A Reconsideration of al-Q al-Nu'mn's "Madhhab"

Author(s): Ismail K. Poonawala

Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 37,
No. 3 (1974), pp. 572-579
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies
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A RECONSIDERATION OF
AL-QADI
AL-NU'MAN'S
MADHHAB
By
ISMAIL K. POONAWALA
It has been
generally accepted by
modern scholars that
al-Q&di al-Nu'man
was in the
beginning
either a
Maliki
or a
Hanafi
and that he
subsequently
became an
Imami
and
finally adopted
the
Isma'ili
faith. The
Imami
savants,
from
al-Q&di
Nfir
Allah
Shiishtari to
Agha Buzurg-i
Tihrani,
maintain that
al-Qadi al-Nu'man
was one of their
co-religionists. Isma'ilis,
on the other
hand,
regard
him as one of the
pillars
of their da'wa. In the
light
of
recently
discovered
sources and of the
consequent
revaluation and
reinterpretation
of earlier
works,
a re-examination of the
question
of
al-Q.di
al-Nu'man's
madhhab becomes
necessary.
The
present
article
attempts
to do
precisely
that,
and show how and
when the
theory
of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man's conversion
originated.
First,
we shall examine the
Imami sources.1
It is
reported by
the authors of
Mustadrak al-wasd'il
2
and Fawt'id
al-Ridawiya 3
that
Muhammad
b. 'All
al-Karajaki (d. 449/1057),4
a
pupil
of
Abfi
Ja'far
al-TfisI
and
al-Sayyid
al-
Murtada,
made
compendiums
of
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man's
Da'd'im
al-Isldm
and
Sharh
al-akhbdr.
This
report
indicates how
early
some works of
al-Qadi
al-
Nu'man
were known
among
certain
Imami
groups.
Both the aforementioned
works and
al-Mandqib
wa
'l-mathalib,
which became
popular among
the
Imamis,
have all the essential Shi'ite features.
Moreover,
these works of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man
and those of his two
contemporaries, al-Kulayni (d. 329/941)
and
Ibn
Babawayhi
(d. 381/991-2),
are
among
the
early
Shi'ite
contributions to
fiqh
and
mandqib.
Hence it is not
surprising
that those works of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man were
accepted by
some Imami circles.
However,
the
early
Imami
bio-bibliographers,
such as
al-Najashi (d.
450/1058) 5
and
al-Tfisi (d. 460/1067),6
do not mention
al-Qadi al-Nu'man.
Perhaps,
either
they
were not
acquainted
with the works of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man,
or the latter had not
yet acquired
an
Imami
stamp.
Ibn Shahrashiib (d.
588/1192)
was
probably
the first
Imami
author to include
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man
in his
bibliography.7
He mentions with
appreciation
some works of
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man,
such as
Sharh
al-akhbdr
8 and
al-Mandqib
wa 'l-mathalib, but,
at the
same
time,
asserts that the author is not an Imami. This assertion
supports
the
1
For the detailed
description
of the
sources, cf.
I. K.
Poonawala,
'
Al-QAdi
al-Nu'min's
works
and the sources', BSOAS,
xxxvI,
1, 1973,
109-15.
2
Mirz
Husayn al-Nuiri, Mustadrak al-wasa'il, Tehran, 1318-21/1900-3, IIi,
319.
3
'Abbis
Qummi,
Fawd'id
al-Ridawiya, Tehran, 1327/1948-9,
II,
572.
4
He is said to have
spent
several
years
in Cairo
during
the second decade of the
fifth/eleventh
century, cf.
Muhammad
al-Baqir
al-Khwinsdri,
Rawddt al-janndt,
Tehran, 1367/1948,
552-3.
5
Ahmad b. 'Ali
al-Najdshi,
Kitdb
al-rijSl,
Tehran,
n.d.
6 AbTi Ja'far Muhammad
al-Tfisi,
Rijdl
al-
TIsF, Najaf,
1961
; idem, al-Fihrist,
ed. Muhammad
Sddiq, Najaf,
1960.
7 Ibn Shahrdshilb,
Ma'Slim
al-'ulamd',
ed.
'Abbis
Iqb&l,
Tehran, 1353/1934,
113.
8
Ibn Shahrdshiib states that
Sharh
al-akhbdr deals with the
fa4d'il
of the
Imims
until Ja'far
al-Sadiq.
Thus,
it seems that the later
parts
of the book
(parts
xiv-xvI,
cf.
Ismi'il
b. 'Abd
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A RECONSIDERATION OF
AL-QADI)
AL-NU'MAN'S
MADHHAB 573
assumption
that some
Imdmi
circles did consider
al-Q&di
al-Nu'mdn to be an
Imami.
The
Isma'ili movement,
from its
beginning,
seems to
have
drawn a certain
number of
Imamis
into its fold. Some of the
outstanding
Isma'll d&'is,
for
example Munsfir al-Yaman,9
'Ali b.
al-Fadl,10
Abfi
'Abdallah
al-Shi'i,11
and
HIasan-i
Sabbh,12
were first
Imamis;
subsequently they
were converted and
recruited
by
the
Isma'ili
da'wa.,
With the decline of the
Bfiyids
in
Baghdad
and
their
ensuing
fall, Fatimid
Cairo
proved
to be a
refuge
for
Shi'ites;
and
many
Imdmis
were attracted to this new centre. The existence of a
large
number of
Imamis
in the
Fatimid
capital
is attested to
by
the
proclamation
of the
Imami
faith as the official creed of the
Fatimid
empire by
Abfi
'Ali
Ahmad (nicknamed
Kutayfat)
b.
Afdal,
the
grandson
of Badr
al-Jamali,
in the
year 524/1129-30,
and the
appointment
of an
Imami
qd~4 along
with three others.13 It is not
improbable, therefore,
that such a
group
of Imdmis
might
have been instru-
mental in
introducing al-Qadi
al-Nu'man's
works to the
Imami
circles and also
in
giving
him an
Imami
character.
For the
period
under discussion no Imami source is known that
specifically
asserts that
al-Q.di
al-Nu'man
was an
Imami. However,
the situation
changes
dramatically
in the later
period,
as most of the Imami divines now
unequivocally
vouch
for
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man's
being
a strict
Imami. Al-Qadi
Nfir
Allah
Shfishtari
(d. 1019/1610)
was
probably
the first
Imami
divine to state that al-
Qadi
al-Nu'man was at first a Maliki and then became an Imam.l14 The source
al-Rasfil
al-Majdii',
Fihrist,
ed. A.
Munzavi, Tehran, 1966, 69-72) dealing
with
Ismi'il
b. Ja'far
and his son
Mulhammad,
the hidden
Imams,
the
good tidings
about the
appearance
of
al-Mahdi,
etc.,
were
probably
removed from it. The
copy
of this book in the
possession
of Mirza
Husayn
al-Niiri (Mustadrak al-wasi'il,
III,
321)
and now
deposited
in the central
library, University
of
Tehran (A.
Munzavi and M. T.
Ddnish-pazhtih (comp.),
Fihrist-i
kitabkhana-i markazi-i
Dinishgdh-i Tihrin, Tehran,
1330/1951-2-1340/1961-2, v, 1365-74)
also does not contain the
later
parts.
9
Al-Qddi
al-Nu'min,
Iftith.
al-da'wa,
ed.
Wadid
al-Qddi,
Beirut, 1970, 33;
H. F.
Hamdini,
al-Sulayhfyiin,
Cairo, 1955,
30.
10 Muhammad
b.
Milik al-Hammddi, Kashf
asrdr
al-BSitiniya,
ed. 'Izzat
al-'Attir,
Cairo,
1939, 21; al-BahA' al-Janadi, al-Sultk
in H. C.
Kay (ed.
and
tr.), Yaman, its
early
mediaeval
history, London, 1892, Arabic,
139.
11 Ibn
Khaldfin,
Tdrikh Ibn Khaldfn, Beirut, 1956-9, Iv, 65;
Hasan
Ibrdhim
H.
asan,
Tdrikh
al-dawla
al-Fctimiya, Cairo, 1958,
47.
12
'Ati Malik al-Juwayni,
Tdrikh-i
Jahangush&,
ed.
Mirz& Muhammad
Qazvini (Gibb
Memorial
Series, xvi, 1-3), Leiden, 1912-37,
III,
188;
IHamd
Allh Mustawfi,
Tdrikh-i
Guzida,
ed. 'Abd al-
.IIFusayn
Navd'i, Tehran,
1339/1960-1,
518.
13
He himself was an
Imgmi
and remained in
power
for a little over one
year
and with his
assassination on 16 Muharram
526/1131
the
Imgmi
faith was reversed. Ibn
Muyassar,
Akhbdr
Misr,
ed. Henri
Masse, Cairo, 1919, 74-5;
Ibn
Khallikin,
Wafayit al-a'yin,
ed. M.
Muhy al-Din,
Cairo, 1948,
IT,
400-1; al-Maqrizi, al-Khitat, Baghdid,
1970
(offset print
of
B5il1q
edition),
II,
17.
Ibn
Taghribirdi,
on the
contrary,
states that
Abfi
'Ali
Ahmad
was a
Sunnite; however,
he
believed in the doctrine of al-Imdm
al-muntagar, cf.
al-Nujiim al-zdhira, Cairo, 1929-56, v,
239.
Cf.
also S. M.
Stern,
'The succession to the Fatimid Imam
al-Amir', Oriens, Iv, 2, 1951,
193-
255; Jamil al-Din
al-Shayyil, Majmi'at al-watha'iq al-Fdtimiya, Cairo, 1958, 89-92;
'Abd al-
Mun'im
Mijid, Zuhfr khildfat al-Fdtimfyin, Cairo, 1968,
426-7.
14
Shiishtari, Majalis al-mu'minin, Tehran,
1375-6/1956-7, I,
538-9.
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574 ISMAIL K. POONAWALA
of his
information,
as stated
by him,
is
Ibn Khallikdn's (d. 681/1282) Wafaydt
al-a'ydn.
In his
assumption
Shfishtari
was followed
by Mirz& Muhammad
al-
Astardbadi
(d. 1029/1619)15
and
Muhammad
b.
al-HIasan
al-Hurr
al-'Amili
(d. 1104/1692).16
Muhammad al-Bdqir al-Majlisi (d. 1111/1699)
used
both Da'd'im al-Isldm
and
al-Manaqib
wa 'l-mathalib as sources for
his
magnum opus, Bih~
r
al-anwar.17
Refuting
the claim that
Da'a'im al-Isldm was written
by al-Shaykh al-Sadflq,
he states:
'Al-QAdi al-Nu'man
was at first a
Maliki,
then he was led to the
right path
and became an Imdmi. Most of the traditions
reported by
him in
Da'd'im
al-Isldm
are in
conformity
with the ones found in our celebrated books. He
did
not, however,
report
from
any
Imim later than
al-.Sdiq
because of
his
fear of the
Ism'lili
caliphs.
He thus
reported
the truth
by practising
taqiya '. s1
Al-Sarawi,19
on the other
hand,
expresses
a different
opinion.
He states:
'Al-QAdi
al-Nu'mdn wrote commendable works on the Imdmate and
fadJ'il
of
the Imdms; however,
he was not an
Imami.
It is also true
that
most of the traditions
reported
in
Da'a'im
al-Isldm are in accordance with the
ones found in the celebrated books of our
savants,
yet
in some
cases,
such as
the mut'a
marriage,
he did contravene the
legal
views
held
by
our
jurists.
It was for these reasons that the author of Wasa'il al-Shi'a excluded
Da'd'im
al-Isldm from his list of authoritative works '.20
Muhammad
al-Mahdi
Bahr
al-'Ulfim al-Tabdtaba'i,
generally
known as
Sayyid
al-td'ifa
(d. 1212/1797),21 is
in accord
with
al-Majlisi,
while Muhammad
al-BAqir al-Khwansari
(d. 1313/1895)
22
agrees
with
Ibn
Shahrashiib
in
denying
that
al-QAdi al-Nu'man
was an
Imdmi. Conversely,
Mirza
HIusayn
al-Ninri
(d. 1330/1912),
a
contemporary
of
al-Khwdnsrli,
vehemently
maintains that al-
Qadi
al-Nu'mdn was an
Imam.I23
Enumerating
both
Da'd'im al-Isldm
and
Sharh
al-akhbdr
as sources for his voluminous work Mustadrak
al-wasd'il, al-Ninri
devotes 10
pages
to an
interesting polemic
as to whether
al-QAdi
al-Nu'mdn
was an
Imami
or an
Isma'ili.
In order to
support
his contention that the latter
15
Al-Astardbddi,
Manhaj
al-nuwqdl,
Tehran, 1307/1890,
512.
16
Al-Hurr al-'Amili,
Amal
al-dmil,
ed.
Ahmad al-Husayni, Baghdid, 1385/1956,
II,
335.
17
AI-Majlisi, Bi4cr al-anwdr, Tehran, 1376/1956-7, I,
20.
18
ibid., I,
38-9.
19
Unfortunately,
al-Niri
does not
give
his full
name,
hence I am unable to
identify
him. He
might
be the same as
Sulaymin
b. 'Abdallih
al-Buhrini
al-Sarawi
(d. 1121/1709),
listed
by
al-
KhwInsiri, op. cit.,
303-5.
20
Al-Nuiri, op. cit., III,
314.
21
Al-Tabdtabi'i, Rijjl al-Sayyid Babr al-'Ulfim,
ed.
Muhammad
and
IHusayn
Bahr al-'Ultim,
Najaf, 1385-6/1965-7, Iv,
5-14. Hasan
b.
'Ali
Yazdi
(d. 1297/1880) quotes
both
al-Majlisi
and
Ibn
Shahrdshfib
regarding
al-Qdi
al-Nu'mdn's madhhab, cf. Hiddyat al-asmi' ft bayn ikutub
al-'ulamd',
ed.
Dinish-pazhfih
in Bulletin de la
Bibliothuque
Centrale de
l'Universit'
de
Tehran,
vi, 1348/1969-70,
15.
22
A-1.Khwinsgri, op. cit.,
727-8.
23
Al-Nuiri, op. cit., III, 291,
313-22. In his
NasIm-i
bahdr!
dar
a4hwl-i
Haklm-i
Nizdrf,
Mashhad, 1344/1965, 7-8, Murtadi Mujtahidzida agrees
with
al-Nilri
that
al-Qldi
al-Nu'mAn
was an Imimi.
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A RECONSIDERATION OF
AL-QAPI AL-NU'MAN'S
MADHHAB
575
was an
Imami, he
presents
various
arguments.
First,
he cites all earlier Imdmi
authors who made use of
al-Q!i
al-Nu'min's works,
the
implication being
that
those authors considered him an
Imami.
Next,
he enumerates the authorities
who
pronounced
al-Qadi al-Nu'man
an
Imami.
Then he
gives
a
summary
of
the
Isma'ili/Batini
doctrines taken from
anti-Isma'ill
sources. It is followed
by
lengthy quotations
from
Da'a'im
al-Islsm
regarding
the
position
of the
Imams.
[The
tone of the
Da'&'im, being
a
Zhiri
work,
is
moderate.]
Al-Nfri
thus
deduces that
al-Qadi al-Nu'man
had
nothing
in common with the
Batiniya,
who
held extremist doctrines about the
Imams. Al-Qadi
al-Nu'man's silence about
the names of the hidden
Imams
(in
the
Da'd'im),
after Ja'far
al-Sadiq,
is taken
as another
example
to
prove
that he was not an
Isma'ill.
Finally,
the
arguments
of al-Sarawi are refuted one
by
one at
great length.24
'Abbas
Qummi,
writing
in the
year 1332/1913,
considers
al-Qadi al-Nu'man
an eminent
Imami
pundit.25
Yet
Agha Buzurg-i
Tihrani,
another modern
Imami
scholar,
who is
acquainted
with the
writings
of W.
Ivanow
and
Muhammad
Kamil
Husayn,
not
only
maintains that
al-Qdi
al-Nu'man
was an
Imami,
but
goes
a
step
further to state:
'
It is true that
al-Q&li
al-Nu'man,
because of his fear of the
Isma'ili
caliphs
whom he
served,
did not narrate traditions
explicitly
from
any
Imam
later
than Ja'far
al-.Sdiq.
However,
he did it
implicitly
with indirect allusions-
the
kunya
Abfi
'l-.IHasan
implied
Imam
al-Rida
while the
kunya
Abit
Ja'far
implied
Imam
al-Jawd
'.26
Finally,
al-Qadi al-Nu'man
is included
by Sayyid Muhsin
al-Amin
(d. 1952)
in his
A'ydn al-Shi'a.27
The
foregoing survey clearly
indicates that the
assumption
that
al-Qh1d
al-Nu'min was an
Imami,
held
by
most of the later
Imami savants,
was based
on
Ibn Khallikan's
statement. Let
us, then,
turn to the
theory
of
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man's conversion stated
by
Ibn
Khallikdn himself.
According
to
him,
al-Qadi
al-Nu'min was at first a
Maliki
and then became an
'
Imami
'
and wrote
several works for the
Fatimids.28
Unfortunately,
A. A. A.
Fyzee erroneously
takes the above statement to
imply
that
al-Qadi al-Nu'man,
after
having
em-
braced the Imami faith,
was converted to the
Isma'ili
faith.29 Hence all
modern scholars of
Isma'ilism,
such as W.
Ivanow,30
Muhammad Kamil
Husayn,32
and R.
Strothmann,32
have been
misled
by Fyzee.
The
question
now
24 The
importance
of this discussion seems to have
escaped
A. A. A.
Fyzee,
cf.
'
Qddi
an-
Nu'min : the Fatimid
jurist
and author
', JRAS, 1934,
pt. 1,
5.
25
Qummi, op. cit., 11,
693-4.
28
Agh! Buzurg, al-Dharf'a
ild
tas.nif
al-Shf'a,
Najaf
and
Tehran, 1355-90/1936-70, I,
60.
27 Al-Amin, A'yin al-Shi'a, Beirut, 1960-, L,
13-15.
28 Ibn
Khallikin, op. cit., v, 48; cf.
also C. H.
Becker, Beitriige
zur Geschichte
kAgyptens
unter
dem
Islam,
Strassburg, 1902,
11.
29
Fyzee, op. cit.,
8.
30
W. Ivanow,
A
guide to Ismaili literature, London, 1933, 37; idem,
Ismaili
literature,
Tehran, 1963,
32.
31
M. Kimil
Husayn, Fi
adab
Misr al-Feltimiya, Cairo, 1950, 43; al-Q&di al-Nu'mdn,
Kitlb
al-himma,
ed. M. Kimil
I.Iusayn,
Cairo, n.d.,
6.
32 R.
Strothmann,'
Recht der Ismailiten
',
Der
Islam,
xxxT,
2-3, 1954,
131.
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576 ISMAIL K. POONAWALA
arises: from what sources did Ibn Khallikin derive his information ? In all
probability,
neither from
Ibn
Zfillq
(d. 387/997)
nor
al-Musabbihi (d. 420/1029).
Perhaps
the statement about
al-Qadi al-Nu'man's
conversion arose as a result of
misapprehension
over the
identity
of the
person
who was converted. It was
al-Qadi
al-Nu'mdn's
father,
as we shall see
later,
who was converted from the
Maliki
school to the
Isma'ill
faith. The
error, therefore,
might
have
originated
either with Ibn Khallikan or from the source of his information.
Before we
proceed
further,
the term '
Imami
' itself as used
by
Ibn
Khallikan
needs some clarification. Both the
Imami authors,
Sa'd b.
'Abdallhh
al-Ash'ari
(d. 301/913)
33
and
Hasan
b.
Mfisa
al-Nawbakhti
(d.
c.
310/922),34
use this term
for the Twelvers. The eleventh
Imam,
I.Iasan
al-'Askari,
died in
260/874,
without
leaving any
male
offspring.
His followers
split
into 14 or 15
groups
differing widely
about the latter's succession. The
Twelvers,
maintaining
the
Imamate
of al-'Askari's hidden
son,
formed a
group
from
among
those
groups.
In the course of time other
groups disappeared
and the Twelvers became the
dominant
force.35
Thus it seems that
by
the end of the third
century
of the
Hijra
the term'
Imami
' had
acquired
a
special
connotation and was used
by
the
Twelvers for
themselves,
replacing
the earlier
appellation 'al-Qat'iya'
36
by
which
they
bad been known since the death of
Imam
Mfisa al-Kazim.
This
usage,
however,
seems to have been limited to
Imami
writers themselves for a
long
time.
The account of both Abfi
THItim al-Razi
(d. 322/934)
37
and
al-Q&di
al-
Nu'man 38
about the various
groups
after the death of
HIasan
al-'Askari is the
same as that
given
in the two above-mentioned Imami sources.
Nevertheless,
it is worth
noting
that the term
'Imami
' is not used for
any
of those
groups,
rather the
cognomen
'
al-Qat'iya
'
is used.
Let us now turn to the Sunnite sources and their
usage
of the term
'
Immi'.
Abfi
'l-Hasan
al-Ash'ari
(d. 324/935)
defines the
Imamiya
as those who
assert,
on the
strength
of
nass,
the
Imamate
of
'Ali
after the death of the
Prophet.
Hence he uses the term
Imamiya
to
signify
various sub-sects of the
Shi'ites,
except al-Ghaliya
and
al-Zaydiya.39
He has therefore classified 24 sub-sects of
the
Shi'ites,
including
the Twelvers
(for
whom the
appellation al-Qat'iya
is
33 Al-Ash'ari,
Kitab
al-rmaqldt
wa
'l-firaq,
ed. M. Javid
Mashkfir,
Tehran, 1963,
102-6.
34
AI-Nawbakhti, Firaq al-ShV'a,
ed. H.
Ritter, Istanbul, 1931,
90-3.
35
'Abdallih Fayyid,
Thrikh
al-Imdmlya, Baghdad,
1970,
73-85.
36 This
appellation
was used in contradistinction to
al-Wlqifa
who denied the death of
Mfiss
al-K.zim,
maintaining
that he was raised to the Heavens and would
reappear
as
al-Q&'im.
Al-Qat'iya,
on the other
hand,
asserted the death of
Mfis& al-Kilim, maintaining
the Imdmate of
his son
'Ali
al-Rid.. 37
AI-RMzi,
Kitdb
al-zina, MS,
Hamdani
collection,
374. Two
parts
of it are edited
by
H. F.
Hamdini, Cairo,
1956-8. Abfi Hdtim states that most of the
groups
of
al-Qat'iya
described
by
him
have
already
vanished
except
two; one,
maintaining
the Imdmate of al-'Askari's hidden son;
the
other, maintaining
the Imdmate of
Ja'far, al-'Askari's
brother.
38
Al-Q&di al-Nu'mdn,
Sharh
al-akhbdr, MS,
School of Oriental and African Studies, London,
xIv,
17-22.
39 Al-Ash'ari,
Kitdb
maqdlt
al-Islmiyin,
ed. H.
Ritter,
second
ed., Wiesbaden, 1963,
16-17.
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A RECONSIDERATION OF
AL-QAp)
AL-NU'MAN'S
MADHHAB 577
used)
and the
Isma'ilis,
under the common term
Imamiya.40
The use of the
term
Imami
in this loose sense continued for a
long
time
among
Sunnite
heresiographers,
such as
al-Malati (d. 377/987),41 al-Baghdadi
(d. 429/1037),42
Ibn
Hazm (d. 456/1064),43
al-Isfara'ini
(d. 471/1078),44
and
al-Shahrastani
(d. 548/1153).45
It is
therefore
very likely
that Ibn
Khallikan,
who is closer to
the Sunnite tradition of the
usage
of the term
Imamiya, employs
it in the same
loose sense.46 This
assumption
is also
supported by
the use of another
term,
as
we shall
see,
for an
Isma'ili
convert in North Africa.
Ibn
Taghribirdi (d. 874/1469),
on the other
hand,
states that
al-Qadi
al-
Nu'man
was at first a
Hanafi
and later became an
Isma'ili (Batini).47
Hady
Roger
Idris,
a modern
scholar,
concurs with Ibn
Taghribirdi.48
The
Isma'lli
sources are
totally
silent in this
respect. They regard al-Qadi
al-Nu'man
as one
who derived his
knowledge
from the fountain-head of the
Imams
and was there-
fore one of the
pillars
of their da'wa. Hence the
question
of his conversion was
irrelevant to them.
Al-Qadi
al-Nu'man served the
Fdtimid dynasty
for almost 50
years,
from
313/925,
when he entered the service of
al-Mahdi,
until his death in
363/974.
Although
the date of his birth is not
known,
it would be safe to assume that he
was in his twenties when he entered the service of the first
Fatimid caliph
al-
Mahdi. This
places
the date of his birth somewhere between
283/896
and
293/905,
which coincides with the
gaining
of momentum of the mission of
d6'i
Abfi
'Abdallah al-Shi'i in North Africa.
Sham'fin
Lokhandwala,
in his
unpublished
thesis,
rejects
Ibn
Khallikan's
statement about
al-Qadi al-Nu'man's
conversion. He
argues
that
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man's
monumental work Kitab
al-Tdsh
was
begun
in the
days
of
al-Mahdi
and this
undertaking,
at an
early age, required
firm and devout attachment to
the new cause.49 The
chronology
of
al-Qadi al-Nu'man's
work
supports
the
40
ibid.,
17-30.
Abfi 'l-Qhsim
'Abd
al-WAhid
b.
Ahmad al-Kirmini,
who lived
during
the first
half of the
sixth/twelfth century,
uses the term
Imdmiya
in the same
way
as
al-Ash'ari
does
and for the Twelvers he uses the
appellation al-Qat'iya, cf.
M. T.
DMnish-pazhfih, 'Guft&r-i Ab'i
'l-Qd&im al-WJhid b. Ahmad
KirmanE
dar bdra-i
haftdd-u-sih guriih',
Bulletin de la Faculti
des
Lettres (Mashhad), xvI, 1, 1343/1964-5,
35-6.
41
Abfi 'l-Husayn Mubammad al-Malati,
Kitab al-tanbFh wa
'l-radd,
ed. Sven
Dedering,
Istanbul, 1936,
14-27.
42 'Abd
al-QAhir al-Baghdadi, al-Farq bayn al-firaq,
ed. M.
Muhiy
al-Din, Cairo, n.d., 21,
23.
Al-Qat'iya
and
al-Ithni-'ashariya
are mentioned as distinct
groups.
43
Ibn
Hazm,
Kitdb
al-fasi ft 'l-milal, Cairo,
1317-21/1899-1903-4, Iv,
181.
"
Abfi
Muzaffar
al-Isfard'ini,
al-Tab.sr
ff 'l-din,
ed. M.
ZAhid
al-Kawthari, Cairo, 1940, 16,
20-4. He uses the
appellation al-Qat'iya
and states that
they
are also called
al-Ithni-'ashariya.
4
Al-Shahrastini,
al-Milal wa
'l-nihal,
ed. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Wakil, Cairo, 1968, I, 162-5,
167-73. He
prefers
the term
al-Ithni-'ashariya
to
al-Qat'iya.
He is
generally regarded
as an
Ash'ari; however,
he was an
Ismd'ili
and held the rank of d&'i
al-du'dt
in the da'wa
hierarchy.
A detailed
description
of the sources and his works which bear an
Ismi'ili
imprint
has been
given
in
my forthcoming book, History of
Ismd'flf literature.
46 Ibn
Khaldfin sometimes uses the term
Imnmi
in its loose
sense,
cf.
Ibn
Khaldfin, op. cit.,
Iv,
58.
47
Ibn
Taghribirdi, op.
cit., Iv,
106-7.
48 H. R.
Idris,
La
Berbirie orientale
sou8
les ZFrfdes, Paris, 1962, 67, 559, 699,
734.
49
S.
Lokhandwala,
The
origins of Ismnd'lU
law
(Oxford
D.Phil.
thesis, 1951),
22.
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578 ISMAIL K. POONAWALA
contention of Lokhandwala.5so Al-
Urjiaza
al-mukhtara,
a
polemical
work on the
thorny question
of the Imamate
composed during
the
reign
of the second
Fatimid
caliph al-Q&'im, undeniably
shows the author's devout commitment
to the
Isma'ili
cause.51
Moreover,
in the introduction of another work entitled
Kitdb
al-himma,
he states that one of his teachers had
given
him a short treatise
to read which he assumed was written
by
a
non-Isma'ili.
However,
he was told
by
his teacher that he was
wrong
in his
assumption
and that the author was
indeed an
Isma'Ili
(min ahl
al-walaya).52
This
narrative
implies
that he received
Isma'ili
training
at an
early age.
Let us now turn to the North African milieu
during
the second half of the
third
century
of the
Hijra
where
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man
was born and
brought up.
Prior to the advent of dd'i Abil
'Abdallah
al-Shi'i
in the
year 280/893,
the
Isma'ili
da'wa had sent two
dc'is,
Abii
Sufyin
and
al-IHulwani;
and
through
their efforts the inhabitants of several
towns,
such as
Marmajanna
and Urbus
(in
the
vicinity
of
Qayrawan), accepted Shi'ism.53
With
the
coming
of Abti
'Abdallah
al-Shi'i
a new
phase
of the
Isma'ili
da'wa was initiated. After the
conversion of a Berber
tribe, Kutama,
which
championed
the
Fatimid cause,
the mission of Abni 'Abdallah
gained
momentum and in a few
years
succeeded in
overthrowing
the
Aghlabids
and in
founding
the
Fatimid
dynasty.54
It is not
unlikely,
therefore,
that this new movement attracted and won over some local
support
even before the fall of the
Aghlabid capital Qayrawin
in
296/908.
That
there was a
large Shi'I population
in
Qayrawan
and its environs
during
the
fourth and the fifth centuries of the
Hijra
is borne out
by
their
persecution
and
massacre
during
the
governorship
of al-Mu'izz b.
Bidis,
who renounced
Fatimid
suzerainty
and
patronized
the Maliki
school.55
According
to
Ibn Khallikan,
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man's father was a learned man
who died at the advanced
age
of 104 and was buried in
Qayrawan.56
In his
Tabaqdt
'ulam&'
Ifriqiya, Muhlammad
b.
al-HIrith
al-Khushani
al-Qayrawani
(d.
c.
371/981),
a
contemporary
of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man,
lists
Muhammad
b.
.Hayyan
among
the learned men of
Qayrawan
who adopted Shi'ism
(the
Isma'ili
50 In his
al-Qalida
al-muntakhaba
(MS
collection of
Qurbin
H.Iusayn
F.
Poonawala), 3-4,
composed during
the
reign
of the second
Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im, al-Qadi al-Nu'man
refers to his
earlier work Kitdb
al-d.h4.
It was
regarded
as one of the
highly
treasured books
by
the third
Fdtimid
caliph al-Mansfir, cf.
Sirat
Ustddh Jawdhar,
ed. M. KAmil
.;Iusayn
and M. 'Abd
al-HAdi,
Cairo, 1954,
53.
5-
Al-Q.di
al-Nu'mdn, al-Urjfiza
al-mukhtara,
ed.
I.
K.
Poonawala, Montreal,
1970.
52 Kitdb
al-himma,
33.
53
A-Maqrizi, Itti'dz al-Aunafd',
ed.
Jamal
al-Din
al-Shayydl, Cairo, 1967,
41.
Al-Qdi
al-Nu'mdn states in
Iftith4
al-da'wa, 54-8,
that both the aforementioned
dd'fs
were sent in
145/762
by
Im&m Ja'far
al-SQdiq;
see also Ibn
Khaldfin,
op.
cit., Iv,
65.
5
Iftit(h
al-da'wa,
59
ff.;
Itti'dz.
al-hunaf&',
55
ff.
55 Ibn
al-Athir,
al-Kmil
ft 'l-tA1rikh,
ed. C. J.
Tornberg,
Beirut, 1965-7, ix, 294-5; Ibn
al-
'Idh~ri, al-Baydn al-mughrib fF
akhbdr
al-Maghrib,
ed. R.
Dozy, Leyde,
1848-51, I, 279-90;
Ilasan
A.
Mahmfid,
'
Mihnat
al-Shi'a bi
Ifrfqiya ft 'l-qarn al-khamis
al-Hijri
', Bull.
Fac.
Arts,
Fouad I Univ.
(Cairo), xii, 1, 1950, 93-9;
H. R.
Idris,
'
Une des
phases
de la lutte du milikisme
contre le 'i'isme sous les Zirides
', Cahiers
de
Tunisie, Iv, 16, 1956,
508-17.
56 Ibn
Khallikin, op. cit., v,
48.
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A RECONSIDERATION OF
AL-QAPI AL-NU'MAN'S MADHHAB 579
faith).57
He adds that
Ibn
Hayyan
was an
aged
man,
originally
from
Silsa,
of
Maliki
persuasion
and a follower of
Ibn Sahntin.58
Later he embraced the
Isma'Ili
faith,
but
practised taqiya.
It is also
reported
that he was in
charge
of
leading
the
Friday prayer.
The Arabic word used
by
al-Khushani for conversion
to
Shi'I
Isma'ili
faith is
tasharraqa.
In his
Iftitdh
al-da'uwa,
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man
explains
that when the mission of Abil
'Abdallah
(who
was from
Kfifa)
met with
success,
he was known as
al-Mashriqi'
one who came from the East
',
and those
who
accepted
his mission were known as
al-Mashariqa.59 Tasharraqa
is the fifth
form,
meaning
'to become an
Ism'ili
'. With the
lapse
of time the terms al-
Mashriqi
and
al-Mashariqa
were
replaced by
al-Shi'I
and
al-Shi'a;
the verbal
form remained in
use,
however. It is worth
noting
that the
appellations
'Isma'ili'
and '
Fatimi'
are not used even for the
Fhtimid
caliphs;
instead
'al-Shi'i ' is used.60
Al-Khushani
was born in
Qayrawan,
where he received his
early
education.
In
311/923-4
or
312/924-5,
while still
young,
he left North Africa and went to
Spain,
where he
compiled
his
Tabaqat
'ulama'
Ifriqgya.61
His
description
of
Muhammad
b.
Hayyan
fits well with that of
al-Qadi
al-Nu'man's
father
given
by
Ibn Khallikan.
Therefore it seems
logical
to infer that both the
persons
are
identical.
However,
there is one minor
difficulty:
Ibn Khallikan
and the
Isma'ili
sources
give
the name as
Ibn
Hayyfin.
One can
argue
that it is not
improbable
that
al-Khushani,
writing
in
Spain, might
have remembered the
name
incorrectly
as
Ibn
.Hayyan,
instead of
Ibn
H.Jayyfin.62
It
might
also
be an
orthographical
error. This error
appears
in
many
Imami
sources where it is
written as 3
>-.63
If we assume
.Hayyan
to be an error for
Hayyfin,
we can
identify
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man's
father with the above-mentioned
Muhammad
b.
IH.ayyan.
It
implies
that the latter was converted to the
Isma'ili
faith several
years
before
311/923-4.
Further,
the
report
that he used to
practise taqiya
does
not make much sense after the establishment of
Fatimid
rule. It therefore
implies
that his conversion took
place
before
297/909.
This,
in
turn,
implies
that
al-Q&di
al-Nu'man,
born between
283/896
and
293/905,
was
brought up
as an
Isma'ili.
In
conclusion,
it should be stated that until more evidence comes to
light
the
foregoing interpretation
should
remain,
at
best,
tentative.
57
Al-Khushani,
Tabaqst
'ulamd'
Ifriq4ya,
ed. M. Ben Cheneb
(with Tabaqdt
of
Abfi 'l-'Arab),
Paris, 1915-20, I,
223. It is hereafter cited as Ben Cheneb.
58
Sabnfin
was a famous
Miliki jurist
and was
appointed
the
qdi.
of
Qayrawdn by
Mubammad
b.
Aghlab,
cf.
IftitO al-da'wa, 82-3;
Ben
Cheneb, I, 101-4,
129-32.
59
Iftitah
al-da'wa, 76, 93;
cf. also Ibn
al-'Idhdri, op. cit.,
I,
150, 175, 189-90;
Ibn
al-Athir,
op. cit., Ix, 295;
Ibn
Khaldidn, op. cit., Iv, 67;
R.
Dozy, Supplement
aux
dictionnaires arabes,
Leyde, 1881, I,
751.
60
Abfi 'Ubayd al-Bakri,
Kitab
al-mughrib ft
dhikr bildd
Ifriqiya
wa
'l-Maghrib,
ed. and tr. de
Slane, repr., Paris, 1965,
Arabic
2, 27, 46, 78;
Ibn
al-'Idhdri,
op. cit.,
I,
154, 164, 170, 172,
181, 184, 187, 195, 205, 231,
285.
61
Ben
Cheneb, ii,
xviii.
62
cf. W.
Madelung's
review of H. Idris's La Berbirie orientale in
JAOS, LXXXIV, 4, 1964,
424-5.
63
AI-Astarib~di,
op. cit., 512; al-Iurr al-'Amili, op. cit., II, 335; al-Khwansari, op. cit.,
727;
al-Niri,
op.
cit., III, 313; Qummi, op. cit.,
In.
572.
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