUF w qz_ b tOK

rUF U []
l WFOD UJ* l vuON Ue l fHM db l 129qIFU l
d_ WLKJ UL UFM* UOKF _ UNKU U_
dA s UNKU WOud rU
s qz 131W 130p UB []
ud0 U dB
q w 133uI!U WON uIU dU- UHK& 132WuU
135rOKFdOb dOEM q* rO bM d u WOLON rK- s 134UM
dO& 137uBM 136uHDB q udI ] UM u*U

U dbI eeF
{138uKLF dQ r uIU tuI } udJ U
uKd uOU
UI t UM U} WJz* s
U& tU tu p UI! X pc
141Ud d& {140iF vK
5OM iF UMKC bI} U {139uKF
OCH d
142
W UDKU t
b uu Uu b'U fHM c dNE []
U WOFOD ruF w t Wd* WOK vK
O tM dN- U qF W UJ
ruU UNK U U_ rOJ( uI p WOUd b( vK
sD
143U_ VOd UN
s r' ULKF tOK
X ULJ( td 144U p qO []
5D 146s r' 5D& s `D 5DI vK
j) 145UNuI WbMN
129
C qIF
130
Acc B, C; A om p
131
T om
132
A, B Wu
133Ins A, B uID
134T om UM
135
T dO)
136
T add uBO
137
Ins A, B uB
138
Quran 21:27
139Quran 37:164
140Quran 17:55
141
T om Ud
142
B, T W UDKU t b
143
T U_ VOd
144
T b U
145c
146T s r dG
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 174 6/7/09, 11:36 am

UUM U u 148W 147tFM b W s nR* r' r

WuK
b WL0 tOK
UL 150lU qF [149] u X%
WON uI uu w U - ULN 5K
q w uN- UUI UO rUL UHK& dA s t qF []
WF 152WO vK
W s qF 151UIO* u_ U9 v U d
155s vK& U vK
154qO dLI fLA 153uL _ q_ db*
dOE ruFK UUJ 5K vK

q _ w U s 157vK
1565M
c u wK
U X U t tOK
vK tK u U pc su_
W_
tKF' 158U u qE b nO p v d r} q e
tK U []
rUF U {159dO UC UMO UMC r O tOK
fLA UMKF r UMU
dOQU 160b U fLA uI dOb uJ U9 pc tOK
163tzUO{ UL tUN w u U b w 162d_ u 161w UNM
UH uI 166uB UN bF tBI 165b ULM 164uJ u tuI
147
T tH
148T om
149I have not been able to make sense of the text here There seems to be a lacuna in
the source A W0HMU WOUF WKF u ULN qI

fH l q w l lzUDU UC n
{U W w _ uL UIK&} WK
qF WO
150
B lUK
151
T UIO* U9 v
152T WOKI
153Ins B uL
154
c
155
Acc B; A s2
156
T 5OM; marginal correction 5M
157
T U; B U s U vK
158Acc B; A om U
159Quran 25:45-46
160
T b
161
C w WKO u q w ; T w om
162
Ins A, B, T b w UNM d_ u
163
T WUOB
164T uLJ
165A b T add uB
166
T om uB
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 175 6/7/09, 11:36 am

176 D. HOLLENBERG
uM UNM qI u t dNE Uu X% q&b UNUI v UMH

bM
170fLA 169d q UH UMH UN UNO 168e u 167UOC
WdA fH_ s tO lH U 171lOL$ UN% tu& t UNUI UN U%
WOKIF WI!UM fHM UNU: 172WOFOD uI WOJKH Ud* s WuJ*
UCF tCF c$ fO!UMG* d$( bb( c$ 174UCF 173tCF U&
s WuJ* WdA fH_ vI db* VuJ _uKF 175WI!UM
UHK0 qzUCHU UNM U UL 176 _ dzU w fLA UNF b Ud*
178UNF! UNKF u b vK
177WIKF de dA* rU
w UNKF$
UF _ W#d 180uNAK zU UNM U U pc UuK

UNIKF 179uJ
ddN WOU U w ad* q v 182UN d 181WuG* u_ WOOK
rUMb ruK X$C ULK} q e
tK U UL qOu cF w dO
{184cF ucO 183UdO uK
186tU$ ULM uJ 185rUF u c rUF db fLA []
ed UNKL
UN X v 189dO) s Vu U0 188UN*UF Ud 187b vK
167
B U w
168
T td; marginal correction e
169
T d
170
A, B fLA v
171Ins A, T lOL
172T WHO
173
T iF tCF
174
B, C, T fODUG* d$( bb( c$
175
B WI!UM*
176
T add pc UuK
UNIKF uJ UNFM tKF u b vK
WIKF de dA* rU
177T UIK0
178A UF!
179
Ins A, B uJ
180
A UN; T uNA wK U2
181
T WuGK
182
Acc C; A B, T t d
183B wM
184Quran 4:55; T om ucO UdO uK rUMb ruK X$C ULK q e

U UL
cF
185
c
186
c; B WU$
187
T b
188Acc B; A UNLK
U ; C UN*UF
189B dO
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 176 6/7/09, 11:36 am

vM(U uM sc 191e$ uKL

U0 U sc 190e$O UNK UdI
UNM 193UdOO 192UNM UNId! rOI w UNd Udz w VuJ u
b(U UdbI U w 194UNM UNDu dOQ WK
w fLA v
195suJ UA WLKJ nU& s UdOG b I rUF w
196d&
5L vK
UI 5K_ 198vK
197O dLI fLAU []
su_dOE ruF dOb w UL {1995} q e
tK ULUL 5OK
_
W_ c u wK
U X U 200t tOK
tK vK WUd VU U UL
WI* WOUd fHM qIF uB WOUd u 201UU ULN
w U_ w uB c dNE UIF s
WeM* 202uK
oKF {206U_ w 205wId }qLF WLJ( 204rKF 203!
dO U s dA WUM s qC vK
tK WUML 207U_ qzUCH
dH bI p
209rUL u rOd rJO 208WK*} p w tU tK U b []
e
UI tM
tK UH 211q e
tK W s
d& s {210q s 5LK*
190
C
e$O
191A e$O
192A fLA v UNM UdOO UNLOI w
193
T UNdO UNId! rOI UdO
194
T om UNM
195
Ins A, B suJ
196
T om d& suJ UA WLKJ nU& s UdOG b I rUF w b(U
197A O
198A vK
s
199
T 5M
200
T tK vK
201
Acc C; AVU
202
A uBK
203T VK!
204T add ULN
205
B and Quran) vIdO
206
Quran 38:10
207
T U
208
C WK
209B rJOL
210Quran 22:78
211
T om d& s q s 5LK* rUL u rOd rJO WK* p w tU U b
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 177 6/7/09, 11:36 am

178 D. HOLLENBERG
u U
pcK {213Ù dO qL
t pK s fO t u U} 212q
wO q& s* w dH } UI tK WUM0 uKB* 214tOK
tK uK
tOK
Ò* U WOUd u w 216vM* w rNu&b {215UMR
u( U uL uJK 217qM r 5u bu r s 5u( iF
X d
U v U d& d WM 5UL s U w sD v l nO
q UM ULK t tOK
tK vK tK u U pcrJ u w
UOU b
U XO
UN d uO w VuJ XFL 218WM n 5 UL bM
[]
qL( d s WDI v UN
u 220rUF 219u p bM
UNUF
222pKH 221pKN UN
UL UN
UH UN d uO w UNdU rUF WJKN
225w tOK
dzb 224ed s
223UNe uKF* Xu w td qD uI*
UNdU uI* pKHK WbF tK UNKF w VuJ qL rOI* pKH
228dOEMU dOEM q*U q* WKUI dOU 227u'U UNUHU UdO t 226WuI
q e
W s
; T add s fO t u U UI UH tO V s u s u! sJ r U*
5MRLK UMR wO q& s* w dH& U pK
212
C vUF
213Quran 11:46
214C tK

215
Quran 71:28; T om UMR wO q& s* w dH UI
216
B WUM
217
B uL uJK q&b r
218
c
219T d
220C rKF; T rUF u bM
Uu bM
221
T om pK
222
B ompKH
223
C UN
224
T td
225T s tO
226T tuI
227
B o(; T o(U
228
C dOEM q*U
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 178 6/7/09, 11:36 am

UN WJU _ U 231tK UNKF w U' 230dOE 229pKH WbF w

236rUF 235b1 WO 234UNKF 233tOK
s 232pKN _
w U 237UNdU pKHK WbF db* dOM VuJ qF pc []
tb
U uJ s 240tU tK 239b U* b
s
238X XFL
243qbF WUI w tU rOI* pKHU oKO 242tO V 241U*
uJ Udz 246w 245tdA v rOI* pKH dG s UdO [244]

qJ 248d u t_ 247u$M s tO V U0 tb
UNzUD UN
d
pKH w VuJ ULU bI* uKF* Xu 249uI* pKH w v u
b* u UN d* tuKF lOL 250dO qL( WDI s uI*
dbI p 251b pK uO u
b b* c w vI uc*
{252bF U2 WM n} bI U u b w p rOKF eeF
229Acc B; A pKHK; T UNd U

230T dOEM
231
A, B om tK
232
T pKN
233
T om tOK
s
234
A om tOK
s pKN _ UN WJU U UNKF
235A, T bO9
236Ins A, B rUFU
237
T UNd U
238
T om
239
T b
240
C vUF
241T U0
242T add UNM UNdU u$M s
243
Acc B, C; A om qbF WUI w tU
244
A, B tM UNdU u$M s tO uI* pKH W
d rOI* pKHU qL
T rOI* uI* pKH W
d rOH* pKHU oKO pKH dG s
245
T td
246T w
247Acc A; B, C add UdO tM UNdU
248
A d;
249
T om uI* pKH , add uI* pKH W
d rOH* pKHU oKO pKH dG s
rOI*
250
A
d
251Tb pK uO u
d b* c w wGM
252Quran: 22:47 Del A, B b pK uO u
d b* c w vI
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 179 6/7/09, 11:36 am

180 D. HOLLENBERG
s UNK% q UNK s UNd& bM

u9 fHM qO b []
WOud 255rUFK 254WI WOKIF UNKF oK 253UNOU UN!Ud UN!U
fHM &Q XKL
b XU U WO( WOUM c& WOLON UNc$
UN UO ezU XU UN*U
v X X9 XLK
WOKIF WO( WI!UM
s 257u$M r WOLON fHM &S XKL
b XU 256WOUM WO(
v X XH XLK
XKL
U0 UNM u$M U/ ddNe d dO_ d
258sIO r UN_
U*U
UN WcF XOI XHK0 pc sJ r UN*U
XBK0 t XI( t u$M

vuON 259nQ fHM c U U/ rOJ( fOK!UD U []
UN_ b tM c UN*U
v UNM
UIdu UN dU- w w
XH UNKF XI( UNU UN XLK
u UN UN u sIO
b
bI e r YO Wd UI rU
w UNb s
UOb w d r UI* UM w X UIU X
d_ s
s 261WKFK dE 260ULKE u uNE uu* u w b UI*U
WOKIF WdA du' w w
b 262rUF s u c wN qIF
l Ud bI w WUB dH* dUMF e
WOuM WUL d_
uN- WO( WOLON WOUM 265W d_ 264UL W#d 263_
267VOd w 266Ubd& wUL' rUF w WO_ WOKIF UNUF Q WI!UM
253T UNO%
254T WI
255
Ins A rUF; T rUF
256
Acc B; A om WOUM
257
Acc B, C,T
258
C 5I
259C oU& or n (?)
260T UK!
261
Ins A WKF dE ; C WKF dE
262
Acc B; A, C om rUF
263
T
264
T UL
265A UK
266Ins A, C bd&; B Wd&; T UNe&
267
T VOd
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 180 6/7/09, 11:36 am

268dzU qIF uu dOb qUM* e* w( rUF WKF WOFOD

UNUH UN
u UNUM 269lOL dOb U
uMB*
u dOGB rUF w WuJ dOJ rUFK ULJ( U pc []
VuJ _ _ 271qIF u dOJ rUF WKF dOGB 270rUF qIF
qL
rK
dO s 272tU dOb tLJ qIF r vK
d
[275] r' WOKJ u{u* d WOK 274t U pc 273u
276oK& t d q U s
dOA ULJ( iF uI p w []
UNO U b vK
X dOG b WF vuON WFOD fHM 277tM qIFU
d_ suJ v qI W UJU 278U qI WH) W UJ W UDK s
fHM dOQ u uB WFODU vM
b w UNM U_ 279qz
dN- b WF UNO UO_ qF wKJ r' UN w vuON w WOKJ
WH) W UJ W UDK s UNO Ub vK
VOd vuON WFOD fHM tM
dOG U/ b w UNM U_ qU U d_ uJ uJ w qI
wKJ r' UN w WOKJ fHM dOQ u 280uB WFODU
d s rUMIK& U} vUF tu w tOK
UB U b []
wKJ r' wKJ 282d u c qJ U$ oK)U U {281v
268T om
269Ins A, B, C UNUM lOL dOb
270
T rUFK
271
A, C qIF u dOJ rUF WKF dOGB rUF w WuJ dOJ rUFK
272
Ins A, B, C U
273
T u u XKD U b qIF u WuJ dOGB rUFK qIF u WuJ dOJ rUFK
dOb tLJ qIF r vK
d VuJ rUF qIF u WuJ dOJ rUFK ULJ(
u qL
rK
dO s U
274
A, T _

275
A, B WN tN nU0 WOU UF w WOUd Ud(U qLK b iF c
UNM
eUF uu uI w UdB UN jO; UNKQ UN U% U%
T U% U% WN tN nU0 WOU UF w WOUd Ud(U qLK b iF c
ULNM
eUF uu uI w ULdB UN jO; UNKQ UN
276T vM
277
Ins A, B, C s; T om
278
Acc B, C, T; A UA
279
T qz_
280
A uB om
281Quran 4913
282T
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 181 6/7/09, 11:36 am

182 D. HOLLENBERG
{284rUu r} tu 283WIO U X u v b

s
UMQ - c dJH 286ruU qL* 285u; tu wUd duBU
p dO nOJ nODK 289 288 UF c 287rUF
b mK 292 291 s u 290vMF* w u qIF
t UMOK
R* W
WO
b UuJ* WHODK UuJ* XN U 293rOJ( U []
fHM WOKIF bOu* p WOuON U_U WMU* uc* ULNUF
295Wb UO( 294WOUd uBU UUF UN
u WOUd WI!UM
qFHU d*U fHM 297uIU qdU qIF ULJ( 296d []

Ud( Ud* lzUD UH 299UNM uB ZM 298wN
d_ qI
UNM bH U UO
_ 301u_ u( U% UM_ 300WUO
UNUN v UNU t d{ w 302UNb v UNEH
UN b$ w w XU w d tOK
rUF U []
bF uI c U w ruU 304UMK c u; dOE w 303tJz
283
T WF
284
Quran 7:11
285
c
286A ru
287T add wKJ
288
T
289
T
290
T om vMF
291
B 5
292T
293T om rOJ(
294
B, T WOUd
295
B Wb; T om Wb
296
C d
297
A uI
298T om wN
299A om
300
T WUO
301
T u_U
302
T UN
303
Quran 96:19 b$ WJzLK; T WJz
304T rNH
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 182 6/7/09, 11:36 am

q
U s
306 qFH r p ruF lOL u 305wUL' d& U9
XU UL
u 307U/ u r WH t jO% WO WKF uKF
tKF q s q
U q 309u 308ubI* ULJ(
WH tOK
lI tU t 311WHBU U n 310s* uI []
fM qF t fO 315U 314wUuO 313bOK U 312pc XF
WO* s
Y e
q U WO* v R ruF b WO* s
R
WH u tK s
WK#* w fO qO b R s qO U
UHB fO t nu n
t_ qIF r WI!UM fHM rOJ( u! 316U []
317sU u u W!UO UNzU UNDzU UbR q UU tKbF UbI
318tU fOHM WIOI t dNE

320WIOI(U U fO UI U 319ULJ( iF dc []
5OUL' 5D) sc s bOF tMJ f( Wd( w tO dEM c u

UN 323d c u 322U uKF dJH w 321rzU ru w u sJ
WLz sbR* UO_ UO_ v Udb _ U_ v
305
T U9 ruF e
306T om
307A UL om
308
A 5bI
309
T u&
310
T sL
311
A WHB U ; T WHB s
312T om pc; add v
313A bOK
314
Acc B, C, T; A wUuO s
315
T om U

316
T U b
317
Acc C, T; A, B XU
318T UNU
319T om ULJ( iF
320
T WOIOI( w U
321
T om rzUI
322
T WOU
323
T vd
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 183 6/7/09, 11:36 am

184 D. HOLLENBERG
dQ r uIU tuI } 325 Ud s q 5dJ* UF

5bN* 324
{uKLF 326
XO uJO dNE h0 s b tOK

327UO U []
tK b tO 328sJ d rNK UM vK
tO tdO& tK UF
j {330UL_ } q0M 329 r h
rNd% U 3325I UM* r s d0 U 331
h ud* d_ c w WFU' ULKJU
iF vK
UNCF 334s
_ U s uu qQ U 333
U v 336c U WLd U bI* XO d s 335U s U u! d0
ULd tKI r U 337UdI s UNOK
U qQO u_U WbI* d0B
w qB d) 339WeU bF vK
qF UdU 338rKF t d
rNOK
tK uK WLz UO_ UIDM
uHI r rdO 5OIDM* WHKH q tOK
rUF U []
uUI WIOI( dO v rNM WHzU! Xd0 lzdA U d WIOI vK
341d0 U 340{rNM d0O } uIF UHF{ d0 lzdA U

rNHQ
324T sbN*
325 c
326
Quran 21:27
327
Acc T; Ins A, B, C UO
328
T sJO
329
T U
330Quran 55:11. Ins A, B, C UL
331T _ UE d
332
T 5I UMLK u
333
T
334
T d9
335
T om U s U u!
336T c U
337T dI
338
T wKF
339
T WcU
340
Quran 9:79
341
T d0 U rNM d0B uIF UHF{ s lzdA U d WIOI vK
uHI r
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 184 6/7/09, 11:36 am

rNO dE rOI* pKH ULK

ULJ rN rNM WHzU! XU []
rN dA t bF p v uU v 342uI* pKH bF bFU
u Ub sI u_ 344 rNzUI w 343WON fOuM U
rNFzd w u&bU d r UHFC vK
345uKOD Uu_ lM .d(
UOKJ UOKIF 346uK
w dEM r rN v p dJ r
UOLJ UOHOJ
fO U/ U*U
pKH c U& uJ nO uuI rNM WHzU! []
347uJ nO pKH w rNF & tU U uKF$ r w tU&
V!U0 nO 349uuI wUd rUF dJM r tFM w 348& lUB

UbM
`B c 350WOUL' W t sJ r c dA wUd
I
fOuM U uI sJ bUA*U
b U dI Vu0 uU R rO$M U U r []
Vu0 u$M UJ uU UNu VuJ UF s Ue w
tu b vK
Ue p w U d q t U0 rNM rzU p S dI

tUF
U UdI UJ s d U UMd u tOK
rUF U []
WIOI dc 351U dO tO UbB U b s
d0 o!U qJ Ue t
p rNOK
tK vK 5UO* ozUI( q bM
dI WIOI dI
354u 3535U( w tK uF u UMJ UJ c w 352dc b U

342T om uI* pKH bF
343T om WON

344
T
345
c
346
T om uK
347
T om uJ
348T om &
349T uuJ
350
c; T rUF wUL'
351
Ins A, B, C
352
Ins A, B, C d
353
T om 5U( w tK uF u UMJ UJ c w dc b U p
354T u
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 185 6/7/09, 11:36 am

186 D. HOLLENBERG
WMd 359uJO 358U d 357UB dQ 356b U uu 355tU tK

z UH q UC & d tMO tMO d d u 360d*
_ UB wU d_ v _ d_ t o U 362U$ vK
361d
oK) vK
u' 366WUU uu qB q e
365tK s 364wU 363l
368tUL tIK r U vK
367U
du' s 370 5KUI 369Q tK d s WKB WUd XUJ []
rU
b ULK WOUL' WIK) UN 5 UF Q WOUd Wb w WDO
UN s vK
XzU{ u_ s tO U0 fHM rU
vK
t dQ qIF
_ w Ud; s Ud( b 371uL UD UD_ U{U
373d' rU
372 XzU{U UFUD VuJ dzU u$ dzb
376qB dLI pK v 375vN v 374iF UNCF qB d_ XK
uu vK
t UH* u' uL; 377dI p UJ t
355C vUF
356T bu
357
T dOBO
358
C wU; T UOU d
359
T uJ
360
T d
361T d
362T U%
363
T l
364
Acc B, C; A, T tM
365
C vUF tK s tM
U c T tK d
366
T W{U
367A, C add dU wU pc tM c&U tM
qI U bF u' p s t s vK
U r
tUL tIK r s vK
U nDF tMdI sd q
368
T d q UdU wU pc tM c&U t qI U bF u' p s t s U r
U nDF tMdI
369
T s
370
Acc T; A, B 5KzUI
371T uL UD s UD_
372T u$ dzb _ w Ud; s Ud( b uL UD s UD_ U{U
UFUD VuJ dzU

373
C U
374
T del iF UNCF qB
375
A dN
376T add U0
377T dI
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 186 6/7/09, 11:36 am

u 379s 378d UH uJ rU

w d_ p dQ []
pc s U rU
w d U uN w fLA u Ud WUd
WOUL' uB w WOU Ub WOUF UM* U U d_
UO_ UO_ r UJ s rK
rbM
sc WOU 380fH_
rNOK
WUM rNuH w WUd u dQ rNOK
tK uK UHK) WLz
v WKU( dEM UI*U U v Ue p qQd_ e r rNO UIK*
tIK& u tu qLJ 3815M' UNM uJ U Ub lC
uHM vK
dU WOKJ fHM u0 WOJKH u_ XF b ULK []
s UNUN! v_ WKF s UN WdI* UF UNO dNEO WOU w WOze'
Vu0 tK dA rU
qCH u' p r
WOBF* WU$ W#D) f
385t Ue 384U 383s2 382w{d* qLF p Wb UJ bF
tM U ULK 389dE t UH Ue 388pc o!UM 387o tO 386rNIU

tU q vK
WOUF WbU UH 390tO d_ p d UF{u U qCH
UNUJ 5 UN
391VB WFdA UQ w bF U#O rNLKF b
5OUd s te d_ Wb 5Kd* lzdA U 5OM WM cN
tK uK rzUI v s tu p UO WOUL' 392 rU
r dc s rNOK
378Acc B, C; A d
379T om s
380
T f_
381
T add v
382
A d*; T w{dK
383
C U2
384T U
385T rN
386
A rNIU
387
T UI
388
T pc
389
Acc T; A, B, C UE
390T om tO
391T dA
392
T add v
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 187 6/7/09, 11:36 am

188 D. HOLLENBERG
TRANSLATION
[1] The Sage (may the prayers of God be upon him) said that the
Creator was, and no thing was like Him (Quran 11:42). He created
(awjada) in one instant the intellectual roots and foundations, the powers
disposed to the coming-into-being (mutakawwin)393, generated, and
future emergent subtleties. He established them from not. [This is] the
first origination [to] which the elect (ahl al-khuu) referred when they
said that the Creator originated the first not from anything and in sim-
ple nowhereness. It does not have form, nor is it intelligible [.]394.
The wise ones named it [the first origination] intellect, and the Mes-
senger (peace be upon him) named it Pen (Quran 4:96 et al.). There
was no time or duration between the emanation of the word from the
unicity of the Creator (Almighty and All-Powerful), and the existence of
the intellect and its [the words] union with it.
[2] And [the word] became an intermediary between the Creator and
the intellect, being the Pen (Quran 68:1; 96:4), except that from [the
vantage point of] the Creator, it was the act of drawing, and from the
[vantage point of the] origination, it was that which was drawn. The
Creator is purely one, exalted above attributes (nuut) and qualities
(ifat), not perceived by the universal [soul], encompassed by the grasp
of the mind, or apprehended by thought.
[3] From the intellect, there is an effect, that which is acted upon [by
the intellect]. It is the universal soul. He named her Tablet (Quran
22:85). The soul was influenced by it through her originative powers
and intellectual natures which are the forms of corporeal, natural things,
except that in her, they are powers from the interior of matter to its
periphery395.
[4] There was, from the passing of the first of movement to its end,
time, hot, cold, center, and periphery like the establishment of a heaven
and an earth. In their ascent, the powers reached their limit by rising to
that from which they had emanated. The bodily power descended to that
from which it had been constituted.
[5] The powers encircled the sides of the center. The heat went above
and became something adjoining them; the coldness went below and
393
This understanding of mutakawwin is based on the apposite terms, mutawallid
(born) and mustaqbal (future). Mutakawwin can also mean constituent. R. DOZY,
Supplment aux Dictionnaires Arabes, Paris, 1967 (Third ed.), vol. 2, s.v. mutakawwan.
394
The text is unintelligible.
395Ufuq can have the sense of extremity, or periphery; G. ENDRESS D. GUTAS, A
Greek and Arabic Lexicon, Leiden, 1995, s.v. ufuq.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 188 6/7/09, 11:36 am

encircled the center, which was encompassed by it. The smooth seas
flowed from it, moisture was divided from dryness, and the highest en-
circlement was separated into many balanced, watery seas.
[6] And then there came to be seven heavens and their shining stars in
levels (Quran 67:3); above was the [outer-most] sphere (al-falak al-
mustaqim)396 divided into the twelve [astrological] signs (buruj) rotating
in pairs. The spheres (al-aflak) revolved (darat) in harmony (wifaqan).
[7] The mothers (ummahat) combined and elements appeared by
the command of their Creator with all that their power held, in a twenty-
four hour, temporal, universal (kulliya) movement divided into [periods
of] darkness [alam] and light.
[8] The earth with its temperaments (amzija) spread out. The minerals
were generated (tawalladat) from the temperament in which coldness
was dominant. They have only one nature, indicating the unicity in all
things. The plants were generated from the temperament in which heat
and moisture were dominant, indicating Zamharir, the world of water.
The animals were generated from heat and moisture, indicating the ether
which is in them. The animals were generated from the element (unur)
in which ether, the world of fire, was dominant. It has three natures. That
is why the wise one said that the animals are from first length and first
depth and that the souls of the beastly and human animals come from it.
[9] It is correct that coming-into-being (mutakawwin) is a power in
the solid bodies in minerals, vegetating is a power in plants, and
animality is a power in the genera and in all animals including hu-
manity. A nature does not go beyond the limit of a genus of these pow-
ers by itself until a likeness of what is in the body following it is created
by the power which is in it, which, from the appearance of each genus in
its generic form, has transferred to it the growth of its bodies, the simi-
larity of its souls, natures, and temperaments.
[10] He created masculinity and femininity for all of the genera. All
of these he made of the earth they were generated in it, and remain in it
after their decay via the command of its Creator. In regard to this He
(Glory be to Him) said: Thereof We created you, and thereunto We re-
turn you, and thence We bring you forth a second time (Quran 20:55).
The Messiah (peace be upon him) said: At the extinction of this world,
396
Based on paragraph 19, I have translated al-falak al-mustaqim as the outer-most
sphere, rather than its more common technical usage of sphaera recta, the perspective of
the right sphere of an observer standing at the celestial equator. For the latter usage,
see E.S. KENNEDY, A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables (Transactions of the Ameri-
can Philosophical Society New Series 46, 2 (1956), p. 140. My thanks to Robert Morrison
for his help with the astrological passages in this text.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 189 6/7/09, 11:36 am

190 D. HOLLENBERG
the animals that were of heaven will rise to heaven and those that were
of the earth will remain on earth. The body (juththa) is a mix of subtle-
ties and crudities, so the body of all of the animals on earth remains
while, by the command of God (glory be to Him), their souls rise to the
world of movement.
[11] For every genus of animal in the world there is a spiritual form.
Its existence in the world appears in material bodies not existing in any
form in the world other than its form and which does not appear without
its creation (bida) having preceded it. Therefore David said: Like
what was, will be and like what was known, will be known. There is
nothing new under the sun397.
[12] So there appeared all of the genera which are coming-into-be-
ing, the vegetatives [i.e.] the genera of the plants, and all the genera
of the beastly animals, and the human animals disposed to knowledge of
clear speech (bayan) and the reception of the rational soul which is dis-
posed to the influence of the intellect and the [universal] soul.
[13] He began to feel a longing for the first spirit the spirit in which
God blew from His spirit (Quran 32:9) and to which the angels pros-
trated (Quran 2:34)398 that he might befriend His spirit, reposing in it
and (befriending) its light exist in eternity through a simple type of mas-
culinity and femininity in the spiritual world parallel to the intelligible
and the caused. But the first cause in the divine world is lofty in wisdom
through originative birth without the mediation of sperm, uterus, or
growth in the womb.
[14] This began when the sun was in the house of its exultation at
nineteen degrees of Aries, the moon was in the house of its exultant
twenty-one degrees of Libra, Jupiter was in the house of its exultant fif-
teen degrees of Cancer, Mars was in the house of its exultant twenty-
eight degrees of Capricorn, Venus was in the house of its exultant
twenty-seven degrees of Pisces, Mercury was in the house of its exultant
fifteen degrees of Virgo, and all of the planets were in their exultation,
and Cancer was the ascendent.
[15] The spheres rotated around it and the governors (mudabbirat)
conjoined through the power of the spheres, so the dregs joined together
and the vapors rose and stirred up clouds. The heat of the air, with its
mixture with the elements, pushed them. So these vapors rose toward
397
Similar to Ecclesiastes 1:9: What has been is what will be, and what has been
done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
398
Unless noted, Quranic translations are those of M. PICKTHALL, The Glorious
Koran: A Bi-Lingual Edition with English Translation, Introduction, and Notes, Albany,
1976. I have, however, consistently substituted God for Allah.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 190 6/7/09, 11:36 am

those clouds which were stirred up by the buffeting of the generated heat
of the air which is called wind. The earth showered a rain like sperm,
and so [the earth] brought forth the body (juththa) of all the animals and
the body of the human, and all of the exteriors and interiors of the world
from the matter which bore their form, both simple and compound.
Therefore, God (Almighty and All-powerful) said: God grew you from
the earth as seedlings (nabatan) and afterward He will make you return
there, and He will bring you forth again (Quran 71:17). The Messiah
(peace be upon him) said: God grew you from the earth as seedlings
(Quran 71:17) by the appearance of the body without sperm or coupling,
through the divine faculty generated by the balanced, noble, auspicious,
spherical instrument, the closest of the worlds and causes to the One who
is not like anything being All-Hearing and All-Knowing (Quran 11:42).
[16] Thus man is a result of the sphere and its image (ura). Then af-
ter this there was coupling and multiplying from male and female
(Quran 75:39), and all that is generated in seedlings, like the rest of
those constituted (mutakawwan) existents. [This is] until the planets re-
turn to their houses of exaltation, a period of three-hundred and sixty
thousand years.
[17] One of the wise ones mentioned this in his book. He would use
metaphors (yatamaththalu) saying: After you have understood the liv-
ing, eternal substances and your greatest trust is in the celestial animals,
make your hearts the page (saifa) of your knowledge, and your tongues
the interpreters of your understanding. Do not trust in knowledge other
than that of which your hearts are conscious.
[18] The Sage (peace be upon him) said: When the period has come
to an end, nothing will remain of all of those seedlings which is origi-
nation, except for one pair coming from each genus. [This is] according
to their forms and the measure of what appeared from the body (al-
juththa), being the root (al) of the astrological signs which exists in the
sphere (falak) in the spiritual world.
[19] Furthermore, the existence of the body (al-juththa) of the human
was by the influence of the rising of the power from the two supernal
sources which were the cause of the existence of the macrocosm. There-
fore, one of the ancient wise ones said that the beginning of existence is
two lines, one on the other in the middle, in this shape: . Because of
this, the Messiah was mounted on the cross to exemplify it, indicating
the two sources. Then they became two circles, one on the other. One of
the two was named the [outer-most] sphere (al-falak al-mustaqim)
and the other the sphere divided by the signs. The [outer-most] sphere
turns the divided sphere every day and night on its rotation, disposed [to
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 191 6/7/09, 11:36 am

192 D. HOLLENBERG
go] from east to west. From its rotations, all of the heavenly and earthly
worlds, the spiritual subtleties and natural crudities, are generated.
[20] The Greeks said that the beginning of creation (kawn) is the ex-
istence of the throne of the All-Merciful on the water (Quran 11:7).
From it, the vapors rose and smoke appeared. From its nature, the heav-
ens and the bodies of the luminous spheres, and from its acts, the earth
and compound [bodies] were created (khuliqa). This is witnessed in the
clear book when He said: Then turned He to the heaven (Quran
2:29) i.e. the smoke [and] He said unto it and unto the earth: Come
both of you, willingly or loath. They said: We come, obedient (Quran
41:11).
[21] From this, the existents in the heaven and the earth were created.
He said: God hath created every animal of water. Of them is (a kind)
that goeth upon its belly and (a kind) that goeth upon two legs and (a
kind) that goeth upon four. God createth what He will (Quran 24:45).
He (praise of Him is mighty) created this in one stroke. He revealed
what He wanted to the supernal world, and its governance of the terres-
trial worlds which terminate in it. Moses (peace be upon him) said:
Your Lord completed. This means: Everything that was in potentia
came into existence. If God (glory be to Him) was not generous in His
governance (tadbirihi), the world would perish and not perdure.
[22] Therefore He erected (aqama) the prophets, legatees, Imams, and
caliphs. He made them stations to show His power and clarify His wis-
dom through the existence of the soul which is linked to substances
(jawahir) which do not decay. What does not decay, does not die.
[23] Therefore, it is said the rational soul does not die with the ab-
sence of the bodys existence and its substance (jawhar), because it is
from a substance in which there is no opposite. When this rational soul
leaves the natures from which the body, with its vegetative, sensual,
and animal faculty was born through the movement of the spheres and
the acting of the mothers and elements they return to their world, the
earth, and all the worlds return to their roots399. Thus the compound
comes apart, and the animal souls, with their powers generated from the
movement of the spheres and the oppositional soul (al-nafs al-iddiya),
remain.
[24] If [the soul] serves the rational [soul] and the intellect while com-
pounded [within the body], she escapes to the world of the intellect at
the time of her leaving [the body]. But if she serves her appetites, is
slave to her whims, and takes the rational soul as a servant, she reaches
399Or possibly: She [the soul] returns to her world
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 192 6/7/09, 11:36 am

the world of ether and abides separately in excruciating torment. How-

ever, at the return of the rational soul to her world, [the rational soul]
becomes freed from all the forms of all things in her essence and need
no longer preserve them, since she has left all of her turbidities and be-
come pure, and come to have a single sense with a subtle, sensing form
since she was generated from the choice remnants (faail) of knowl-
edge and divine wisdom.
[25] The spheres are the world of divinity. They are similar to the di-
vine device (ala ilahiya) that had formerly, at the beginning of creation,
sanctified the world of divinity when it took the oath on the descend-
ents (al-ahd ala al-dhurriya) by affirming His unicity.
[26] The Sage (peace be upon him) said that the first beginning of the
primaries in the world are four, and four oppose them: Intellect with
eternity (dahr), soul with time, prime matter with place, and nature with
bodies. Two supernal, emanated sources oppose [these four]; they are
the word and command.
[27] Thus there came to be six primaries (awail) in the world of di-
vinity. Likewise, there are [six primaries] from humankind correspond-
ing to them: deputies appearing with divine power speaking in every age
and time, removing people from the oppression of animality and the
waves of the sea of regret so that the similitude by the All-Knowing,
All-Powerfuls governance may be perfected. Knowing, pious, favored,
chosen, formed messengers, the best of the spiritual ones, kings,
honored servants (Quran 21:26). They speak not until He hath spoken
and they act by His command (Quran 21:27). For these are the six
ranks. This is what He said as reported by the angels, There is not one
of us but hath his known position (Quran 37:164), and He said: We
preferred some of the Prophets over others (Quran 18:55), and the
Hereafter is greater (Quran 16:41) in level and favor.
[28] This soul does not appear except with a body, and her existence
in subtlety and crudity is from the existence of its originator. That which
appears of [the body] is made as an indication of the universality of the
composition in the natural worlds; and what is hidden (bain) [is an indi-
cation of] the spiritual limits. This is according to the wise ones state-
ment: [There are] bodies, and what is prior to them [is known] through
imagination, inspiration, and the structures of bodies.
[29] Evidence for this is shown by what the philosophers mentioned
and the ulama indicated when they said that the body is [an object of
study in] geometry: The line is based on two points, the surface is
based on two lines, and the body is based on two surfaces. The com-
posed body is completed from six limits, and it is fashioned in six states
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 193 6/7/09, 11:36 am

194 D. HOLLENBERG
(awal): front, behind, the two sides, under, and above. []400 He
made the seventh the completion. He indicated it with the five supernal
limits and two sources (alan) through which that which is in existence
and the divine power are perfected.
[30] He made deputies (khulafa) for humankind and He called them
prophets, stations and appearances. [He did this] in every age
and time until the completion of things and the fixed-time. Among the
indications of primacy of the seven governors of the people of the earth,
He made the [seven] heavens. The sun and the moon are the indication
of the years that have elapsed, and who has arisen on earth, a likeness of
the two sources. The two were like the two parents [or fathers] for the
worlds. Therefore the Messenger of God, (Gods blessing on him and his
family) said: By God, you and I, Ali, are the two fathers of this com-
munity.
[31] God (Almighty and All-powerful) said Hast thou not seen how
thy Lord hath spread the shade And if He willed He could have made
it still then We have made the sun its indication401 (dalil); Then We
withdraw it unto Us, a gradual withdrawal? (Quran 25:45-46)402. The
Sage (peace be upon him) said: By that, He meant the perfection of
growth and governance through the power of the sun and what comes to
pass through its effect in being receptive to the command in [the suns]
beginning, increasing its light at its end, and achieving its illumination
when it receives the power of coming-to-be and growth. Its privation in
image (ura) begins after the end with the onset of corruption and anni-
hilation until it conjoins with it [the sun?] and enters under her light.
Neither does there appear to it a power to receive light and illumination
from it, nor does it bring down to it a power of passing away and corrup-
tion. Rather, at the point of [the suns] union and conjunction with [the
soul] and its entering under her, the sun returns with all the human souls
constituted from celestial compositions and natural powers due to its at-
traction of the rational soul, and their mutual attraction, like the attrac-
tion of metal and magnet, one to the other. The rational [soul] rises to
the spheres and the governing planets while the human souls, constituted
of compounds, remain. The sun distributes them among the rest of the
spheres; it placed those which had followed virtue in the world of Jupi-
ter and Venus according to the power of their deeds and natures and the
essence of their connection and height. Similarly, those who leaned to-
400
There seems to be a lacuna in the text here.
401
Pickthall translates pilot.
402The next verse reads And He it is Who maketh night a covering for you, and
sleep repose, and maketh day a resurrection.
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ward foul lusts, demonic deeds, and seductive whims are sent to Saturn
and Mars in blistering fire and [the cold of] Zamharir to linger in terrible
torment, just as God (Almighty and All-Powerful) said: As often as
their skins are consumed, We shall exchange them for fresh skins, that
they may taste torment (Quran 4:55).
[32] The sun is the governor of the world of growth. It attracts accord-
ing to its stability in its world with what it merits of the goodness of its
world until the time of end of its work and settling down to rest (markaz
mustaqarriha). This is in order to recompense those [souls] which had
erred, reward those which had been good, and return the planets to their
cycles, and to leave them in a straight path from it and steer them to the
sun. Since [the sun] is the cause of influences (illat al-tathirat). It me-
diates among [the souls and spheres] in their cycles according to what it
for-ordains of what transpired in the world, the turning-over and chang-
ing of cycles (duwal). It destroys that which opposes (khalafa) the word
and it begins another creation.
[33] The sun and the moon are indications of the two sources, what
has been called the two names and the two supernals and what God
(Almighty and All-powerful) called the two portents (Quran
17:12)403. In the governance of the worlds, they are like the two parents,
as the possessor of the message (God praise him and his family) said,
You and I, Ali, are the parents of this community. For they are the
ones responsible for the spiritual birth in the form of the intellect and
divine soul (al-nafs al-rabbaniya) deserving reward and spared punish-
ment. This form does not arise except in the possessors of hearts, those
who seek knowledge, wisdom, and good works. Let them ascend by
ropes (Quran 38:10). It is not through the merits of genealogy that
they are well-connected: the kindred of God is higher and superior to the
kindred of man. Anyone who says otherwise has spoken unbelief.
[34] God (the Exalted One) said about this, The faith of your father
Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time (Quran
22:78). He who parts with the genealogy of God (Almighty and All-
powerful), God abandons. And He (Almighty and All-powerful) said:
O Noah. Lo! He is not of thy household; lo! He is of evil conduct
(Quran 11:46). Therefore, Noah and those who were connected to the
kindred of God called out [or became missionaries], saying Lord
403
And We appoint the night and the day two portents. Then we make dark the por-
tent of the night, and We make the portent of the day sight-giving, that ye may seek
bounty from your Lord, and that ye may know the computation of the years, and the reck-
oning; and everything have We expounded with a clear expounding (Quran 17:12).
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196 D. HOLLENBERG
forgive me [and my parents]404 and him who entereth my house believ-

ing (Quran 71:28); they entered favor, which is spiritual birth. The
Messiah said to one of the disciples: He who is not born twice will not
gain the kingdom of the heavens. The disciple said: How can I return
to my mothers womb again when I am eighty years old?! He said,
You still do not recognize the words that I have said to you. Similarly
the Messenger of God (may God praise him and his family) said:
Salman is from us as one of the family of the Prophet though he was a
Persian slave.
[35] At the completion of sixty-thousand years405, the planets come
together in their houses of exaltation and fortune, and at that [moment],
the world will perish and return to the initial point of the sign of Aries.
The worlds destruction is through the conjunction of the planets and
their altitudes: their coming together destroys the divided sphere. At the
known time, its motion slows down through its departure from the center
around which it rotates in the [outer-most] sphere; likewise, are the
planets that God made in the divided sphere, to adjust it [the outer-most
sphere] through their conjunctions, rectifying it, moving it in harmony in
atmosphere (jaww) and effect; [God made them in] opposition, for like-
ness opposes likeness and similitude opposes similitude. And the ad-
juster of the sphere is the counterpart to the mountains which God
placed as the tent-pegs (Quran 78:7) of the earth, clamping it so that he
who is on it does not perish. He made them firm so that the world could
spread out (yamtaddu)406.
[36] Likewise, He made the governing, luminary planets the adjuster
for the sphere through their conjunction and, if they came together and
ceased to be in balance, halting the rate of growth which God (glory be
to Him) had set, adhering to the [outer-most] sphere and being fixed in
rectitude and moderation. []407 Its path is from the west of the [outer-
most] sphere to its east in its revolutions with its hastening, slowing and
median motion through what is compounded in it from the stars, for it is
the mover of all. And if it expired in the divided sphere at the known,
appointed time, through the conjunction of the planets in the divided
sphere at the first point of Aries, it will move anything it moves with it.
This is the period that has been mentioned. In this term there will abide
neither a called one nor an animate being that is not annihilated and
404
And my parents omitted in text.
405We would expect three-hundred and sixty thousand.
406
Quran 50:7 And the earth have We spread out (yamaddu), and have flung firm
hills therein, and have caused of every lovely kind to grow thereon.
407There is a phrase here I was unable to reconstruct.
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corrupted. This is the decree of the All-Mighty, All-Knowing in the pe-

riod in which a day is counted as one-thousand years (Quran 22:47).
[37] It has been said that when she leaves her dwelling place [in the
body], the soul does not die. Rather, she unties herself from her bonds
with her senses to join her intellectual cause which is joined to the world
of divinity. Animality pulls her, and the vegetating pulls the sensing. If
she has done works according to the rational, sensing, intellectual soul
and has gained knowledge, she is perfected, and ascends to her world;
thus, she is saved. Then through her, the sensory and vegetative [souls]
live. But if she has done works according to the beastly soul, she is not
saved from the sphere (kurra) of ether and the cold of Zamharir. For she
is spared from them by what she does and learns, by being pure and as-
cending to her world. If she is not like that, but lags behind, she lan-
guishes in torture, because she is not certain that she has a world to
which she, if joined, would be saved.
[38] The wise one Aristotle said: This soul came to love matter
through which she appears and did not choose to go from it to her world
from which she had appeared only because she is not certain that she
only exists [in this world] via matter [hayula]. If she learned that when
she leaves [matter] she would be joined to her cause and be purified
from [matters] crudities in the world of abiding and repose where there
is no worry, sadness, loss, deficiency, imperfection, and wear, she would
rush to go over, desiring to acquire [that] station; [she would] not be
satisfied with this world as a whereabouts (muqam). She would abstain
from the existence of existents (wujud al-mawjudat) [and take heed
of] the appearance of the existence of shadows, looking at the cause
from the divine intellect which is the originative world in the intellec-
tual, human elements and the divine, illuminated bodies. [She would]
seclude herself from the singular, silent elements (which have been dis-
cussed previously with the bad spirits), and combine the three bodies
the vegetative, animal, and sensual via the appearance of the rational
[soul] with its intellectual, eternal acts in the corporeal world and her
becoming stripped into natural complexes (tajriduha fi l-tarakib al-
abiiya). The cause of the sensory, coupling, genealogical world and its
governance is through the existence of the intellect. All of the fashioned
things, all their species and its types and qualities, are through its gov-
ernance.
[39] Therefore the wise ones said: The macrocosm governs the mi-
crocosm which is not intelligent, and the microcosm is an act of the
macrocosm, which is intelligent. [This is] because the spheres and
planets move according to the order (rasm) and reckoning of the Intel-
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198 D. HOLLENBERG
lect by means of its wisdom and governance without knowledge or

working for a reward. So too is the human. For it is the universality of
the spirit (kulliyat al-ru) placed within the universality of the body
(kulliyat al-jism) [.]408.
[40] Referring to the Creator (mention of Him is mighty), one of the
wise ones said about this that with the intellect, He created the soul, na-
ture and prime matter in one stroke, out of time, according to their sub-
tlety, crudity, lightness, and weight. By crudity and weight, he
meant bringing into being [three dimensional] bodies (ajram) and from
them, the primaries of bodies (awail al-ajsam) in the first of origination.
By nature he meant form which is the influence of the universal
soul on prime matter through which the universal body is made. Things
are made in it [matter?] in one stroke, and from it, soul, nature, and
prime matter were made to appear. They were made to appear according
to the subtlety, crudity, lightness, and weight which were created with
bodies (ajram) and what corresponds to bodies (ajsam) in the primary of
origination. The form only changes due to nature. This is the influence
of the universal soul within which is the universal body.
[41] Regarding Gods (the Exalted) statement We created you male
and female (Quran 49:13) [Jafar] al-Saiq (peace be upon him) said
that by creation He meant to bring the whole (al-kull), i.e., the univer-
sal spirit and universal body, from non-existence to existence without
time, duration, or a minute. He [God] said: We formed you (Quran
7:11). By forming He means a spiritual forming (tawir ruani) and
its sensual form which is like the cogitative imagining (al-wahm al-fikri)
completed in the genera of the world. This subtle and crude expression f
r b n w k w r [] the remainder of that intellect. In concept (mana) it
is the same as a b y from m n r d l y it reached the extent of the one
who renders His peace upon us.
[42] The wise one said: Thus, the subtle constituents (mukawwanat),
the originative constitutors (mukawwinat), and the aforementioned, dis-
tinct acts of the two terminates in material bodies. This is because the
intellectual births (mawalid) and the rational, spiritual soul, and its re-
turn and appointment is with the spiritual forms possessing eternal life.
[43] The wise one mentioned that the intellect is like a man in
potentia, and the soul is like a woman in actu. She receives the divine
trace and brings forth the forms. From them [form], the compound na-
tures are given the movements for governing the genera and the union of
the senses, species, and individuals (ayan) to restore what was corrupt
408The text is unclear.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 198 6/7/09, 11:36 am

in them and keep them until their time which their Creator has deter-
mined (araba) for them as at their end.
[44] The Sage (peace be upon him) said that the spirit which was in
Adam and to which He made His angels prostrate (Quran 96:19;
76:26) is similar to the sensed which we likened to the imagination
in the human. This expression [applies to] after the completion of the
last of the corporeal [worlds] when all of the worlds had been created.
And [he the Sage said] that this was not done except by an agent of a
patient by an eternal cause (illa azaliya) not encompassed by a quality,
imagining, or [with] existence. Indeed, its existence [can be derived]
from what the ancient, wise [philosophers] said: the existence of every
agent is for the sake of its act.
[45] To he who describes the Creator with a quality, we say that de-
scriptions or attributes cannot be applied to Him (glory be to Him). Thus
the Greek Euclid said that the Creator does not have an action or ge-
nus. The question why the creation of the worlds? leads to the ques-
tion why the Creator? (Almighty and All-powerful) and considering
the quarity [of this matter] is out of the question. Thus it has been said:
there are no answers to questions about God, nor is there a quality or
description for one who would describe [Him]. Indeed, He does not
[have] qualities.
[46] The wise one Plato said that the rational soul is the body of the
intellect because it [the intellect] does not direct her by straightening
[her]. Rather, the intellect supports, encloses, and rules her with protec-
tion while it is itself at rest; to it appears the reality of the ensoulment
of its matter.
[47] One of the wise ones mentioned the human. He said: In real-
ity, the human is not that which is seen in movement and sense; he is,
rather, far from these two corporeal aspects. His existence subsists in im-
agination and is known in cogitation. The indication by which he is seen
is the links (asbab) and spheres and their governor, and the Prophets, the
supported legatees, the guided Imams, and honored slaves. All of whom
we have mentioned speak not until He hath spoken, and they act by His
command (Quran 21:27).
[48] Daniel (peace be upon him) said: It is certain that an individual
(shakh) will appear. Gods house of exaltations and good deeds will be
in him for all people wherein are fruit and sheathed palm trees (Quran
55:11). Fire will emerge from the mouth of the hypocrites to burn them
with their gathered words, and those are these symbolic letters: l l w
a m w d kh a m. And he said: The beasts will eat of the seedlings of
the earth, and [will eat] one another, and a flood of fire will go out from
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200 D. HOLLENBERG
the east of Jerusalem. The gate of mercy (bab al-rama) goes to the
gate of the [Dome of the] Rock (akhra) which is sanctified by lights.
They eat the sacrifices which are upon it there, those which the All-Mer-
ciful does not accept. They distort knowledge with demonstration
(burhan) and were made an enemy through [their] delinquency and
straying. So pray for the cycles (adwar) of the Speaker-Prophets, Wais,
Imams (may the praises of God be upon them)!
[49] The Sage (peace be upon him) said that the specialists in philoso-
phy and logic and the like do not understand the true sense (aqiqat al-
amr) of the Law-bringers (asab al-sharai). They scoff at those
(Quran 9:79) whose intellects are weak, but they only make themselves
look foolish.
[50] A group of them said that they [the Law-bringers] are learned
wise ones whom the [outermost] sphere regards with good fortune, so
that they are inclined to make mankind their servants. They are divine-
law bringers through enduring, looking after the common welfare, spar-
ing blood, safeguarding the women, and preventing the powerful from
vanquishing the weak. They [the learned wise-ones] did not believe in
entering into their laws. Then they disavowed that and went so far that
they would not study the intellectual sciences (aqliyat), universals,
qualities, (kayfiyat), or quantities (kamiyat).
[51 A group of them say: How could there be a world outside of this
sphere, for there is not a thing outside of it. Thus they place the Creator
inside the sphere with them. But how could the Fashioner be inside what
He fashioned! Then they deny the spiritual world, saying, How could
the spiritual, which does not have a bodily instrument, address the hu-
man? This would only hold for us if we witnessed [it]. Rather, we say
that the Law-bringers are [those who use their] intellects.
[52] The astrologers said that those [Law-bringers] arose according to
the conjunction (qiran) according to the good fortunes (saadat) and
misfortunes of the planets, they [the astrologers] say that it is according
to the conjunction. So that comes to pass on their part according to what
each conjunction in that time necessitated according to the magnitude of
its power and fortune.
[53] The Sage (peace be upon him) said: if we explained what they
mentioned about the judgments of the conjunctions decree and what
time requires for each speaker-prophet, we would go beyond what we
had intended, but we will mention the truth of the conjunction and the
truth of the conjunction for the pious people of the truths (may praise
and peace be upon them). We [only] begin to mention about that in this
book. But we will, with the help of God, treat two states: that the bounty
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 200 6/7/09, 11:36 am

of God (glory be to Him), by the existence of the first, created by His

command. Thus, there came about a second command which was a part-
ner (qarina) to His will, which is His command, for there is no differ-
ence or opposition between them but, rather, agreement, harmony, and
conjunction toward the creation of what the first command ordered to-
ward the second command. So the first [command] began to impel the
second, and it appeared from it in actu like that which came from it from
God (Almighty and All-powerful). Through the establishment of [Gods]
bounty, existence attached to creation, completing that which had not
[yet] reached its completion.
[54] By the command of God, the message (al-risala) connected with
the first of the two receivers starting from the simple substances in the
spiritual beginning. The first of those who knew about [the message]
was bodily creation. When through the command of its Lord, the world
of Intellect with its lights within began to shine upon the world of Soul,
it shone upon that which was below it. So the spheres illuminated the
world of body (jirm), and they received the command. One attached to
the next until it reached the sphere of the moon, and the decrees (akam)
of that blessed conjunction and the bounty emanated by it attached to
that which is below it at the first existence.
[55] Thus, this command shone in the world of growth and corrup-
tion. So it traveled from the light of the message, like the traveling of the
suns light in the air which emerges in the world of humanity. The con-
dition of the possessors of the supernal mansions and heavenly degrees
in bodily forms and human souls, those who have knowledge from the
book, became in a good state from that command. They are the prophets,
legatees, Imams, and deputies (khulafa) (may the praise of God be upon
them). So the light of the message shone on their souls, descending upon
them, bestowed unto them. The command continued with the people of
that time until it was said that the pregnant one would see when she
would bring forth her offspring and what she would produce and the fe-
tus would be completed in form and his creation was mature.
[56] When the lights of the spheres poured the resources409 (mawadd)
of the Universal Soul by radiating on particular souls in humanity, this
409I have translated madda (pl. mawadd) as resource rather than matter because
I suspect its usage here is similar to that of the Sarair al-nuaqa. There it refers to divine
resources which descend to empower Prophets, and seems to have little connection with
matter as it is generally used in the philosophical sense. Al-Amiri used mawadd in the
sense of angelic resources (al-mawadd al-malakiya). E. ROWSON, A Muslim Philoso-
pher on the soul and its fate: Al-Amiris Kitab al-amad ala l-abad, New Haven, 1988, p.
108 (Arabic text).
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 201 6/7/09, 11:36 am

202 D. HOLLENBERG
was to show them worship that brings them closer to the first cause, and
her purification from the pollution of sin and the impurity of disobedi-
ence: This favor and beneficence suffused the entire world of human-
kind with the rule of justice. The first beginning of this work to please
God was done by him whom time endowed and to whom was charged
the precedence of the Speaker-Prophet at that time, and the ones like him
followed him one above the other. And when his favor was clear, he be-
came a site for the head of this command in it. He attained the highest
degree of the people of his time and he began to teach them one thing
after another. He raised the law, erected its signposts, and clarified its
precepts. This is the sunna of the Prophets, the Law-bringers who were
sent [by God] (aab al-sharai al-mursalin), the beginning of the com-
mand, its descent from the spiritual ones and the world of corporeal
spheres. This appeared and was accepted [by all of the Prophets] from
Adam to the Qaim (the prayers of God upon them). We will now men-
tion their cycles.
2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 202 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Hollenberg Neoplatonism in Pre-Kirmanian Fatimid Do

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NEOPLATONISM IN PRE-KIRMANIAN FAIMID DOCTRINE

NEOPLATONISM IN PRE-KIRMANIAN FAIMID DOCTRINE

This article presents a critical edition and translation of the prologue

Le Muson 122 (1-2), 159-202. doi: 10.2143/MUS.122.1.2037156 - Tous droits rservs.

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 159 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Neoplatonic thought in their doctrinal compositions3. The presence of

al-Muizz li-din Allah and Neoplatonic ta'wil

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 160 6/7/09, 11:36 am

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 161 6/7/09, 11:36 am

God as he [scil. the visitor] claimed. Rather, this blend encourages

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 162 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Besides Kitab al-fatarat, the al-Risala al-mudhhiba (The Epistle

al-Sijistani, Cambridge, 1993, p. 21-24.

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 163 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Description of the text

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 164 6/7/09, 11:36 am

Department of Philosophy and Religion David HOLLENBERG

Abstract This article is a critical edition and translation of the prologue to

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 165 6/7/09, 11:36 am

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

Conventions for critical edition

Abbreviations and conventions

2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 166 6/7/09, 11:36 am

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56B del tO dO_ vK

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2148-09_Mus09/1-2_09_Hollenb 171 6/7/09, 11:36 am

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v d& b uI w U U q rJ d  tOK

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the source A W0HMU WOUF WKF u ULN qI

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