Muammad b.

Masarra al-Jabal and his Place in Medieval Islamicate Intellectual History: Towards a Reappraisal

A Thesis Presented to The Division of Philosophy, Religion and Psychology Reed College

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts

J. Vahid Brown August 2006

Approved for the Division (Religion)

Steven M. Wasserstrom

Acknowledgements
Wihtout the indulgence and support of my wife Sara and my children, Asher, Sophia and Willow, and the unfailing assistance of my parents, this thesis could not have been written. Thank you all. I couldnt have hoped for a better advisor and mentor than Professor Steve Wasserstrom, whose wisdom, learning and compassion have helped me in so many ways, the least of them academic. David Bikman and William McCants, thanks for many a fruitful discussion; you have both been of immense help. The library staff at Reed College has been, without exception, outstanding to work with; thanks especially to Sally Loomis and Mark McDaniel. To Drs James Winston Morris and Rafael Ramn Guerrero I am deeply indebted for generously sharing their works on Ibn Masarra with me. Thanks are also due to Kirstin Dane and Professor Vincent Cornell for their helpful correspondence. Sinad Ward at the Chester Beatty Library was of great help in obtaining a microfilm of Ibn Masarras writings. Any and all shortcomings in the following pages are of course my own responsibility.

Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: A Review of the Literature ...................................................................... 5 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 5 Part 1: The Empedoclean Illusion (1857-1970).......................................................... 7 Part 2: New Sources, the Illusion Fades (1971-2006) ............................................. 29 Chapter Two: An Inventory of the Sources ................................................................. 37 Introduction................................................................................................................... 37 Sources for the Study of Ibn Masarra: A Chronological Survey .............................. 39 Chapter Three: A Preliminary Analysis....................................................................... 93 Introduction................................................................................................................... 93 The Empedoclean Illusion ........................................................................................ 94 Andalus Sufism and the Schools of Almera and Murcia .................................. 104 Khaw, urf and tarf: Ibn Masarra as Theurgist ............................................ 108 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 118 Appendix A .................................................................................................................... 119 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 133

Abstract
Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra al-Jabal (269/883-319/931) has long been recognized as an important figure in Islamicate intellectual history, but the scholarly understanding of his place in that history has been largely based upon inadequate sources and unfounded conjecture. Since the mid-nineteenth century his primary significance was believed, on the slimmest evidence, to have been his introduction of PseudoEmpedoclean philosophy into Andalus and subsequently Latin European thought. Since the 1970s, however, many new sources have come to light which unequivocally disprove this notion and invite a fundamental reappraisal of his role in the history of medieval Islamicate thought. This thesis will contribute to that reappraisal by providing a detailed history of the modern scholarship, identifying the new sources many of them hitherto unknown to have any relevance to the study of Ibn Masarra and highlighting the relationship of the data derived from these new sources to the regnant scholarly profile of Ibn Masarra. While not the Empedoclean sage he was thought to be, it will be seen that Ibn Masarra did play an important role in the early development of Islamicate theurgy and in the emergence of Sufism in al-Andalus.

For Willow, Sophia and Asher.

Introduction
Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra al-Qurub al-Jabal (883-931 CE) has had, for a century and a half, a secure place in the standard histories of philosophy, of alAndalus and of Islamic mystical thought. Born in a time of great turmoil on the western edge of the Islamicate world, and ending his days in ascetic seclusion in a retreat in the mountains of Cordoba, Ibn Masarra has been credited with having decisively influenced such disparate thinkers as Judah Halevi, Thomas Aquinas and Marcilio Ficino. From a stray, thirteenth-century clue, it was conjectured that Ibn Masarra introduced the study of Pseudo-Empedocles, the philosophical proponent of a primal spirit-matter, into the Iberian Peninsula, from whence this Neoplatonic system radiated out to the principal thinkers and mystics of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, many of whom to varying degrees supposedly adopted elements of this new teaching. It is upon this role as PseudoEmpedoclean preceptor that Ibn Masarras modern fame has rested, and the modern scholarship on Ibn Masarra has been almost entirely focussed on explicating his PseudoEmpedoclean teaching. Yet this academic project began with guesswork and proceeded without any evidence and, in the recent past, many new sources, including some thought lost, have come to light. These new-found materials for the study of Ibn Masarra concur on at least one point; the Pseudo-Empedoclean Ibn Masarra described in our modern history books and encyclopedias never in fact existed. Fortunately, the new sources do more than overturn a century and a half of scholarship; they also provide the basis for a new and fundamentally different appreciation of our Cordoban sage. Ibn Masarra, as will be shown below, was a thinker

2 of great importance and wide influence. He was not important for the reasons once thought, however, nor did his influence lie in the directions once supposed. Just how far his influence extended is a question that requires further research. This thesis is intended, among other things, to provide a firm basis upon which such research can proceed. My goals in what follows are modest and straightforward. In the first chapter, I will explore just how and why Ibn Masarra came to appear to modern researchers as the Empedoclean philosopher that he never really was. Through a detailed review of the literature in European languages, as well as the major recent scholarship in Arabic, it will be seen that, while the slim evidentiary basis for connecting Ibn Masarra to Empedocles has been undermined, and sources more pertinent to an analysis of his thought and historical significance have been available for more than thirty years, he continues to be discussed in even the most recent reference works on Islamic studies and the history of philosophy in the context of the transmission of Pseudo-Empedocleanism. Though some specialist scholarship has begun to break with that tradition, attempting to evaluate Ibn Masarra through his own writings, many important sources for undertaking the required reassessment have been hitherto completely neglected. My second chapter will address this basic lacuna by providing a detailed chronological survey of the most important known sources for the study of Ibn Masarra. More than a dozen of these sources have never before been recognized as bearing upon the study of Ibn Masarra, and are identified as such here for the first time. 1 Many of

Many of these new sources were discovered while searching collections of digital Arabic texts, primarily alwaraq.net, which has electronic versions of scores of classical Arabic works of history, biography, theology, Quran commentary, hadith studies, philosophy and indeed nearly every branch of inquiry native to classical Islamicate civilization. This bears emphasizing, as it is still extremely rare to find reference to online sources of Arabic materials in contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies literature, despite

3 these new sources suggest directions for research never before taken, and situate Ibn Masarra in contexts seldom before considered. Texts with particularly significant new details I have generally presented in translation. 2 With these new sources in hand, a very different picture of Ibn Masarras place in Islamicate history emerges, the broad outlines of which will be traced in chapter three. My third chapter will begin with a comprehensive evaluation of the standard scholarly account of Ibn Masarra, with emphasis on the Pseudo-Empedoclean connection. Specialist and reference works published as recently as this year continue to repeat obsolete and patently false descriptions of Ibn Masarras thought, a fact which warrants a detailed and point-by-point refutation of these accounts. Fortunately, there is now sufficient evidence to do this in what I hope will be a decisive manner, so that future studies of Ibn Masarra can proceed in more fruitful directions. After dispelling the Pseudo-Empedoclean illusion, I turn to two of the most important revelations arising from the sources described in the second chapter. First of all, it will be shown that Ibn Masarra was a widely-read and influential figure in the early development of Sufism in al-Andalus. His writings were studied by a tradition of mystics associated with the city of Murcia up through the thirteenth century, and this tradition included the most widely-known and influential Sufis to come out of al-Andalus. Previous studies of Ibn Masarra have neglected all but the most famous of these mystics Muy al-Dn Ibn al-`Arab and so this trajectory of Masarrian influence has never been adequately studied or even considered.

the fact that Arabic digital media has progressed to a stage where it is now possible to make significant textual discoveries online. 2 With the exception of Ibn Masarras two long works, full translations of which, though a desideratum, are beyond the scope of this thesis.

4 It also emerges from our new sources that Ibn Masarra was famed in his homeland for hundreds of years, not as a transmitter of Greek philosophy, but as a master of the theurgical manipulation of the letters of the Arabic alphabet. Though an understudied topic in a largely understudied field, alphabetical theurgy was central to many traditions of Islamicate (and subsequently European) magic, and Ibn Masarras influence in the earliest developments of this occult science in al-Andalus puts him at the center of a current of thought which, though on the face of it quite obscure, was a medieval nexus of science, technology, religion and philosophy, involving Jews, Christians, Muslims and pagans. This important aspect of Ibn Masarras relationship to Islamicate intellectual history has never before been explored. The long-entrenched picture of Ibn Masarras significance, if not necessarily over-rated, has been at the very least misplaced. His undeserved notoriety in the history of a purported Pseudo-Empedoclean tradition has obscured what has turned out to be a very different claim to fame. A host of new sources has allowed for the beginnings of a new appreciation of this important thinker, and in my preminary analyses I hope to have indicated the key directions that future research might take in order to unearth further traces of Ibn Masarras impact. Many questions have been answered, but many more have in turn been raised by the new evidence. It is my hope that the following will have established a firm basis for the productive pursuit of those questions and, ultimately, for a richer understanding of early medieval Andalus thought.

Chapter One: A Review of the Literature

Introduction
As noted above, the bulk of the modern scholarship on Ibn Masarra begins with the premise that he had a certain relationship with writings attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles. As there has been, until relatively recently, a dearth of sources that could shed light on this issue, the precise nature of Ibn Masarras supposed relationship with Empedoclean or, more properly, Pseudo-Empdoclean writings has been a matter of speculation, and the scholarly speculations have been many and diverse. The most elaborate attempt to flesh out this picture was made by the great Spanish Islamicist Miguel Asn Palacios, and his monograph on Ibn Masarra, wherein the latter is presented as a thoroughgoing Pseudo-Empedoclean mystical philosopher, has long been the standard work on Ibn Masarras thought. 3 In the early 1970s, a series of publications completely undermined the legitimacy of this standard account, and from that point on the scholarship split off into two currents: on the one hand, those who remained unaware or unimpressed by the new data and continued to discuss Ibn Masarra as an Empedoclean sage, and, on the other hand, those who saw the implications of the new evidence and sought a more accurate picture of Ibn Masarra and his place in Islamicate history. I will therefore treat the history of the scholarship on Ibn Masarra in two separate sections; one, from the beginning of the Western encounter with Ibn Masarra up until 1971, will survey work that has largely taken the Pseudo-Empedoclean premise as its point of departure,

I refer to his Abenmasarra y su escuela, first published in 1914, reprinted in a revised and slightly expanded version in 1942 in vol. 1 of Asns Obras escogidas, and translated into English from the latter in 1978 by E.H. Douglas under the title The Mystical Philosophy of Ibn Masarra and His Followers.

6 while the other will review the work which has appeared since the revolutionary articles of S.M. Stern and J.W. Morris and the discoveries of M.K.I Ja`far. 4

I refer to Samuel M. Sterns Ibn Masarra, Follower of Pseudo-Empedocles an illusion, James Morris Ibn Masarra: A Reconsideration of the Primary Sources (hereafter A Reconsideration), and M.K.I. Ja`fars discovery of two works of Ibn Masarra in the Chester Beatty Library, first reported in a 1972 article. My sincere thanks to Prof. Morris for kindly sending me a copy of his paper, which unfortunately was never unpublished.

7 Part 1: The Empedoclean Illusion (1857-1970) I will begin with the writers who have labored under what I will call, after S.M. Sterns ground-breaking study, the Empedoclean illusion. The history of this scholarship and its focus on what has turned out to be a complete blind alley has all grown out of the somewhat unusual inter-relationships of a small handful of sources, and it will spare any potential confusion if I first briefly describe that textual nexus. The purported connection between Ibn Masarra and (pseudo-)Empedocles rests, in the final analysis, upon a single line, though there are five texts that have to be considered to properly understand the nature and significance of that one line. Most of what follows was put forward by Samuel Stern almost forty years ago as evidence nullifying Asns attempt to unearth a Masarran Empedocleanism; Sterns devastating critique was largely unheeded, however, and his untimely death kept him from publishing the full refutation of Asn that hed announced. 5 Stern had discovered that there was a sole independent witness to the Ibn Masarra-Empedocles link, `id al-Andaluss (d. 1070) abaqt al-umam, and that the context in which that link was made strongly indicated that `ids remark about Ibn Masarra as a follower of Empedocles is not a considered judgement based on the study of

In his article, Ibn Masarra, Follower of Pseudo-Empedocles an illusion, Stern alluded to the full version of my study which I hope to publish (p. 327). The Illusion article was originally a paper delivered at a conference of Orientalists in Lisbon in 1968; Stern died the following year and the article was prepared for publication in the conference proceedings by Sterns friend Richard Walzer. In a note to the above-quoted announcement of a full version of [Sterns] study, Walzer writes that the full version of his [sc. Sterns] study of Ibn Masarra has been found among the papers which he left unfinished and will be published in due course (p. 327, asterisk note; Stern announced the monograph again at the end of his article Anbadukls in EI). This full version was unfortunately never published, and its whereabouts today are unknown (though it may be among Sterns papers kept at the library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

8 texts, but a hasty and erroneous conclusion. 6 `ids text, a brief historical encyclopedia of the philosophers and sages of the various nations, mentions Ibn Masarra in its notice on Empedocles. Stern showed that `ids only source for his information on Empedocles was the tenth-century philosopher al-`mirs Kitb al-amad `al l-abad (On the Afterlife), which he partly paraphrased and partly copied verbatim, save for interpolating the lines about Ibn Masarra. I provide below brief parallel excerpts to illustrate this, using Rowsons translation of al-`mir on the left and, on the right, a translation of id that will follow Rowsons translation choices in order to indicate the similarities: al-`mir: [Luqmn] lived at the time of the prophet David; they were both residents of the land of Syria. It is said that Empedocles the Greek used to keep company with Luqmn and learn from his wisdom. But when he returned to the land of Greece, he spoke on his own authority about the nature of the world, saying things which, if understood literally, offend against (the belief in) the Hereafter. The Greeks attributed wisdom to him because of his former association with Luqmn; indeed, he was the first Greek to be called a Sage. A group of the Binites claim to be followers of his wisdom and speak of him with high esteem. They claim that he wrote in symbols whose hidden meanings are rarely comprehended. 7 `id: Empedocles lived at the time of David, according to the scholars of the histories of nations. He learned wisdom from Luqmn in the land of Syria. Then he returned to the Greek land and spoke on his own authority about the creation of the world, saying things that appear literally to offend against (the belief in) the Hereafter; on this account some people parted company with him. A group of the Binites claim to be followers of his wisdom. They claim that he wrote in symbols whose hidden meanings are rarely comprehended. Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra al-Jabal, the Binite of Cordoba, was indefatigably devoted to his philosophy and the study thereof. 8

Stern, Ibn Masarra, Follower of Pseudo-Empedocles an Illusion, p. 326. al-`mir, p. 71.

As Stern rightly noted, there is nothing in this passage indicating a considered judgement based on the study of texts; `id has simply copied out the passages on Empedocles from al-`mir and, at the mention of Bins, thrown in a dig at his wellknown fellow-countryman Ibn Masarra, a notorious Bin whose posthumous following had been persecuted in al-Andalus not long before the time of `ids writing. 9 Such, in any case, was the argument made by Stern. In the past forty years a great deal of additional primary source material relating to Ibn Masarra has come to light, all of which has only served to strengthen Sterns argument. It was not `id, however, who lent the fateful Empedoclean stamp to the Western encounter with Ibn Masarra, but a later author who copied and expanded upon `ids invention. In `Al b. Ysuf al-Qifs (d. 1248) Trkh al-ukam (History of the Sages), a work with similar purposes to `ids, the entry on Empedocles copies the entry from `id and fleshes out the reference to Ibn Masarra by copying verbatim (but without attribution) from Ibn al-Faras (d. 1012) entry on Ibn Masarra in his Trkh `ulam al-Andalus (History of the Scholars of al-Andalus). 10 Ibn al-Qifs work turned out to be Western scholarships introduction to Ibn Masarra; one can only
`id al-Andalus (Bu `Alwan ed.), pp. 72f. The English translation of the abaqt by Salem and Kumar is riddled with errors and inaccuracies and should be used with caution. At this passage, they give ibn Musrah for Ibn Masarra. 9 Note, though, that the term bin did not necessarily have the same meaning for these two authors; in al-`mirs context, it was more or less equivalent to Ism`l, whereas in `ids al-Andalus, it had at this stage a less particular referent, having the more general meaning of esotericist. In the earliest biographical source on Ibn Masarra, the Akhbr al-fuqah wal-muaddathn of Ibn rith al-Khushan (d. 971), Ibn Masarra is identified with the people of esoteric knowledge (ahl al-`ilm al-bin), and Ibn Masarra identifies himself with the same group in the same terms in his Kitb khaw al-urf (in Ja`far, ed., Min qay al-fikr, p. 317; for the passage from al-Khushan, see below, chapter two, entry under alKhushan). 10 Morris, in A Reconsideration, p. 3n. 4, was the first to point out Ibn al-Qifs dependence on Ibn alFarai for his information on Ibn Masarra. In Urvoys 1984 Sur le debuts, p. 711, this dependence is again noted, probably independently of Morris, whose work was never published.
8

10 speculate, but it may have turned out differently if it were `ids work that was discovered first, as it demonstrates no familiarity with Ibn Masarras life or thought as such, beyond claiming that he was an avid student of Empedocles. Ibn al-Qifs work appears to demonstrate such familiarity but, as Morris pointed out, there is no reason to believe that al-Qif had the least knowledge of Ibn Masarra apart from what he found in his two sources. 11 Such, in sum, is the totality of the evidence for an Ibn Masarra-Empedocles connection. There is one independent claim of this connection in `id, writing more than a hundred years after Ibn Masarras death, and having no demonstrable first-hand knowledge of either Ibn Masarra or Empedocles. `ids account of this connection was then echoed, about two hundred years later, by Ibn al-Qif, but this second instance adds nothing to the authority or probably veracity of `ids claim, as it is nothing more than a collage of two identifiable sources (`id and Ibn al-Farai) with obvious interpolations. Nor is it likely that the interpolated references to Ibn Masarra by Ibn al-Qif are drawn from an alternative recension of `ids work, as his near-contemporary Ibn Ab Uaybi`a (d. 1270), in his `Uyn al-anb f abaqt al-aibb (Wellsprings of Knowledge on the Generations of Physician-Sages), copies, verbatim and with attribution, `ids account of Empedocles, including his one line about Ibn Masarra but lacking Ibn al-Qifs embellishments. 12 It is thus upon this single fragile thread of evidence that the standard scholarly account of Ibn Masarra has been based for the past hundred and fifty years. I will return in chapter three to an analysis of the Empedoclean illusion, but must now proceed with the review of the secondary literature that pursued Ibn al-Qifs
11 12

Morris, in A Reconsideration, p. 3n. 4. Uyn al-anb, p. 61. (Note that in the Nizr Ri edition cited here, is misprinted as .)

11 fiction. The Western scholarship on Ibn Masarra began with the Italian scholar Michele Amaris 1857 publication and Italian translation of a compilation of Arabic sources for Sicilian history, the Biblioteca arabo-sicula, which included the article on Empedocles from Ibn al-Qifs Trkh al-ukam. 13 As suggested above, this would fatefully determine the focus of the vast bulk of Western studies of Ibn Masarra up to the present. Two years after Amaris publication, this passage from Ibn al-Qif was seized upon by Salomon Munk as the keystone of his imaginative attempt at tracing the Empedoclean sources of the Andalus Jewish philosopher Ibn Gabirol (d. ca. 1058). At the beginning of his Mlanges de philosophie juive et arabe (1859), Munk cites the following statement from the philosopher Shem Tob b. Joseph b. Falaqeras introduction to his thirteenthcentury Hebrew translation of Ibn Gabirols Fons Vitae: Having studied the book composed by the learned Rabbi Salomon b. Gabirol and entitled The Source of Life, it appeared to me that the authors doctrines followed the system of some ancient philosopher, such as the one exposed in the work of Empedocles about the Five Substances. 14 In pursuing Falaqeras suggestion of Empedoclean reverberations in Ibn Gabirol, Munk used the passage from Ibn al-Qif to argue that it was Ibn Masarra who introduced the writings of Empedocles to Spain, having collected them during his journeys through the East (though this latter assertion is not stated in Ibn al-Qif or any other source), and that he was therefore Ibn Gabirols ultimate source for Empedocles writings. 15 Inasmuch as

Amari, Biblioteca arabo-sicula, pp. 613-15. Munk, Mlanges, p. 3; English trans. of this passage from De Smet, The Influence of PseudoEmpedocles, p. 226. 15 As pointed out by Morris, Reconsideration, p. 3n. 5, Munks statement that Ibn Masarra studied the works of Empedocles in the East actually contradicts what he knew from Ibn al-Qif, who states that Ibn Masarra fled to the East because of persecution resulting from his excessive study of the philosophy of Empedocles in al-Andalus. (This statement in Ibn al-Qif is yet another misdirection; he is copying Ibn al14

13

12 Ibn Gabirols putative Pseudo-Empedocleanism was to be argued throughout most of the twentieth century as the source for perceived Pseudo-Empedoclean influences in a bewilderingly long list of Andalus and European thinkers, Munks crediting of Ibn Masarra as the fountainhead of all of these influences made him a rather prominent landmark on the map of Western philosophy. 16 Two years after Munks study, Reinhart Dozy published his massive Histoire des Musulmans dEspagne, where again Ibn al-Qifs entry on Empedocles serves as the principal source for Ibn Masarra. Dozy also had two additional sources on Ibn Masarra: the Jadhwat al-muqtabis of al-umayd (d. 1095) and the anonymous fourteenth-century history of Marrakesh, al-ulal al-Mawshiyya. The former gives an exceedingly brief and unfriendly account of Ibn Masarra, while the latter includes a prophetic tradition regarding the conversion of Jews to Islam that the author claims was found among the writings of Ibn Masarra. The picture of Ibn Masarra that Dozy painted on the basis of these sources is even more far-fetched than Munks. As the themes of this fantastic portrait proved to be influential in subsequent literature, I quote him at some length:

Farai, who records that it was said by a certain Khib b. Maslama that Ibn Masarra fled al-Andalus on account of charges of heresy (zandaqa) made against him. Ibn al-Qif lifts that line and adds to the end of it that Ibn Masarra was charged with heresy on account of his excessive study of Empedocles!). Morris also rightly observes that Munks use of Shahrastn to define the Pseudo-Empedoclean system supposedly transmitted by Ibn Masarra anticipated the project carried out by Asn almost fifty years later. 16 As stated by Asn (Mystical Philosophy, pp. 129-45), the list of thinkers supposedly impacted by Ibn Masarras Pseudo-Empedocleanism includes Ibn Gabirol, Judah Halevi, Joseph b. Saddiq, Moses b. Ezra, Samuel b. Tibbon, Alexander of Hales, St. Bonaventure, Roger Bacon, William of Auvergne, Duns Scotus, Raymund Llull, Dante, Pico della Mirandola and Marcilio Ficino. Asns far-reaching claims for the influence of Ibn Masarran Pseudo-Empedocleanism were uncritically repeated in many standard twentiethcentury works on the history of philosophy, including Max Hortens Die Philosophie des Islam in ihren Beziehungen zu den philosophischen Weltanschauung des westlichen Orients (1924, pp. 66, 237, 347); Abd al-Rahman Badawis Histoire de la philosophie en Islam (1972, pp. 697f.); Corbins Histroire de la philosophie islamique (1964, vol. 1, pp. 305-11); Cruz Hernandezs Historia del pensamiento en el mundo islamico (1981, vol. 1, p. 92); Isaac Husiks History of Medieval Jewish Philosophy (1946, pp. 61-64); and Eliyahu Ashtor, The Jews of Moslem Spain (1984, vol. 3, p. 46). See De Smet, Influence of the PseudoEmpedocles, p. 230n. 14.

13 It appears to us that the Fatimids tried to found a lodge in Spain, and that they sent thither with that object the philosopher Ibn Masarra (883-931). This Ibn Masarra was a pantheist of Cordova, who had made an especial study of translations of certain Greek books attributed by the Arabs to Empedocles. Accused of impiety, and compelled to leave the country, he travelled in the East, where he familiarized himself with the doctrines of various sects, and seems to have joined the secret society of the Ismailites. We are led to believe this by his conduct after his return to Spain, for instead of flaunting his opinions, as he had done in his youth, he concealed them, and made great parade of piety and austerity. The heads of the secret society, we may suppose, had taught him that he must make a stalkinghorse of orthodoxy. Thanks to this mask and to his winning eloquence, he deceived the vulgar and at the same time attracted many pupils to his lectures, leading them step by step from faith to doubt, and from doubt to disbelief. He did not, however, succeed in duping the clergy, who, in just alarm, burned, not the philosopher himself for this Abd al-Rahman III would not allow but his books. Though there is no direct evidence that Ibn Masarra was an Ismailite missionary, it is at any rate certain that the Fatimids made endeavors to found a party in Spain and to some extent succeeded. 17

While Dozy more accurately transmits the information found in al-Qif he does not have Ibn Masarra bring Pseudo-Empedoclean books to al-Andalus his introduction of a hypothetical Ism`l connection is entirely his own invention, having no basis in the sources that he used; it has not been borne out by subsequent research, though, as will be seen, it has been repeated by a number of writers. 18 Dozys (contradictory) ascription to

Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans dEspagne, 2:127f. of the 2nd ed.; I quote from the English translation by Francis Griffin Stokes, published in London in 1913 under the title Spanish Islam, p. 409. Later in the work (p. 535 of the English trans.), Dozy makes the first reference in the scholarship to the Masarriyya, or the sect centered on the teachings of Ibn Masarra that existed in al-Andalus into the eleventh century. Dozy says nothing of the character of the sect other than to call it a numerous sect and to class it among a variety of free-thinking sectarian movements that were actively persecuted in al-Andalus in the early eleventh century. 18 In the monumental biographical dictionary of Khayr al-Dn Zirikl (1893-1976), al-A`lm, vol. 6, p. 223, Ibn Masarra is described as an Ism`l missionary (min du`t al-Ism`liyya). His referenced primary sources al-umayd and Ibn al-Fara do not make this claim, though Zirikl also references an article on Ibn Masarra by Muammad al-Bahl al-Niyl in the April, 1953 issue of the Tunisian periodical al-

17

14 Ibn Masarra of pantheism and irreligiousness is also his own invention, and neither of these characterizations hold up in light of our sources. Dozys description of Ibn Masarras disingenuous asceticism is taken from al-umayd, though this is a charge that only begins to be circulated in the late eleventh century, in the writings of Ibn ayyn and al-umayd, both of whom influenced a series of later Islamicate writers on Ibn Masarra. The earliest and most reliable sources on Ibn Masarra, none of which were available to Dozy, all concur with regard to the perceived authenticity of Ibn Masarras austerities. To his credit, though, Dozy correctly inferred from his sources that Ibn Masarra concealed his teachings from all but initiates, a point that is abundantly attested in the earliest sources and only vaguely hinted at in the material available to Dozy. In the last year of the nineteenth century, David Kaufmann published his Studien ber Salomon Ibn Gabirol, wherein he reiterated and expanded upon Munks thesis that Ibn Masarra was the source for Pseudo-Empedoclean themes in medieval Jewish literature. Having discovered references to the Pseudo-Empedoclean Book of the Five Substances in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Kabbalistic works, Kaufmann attempted, with dubious results, to identify correspondences between this text and Ibn Gabirols Fons Vitae, arguing as well that Ibn Masarra introduced the Five Substances to alAndalus. Furthermore, in tracing a line of Pseudo-Empedoclean thought from Ibn Masarra, through Ibn Gabirol, to the thinkers of the Italian Renaissance, Kaufmann was led to conclude that Ibn Masarra had sown the seeds of enlightenment (Aufklrung)

Nadwa. I have not been able to consult this article, but it would appear that this must have been Zirikls source for the Ism`l link, in which case his source may very well have been influenced by Dozy with regard to that datum.

15 into the fanatical darkness of Umayyad Spain, seeds which were to begin to ripen in the Quattrocento. 19 All of the foregoing themes, supplemented by the newly-available sources of Ibn al-Farai, Ibn azm and others, 20 were restated in Ignaz Goldzihers introduction to his 1903 edition of Ibn Tmarts Aazz m yutlab. There, after reviewing the evidence for the handful of Mu`tazil thinkers in al-Andalus up to the mid-tenth century, he writes: These isolated Mu`tazilis had far less influence than a certain Cordoban sage, Muhammad b. `Abd Allah ibn Masarra (d. 319/931), upon his return from travels in the East. He had a number of disciples and apparently sought to propagate his doctrines. The Maghrebi texts that describe him as a Mu`tazili prove thereby that their authors hardly had any occasion to study the theories that characterize that dogmatic sect, and that this appellation was for them only a vague generic term, applicable to any independent spirit who resisted orthodox doctrine. In fact, Ibn Masarra had become subject to the influence of a Neoplatonism which was at that time very widespread in the East and which had its most complete form in the heterodox doctrines of the Isma`iliyya. His principle influence was the writings of Pseudo-Empedocles, whose influence is also found in the Fons vitae of a contemporary [sic] Jewish thinker, Avicebron. One can easily imagine the extent to which these doctrines were irreconcilable with Islam. Ibn Masarra, for his part, professed the scandalous system of allegorical Quran interpretation, then accepted by the Isma`iliyya. As Ibn Masarra gathered about himself a large circle of disciples, eleventh-century [sic] Spanish Islam was soon penetrated by a latent movement of free-thought (libre pense), which was called the Masarriyya. This school appears to have fallen, purely out of a spirit of opposition to Islam, into the most ridiculous eccentricities (bizarreries). I have indicated elsewhere in a recent

For an assessment and criticism of Kaufmanns work, as it related to Ibn Masarra and the putative Pseudo-Empedoclean current, see De Smet, The Influence of Pseudo-Empedocles, pp. 227f., and idem, Empedocles Arabus, ch. 1. 20 Between 1883 and 1895, the available sources on Ibn Masarra were greatly expanded by the publication of the ten volumes of the Bibliotheca arbico-hispaa, edited by Francisco Codera y Zaidan and Julin Ribera (who was Asns mentor), which included Ibn Bashkuwls al-ila (vols. 1-2), al-abbs Bughyat (vol. 3), Ibn al-Abbrs Mu`jam (vol. 4) and Takmila (vols. 5-6), and Ibn al-Faras Trkh `ulam alandalus (vols. 7-8).

19

16 work that certain followers of the Masarriyya had taken the rising sun rather than the Ka`ba as their qibla or point of ritual orientation, and that they were therefore called the ahl al-tashriq. 21 Though Goldziher here copied a number of the errors of his predecessors, he adds some valuable new details as well. He follows Munk and Kaufmann as regards PseudoEmpedocles and uncritically follows Dozy on the fictional Ism`l conspiracy, but makes a fresh contribution in drawing attention to Ibn Masarras Mu`tazil reputation and to his allegorical interpretations of the Qurn, both of which are attested in the earliest sources. In dating the influence of Masarr thought in Spain, though, he oversteps his sources; none of the Masarrs listed in the works available to Goldziher lived past the tenth century, except for the group around Ism`l al-Ru`ayn, which is known to have been active only up to the beginning of the eleventh century (in Almera). 22 The practice of orienting eastward in prayer, though it is attributed to at least one known Masarr, does not appear to have been associated especially with the Masarriyya prior to Goldziher, and there is certainly no mention of an ahl al-tashrq in this context in any of the sources. The next scholar to turn to Ibn Masarra was Miguel Asn Palacios, whose 1914 Abenmasarra y su escuela remains to this day the fullest treatment of the subject in a European language. While it retains some value for its presentation of later sources

Goldziher, Introduction, pp. 68f. (my translation from the French). The last sentence refers to his 1901 article Spottnamen der ersten Chalifen bei den Shiten, p. 324n. 2, where he refers to two individuals identified in Ibn al-Fara as enamored of turning to the point of the rising sun (or astronomical east) in prayer (mla`an bil-tashrq fi altihi) rather than the Ka`ba, one of whom Muammad b. Amad alKhawln is also identified as a follower of Ibn Masarra. The other individual Muslim b. Amad alLayth, known as ib al-Qibla is not identified as a follower of Ibn Masarra in Ibn al-Fara or elsewhere, nor is there any mention in these sources or Goldzihers article of an ahl al-tashrq. In mentioning Ibn Masarra in this note, Goldziher provides references to the relevant biographical notices in Ibn al-Fara and al-Maqqar, meaning that he was the most well-informed scholar on Ibn Masarra prior to Asn. 22 See Fierro, La Heterodoxia, pp. 167f. His sole source on al-Ru`ayns group was Ibn azm.

21

17 dealing with Pseudo-Empedocles, it is no longer to be considered of any value as an account of Ibn Masarras life or thought. It is neither possible nor desirable to go over each of Asns arguments here in detail, but as it is still often cited as the authoritative source on the subject, we must take some measure of the work. 23 Asns first two chapters provide general orientation to Oriental Muslim and Spanish Muslim Thought in the First Three Centuries respectively. 24 Both chapters are extremely outdated, both in scholarship and style. 25 The picture painted in these chapters of the state of Islamicate thought in the first three centuries of its history is very crude, often wrong, and described in terms that are never given any precision. Thus Mu`tazilism, which Asn equates with Qadarism, represented the Greek-Christian position of Syria within Islam, while Shi`ism represented the Zoroastrian spirit. 26 Sufism, Asn confidently states, was a simple case of imitation, though much was

As the English translation of Asns monograph is the most readily-available and widely-known form of the text (Brill reprinted it as recently as 1997), I will refer to it in what follows (as Mystical Philosophy). A number of reviews of the translation at the time of its publication criticized the reissue of this work in English as not worth the effort, in Paul Walkers words. (This is from the latters review in the JAOS, 1983, itself a rather scathing assessment of Asns original project. He writes, for instance, that The Ibn Masarra who emerges from the overly learned pages of this study is a creature more probably, it would seem, of Asn Palacioss scholarly imagination rather than a verifiable historical character [p. 761f.].) Joseph van Ess is even more blunt; after (back-handedly) praising the translators for bringing Asns work to a larger audience, he writes: Nur knnen jetzt auch viel mehr Wissenschaftler das feststellen, was vordem nur denjenigen auffiel, die Spanisch verstanden: die These, die in dem Buch vertreten wird, ist falsch [Now many more scholars can discover what before was apparent only to those who understood Spanish: that the thesis presented in this book is false.] (Van Ess review in Die Welt des Islams, 1980, p. 109.) 24 Mystical Philosophy, pp. 1-14 (ch. 1), and 15-29 (ch. 2). 25 With reference to style, I note that Asns attitude to his subject was markedly more condescending than is considered acceptable today; his pages are full of cliches about Islams supposed aridity or barrenness and Muhammads less-than-Christlike ethical image. Thus, the contents of the Quran are deemed exceedingly poor, philosophically speaking, in dogma and ethics (p. 3); Quranic theology that very deficient creed could hardly satisfy the mystical relation of the soul to its Creator needed by the more complex psychology of non-Arabs, Arabs themselves being of simple mentality (ibid.); Muhammad was a polygamous and warrior prophet [who] was not the type of spiritual perfection to inspire by imitation and example those who might wish to attain it, (p. 10), and the religion he initiated was arid and cold (p. 11). This aspect of Asns writing is critiqued in Zayn Kassam-Hann, M. Asn Palacios and His Approach to Islamic Thought, pp. 56-9. 26 Ibid., p. 4 and 5.

23

18 conscious imitation, of oriental Christian monkhood. 27 As is common even in much contemporary writing, Asn describes Muslim Spain as being uniquely orthodox and intolerant as compared with the rest of the Islamicate world, a prejudice which holds no water upon inspection. 28 Asn adopted a very loose usage for the terms esoteric and bin, an imprecision which, given the centrality of these terms in Asns analysis, goes a long way to undermining the usefulness of his book. Binism in particular is given so many senses as to effectively have none at all. Early on Asn states that their shared use of the allegorical method of interpreting the Quran won for all of these sects the common name of Bins. 29 Now, the referent of all of these sects in this sentence is not entirely clear, but it either means the various Shi`ite sects described in the immediately-preceding paragraph or, what seems more likely, it refers to all of the groups described by Asn in this fifth sub-section of the chapter, including Mu`tazils, Qadars, all of the Sh` movements, and in general all of the heresies in Islam [that] were born as a consequence of the ingrafting of the earlier religions and the Hellenic culture into that new social organism. 30 He moves from here to an attempt at defining the term, but only confuses the matter further.

Ibid., p. 12. The question of the origins of Sufism and the decisive influences upon its early development is still very much a matter of debate, but Asns argument for unadulterated Christian influence is no longer a live option in that debate. One of the most recent attempts to address this question is Christopher Melcherts Baran Origins of Classical Sufism. 28 See, e.g., ibid., p. 17, where Muslim Spain is called the most orthodox of all the Islamic lands, which managed to suppress all attempts of innovation with the most violent intolerance. At p. 18n. 10, the Shfi` madhhab is called more liberal than the Malikites, but he gives no indication as to what sense in which the term liberal is to be understood here. One of the most concise refutations of this seldomlyquestioned assumption is Jorge Aguads Some Remarks about Sectarian Movements in al-Andalus. On the issue more generally, see M. Fierros excellent study, La Heterodoxia en al-Andalus. 29 Mystical Philosophy, p. 5. 30 Ibid., p. 3. This ingrafting was necessitated, according to Asn, by the inherent poverty of the Quran and Muhammadan spirituality.

27

19 The term bin means the esoterics or defenders of the occult (bin), secret, mystic or spiritual, that which is contained under the surface of the word. Actually, this method was not exclusively theirs [whose?]. All the heretics, philosophers, and independent thinkers employed it and thus permitted themselves to graft their religious ideas or their philosophical theories into the trunk of Islam. 31 While it is true that the usage of this term by Islamicate writers during the first centuries of Islam was variable, Asns construal here is impossibly broad and hopelessly vague. 32 At times Asn implies a clearly-defined and specific sect, as in his references to the Bin school, 33 though in the space of two pages this is made to variously mean Fim doctrine, the unknown doctrine of a crucified Andalus claimant to prophecy, the Junaydian Sufism of Ibn al-A`rb, and the school of Ibn Masarra. 34 After thus attempting to provide an intellectual-historical context for Ibn Masarras era, Asn proceeds in the third chapter to provide an account of his life. 35 In addition to some rather dubious ideas about ethnic psychology and Spanish blood, 36

Ibid., pp. 5f. Italics original, bracketed note mine. A standard discussion is Marshall Hodgsons entry Biniyya in EI, 1:1098b-1100a. He distinguishes between, a) Ism`ls and related Sh` groups, and b) anyone accused of rejecting the literal meaning of [the sacred texts] in favour of the bin. In order to qualify as bin, Hodgson identified the four essential characteristics of bin, tawl, kh wa-`mm, and taqiyya, (roughly and respectively, an assumption of hidden meaning; an allegorical, figurative or symbolic approach to textual exegesis aimed at getting at this hidden meaning; a distinction between an elite adequate to the proper apprehension of this hidden meaning, and the masses which are inadequate to such; and the practice of dissimulation or arcanization aimed at keeping the hidden meaning from the masses and protecting the elite from persecution), all of which, as pointed out by Fierro, Binism in al-Andalus, p. 106, apply to Ibn Masarra. 33 Mystical Philosophy, p. 23n. 20, where the school in question is taught by the mystic Ab Sa`d b. alA`rb, an important contemporary of Ibn Masarra, author of a refutation of the latter, and teacher, at Mecca, of many of Ibn Masarras followers. In the previous note, Asn refers to an anonymous false prophet crucified during the reign of `Abd al-Raman II (on whom see Fierro, La Heterodoxia, pp. 70-74), saying that this person perhaps represents the only case of the Bin school prior to that of Ibn Masarra, but further in the same note states that details are lacking as to the way his [sc. the false prophets] doctrine was related to the sects of the Bins. 34 These identifications occur at pp. 22-3; see previous note. 35 Ibid., pp. 30-42. 36 Ibid., p. 30, though this racism is found passim.
32

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20 this chapter is marred by the lack of any distinction in the text between Asns conjectures and the details hes drawing from actual sources. 37 Events, people and ideas are characterized by Asn in ways or terms that are unsupported by the texts found in his footnotes; to be of any use at all, then, every word of this chapter would have to be checked against the sources. 38 As Asn did not have access to a number of important sources for Ibn Masarras biography, I will not go through his account of Ibn Masarras life in any detail, but will simply observe that, on account of its unsupported conjecture, exaggerations, inaccuracies and lacunae with regard to sources, it is not to be considered a reliable account of the known facts of the life of Ibn Masarra. I have footnoted below the most important factual errors in this chapter. 39

Morris, in A Reconsideration, p. 1n. 1, after pointing out that Asn occasionally added qualifiers like perhaps and it is probable, makes the following remark: Unfortunately, even the attentive reader, though, can scarcely be expected to recognize all the joints between fact and fiction, or to judge the varying degrees of probability involved. 38 Examples of this are ubiquitous; we are told at p. 32 that `Abd Allh b. Masarra, our subjects father, dared to profess his mu`tazil views only in the intimacy of his family, though such a statement is not to be found in any of the sources. On the next page, Asn informs us that The unlettered common people ... were scandalized to hear that for Ibn Masarra the punishments of hell had no reality. This is historical fiction; the notion that Ibn Masarra denied the reality of the punishments of hell derives from a misreading on Asns part of one of his sources, while his portrayal of the scandalized masses is his own imagination entirely, having no basis whatsoever in the literature. The whole chapter is written in this way, and there is not space here to note every instance of these flourishes on Asns part. 39 At pp. 33f., Asn describes three Spanish native leaders of renegade families [who] struggled to free themselves from the political religious authority of the caliphs [sic] of Cordova, discussing them as contemporaries who led rebellions during the emirate of `Abd Allh (r. 888-912 CE), when in fact only `Umar b. afn (d. 918 CE) fits this description. There were two rebel leaders known as Ibn Qas (d. 862 and 1151CE, respectively), neither of whom lived or led rebellions during this period. Ibn Marwn alJillq (d. 890) repented of his rebellion during the emirate of Muammad I (r. 852-886 CE), was granted clemency by the latter, and was quietly living out the last years of his life when `Abd Allah came to power. (On the preceding, see Makki, The Political History of al-Andalus, passim). Ibn al-A`rb (d. 952), contrary to what is stated at p. 37n.16, was not a student of Sufyn al-Thawr (d. 778). At p. 41, Asn states that only two titles of works of Ibn Masarra are known (from Ibn al-`Arab, who refers to a Kitb al-urf, and Ibn al-Abbr, who mentions a Kitb al-tabira); Louis Massignons 1929 Recueil de textes indits concernant lhistoire de la mystique en pays dIslam, however, included a passage from Ibn Mara (d. 611/1214) that attributes to Ibn Masarra a Kitab tawd al-mqinn, and Shams al-Dn Qurubs (d. 671/1272) Tadhkira f awl attributes to Ibn Masarra a Kitb al-tabyn (this latter reference was first noted by Addas, Andalus Mysticism, p. 914; the death date of 1173 that she gives for Qurub is incorrect). There are thus four titles mentioned in our sources, two of them corresponding to the texts found in the Chester Beatty manuscript.

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21 The next three chapters represent the fruit of Asns attempt at reconstructing Ibn Masarras Pseudo-Empedoclean doctrine. Chapter three, though titled The PseudoEmpedoclean Doctrine of Ibn Masarra, is actually a selection of passages-in-translation from medieval Islamicate sources on Empedocles, principally Shahrastn and Shahrazr; the latter copies `id verbatim in mentioning Ibn Masarra, while the former does not mention Ibn Masarra at all. 40 The introduction to this chapter is highly misleading; Ibn azm and `id are said to frugally but sufficiently inform us about the relationships and general characteristics of his [sc. Ibn Masarras] system, the central axis of these characteristics being the doctrine of Empedocles.41 After identifying `id as a source that affirmed Ibn Masarras relationship of impassioned defender to Empedocles, Asn writes that later oriental historians confirm this fact and give an outline of that philosophy at the same time. 42 He thereby gives the impression that Shahrastn, Shahrazr, Ibn Ab Uaybi`a and Ibn al-Qif all confirm `id on the Empedoclean connection, whereas in fact only the latter three refer to this, and they, as discussed above, simply copy from `id, adding nothing that could be called confirmation. 43 These criticisms aside, the rest of this chapter provides a useful selection of passages-in-translation from the later Islamicate doxographical tradition on Empedocles, giving under seventeen headings a series of passages illustrative of what Asn believed to

Mystical Philosophy, pp. 43-57. Ibid., pp. 43f. 42 Ibid., p. 44. 43 For an English translation of the passage from Shahrazr, see Walbridge, Leaven of the Ancients, p. 44 (Walbridge notes the `id dependence in ibid., p. 237f., n. 14).
41

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22 be the major theses of the Pseudo-Empedoclean system. 44 Interestingly, Asn excludes the Book of Five Substances as a source for this, as it represents a reflection of the doctrine of pseudo-Empedocles too late and indirect to be taken as a basis for his [sc. Ibn Masarras] exposition. 45 The next chapter provides an exegesis of the system or rather, the theorems set out in the previous chapter, largely relying on pre-Islamic philosophical sources such as Plotinus, Philo, and Porphyry. 46 An evaluation of this chapter lies beyond my particular competence, though I would note that Asns frequent claims here that the pseudo-Empedoclean system had absorbed elements of cabala are plainly anachronistic. 47 The following chapter The Theological Doctrine of Ibn Masarra surveys the material regarding Ibn Masarra in the writings of Ibn al-`Arab and Ibn azm, interpreting each piece of evidence in terms of the Pseudo-Empedoclean theorems set out previously. Unfortunately, Asns attempt at reconstruction here fails on every point. Asn assumed that an entire chapter of Ibn al-`Arabs Futt, where mention is made of Ibn Masarra, represented the teaching of the latter, whereas in fact it is simply a characteristic example of Ibn al-`Arabs own expressionistic theological visions,
But see U. Rudolph, Doxographie, p. 132, where, after noting that Asns thesis of a real connection between pseudo-Empedocles and Ibn Masarra has been proven false (with reference to Stern and the reviews of Radtke and Walker), he points out that there probably was never even a coherent system of Empedoclean teaching in the primary sources utilized by the second-order doxographers Shahrastn and Shahrazr. [Denn er behandelt Autoren wie Shahrastani und Shahrazuri, deren sekundrer Charakter ausser Frage steht, wie Primrquellen und entwickelt berdies mit grosser Phantasie ein pseudoempedokleisches Weltbild, das in dieser Geschlossenheit wahrscheinlich nie bestanden hat.] The most important of such primary sources the r al-falsifa is edited and translated by Rudolph in ibid. 45 Ibid., p. 47n. 14. Asns reason for excluding the Book of the Five Substances is somewhat odd, as all of his sources on Empedocles are significantly later than Ibn Masarra. For the Book of the Five Substances, see De Smet, Empedocles Arabus, pp. 208ff. (though note that all reviewers have criticized this translation from the Hebrew as at least partially unreliable). Chapter three of De Smets work represents the fullest account of the Islamicate Empedocles. I return to the dubiousness of a Pseudo-Empedoclean system in chapter three. 46 Mystical Philosophy, pp. 58-72. 47 Again, Asns analysis of the pseudo-Empedoclean doctrine in these chapters is superceded by De Smets Empedocles Arabus.
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23 showing marked variance from the teachings presented by Ibn Masarra in his own extant works. 48 With regard to the material in Ibn azm, Asn at one point goes so far as to argue with his source for misinterpreting Ibn Masarra, inasmuch as Ibn azm attributes to Ibn Masarra an idea at variance with Asns presentation of PseudoEmpedocleanism. 49 Asns widest miss of the mark comes at the end of the chapter, where he states that Ibn Masarras bold denial of the rewards and punishments of the future life is an irrefutable confirmation that the f of Cordova professed the entire system of pseudo-Empedocles. 50 For this purported bold denial, Asns sole reference is the entry on Ibn Masarra in Ibn al-Faras Trkh `ulam al-andalus, which he has completely misunderstood. 51 There, Ibn al-Fara reports that Ibn Masarra used to discuss human agency and the carrying-out of the threat (wa kna yaql bil-isti`a wal-infdh al-wa`d), refering to two well-known Mu`tazil principles. 52 The principle of isti`a has to do with the power or capacity of human agents to perform acts, which the Mu`tazila affirmed against their determinist opponents, while the second alludes to the Mu`tazil principle of al-wa`d wal-wa`d, the promise and the threat, one of the socalled five principles (al-ul al-khamsa) of Mu`tazil theology, which involves the

This error is often repeated in the post-Asn secondary literature; see, e.g., M. Cruz Hernndezs Islamic Thought in the Iberian Peninsula, pp. 778f., where almost all that he writes in describing Ibn Masarras thought is actually descriptive of the chapters in Ibn al-`Arabs Futt used by Asn, though without making any reference to that text. 49 Mystical Philosophy, p. 83. 50 Ibid., p. 93 and n. 54. 51 Though he references Ibn al-Fara here, he may also have had in mind a passage in the Fal (aka Fial) of Ibn azm, vol. 4, p. 199, that attributes to the late Masarr leader Ism`l al-Ru`ayn the thesis that the spirit and not the body is resurrected, though Ru`ayn is then said to have taught that, at death, the spirit separates from the body and proceeds to either heaven or hell; thus, even this passage does not constitute a denial of rewards and punishments of the future life, except insofar as those would be embodied. It should be emphasized here that in this passage Ibn azm (or his anonymous Masarr informant) clearly states that this thesis is Ru`ayns own invention (idth). 52 According to Tornero, Nota Sobre el Pensamiento de Abenmasarra, pp. 503f., this misunderstanding was based on Asn having misread the word infdh (carrying out, executing) as infd, taking the latter to mean negation (though the latter term is never given this meaning by the lexicographers).

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24 belief that unrepentant Muslims guilty of grave sins will be eternally condemned to hellfire. 53 In other words, the phrase that Asn understood to mean that Ibn Masarra denies physical rewards and punishments indicates the exact opposite of such a denial! The seventh chapter is of much greater value, as it presents a wealth of data from Ibn azm about the Masarrs living in the latters own time, which he reported on in his Fal fil-milal. 54 Asn describes and discusses a total of eight theses or beliefs attributed to these Masarrs, though of course his attempts to relate these to the theorems of PseudoEmpedocles and Ibn Masarras system are baseless. 55 The final chapter, on The Influence of Masarrian Ideas, is entirely without merit, tracing as it does the purported influence of a doctrine which he has failed to prove even existed. 56 All of the new evidence that has accumulated since Asns monograph has only served to render his conjectural reconstruction all the more untenable. Brief mention must here be made of another illusion introduced by Asn, one which fortunately has had much less influence. In his 1919 Escatologia musulmana en Divina comedia, Asn began to father upon Ibn Masarra the origins of Ishrq thought, or the so-called School of Illumination associated with Suhraward Maqtl (d. 1194). 57 There he writes:

On isti`a, see L. Gardet, EI, s.v.; on wa`d wal-wa`d, see U. Rudolph, EI, s.v Mystical Philosophy, pp. 95-118. Asn refers to this text as the Fial throughout. 55 Morris, in A Reconsideration, pp. 27ff., though he did not know of the surviving texts of Ibn Masarra, judicially analyzes the Masarr theses found in Ibn azm and underlines the precariousness of Asns conjectures with regard to this material. On most of the points where Morris expressed skepticism, the newly-available sources have borne him out. 56 Oddly enough, it is this weakest part of the book which has exerted the greatest influence, as it is these fictitious links of Pseudo-Empedoclean influence going back to Ibn Masarra that, of all of Asns arguments, have been most often repeated in subsequent scholarship. See De Smet, The Influence of Pseudo-Empedocles, passim. 57 On Suhrward and the ishrqiyyn, see Mehdi Aminrazavi, Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996) and the works of John Walbridge listed in the bibliography, infra.
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25 Should further proof of our thesis [of Islamic inlfluences on Dantes Divine Comedy] be required, the poets philosophical system might be traced back to its actual sources in Islam, which are to be found not so much among the philosophers as in the works of the Illuministic Mystics, and of the Murcian Ibn Arabi in particular. The Illuministic, or Ishraqi and pseudo-Empedoclean school, was founded by Ibn Masarra of Cordova; and from Spain its ideas were transmitted to the so-called Augustinian scholastics, among others to Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus, Roger Bacon, and Raymond Lull. 58 Asn repeated this claim in a number of other works written after this, including his 1929 article Dos filsofos de la Crdoba de los Califas: Abenmasarra y Abenhazam. There, he refers to la ideolgia iluminista del cordobs Abenmasarra. 59 Why he decided to make these plainly anachronistic statements in the years following the completion of his monograph on Ibn Masarra is unclear, as in that work he clearly identifies Suhrawards oeuvre as the fundamental work of the ufi Ishrqs, 60 though he does frequently characterize Ibn Masarra as illuministic in the general sense of employing extensive metaphors of light, and at one point writes (without any evidence whatsoever) that the diffusion of Ibn Masarras innumerable books contributed in a very effective way to the continuing explosion of the illuminist (ishrq) and pantheistic heresies in oriental Islam. 61 In any case, the notion that Ibn Masarra was an Ishrq, or even the progenitor of the Ishrq school, was repeated by a number of later writers, including Edward Jurji, who in 1937 wrote of Ibn Masarra as having founded the Illuministic (Ishrq) and

Islam and the Divine Comedy (an abridged English trans. of Escatologia) , p. 264. At p. 13. 60 Mystical Philosophy, p. 137n. 48. 61 Ibid., p. 128. Asns belief generally stated as fact that Ibn Masarra used light metaphors is a consequence of his reconstruction from later sources; the surviving works of Ibn Masarra do not in fact use any of the illuminist metaphors imagined by Asn.
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26 pseudo-Empedoclean school. 62 Probably the most prominent author to echo this idea was Annemarie Schimmel, who refers in her Mystical Dimensions of Islam to the abovementioned article by Jurji and writes of Ibn Masarra as having spoken about the purifying illumination. 63

From the publication of Asns monograph until the appearance of Sterns Illusion article, there were relatively few advances in the scholarship, in terms of both sources and analyses. By far, the majority of references to Ibn Masarra in this period assumed the soundness of Asns project and presented Ibn Masarra in the context of the Pseudo-Empedoclean illusion. This included, without exception, every major reference work or historical survey on Islam, al-Andalus, or philosophy in which Ibn Masarra was mentioned. 64 The first exception to this trend was A.E. `Affifis 1939 study of Ibn al`Arab, where, with regard to the latters relationship to Ibn Masarra, he announced in the preface to have arrived at a conclusion which is opposite to the theory held by [Asn] Palacios on the subject. 65 Affifi took exception to Asns portrayal of Ibn al-`Arab as an indirect disciple of Ibn Masarra, for whom, according to Asn, the latter was a decisive influence. He also called attention to the doubtfulness of Asns assumptions with regard to Ibn al-`Arabs writings that mention Ibn Masarra. As mentioned above, Asn treated

The Illuministic Sufis, pp. 99f. Reference to Jurji article at 250n. 36; purifying illumination at p. 264. 64 A list of some of the more important reference works and surveys that uncritically repeated Asns theses is given in De Smet, The Influence of Pseudo-Empedocles, p. 230n. 14, to which should be added Brockelmanns 1937 entry in the GAS Supplementband (1:378f.), Fr. Copelstons 1950 History of Philosophy (2:222), Lvi-Provenals 1953 Histoire de lEspagne musulmane (3:485-7), M. Cruz Hernndezs 1957 Filosofa hispano-musulmana (1:221ff.), and Mahmud Makkis 1962 Ensayo sobre las aportaciones orientales en la Espaa musulmana (pp. 158ff.). (This list is by no means comprehensive, and is meant only to show the influence of Asns theses in the major works of synthesis in the first two thirds of the twentieth century.) 65 Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid Din-Ibnul Arabi, p. xiii.
63

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27 an entire chapter from Ibn al-`Arabs Futt al-Makkiyya as wholly Masarran, on account of the fact that Ibn al-`Arab refers to Ibn Masarra in this chapter and says that the latter discussed the same symbolism that is discussed in that chapter by Ibn al`Arab. 66 With regard to this, Affifi noted: [Asn] Palacios unjustifiably attributes the whole theory expressed in this symbolism to Ibn Masarra, having no evidence for this beyond the fact that Ibnul `Arabi refers to Ibn Masarra in connection with this symbolism. The symbolism is one thing and the interpretation put on it by Ibnul `Arabi is another. Ibnul `Arabi borrowed many other symbolisms from fs and philosophers and interpreted them in the light of his own system. 67 In addition to this particular criticism, Affifi provides an overall critique of Asns work in an appendix to his study, which concludes as follows: What all this is intended to prove is (a) that we are still perfectly ignorant of Ibn Masarras mystical philosophy, i.e. if he ever had any; (b) that the evidence adduced by Monsieur [Asn] Palacios in support of his theory that Ibnul `Arabi was influenced by the mystical philosophy of Ibn Masarra or any of his School is so insufficient that we may be permitted to disregard it altogether; (c) that the only thing Ibnul `Arab seems to have borrowed from Ibn Masarra is the divine Throne symbolism on which Ibnul `Arab puts his own interpretation; and lastly (d) that the historical connection which Monsieur [Asn] Palacios assumes to have existed between the f School of Al Meria and that of Ibn Masarra is merely hypothetical. 68

The chapter of the Futt in question is chapter 13, Concerning the Bearers of the Throne (editions of the Futht are many and pagination is various). 67 Affifi, op. cit., p. 76n. 1 (emphasis original). 68 Ibid., p. 183. As will be discussed later, Ibn al-`Arab refers to Ibn Masarra as a source in at least two other works, apparently unknown to Affifi, and he was influenced by Ibn Masarra. Note also that on p. 180 Affifi anticipates Stern by rightly pointing out that `id is ultimately the sole source for the Ibn MasarraEmpedocles connection, as Ibn al-Qif and Ibn Ab Uaybi`a simply copy it from him.

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28 Despite the relative cogency of Affifis rather devastating critique, it had much less influence than it probably deserved, and Asns presentation of Ibn Masarra was to remain otherwise unchallenged for another thirty years.

Of the few new contributions to our knowledge of Ibn Masarra made during these years, mention must be made of Louis Massignons 1929 publication of a passage from the thirteenth-century Sufi Ibn al-Maras (d. 611/1214) Shar al-irshd, which paraphrases a teaching from an otherwise-unknown work of Ibn Masarra entitled Tawd al-mqinn, and E. Lvi-Provenals article A propos de lascte philosophe Ibn Masarra de Cordoue, which undertook a reevaluation of the biographies of Ibn Masarra and his followers based upon all of the sources used by Asn with the addition of newly-edited portions of Ibn al-Abbrs Takmila. 69 In 1955, an opportunity to advance the research considerably was temporarily lost, as Arthur Arberry published in that year a catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, misidentifying two works of Ibn Masarra found in ms. 3168 in that collection as works of an Ab `Abd Allh alJl. 70

Material not included in Coderas 1886 edition of the Takmila was published in an Appendice a la edicin Codera de la Tecmila, ed. M. Alarcn and A. Gonzlez-Palencia, 1915. As pointed out by Morris, A Reconsideration, p. 6n. 11, Lvi-Provenals revised chronology for the life of Ibn Masarra must be held in question. Morris also called attention in the same place to the slightly ironic note struck by Levi-Provenals comment on the first page of his article that On ne peut quadmirer la matrise avec laquelle M. Asn sut tirer parti dans son ouvrage des sources indigentes ... qui soffraient lui pour dfinir et apprcier le systme philosophique dIbn Masarra [One cannot but admire the mastery with which M. Asn makes such good use of sources so poor in what they have to offer with regard to defining and evaluating the philosophical system of Ibn Masarra.] 70 Chester Beatty Library, vol. 1, p. 68. The Arabic words al-Jabal and al-Jl differ orthographically by a single dot. Arberry doesnt appear to have had the famous Sufi named al-Jl in mind, since he gave no death date after giving this name (he does so for every other individual that hes able to identify), and he would have known that the kunya was different; the famous Sufi was named Ab Muammad. It should be

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29 In 1970, two publications raised the first serious doubts about Asns project since Affifis work. In his article on Ibn Masarra in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition, Roger Arnaldez provided a detailed summary of the available data and of Asns argument and reconstruction, pointing out throughout the entire article that none of Asns theses were susceptible of proof. He does not offer any alternative to Asns argument, but does emphasize its conjectural nature. 71 In an article published the same year, George Hourani likewise argued that Asns attempt must be regarded as speculative, in view of the lack of a firm basis for comparison, and reported that S.M. Stern had told him in 1966 about `ids dependence on al-`mir, a dependence which revealed that Ibn Masarras connection to Empedocles is a mere inference by `id. 72 These expressions of skepticism would be fully vindicated over the course of the next three years, which witnessed a series of publications that inaugurated a new phase in the study of Ibn Masarra.

Part 2: New Sources, the Illusion Fades (1971-2006)

This second phase in the history of the scholarship begins with the 1971 publication of Sterns Ibn Masarra, Follower of Pseudo-Empedocles an illusion, discussed at the beginning of the previous section. This article showed just how

noted that Arberry wasnt the first to make this particular mistake; in an edition of Ibn al-`Arabs Futt used by Asn, references in the text to Ibn Masarra al-Jabal are, at two places, printed as Ibn Masarra al-Jl; see Mystical Philosophy, p. 75n. 6 and 78n. 16. 71 On the other hand, it is also significant that the single most important Islamicist reference work still gives only Asns portrayal of Ibn Masarra, giving more than half of the articles space to discussing PseudoEmpedoclean doctrine. 72 Hourani, Early Growth, p. 146n. 3.

30 precarious was the foundation upon which the edifice of Ibn Masarra scholarship had been built up to that point. The announcement by Muhammad Kamal Ibrahim Ja`far the following year that hed discovered two of Ibn Masarras writings in the Chester Beatty Library would have sent that entire edifice crashing to the ground had it been noticed. His discovery was announced in an obscure Libyan journal, and the wider academic world would take no notice of it until a considerable time after Ja`far published the texts in 1978. Even then, though, the new texts were almost entirely neglected for more than a decade. In 1973, unaware of Ja`fars discovery, James Morris undertook a suberb reanalysis of the then-known primary sources for our knowledge of Ibn Masarra, including in an appendix photo-reproductions of all of this material. As noted above, he was the first to identify Ibn al-Fara as Ibn al-Qifs source on Ibn Masarras biography, a discovery which added significant weight to Sterns criticisms. Morris also gives an updated biography, comprehending a number of sources unavailable to Asn, and gives a judicious and skeptical reassessment of Asns theses with regard to Ibn Masarras teachings, as well as of the doctrines attributed to the Masarriyya by Ibn azm. 73 These three works, of Stern, Ja`far and Morris, when considered together, were remarkably ahead of their time or perhaps it has rather been the case that Islamic studies has been remarkably slow in catching up to them. In any case, these publications provide all that is needed to dismiss once and for all the notion that Pseudo-Empedoclean doctrine was central to Ibn Masarras thought, and in fact they show that there is not a

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Claude Addas, Andalus Mysticism, p. 912, says of Morris paper: The results of this inventory are somewhat surprising, showing that the picture painted of Ibn Masarra and his school by Asn Palacios and his predecessors is in fact considerably at variance with the information actually contained in the sources on which they basically relied.

31 single piece of reliable evidence to link Ibn Masarra to Empedocles, pseudo- or otherwise. I will return to this issue in chapter three. These three works did not, it must be admitted, burst upon the field of Islamic studies in circumstances that would recommend their wide renown. Sterns paper, as already mentioned, was published posthumously in a collection of conference proceedings, perhaps not the best forum for announcing a discovery that overturns a given field of research. Ja`fars article was published in Arabic in the journal of a Tripolitan teachers college. Morris paper was never published at all, and was the fruit of a graduate seminar, though Morris did freely share his work with a number of subsequent researchers to take up the Ibn Masarra problem. Eventually, though, the importance of these scholars efforts for a re-evaluation of Ibn Masarra became relatively widely remarked. The critical reviews of the English translation of Asns monograph all brought renewed attention to Stern in the early 1980s, 74 though it was not until the end of that decade that the Western academy began to take notice of the fundamentallyimportant publications of Ja`far. The first such reference 75 that I have been able to identify is in Denis Grils 1988 study of the science of letters (`ilm al-urf) in the

Though note that Van Ess and Walker, in their reviews of 1980 and 1983, respectively, appear to know of neither Ja`fars discovery (1972) nor publication (1978 and again in 1982) of Ibn Masarras writings. 75 It is possible that Claude Addas 1987 doctoral thesis, Ibn `Arab ou la qute de Soufre rouge, contained the earliest reference to Ja`fars publications, as the English-language translation of the subsequentlypublished book form of that thesis (Quest for the Red Sulfur, trans. Peter Kingsley, p. 58), published in 1993, refers to those texts at p. 58 and points out the damage that Ibn Masarras rediscovered texts do to Asns arguments. As I was unable to consult Addas thesis, I cannot verify this. M. Cruz Hernndez notes, in the second edition of his Historia del pensamiento en el mundo islmico, vol. 2, p. 345n. 8, that Mahmud Makki had told him in 1979 of Ja`fars work, but that due toa serious eye disease only later corrected by surgery he was unable to examine those texts or compare them against Asns reconstruction. In his 1992 El Islam de al-Andalus, however, he writes that De los libros de este ltimo [sc. Ibn Masarra] slo nos quedan los ttulos; su pensamiento fue reconstruido de modo admirable por Asin Palacios... [Of the latters [Ibn Masarras] books we have only the titles; his thought was admirably reconstructed by Asin Palacios...] (p. 380). See also his article of the same year, Islamic Thought in the Iberian Peninsula, pp. 777ff., also following Asn to the letter.

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32 thought of Ibn al-`Arab, where he refers at some length to Ja`fars editions of Ibn Masarras Kitb khaw al-urf and Rislat al-I`tibr, giving a synopsis of some of the main points of both treatises and underlining the influence that these works had on Ibn al`Arab and on the development of `ilm al-urf generally. 76 This was followed by Michel Chodkiewiczs 1991 review of Julian Baldicks Mystical Islam, where, in the course of identifying certain lacunes bibliographique in the latter text, he notes that regarding Ibn Masarra, the studies of Muammad Kaml Ibrhm Jafar, who has edited two of his rasil, add new elements and confirm the fragility of Asns reconstruction, already strongly denounced by Stern, with a footnote here pointing to Ja`fars Libyan article (which does not, however, contain editions of the texts). 77 In the following year, Claude Addas Chodkiewiczs daughter published her superb article on Andalus mysticism prior to Ibn al-`Arab (d. 1240), in which she refers to Ja`fars 1978 edition of Ibn Masarras two surviving works and makes frequent reference to the texts themselves. 78 As will be seen, her estimation of Jafars work as putting an end to numerous controversies was unfortunately premature. Her important re-assessment of the character of Ibn Masarras thought in this article will be further discussed in chapter three. Also in 1992, Mara Luisa vila and Luis Molina published, for the first time, Muammad al-Khushans Akhbr al-fuqah wal-muaddithn, thereby making
Gril, La science des lettres, pp. 427f. Grils study is one of the best treatments of `ilm al-urf in the secondary literature, and has recently been translated into English by David Streight, in Chodkiewicz, ed., The Meccan Illuminations, vol. 2 pp. 107-219. 77 Chodkiewicz, Review, p. 167. My translation from the French: (...sur Ibn Masarra, les recherches de Muammad Kaml Ibrhim Jafar, qui a dit deux ses rasil, apportent de nouveaux lments et confirment la fragilit de la reconstruction dAsin, dj dnonce vertement par Stern). Baldick discusses Ibn Masarra very briefly in his Mystical Islam, p. 70, noting only that his works are lost and that Extremely dubious attempts have been made to reconstruct Ibn Masarras teachings and alleged influence on later thinkers. 78 Andalus Mysticism, pp. 916ff.
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33 available the earliest biography of Ibn Masarra, a source which had never before been brought to bear in Ibn Masarra studies. Since that time, a steady stream of scholarship on the Andalus of Ibn Masarras time has emerged from the cohort of Spanish Islamicists centered in Madrid and Granada, a great deal of which naturally has direct bearing on the study of Ibn Masarra. 79 In 1993, the Spanish scholar Emilio Tornero, whod written an article in 1985 defending Asns thesis against Stern, published in the Spanish journal al-Qantara an article that called attention to Ja`fars discovery and provided a summary of the contents of the two texts of Ibn Masarra. 80 Yet despite the frequent references by Spanish Islamicists to these texts following the publication of Torneros article, one is still most likely to read, especially in Anglophone scholarship, that Ibn Masarras works are lost and that he was an Empedoclean mystic, and not simply in general or reference works, 81 but in specialist literature as well. 82

I have in mind here the prodigious efforts towards editing early Andalus texts, applying quantitative research methods to these materials, and producing synthetic analyses, carried out by Maribel Fierro, Manuela Marn, Mara Luisa vila, Miguel Cruz Hernndez, Rafael Ramon Guerrero, Emilio Tornero and other scholars of the School of Arabic Studies at Madrid and the Granada center of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. For more on these centers and the history of Spanish Orientalism, see Penelas, Hispano Arabic Studies, passim. 80 Noticia sobre la publicacion de obras ineditas de Ibn Masarra, reprinted in English five years later as A report on the publication of previously unedited works of Ibn Masarra, in The Formation of alAndalus, vol. 2, part of Ashgate Publishers multi-volume Formation of the Classical Islamic World reprint series. 81 A representative but not comprehensive list of such simple recapitulations of Asn after 1974 follows: J. OCallaghans 1975 History of Medieval Spain (pp. 160f.); J. Vernets 1978 La cultura hispanorabe (pp. 32f.); M. Cruz Hernandezs 1981 Historia del pensamiento en el mondo islamico (1st ed.); Majid Fakhrys 2nd and 3rd editions of his History of Islamic Philosophy, 1983 and 2004, respectively (p. 269 of 3rd ed.); Lenn Goodmans 1996 article, Ibn Masarrah, in the Routledge History of Islamic Philosophy (particularly egregious, since Ja`fars 1978 publication is listed in the bibliography, yet Goodman writes, p. 279, that of his [sc. Ibn Masarras] writings, only the titles from two [sic!] of them survive.); T. Albertinis 1997 Islamic Philosophy article in the Blackwell Companion to World Philosophies (pp. 122f.); V. Cantarinos 2003 article Ibn Masarra, Moammad, in Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia; S.H. Nasrs 2006 Islamic Philosophy (p. 311n. 52). I. Lapidus History of Islamic Societies, p. 312, in stating that Ibn Masarra amalgamated neo-Platonic, Shii, and Sufi thought, recapitulates Emilio Garca Gmezs 1944 article, Esquema de una biografa, pp. 277f., who follows Asn but characterizes Ibn Masarras thought as a fusion of the Plotinian system of pseudo-Empedocles ... with Mu`tazil, Sh` and

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34 A number of authors during this period put forth arguments against Asns interpretation of Ibn Masarra while still unaware that two of Ibn Masarras works had been found. The most prominent of these is Dominique Urvoy, who argued in an article on the beginnings of speculative philosophy in al-Andalus that Ibn Masarra should be considered primarily as a nonconforming ascetic rather than a philosopher. He writes there that, sans doute, the two lost works of Ibn Masarra consist essentiellement en de telles images [as found in Ibn al-`Arabs chapter on the bearers of the throne] plutt quen dmonstrations ordonnes. 83 He argues that any apparent coherence to Masarr thought as presented by Ibn azm has more to do with the latters systematic purposes than to any native coherence in Ibn Masarras thought. He restated this position in his monograph on Ibn Rushd:

Sufi elements (my trans. from the Spanish). Of all the general and reference works published during this period, there are extremely few exceptions to this, of which the most notable are George Atiyehs 1998 entry on Ibn Masarra in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Joseph van Esss monumental Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra, 1991-1995, both of which discuss Ibn Masarras thought with reference to the texts published by Ja`far. 82 The 1984 and 1991 works of D. Urvoy; E. Torneros 1985 Notas sobre el pensamiento de Abenmasarra; M.G. Carters 1989 review of J. Kraemers Humanism (pp. 304f.); W. Hallaqs 1993 Ibn Taymiyyya (p. xiii); K.M.M. `Uwayas 1993 monograph, Ibn Masarra, so riddled with errors and typos as to be unusable; P. Fentons 1997 Philosophie et exgse (p. 4); G. Elmores 1999 Islamic Sainthood (p. 99n. 141); M. al-Idrss 2000 monograph, Marala, which has an extensive section attempting (unsuccessfully, as will be shown in chapter three) to connect statements in Ibn Masarras extant writings to the pseudo-Empedoclean theorems set out by Asn; S. Stroumsas 2002 review of De Smets Empedocles Arabus (defending Asn, but cognizant of the Stern and Ja`far works; hers and other defenses from this period of Asn or the Empedoclean illusion in general will be discussed more fully in chapter three). Aside from the already-mentioned article by Claude Addas, the most important exception here is the work of Rafael Ramn Guerrero, who in the past two years has attempted a reassessment of Ibn Masarras thought; his work follows much the same lines as the first section of chapter three, below. My sincere thanks are due to Dr. Ramn Guerrero for kindly sharing with me copies of his works on Ibn Masarra that I was unable to obtain in the U.S. 83 Sur le dbuts, p. 716. [Without doubt, the lost works of Ibn Masarra (and we know only two titles: K. al-.Hurf and K. al-Tabira) essentially consisted of such images [as the throne symbolism apud Ibn al`Arab] rather than systematic arguments.] On the following page he writes: Dans son [sc. Ibn Masarras] oeuvre galement apparaissent des lments no-platoniciens, mais qui ne sont pas dvelopps pour eux-mmes, la perspective de lauteur tant autre. [In Ibn Masarras writings there also appear certain Neoplatonic elements, but these are not elaborated as such, our author having rather different purposes in mind.] Urvoy made use of the recently-edited text of part five of Ibn ayyns Muqtabas, which included a great deal of hitherto unknown information on the Masarriyya. His inference from the accounts in that text to the general character of Ibn Masarras own thought is plainly unwarranted.

35 [I]n their desire to stress the beneficial influence of Islam, both Ibn Hazm and Said highlighted the work of the ascetic Ibn Masarra of Cordoba (269/883319/931) picking out every minor speculative element in a way that later led the Spanish Arabist Asin Palacios considerably to overestimate the work. While not lacking in coherence, this work can in no way be considered a reflection of Eastern thought (Mutazilism the first school of Muslim theology, and Batinism esoteric doctrines). 84 Urvoy is incorrect on all counts here Ibn Masarras works are speculative, coherent, clearly reflect Mu`tazil thought, and are explicitly esoteric. Yet due to the general neglect of the published texts of Ibn Masarra, this line of argument has nevertheless had a certain influence, as is apparent in Lawrence Conrads introduction to a collection of essays on Ibn ufayl, where he writes that the case for a distinctly Mutazilite school in al-Andalus is controversial, and certainly the alleged connections with Ibn Masarra have little direct evidence to recommend them. 85 As familiarity with Ibn Masarras writings increases, the frequency with which one meets such simple factual errors in the secondary literature is sure to diminish.

Clearly, the discovery of two of Ibn Masarras works and the publication of many important primary sources that touch upon his biography have completely changed our situation with regard to our understanding of Ibn Masarra and his place in Islamicate intellectual history. The regnant twentieth-century account, established by Asn, is

84

Ibn Rushd (Averroes), p. 4. I am at a loss as to what Urvoy might mean about Ibn azm and `id stressing the beneficial influence of Islam in their discussions of Ibn Masarra; this appears to simply make no sense. I also do no know what he means by this work, unless this is a misleading translation of oeuvre on the part of Olivia Stewart, translator of the English edition. Characterizing the Mutazila as the first school of Muslim theology is a bit of a stretch. 85 Introduction: The World of Ibn ufayl, p. 27, with reference to Urvoys Ibn Rushd.

36 unequivocally obsolete. Scholarship has only begun to assess the new data, or indeed to take note of its existence. The following two chapters aim to establish a foundation for a future reassessment of Ibn Masarra through an inventory and preliminary analysis of the relevant sources.

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Chapter Two: An Inventory of the Sources

Introduction
The foregoing literature review has demonstrated that the representation of Ibn Masarra in the current secondary literature is fundamentally inadequate; no study has yet been carried out that comprehends all of the currently-available primary sources, and many of the latter have never even been identified in the scholarship as having any relevance to the study of Ibn Masarra. My aim in this chapter is to remedy this particular lacuna by providing a detailed account of the Islamicate sources that will need to be analyzed by anyone wishing to reappraise the nature, significance and influence of Ibn Masarras thought. In the following chapter I will discuss the relationship that this body of sources has to the existing scholarship, and will offer a number of provisional observations on the significance that this material has for our understanding of Ibn Masarra. In what follows, the sources are discussed chronologically, in order of the authors death dates; it is certainly possible that in some cases this arrangement has inverted the chronological relationship of the actual time of authorship of particular works. 86 I have endeavored to provide the relevant page references to print editions for each item, but in some cases I was unable to consult a printed text and only provide

This is the case with Shushtar and Ibn Sab`n; though the latter lived longer, the former was Ibn Sab`ns disciple and his works were written subsequent to those of his master.

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38 reference to online editions of the texts at alwaraq.net. 87 I have also sought to provide reference to important secondary literature relevant to each item, though in that regard no attempt has been made to be comprehensive. With some exceptions, 88 I have limited the following list to works that make direct reference to Ibn Masarra or his immediate family; there are of course many other texts from the period that are more generally relevant and, as I will discuss in the following chapter, some of the items on this list indicate likely fruitful avenues of future research that promise to turn up yet more references to Ibn Masarra.

The website www.alwaraq.net has an unparalleled digital library of classical Islamicate materials (hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pages of text), and its search capabilities make it an indispensible tool of Islamisicist research. I discovered many of the new sources listed below via simple word searches on alwaraq.net. 88 Even though it does not mention Ibn Masarra, I include Ibn Was Kitb al-bida` in the list on account of Fierros argument that its discussion of a particular innovation was written with Ibn Masarra in mind. See below. I also include reference to the works upon which `id al-Andals relied (and those which copied from him) for the Empedoclean connection.

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39 Sources for the Study of Ibn Masarra: A Chronological Survey

Ibn Masarra, `Abd Allh, Andalus (d. 899) Apud Jayyn, Alqb al-aaba (alwaraq pp. 5 and 9), who transmits two opinions from `Abd Allh on the meaning of particular names. Apud Ibn azm, Muall (alwaraq p. 2121), recording a adth with `Abd Allh as one of its transmitters. These sources have been neglected in the scholarship. In the first source, our subjects father is cited twice as a lexical authority:

It was narrated to us from Ab `Umar Amad b. Muammad, who narrated from Sa`d b. Nar, `Abd al-Writh b. Sufyn and Ab al-Fal Amad b. Qsim, who narrated from Qsim b. Abagh, who narrated from `Abd al-Salm al-Khushan and `Abd Allh b. Masarra, who said: `Amr b. `Al al-Falls told us that aldnj is the same as al-dn, which is Persian for scholar (`lim). (p. 5).

It was narrated to us from Amad b. Muammad, from Sa`d b. Nar, `Abd alWrith and Ab al-Fal al-Bazzr, from Qsim b. Abagh, from al-Khushan and `Abd Allh b. Masarra, who said: we heard from `Amr b. `Al al-Falls, who said regarding Ab Bakr al-adq, `Abd Allh b. `Uthmn, that his nickname was `Atq (Old Man), on account of his agd appearance [or face] (p. 9).

In the second source, Ibn azm records the following adth:

40 It was transmitted to us from `Abd Allh Rab`, who transmitted from Muammad b. Isq b. al-Salm, from Ibn al-A`rb, from Ab Dd, 89 from `Abd Allh b. Masarra, from Mu`dh b. Hishm al-Dastaw, from his father, from Qatda, from `Ubayd Allh b. Burayda, from his father, who said: [The Prophet] said Do not address a hypocrite as master (sayyid), for should he become [your] master your Lord will be displeased. (p. 2121).

Ibn Wa, Muammad, Andalusi (d. 900) Kitb al-bida (ed. and trans. M. Fierro, Madrid, 1988), pp. 110-111. Though he doesnt mention Ibn Masarra, Ibn Wa, who was one of Ibn Masarras teachers and the leading Andalus scholar of his generation, provides here a denunciation of ittib thr al-nab, (following in the footsteps of the prophet, or seeking to pray in places visited by or significant to the life of the Prophet Muammad) possibly in view of Ibn Masarra, who is described as having done this in a notice on one of his followers in Ibn al-Abbr, Takmila (ed. Codera), pp. 99f., #339, Muammad b. azm al-Tankh (copied in Maqqar, Naf al-b, alwaraq p. 289). This notice is translated below, in the entry under Ibn al-Abbr. Secondary literature: See M. Fierro, Una Refutacin contra Ibn Masarra, passim; eadem, The Treatises against Innovation, pp. 217-19.

This person should be identified, as he provides a link between `Abd Allh b. Masarra and Ibn al-A`rb. Given the short form of the citation of his name, I suspect this is the famous Ab Dd (d. 888), author of a Sunan, which is fully possible as Ibn al-A`rb was around 28 years old at the time of Ab D`ds death. Ibn al-A`rb is credited as having amala the Sunan Ab Dd, which usually in that context means memorized, but it could indicate transmission. In his Kitb fhi ma`n al-zuhd, Ibn al-A`rb transmits a number of adth from Ab Dd, but always with the interposition of one other transmitter (see index, s.v. Ab Dd; a brief biographical discussion by `mir Najjr is at pp. 39-43.) Finding out more about a possible connection between Ab Dd and `Abd Allh b. Masarra would be a good direction for future research.

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41 Ibn Masarra, Muammad b. `Abd Allh, Andalus (d. 931) Kitb khaw al-urf wa aqiquh wa uluh, in Ja`far, Min qay al-fikr alislm, pp. 311-44. 90 The longer of two works discovered by Ja`far in the Chester Beatty Library (in Ar. 3168), on the metaphorical, metaphysical and theurgical properties of the disconnected letters heading certain surahs of the Quran. Secondary literature: Summaries of contents in Ja`far, Min muallaft Ibn Masarra almafqda; Tornero, Noticia sobre la publicacion de obras ineditas de Ibn Masarra, trans. into English as A report on the publication of previously unedited works of Ibn Masarra. Studies in Ja`far, Min qay fikr al-islm, pp. 285ff.; Gril, La science des lettres, pp. 427f.; Addas, Andalus Mysticism, pp. 916ff.

Rislat al-i`tibr, in Ja`far, Min qay al-fikr al-islm, pp. 348-60. 91 The second of two works discovered by Ja`far in the Chester Beatty Library, on the legitimacy of inference (i`tibr) and its equivalence with prophecy as a means to attaining knowledge of the cosmos and of divine unity. Secondary literature: See the secondary works cited for the Kitb khaw al-urf (except Gril, who does not discuss the Risla in his article). There is an adequate English

Reprinted in idem, Min al-turth al-falsaf l-Ibn Masarra, pp. 85-111; full text also reproduced in Idrisi, al-Marhala, and `Uwayda, Ibn Masarra. 91 Reprinted in idem, Min al-turth al-falsaf l-Ibn Masarra, pp. 61-73; full text also reproduced in Idrisi, al-Marhala, and `Uwayda, Ibn Masarra.

90

42 translation of this work online, by the African Dominican scholar Joseph Kenny, along with an introductory essay and an edition of the Arabic text. 92

Kitb tawd al-mqinn, paraphrastic fragment apud Ibn al-Mara, Shar al-irshd (detailed reference below, under Ibn al-Mara). Ibn Masarra said in his book Tawd al-Muqinn that the attributes of God are infinite in number and that Gods knowledge is, with respect to Him (`indihi), a Living One, a Knowing One, a Powerful One, a Hearer, an All-Seeing, a Speaker, and that His [attribute of] power is in the same manner living, knowing [etc...], and in such wise did he speak about all of the attributes, saying that this is divine unity (tawd). 93 Thus has he made gods of each of the attributes. Similarly, in his saying that the attributes are infinite in number, he has made of God gods infinite in number God save us! Secondary literature: Brief discussion in Morris, Reconsideration, p. xxx. This source is often neglected in the scholarship.

Kitb al-tabyn, one adth from which apud Shams al-Dn Qurubs al-Tadhkira (detailed reference below, entry under Qurub).

At http://www.diafrica.org/nigeriaop/kenny/Masarra.htm [accessed 31 July 2006]. Use this translation carefully, as at times it is exceedingly free and he often translates terms idiosyncratically. I did not notice any outright errors, however, and his liberties are generally for the sake of clarity in the English. 93 Cf. the second thesis attributed to the Slimiyya in anbal polemical literature: Through a single attribute God comprehends that which He comprehends through all His attributes (Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 94). The Slimiyya originated in the teaching of Sahl al-Tustar, the only individual cited by name in Ibn Masarras writings. The second leader of the Slimiyya, Ibn Slim the younger, is credited with a radd work against Ibn Masarra. The relationship between Ibn Masarra and the Slimiyya needs to be researched further.

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43 Ab `Abd Allh b. Masarra 94 mentioned in his Kitb al-tabyn this marf` hadith 95 from Anas that was transmitted to Ibn Masarra by his father and Ibn Wa: When the people of the fire are gathered together in ranks a man from the people of paradise will pass by them, and someone from the people of fire will call out, Hey, So-and-so! Do you remember on such-and-such day a man gave you a drink of water? That was me. The man of paradise will say, Yes, I remember, and the other will say, so intercede for me on account of that and he will intercede for him. And a man from the people of the fire will call out, Hey, So-and-so! Do you remember on such-and-such day a man gave you water for ablutions? That was me. The man of the people of paradise will say Yes, I remember, whereupon the other will say then intercede for me on account of that, and he will intercede for him. 96 Secondary literature: Aside from Addas identification of this source in her article Andalus Mysticism, p. 914, this has been neglected in the scholarship.

adth, found by the anonymous fourteenth-century author of al-ulal al-Mawshiyya. This is a famous adth, long known in Western scholarship, which the anonymous authors says was found in one of Ibn Masarras books by a Cordoban faqh. In summarizing the events of the Almoravid empire, the author recounts a journey through al-Andalus by the Almoravid amr Ysuf b. Tshfn in 495 AH (1101-2 CE), who travelled via the city of Lucena (al-Yusna), a very powerful city, whose walls were the highest of all and which was inhabited exclusively by Jews. The reason for passing via this place was that one of the faqhs of Crdoba found a book written by Ibn Masarra, the montagnard of Crdoba, in which a tradition dating back to the Prophet is mentioned, according to which the Jews undertook to
Misprinted in the text as . marf` is a technical term in hadith literature meaning a tradition that can be traced back to the Prophet Muammad. 96 Also found in the Sunan of Ibn Mja, no. 3285, with slightly different wording.
95 94

44 convert to Islam by the fifth century of the Hegira [eleventh century of the Christian era] if their own prophet had not arrived as they expected. This was because it was found in the Torah that God said to Moses: The prophet, the messenger whose name is Muammad, though him will undoubtedly appear justice and continuous light until the time arrives. The Jews believed that it would be one of their own people and that he would not come until the beginning of the fifth / eleventh century, and if not, that it would be him [Muammad]. The Cordoban faqh quoted brought the case before the emir of the Muslims, who passed through the city in order to see what could be done. It is said that he took out a quantity of money for that purpose, and that the q Ab `Abd Allh Muammad b. `Al b. amdn b. al-Taglib gained Ysufs agreement to their demand to be left [in peace]. 97 Secondary literature: See S. Baron, Social and Religious History of the Jews, 3:124; M. Salgado, The City of Lucena, pp. 156f.; Morris, Reconsideration, p. iv; Asn, Mystical Philosophy, p. 119n. 1.

adth, which Tha`lib (d. 1468) says was found by Ibn Masarra in the Psalms: Ab `Abd Allh b. Masarra said: I saw in a book which was said to be the Psalms (al-Zabr), Verily I will call my self-denying servants (`ubd al-zhidn) on the Day of Resurrection, and will say to them: Indeed, I have not withheld the world from you in order to magnify your debasement, and in this day I desire that you should abundantly receive your full share. Form ranks then, and if any of you loved someone in this world, or if someone provided for your needs or gave you

97

As translated in Mallo, The City of Lucena, pp. 156f.; all bracketed notes are Mallos. The last sentence is slightly mistranslated, and should read: It is said that on account of this [prophecy], he [sc. Ysuf] demanded a certain sum of money from them [the Jews of Lucena], and that the q Ab `Abd Allh Muammad b. `Al b. amdn b. al-Taglib gained Ysufs agreement to their request to be left [in peace]. This latter q, Ibn amdn, initiated the auto de f of al-Ghazls works in Cordoba in 1109 CE.

45 to eat a morsel of food, for My sake and seeking My good pleasure, then take them by the hand and usher them into Paradise. 98

Poetry. Ibn Masarras eloquence is lauded in many of our sources, and he was a noted poet as well. At least five of his poems have survived. Threnody for his brother. The earliest-recorded poem appears in Ibn al-Fara, no. 23, which is the biographical notice on Ibn Masarras brother Ibrhm b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra. 99 There, after stating that Ibrhm died in Alexandria, Ibn al-Fara records a poem that Muammad b. Masarra wrote in mourning for his lost brother. This entry, including the poem, is copied by Ibn ayyan in al-Muqtabas V, p. 34.

In the Kitb al-tashbht. The next source to preserve Ibn Masarras poetry is the important anthology of Andalus poets made in the eleventh century by Ibn al-Kattn, the Kitb al-tashbht. This work, like Ibn Masarras own writings, was long thought

Cf. Ibn Kathr (d. 1373), al-Nihyat al-fitan wal-malim, alwaraq.net p. 224, where the identical matn is prefaced with And some have related that the following was written in the Psalms of David. Interestingly, Tha`lib follows this citation with a adth he cites as from al-Ghazzls Iy which is identical in meaning to the adith from Ibn Masarras Kitb al-tabyn quoted in Qurubs Tadhkira (see above), though phrased like the matn in Ibn Mja, which is slightly different from Ibn Masarras version a rather striking coincidence. Both of these adth seem to be variations on the least of these theme of Matthew 25:34-40; note especially the similarity of Mt 25:34 and the opening of this adth from Tha`lib; in the former, after the Son of Man comes and divides the people into two ranks, left and right, then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. We have here the following identical elements: the time is the eschaton, there is division into ranks or lines, the speaker (God or the Lord) announces the bestowal of a special inheritance, and finally there is a distribution of end-time rewards for simple acts of kindness or generosity. (There are also more direct paraphrases of Mt 25:35ff. in the adth; see Muslim, adth no. 4661.) 99 The existence of this brother and of material about him in our sources has, to the best of my knowledge, been completely neglected in the scholarship. Ibn Masarra also had a paternal uncle named Ibrhm, who was a merchant and made a rila with Ibn Masarras father; this individual is discussed in Asn and much of the subsequent secondary literature.

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46 lost and was only discovered in a unique manuscript in the late 1960s. 100 It preserves two short poems by Ibn Masarra, one in the section bb al-rus wal-malb, and one in the section bb f dhamm al-duny wa dhikr al-mawt. 101 A somewhat loose translation of the latter poem follows:

Though death is our final and ultimate end we rush head-long towards it with galloping steps, The days and nights of the children of earth but swift steeds fate-bound for the house of death. 102

In al-Muqtabas. In addition to the poem for his deceased brother copied from Ibn alFara, Ibn ayyn included in his Muqtabas another poem of Ibn Masarra having to do, like the previous one, with the evanescence of time and the certainty of death. 103

To Ab Bakr al-Lulu. Finally, our sources record a poem that Ibn Masarra included in a letter to Ab Bakr al-Lulu, 104 found in al-umayd, 105 copied by Ibn Khqn, 106

On the discovery, see Hoenerbach, Dichterische Vergleiche, pp. xiii-xiv. There is a fascinating tale surrounding this text. The manuscript was edited and published soon after its discovery (in 1966, by Isn `Abbs), but was then stolen from the Ankara library where it was found, making its way via the black market to a London bookseller, who offered it for sale to an astonished Jan Witkam, then Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Leiden, who made films of the ms. and kept it in a vault at Leiden until it could be returned to Ankara via diplomatic courier from the Turkish Embassy at the Hague. For the full details, see Witkam, Manuscripts and Manuscripts, pp. 111-115 101 Kitb al-tashbht, pp. 222 (#466) and 271 (#603). Im not familiar with the former category of poetic themes (lit. heads/chiefs and the crucified), but the latter chapter deals with poems that denigrate the physical world and/or meditate on death. German translations of these poems can be found in Hoenerbach, op. cit. I was unable to consult the 2001 Madrid doctoral thesis by Nafisa Mouffok, Estudio y traduccin de Kitb al Techbiht de Ibn Al-Kattani. 102 Kitb al-tashbht, p. 271, #603; also on alwaraq.net, p.48. (Innama l'mawtu ghyatun nanu nasa`a / khababan nawuha `al'l-iqdmi / innama l-laylu wa'nahru maaya / li-bni al-ari nawa dri himmi.) 103 Muqtabas V, p. 32, Spanish trans. p. 36. 104 al-Lulu (d. 348/959), one of the leading Andalus scholars of his generation, was the teacher of both Muammad al-Zubayd and Muammad b. Yabq, both credited with authoring radd works against Ibn Masarra.

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47 copied in turn by al-Maqqar. 107 This poem expresses the wish that the author could have the recipients company on a rainy day. Q `Iy, Tartb al-madrik, alwaraq.net p. 406, has a very interesting variant; in his biographical notice on al-Lulu, Q `Iy calls one or the other of them one of his more famous pupils (kna min wujhi talmdhihi), 108 has the poem written by Lulu to Ibn Masarra, and gives a signicantly different wording in the poem itself, including a final line not found in any of the other sources which has the author declare to the recipient, you are younger than me (lit. your years are fewer than mine). Perhaps this is witness to an independent transmission of the poem, in which the wording and particulars of context became garbled. One the other hand, it is possible that this is a different poem entirely, modeled closely after Ibn Masarras but written by al-Lulu; more information would need to turn up before this question could be settled. Modern scholarship has completely neglected Ibn Masarra qua poet, and none of the secondary literature refers at all to the poems found in Ibn al-Kattn.

Ibn al-abbb, Amad b. Khlid, Andalus (860-934) This prominent Cordoban contemporary of Ibn Masarra is credited with a booklet (safa) against Ibn Masarra in Ibn al-Faras biographical notice on the latter, though

105 106

Jadhwat al-muqtabas, p. 59. Mama al-Anfus, p. 58. 107 Naf al-b, 1:47. 108 The intended referent of the pronoun here is obscure, and reading it as refering to Ibn Masarra is just as supportable as reading it as al-Lulu. That is, Q `Iy is saying either that Ibn Masarra was one of alLulus famous pupils, or al-Lulu was a famous disciple of Ibn Masarra. I prefer reading it the former way (Ibn Masarra a pupil of Lulu) but again, the text is ambiguous.

48 this is not known to be extant. At least six of the followers of Ibn Masarra, including several of his direct disciples, studied under Ibn al-abbb. 109

Ibn al-A`rb, Ab Sa`d, Basran (860-952) This mystic and adth scholar is credited with a Radd `al Ibn Masarra in Ibn alFaras notice on Ibn Masarra, though it is not known to be extant. Himself a student of the famous mystics al-Junayd (d. 910), Ab al-usayn al-Nr (d. 907), and `Amr alMakk (d. 909), Ibn al-A`rb taught, at Mecca, many of the people identified as Masarrs in our sources, as well as several of the people credited with radd works against Ibn Masarra. 110 Ibn Masarra may have met and even studied with him, as he was several times in Mecca during Ibn al-A`rbs lifetime.

Amad b. Muammad al-Rz, Andalus (888-955) Apud Ibn ayyn, al-Muqatabas V, who quotes al-Razis Trkh on Ibn Masarra twice, at p. 15 (30 of Spanish trans.) and 19 (35); these are brief accounts of two separate occasions in which a caliphal decree against the Masarriyya was read out publicly to the people of Cordoba, with passing reference to a third such occasion (7 May 952, 20 June 956, and late November of 957). al-Rz states that in each instance the ib al-madna `Abd Allah b. Badr was designated to read out the decree, from the main mosque of Cordoba as well as that of the caliphal suburb al-Zahra, and that he was likewise
Maslama b. Qsim al-Qurub (d. 964), whom Fierro has convincingly argued was the author of the Ghyat al-akm (the Picatrix), was also a student of Amad b. Khlid. See Fierro, Binism in alAndalus, p. 88. 110 For a study of the Andalus students of Ibn al-A`rb, see M. Marn, Ab Sa`d Ibn al-A`rb et le dveloppement du Soufisme en al-Andalus. Ibn al-A`rb was also a teacher of Maslama b. Qsim, possible author of the Ghyat al-akm. See Fierro, Binism in al-Andalus, p. 88.
109

49 empowered by the Caliph to investigate and extirpate the sect by force. These notices do not provide any details about the teachings of Ibn Masarra, stating only that the Masarrs were heretics and sectarians, having separated themselves from the community (fraq al-jam`a). The Trkh of al-Rz is extant only in citation. Secondary literature: See Cruz Hernndez, La persecucin, passim; Fierro, Heterodoxia, pp. 132ff.; eadem, Opposition to Sufism, pp. 180f.; Safran, Command of the Faithful, pp. 190f.

Ab al-asan Amad b. Muammad b. Amad b. Slim al-Bar (d. 967) This famous Sufi is credited by Ibn al-Fara with a radd work against Ibn Masarra. Along with his father, Ibn Slim was the spiritual heir of Sahl al-Tustar (d. 896), the only individual mentioned explicitly in the extant writings of Ibn Masarra. 111 Ibn Slim was also the shaykh of Ab lib al-Makk, author of the Qt al-qulb, one of the most influential works in the history of Sufism. His circle of mystics at Basra was thus an intellectual center of no small importance, like that of Abu Sa`d Ibn al-A`rb in Mecca. 112 With his father, Ibn Slim was the co-founder of what became known as the Slimiyya, a theological and mystical school that lived on mostly through al-Makks

Aside from his brother Ibrhm, mentioned by name in Ibn Masarras threnody for him. I emphasize this as it indicates just how famous Ibn Masarras teachings had become during the last years of his life and the few decades that followed his death. We find that leading scholars all over the Muslim world the master grammarian al-Zubayd in al-Andalus (among other leading scholars there), Ibn al-A`rr in Mecca, Ab al-asan b. Slim in Basra were discussing his teachings, meeting and teaching more and more of his Andalus followers on their rilas to the East, and writing responses to his oeuvre. Though cloistered in a hermitage in the mountains of Cordoba, on the western end of the Islamicate world, Ibn Masarra was clearly a central figure in the vibrant intellectual currents of his time.
112

111

50 Qt al-qulb, and which drew the condemnations of some of the great anbal polemicists, including Abu Ya`l Ibn Farr`, Ibn al-Jawz and Ibn Taymiyya. 113 Secondary literature: In addition to the sources cited in the last note, see also Bwering, Mystical Vision of Existence, pp. 89ff.

Caliph `Abd al-Raman III al-Nir, Andalus (891-961) Caliphal decree against the Masarriyya, apud al-Muqtabas V, 25-30 [31-35 of Spanish trans.]. This text, preserved by Ibn ayyn, refers at some length to the beliefs and practices of the Masarriyya, though of course the nature of the document demands a fair degree of skepticism on our part, inquisitors being rarely fair informants. With that caveat in mind, the decree is noteworthy in that it attributes to the Masarrs the (Mu`tazil) belief in the createdness of the Quran, states that they disputed the verses of the Quran and made distorted interpretations of the adth, said despicable things about the pious forebears (al-salaf al-li) 114 , and withdrew from the community of the faithful to such an extent that they ceased returning the salm to Muslims (radda l-salm `al l-muslimn), giving

These enemies of the Slimiyya record lists of doctrinal positions, analyzed in several places by Massignon; see his article Slimya in EI, first edition, and the section Sahl al-Tustar and the Slimiyya School, in his Essay on the the Origins of the Technical Language, pp. 199-203. The entry on the Slimiyya in EI by Berndt Radtke seems quite premature in its conclusions, as he discounts the anbal evidence and claims that the real doctrine of the school is to be sought in al-Makks work.... It shows a thoroughly orthodox and quite ascetic piety. He is also completely discarding here Massignons work on this school and the latters interesting suggestions for directions of research, which may well yet prove fruitful. Such research could be of especial relevance to the study of Ibn Masarra; Massignon in his EI entry notes that The semi-Ism`l school of Andalusian mystics of the sixth century from Ibn Barradjn (d. 536 = 1141) and Ibn Kays [sic; read Qas] to Ibn `Arab owes, as Ibn Taimya has pointed out, several of its monist formulae to the Slimya. 114 The implication of this is that the Masarriyya were Shi`itic in some way; such is the charge, though we have yet to find any positive evidence of this.

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51 in reply only the traditional pre-Islamic greeting. 115 They strongly advocated completely withdrawing from the community and dissimulating their allegiance when among nonMasarrs, and came to such hatred of the umma as to declare licit the spilling of other Muslims blood, the rape of their women and the enslavement of their children. The Caliph, losing night after night of sleep upon hearing news of these enormities, had this letter written and dispatched to all points of his realms, to be read in every mosque, urban and rural, so that no place would be left in his kingdom where the Masarrs had not been declared enemies of the Faith. 116 Secondary literature: See Cruz Hernndez, La persecucin, passim; Fierro, Heterodoxia, pp. 132ff.; eadem, Opposition to Sufism, pp. 180f.; Safran, Command of the Faithful, pp. 190f.; Manzano Moreno, Review of The Caliphate in the West.

al-Khushan, Muammad b. rith, Andalus (d. 971) abaqt al-`ulam Ifrqiyya (Ben Cheneb ed., 1:159-60) In a notice on an Andalus faqh, Ab Ja`far Amad b. Nar (d. 317/929), Khushan recounts an anecdote of personally attending a study session with this scholar in Qayrawn, in the course of which he had his first meeting with Ibn Masarra. Ibn Masarra, apparently on his way east, stops to sit with the circle, listening and watching, and Khushan says that, though he didnt know who Ibn Masarra was at the time, he recognized that he was a man of knowledge, being impressed by his precociousness and

To decline responding to the al-salmu `alaykum greeting is to refuse to accept the Islamic legitimacy of the one giving the greeting; in other words, the charge here is that the Masarrs considered non-Masarrs to be non-Muslims. 116 Paraphrased from al-Muqtabas V, pp. 27-29.

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52 his familiarity with the matters being discussed. When the shaykh Ab Ja`far ended the session, he turned to Ibn Masarra and said: Young man (y shb), you have joined us just today; do you wish to discuss anything? To which Ibn Masarra replied with great eloquence and beautiful language, saying, I have come seeking only your light and support from your learning. At this, Amad b. Nar responded with equally eloquent praises. 117 After talking briefly with the youth, the shaykh said, Young man, you have the attribute of those in the graves; may God have mercy on anyone with this attribute. 118

Akhbr al-fuqah wal-muaddithn (p. 178, #209) This is an extremely important notice, being the earliest biography of Ibn Masarra, written by a contemporary who had actually met Ibn Masarra while in the latters youth (see above). Note that the two bins that Khushan likens Ibn Masarra to are Dhl-Nn and a certain Ab Sa`d al-Iskf; 119 when Ibn al-Fara copied that passage in his Trkh, he replaced this Ab Sa`d with the famous Sufi Ab Ya`qb al-Nahrajr. Asn and most subsequent authors, unaware that Ibn al-Fara has altered his source on this point,

A somewhat paraphrastic translation of this notice can be found in Asn, Mystical Philosophy, p. 36n. 15. 118 Morris, Reconsideration, p. 24n. 35 understands this utterance to mean that Ibn Masarra was being respectfully praised for his ascetic qualities (or otherwordly precocity), and the context appears to me to support this reading. 119 I have thus far been unable to identify this person. None of the classical Sufi biographical dictionaries contain mention of an Iskf (cobbler) or Askf, nor do any of the texts on alwaraq.net have an Iskf/Askf with the kunya of Ab Sa`d. There was a noted Sh` adth transmitter and preacher/storyteller (q) of the later Umayyad period (late 7th-early 8th century) named Sa`d b. arf al-Iskf, who is credited in some places with transmitting what Modarressi calls esoteric reports (Hossein Modarressi, Tradition and Survival [Oxford: Oneworld, 2003]: 1:118ff.); this is the only instance Ive yet found of a prominent alIskf associated with the bin. Modarressi does not record this individuals kunya.

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53 have taken that at face value and portrayed Ibn Masarra as having doctrinal affinities with Nahrajr, something we now know to be unfounded.

Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, Cordoban. The way (madhhab) of Muhammad b. Masarra with regard to his acts was asceticism and seclusion; intellectually, he followed the path of reflection and discovery; he was very accomplished in his command of `ilm and masterful in his meditations thereupon. With regard to the rectification of acts in accord with the path of fear [of God], the constant examination of conscience in accord with the reality of sincerity, and the cautioning against the signs of hypocrisy and the gates of imposture in accord with the inner meanings of unveiling and elucidation, he composed many books, similar to the discourses of his predecessors among the people of esotericism (ahl al-`ilm al-bin) 120 such as Dhl-Nn al-Akhmm, Ab Sa`id al-Askf, and their colleagues among the people of that science. For people who meditate upon such things, he would write [these books] on the condition that they swear not to pursue any other branch of study. 121

Muhammad 122 says: The people are divided into two camps [with regard to Ibn Masarra]; one camp (firqa) goes so far as to hold him an imm in knowledge and asceticism on account of what has been manifested to them of the efficacy (bar`a) of his knowledge and the sincerity of his asceticism. The other camp denounces him as a heretic (al-bid`) on account of what has been manifested to them of his theological disputation (kalm) on the issue of the promise and the threat (al-wa`d wal-wa`d) and his [esoteric] interpretations (tawl) of verses of the Quran and for his refusal to passively adhere to the known sciences in al-

Ibn Masarra uses the same phrase in his own writings; see, e.g., the Kitb khaw al-urf, in Ja`far, ed., Min qay al-fikr, p. 317. Used in this sense, Ibn Masarras status as a bin has nothing necessarily to do with Ism`lism, which was the implication of the term bin, when used by itself, in the Islamic East at that time. 121 This is one of many indications of Ibn Masarras esoteric teaching practices. See also the first notice under Ibn al-Abbr, below, regarding Ibn Masarras strictures about letting others have copies of his works. 122 That is, Khushan himself.

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54 Andalus. Muammad b. Masarra left his home in Cordoba and went to a place in the mountains thereof, where he withdrew from most of the people. He died during the month of Shawwal in the year 319.

Khushan also has a notice on Ibn Masarras father `Abd Allh, at p. 178, #209, as well as two of the latters students (at pp. 174, #203, and 309, #417). Secondary literature: This source, published in 1992 from a single, partially deteriorated manuscript has been largely neglected in the scholarship. Its importance for our understanding of Ibn Masarra has not been hitherto recognized.

al-Zubayd, Muammad b. asan, Andalus (d. 989) One of the most famous linguists and grammarians of his day, 123 Zubayd is credited with a radd work against Ibn Masarra of which only Ibn Khallikn relates the title: Hatk sutr al-mulidn (Rending the Veils of the Apostates). His radd work is first mentioned by Ibn Bashkuwl, who reports that Zubayd transmitted this work to Muammad b. Qsim al-Umaw al-Jli, who transmitted it to Ab Muammad b. Ab Zayd. 124 It is also mentioned by Dhahab (see below under his entry). It is perhaps the only radd work from which any of its contents have been preserved, as Ibn ayyn, in al-Muqtabas, cites some of Zubayds criticism of Ibn Masarras grammar and attributes to him the opinion that Ibn Masarras teacheings went counter to the beliefs of Sunns. 125 (See below, under

Ibn Khallikn says of Zubayd that in his era he was foremost in grammar and linguistics, the most knowledgeable man of his age in i`rb, lexicography and lexical obscurities, as well as biography and akhbr. He had no equal in al-Andalus during his time. Wafayt al-a`yn, 4:372, #651. 124 al-ila, alwaraq.net p. 157, in the biographical notice on al-Jli. 125 The bulk of the criticism cited by Ibn ayyn centers on grammar, while the title related by Ibn Khallikn would indicate a theological focus; it is certainly possible that Zubayd wrote about Ibn Masarra in more than one place.

123

55 Ibn ayyn). These details raise the possibility that at least some of the radd literature produced against Ibn Masarra in the tenth century was not primarily focused on Ibn Masarras theology or heretical teachings, and may have pertained to Ibn Masarras take on any of the myriad other currents of Islamicate intellectual life (e.g., language, poetry, adth criticism, history, biography, etc.)

Muammad b. Yabq b. Muammad b. Zarb, Andalus (929-991) Called by Ibn al-Fara the greatest scholar of his age on issues relating to the madhhab of Mlik and his disciples, 126 this chief q of Cordoba is credited with a booklet (afa) in radd against Ibn Masarra. He is also identified by Ibn al-Fara as the officiant at the funeral of the suspected Masarr Rashd b. Fat al-Dajjj (see below, entry under Ibn al-Fara). He is credited with a radd work against Ibn Masarra in Q `Iy, Dhahabs Trkh al-Islm and Siyar a`lm al-nubal, al-afad, al-Nubh, and Ibn Farn (see below, entries under these authors). al-Nubh informs us that Q Ibn Zarb called the followers of Ibn Masarra to repent (i.e., instituted a campaign of forced recantation), and, in the year 351/962, 127 in a public ceremony outside the Eastern Mosque of Cordoba, burned all of the books and writings of Ibn Masarra that hed found among the Masarrs.

al-`mir, Ab al-asan Muammad b. Ysuf, Khursn (d. 992)

Trkh `ulam al-Andalus, pp. 387f., #1361; alwaraq.net pp. 174f., #1363. The latest of the three public readings of caliphal decrees against the Masarriyya was in 346/957, so this date shows that the Masarrs troubles were not over with the cessation of direct hostility from the Caliph. However, Q Ibn Zarb also read the funeral prayers over the suspected Masarr Rashd b. Fat in 376 more than twenty years after the auto de f a detail which certainly complicates any simple picture of the status of the Masarrs in al-Andalus in the late tenth century. Morris emphasizes this point in his Reconsideration, p. xx.
127 126

56 Kitb al-amad `al l-abad (ed. and trans. E. Rowson, New Haven, 1988) pp. 70, 78, and 80. This source does not mention Ibn Masarra, but was `ids source (who was in turn alQifs source) for Empedocles and his association with Binism. See chapter one, above.

Ibn Ab Zayd, Ab Muammad, Qayrawn (d. 996) Cited by Sezgin (1:481) as the author of a lost Radd `al Ibn Masarra al-Mriq. Ibn Bashkuwl names him in a biographical notice on the Cordoban Muammad b. Qsim b. Muammad al-Umaw al-Jli (alwaraq.net, p. 157) as having received from the latter the radd against Ibn Masarra written by Muammad al-Zubayd. Secondary literature: See Morris, Reconsideration, p. iii, casting doubt on Sezgin (but note that Morris neglected the passage in Ibn Bashkuwl mentioned above).

Ibn Abya al-Umaw, `Abd Allb b. Muammad b. Nar, Toledan (d. 1008 or 9) This scholar is credited in Ibn Bashkuwls ila with having written a large and comprehensive book against Ibn Masarra which contained many adth and proof-texts (shawhid). This radd work is subsequently mentioned by Dhahab, afad and Suyt, the former two characterizing it, after Ibn Bashkuwl, as large and comprehensive. Below is Ibn Bashkuwls notice on this person: `Abd Allh b. Muammad b. Nar b. Abya b. Mabb b. Thbit al-Umaw alNaw, Ab Muammad, originally from ulayula (Toledo), but resident in

57 Cordoba. He transmitted from Ab Ja`far b. `Awn Allh 128 , Ab `Abd Allh b. Mufarrij, Khalaf b. al-Qsim, `Abbs b. Abagh, Ab al-asan `Al b. Mualli, Hshim b. Yay, Ab Muammad b. arb, Ab Ghlib Tammm b. `Abd Allh, and many others besides. He had ijzas (diplomas) from Ab al-`Abbs Tamm b. Muammad b. Tamm al-Qayrawn, 129 Ab al-asan Ziyd b. `Abd alRaman al-Lulu al-Qayrawn, Muammad b. al-Qsim b. Mas`ada al-ijr, Ab Maymna, and others. He devoted himself to the collecting and classification of adth. He was a cultured, erudite and noble man, and the people studied under him. He composed a book in refutation of Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, which contained many adth and proof-texts (shawhid). It was a large and comprehensive (afl) book. Of those who transmitted from him, there was al-Q Ab `Umar b. Samq(?), akam b. Muammad, Ab Isq and his companion Ab Ja`far. He was born in Sha`ban, 329. He was laid to rest in the Ab al-`Abbs cemetary, and his funeral prayers were performed in the mosque by the Amr Hishm b. `Abd al-Raman. He died in the year 399 or 400. (alwaraq.net, p. 78)

Ibn al-Fara, `Abd Allh b. Muammad, Andalus (962-1013) Trkh `ulam al-Andalus (ed. F. Codera, Madrid, 1890-1892). Ibn al-Fara is rich in information on Ibn Masarra, his family and his followers. The Trkh gives the following lengthy biographical notice on Ibn Masarra (pp. 327f., #1202; alwaraq.net pp. 152f., #1204): 130 Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra b. Naj, Ab `Abd Allh, from Cordoba. He heard from 131 his father, Muammad b. Wa and al-Khushan. He went to
128

Who was also a teacher of Ab `Umar al-alamank and a student of Ibn al-A`rb, two other authors of radd works against Ibn Masarra. 129 See Moris, Reconsideration, p. iii, bottom paragraph, on this person. 130 Aside from the first few dozen entries - which match up - the numbers of the entries in Ibn al-Fara in the alwaraq.net edition are two higher than those in the printed editions. 131 That is, he was taught by.

58 the East in the latter days of Amr `Abd Allh. 132 I was told by al-Khab b. Maslama that he was accused of 133 heresy (zandaqa) and so he fled [al-Andalus] and traveled about in the East for a while, studying with the people of debate and the proponents of theological disputation and Mu`tazilism (ahl al-jadal wa ab al-kalm wal-mu`tazila). Then he returned to al-Andalus and made a show of renunciation and asceticism, seducing the people by these manifestations until they swore allegiance to him and studied under him. It then became apparent to the people that his teachings were evil. So he founded his school and received into it thoughtful and knowledgeable people who continued to study in his presence until finally he won them over to his folly and they professed their belief in his creed. 134 He used to discuss human agency (isti`a) and the carrying-out of the threat, and he had a distorted interpetation (tawl) of much of the Quran. In addition, he discoursed on the rectification of acts and the examination of conscience in accord with the reality of sincerity in the manner of Dhl-Nn al-Akhmm and Ab Ya`qb al-Nahrajr. 135 Most of the people of the East denounced him (radda `alayhi), among them being Amad b. Muammad b. Ziyd al-A`rb 136 and Amad b. Muammad b. Slim al-Tustar. 137 Amad b. Khlid 138 wrote a booklet (afa) in retutation of him, about which I was informed by Ab

Died 300 AH. The word could also mean he was suspected of (uttuhima). 134 Though its sometimes difficult to discern in Arabic texts where a quotation ends, it would appear that this has all been the report of al-Khab, as the whole passage has the same polemical tone. 135 Ibn al-Fara is clearly drawing on Khushan here, but he has substituted Ab Ya`qb al-Nahrajr for Khushans Ab Sa`d al-Iskf, possibly due to unfamiliarity with the latter (there is no mention of this alIskaf in any of the Andalus biographical or historical literature that I have consulted, nor have I been able to conclusively identify him; see above, entry under al-Khushan). Ibn al-Fara has also implied a more significant relationship than that indicated by Khushan; the latter wrote that Ibn Masarras writings on these matters were like (ka) the sayings or teachings (al-kalm) of Dhl-Nn and al-Iskf, while Ibn alFara says that Ibn Masarra discussed these things in the manner of or after the fashion (f naw) of Dhl-Nn and Nahrajr. In light of this, attempts to identify points of similarity between Nahrajr and Ibn Masarra (such as Asns, Mystical Philosophy pp. 40ff.) are superfluous. Even more improbable are statements of definite relationship, such as Fierros assertion that during his rila to the East [Ibn Masarra] read books and was taught doctrines that were those of Dh l-Nn al-Mir and Ab Ya`qb al-Nahrajr (Binism in al-Andalus, p. 104). 136 See above, entry under Ibn al-A`rb. 137 See above, entry under Ab al-asan Amad b. Slim al-Bar. Though not from Tustar, he was one of the two principal disciples of Sahl al-Tustar (the other being his father, Ibn Slim the elder). 138 See above, entry under Ibn al-abbb.
133

132

59 Muammad al-Bj. Ibn rith [al-Khushan] said: The people are divided into two camps with regard to Ibn Masarra; one camp (firqa) goes so far as to hold him an imm in knowledge and asceticism. 139 The other camp denounces him as a heretic (al-bid`) on account of what has been manifested to them of his theological disputation (kalm) on the issue of the promise and the threat (al-wa`d wal-wa`d) and his [esoteric] interpretations (tawl) of verses of the Quran and for his refusal to passively adhere to the known sciences in al-Andalus. al-Bj told me that Muammad b. Masarra died in the year 319. I was told by Muammad b. `Umar that he died in the first part of the month of Shawwal in the year 319. I found a note by Amad b. Sa`d that said Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra was born in the eve of Tuesday, in the first third of the night, on the seventh of Shawwal of the year 269. I found that in a note by his father. Some have said that he died on a Wednesday, after the `Ar prayer, and was buried on Thursday after the `Ar prayer, on the fifth of Shawwal, in the year 319. He lived to be fifty years and three months old. 140

Ibn al-Fara gives biographical notices on the following members of Ibn Masarras family: `Abd Allh b. Masarra, his father (pp. 179-81, #650; alwaraq.net p. 80, #652). Ibrhm b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, his brother 141 (pp. 44f., #23; alwaraq.net p. 6, #23). This entry contains a poem written by Ibn Masarra in mourning for Ibrhms death, and also states that Ibrhm was not like his brother. In the entry on a certain

Note that Ibn al-Fara has left out the last half of this sentence from Khushan, which stated that this camp held Ibn Masarra in such high esteem on account of what had been manifested to them of the efficacy (bar`a) of his knowledge and the sincerity of his asceticism. 140 This last statement conflicts with data given earlier in the notice; if he was born and died in the month of Shawwal, how did he live to be 50 years and three months old? The date and day of the week given for his birth are also off; the seventh of Shawwal, 269 AH, corresponds to Friday (not Tuesday), April 12, 883 CE. As to his date of death, the fifth of Shawwal, 319 AH, corresponds to Wednesday, October 19, 931. 141 Ibn al-Fara also records a notice for an Abagh b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra (pp. 156f., #257, alwaraq.net p. 32), though his birthdate is given as 310 AH (922-3 CE), while `Abd Allh b. Masarra, the father of Ibn Masarra, died in 286 (899), so it is unclear what familial relationship, if any, this person might have with Ibn Masarra.

139

60 Amad b. Yay al-Zuhr (#66), Ibn al-Fara cites a note written by Ibrhm b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra for the mans date of death. Another such note is cited by Ibn al-Fara in the entry on a certain Muammad b. `Abd Allh al-Khursn (#1392). Isq b. Ibrhm b. Masarra, his cousin 142 (p. 143, #233; alwaraq.net p. 29, #235). Muammad b. Isq b. Ibrhm b. Masarra, his first cousin once removed (#1378; alwaraq.net p. 177f., #1380). The Trkh provides notices on eight people known or suspected to be Masarrs. These are all from the second generation of Masarrs and none are described as having met Ibn Masarra; most would have been too young. Below are the names of these individuals, the references in Ibn al-Fara, and some basic information from the notices. These people shared many of the same teachers, both in al-Andalus (most commonly Qsim b. Abagh) 143 and abroad (most commonly Ibn al-A`rb), 144 and much can be learned from these entries about the interconnected social networks of Ibn Masarras followers and opponents.

The father of this person, Ibrhm b. Masarra, was `Abd Allh b. Masarras brother and accompanied him on his first rila to the East. This information is found in the entry in Ibn al-Fara on `Abd Allh b. Masarra, which also identifies this Ibrhm as a merchant. As he was not a scholar, he is not listed independently in any of our biographical sources. 143 Qsim was also a teacher of Maslama b. Qsim, possible author of the Ghyat al-akm. See Fierro, Binism in al-Andalus, p. 88. 144 Interestingly, Ibn al-Fara identifies these two as the two great teachers of their age, Qsim in the West and Ibn al-A`rb in the East. In his entry on the former (#1068, 1070 on alwaraq.net), he writes that in Qsims day the rila in al-Andalus was to Qsim, and the rila in the East was to Ab Sa`d al-A`rb, also pointing out the similarity of their dates (they both died in 340 AH, Qsim being only two years older than Ibn al-A`rb). They are both connected to Ibn Masarra in a myriad of ways; one of Qsims shaykhs was `Abd Allh b. Masarra, and he shared two other teachers with Ibn Masarra as well. As with Ibn alA`rb, at least six followers of Ibn Masarra had Qsim as one of their shaykhs. One of the authors of a radd work against Ibn Masarra, Muammad al-Zubaydi, was also a student of Qsim. The richness of our biographical sources allows for many such networks to be discerned. The mapping of these social networks will be critical for furthering our understanding, not only of Ibn Masarra, but of the transmission of the occult sciences in early Islam, something which is currently a large gap in our knowledge.

142

61 bn b. `Uthmn b. Sa`d al-Mubashshir b. Ghlib b. Fay al-Lakhm, Ab al-Wald, from Shadhna, d. 377 (p. 23, #54; alwaraq.net p. 9, #54). To him was ascribed belief in the school of Ibn Masarra. Amad b. Faraj b. Mantl b. Qays, Ab `Umar, Cordoban, d. 344 (p. 39 #127; alwaraq.net p. 16, #129). To him was ascribed belief in the school of Ibn Masarra. He made a rila to the East. Amad b. Wald b. `Abd al-amd `Awsaja al-Anr, Ab `Umar, known as Ibn Ukht `Abdn, from Bajjna, d. 376 (p. 51, #179; alwaraq.net p. 21, #181). To him was ascribed belief in the school of Ibn Masarra. He made a rila to the East. He was one of the people called to repent by the Q Muammad b. Yabq. 145 Rashd b. Fat al-Dajjj, Ab al-Qsim, Cordoban, d. 376 (p. 126f., #437; alwaraq.net p. 55f., #439). He was suspected of attachment to the school of Muammad b. Masarra. He made a rila to the East. Muammad b. Yabq presided at his funeral. 146 `Abd al-`Azz b. akam b. Amad [...] b. Marwn b. al-akam Amr al-Mumn, 147 Ab al-Abagh, Cordoban, 310-387 (p. 233, #834; alwaraq.net p. 104, #836). He was well-known to have attached himself to the school of Ibn Masarra, but he was unconcerned [by this notoriety]. Muammad b. Mufarrij b. `Abd Allh b. Mufarrij al-Mu`fir, Ab `Abd Allh, known as al-Fann, Cordoban, d. 371 (p. 376, #1329; alwaraq.net p. 169, #1331). He was a

145 146

See above, entry under Muammad b. Yabq. This detail is significant inasmuch as Muammad b. Yabq, the chief q of Cordoba, was also in charge of the burning of Ibn Masarras writings and the forced recantation of his followers, and is also credited with having written a radd work against Ibn Masarra. 147 Thus, he was a scion of the House of Umayya, and therefore very likely a person of great social prominence.

62 believer in the school of Ibn Masarra and missionized for it. He made a rila to the East. 148 Muammad b. Amad b. amdn b. `s b. `Al b. Sbiq al-Khawln, Ab `Abd Allh, known as Ibn al-Imm, Cordoban, 305-380 (p. 386 #1359; alwaraq.net p. 174 #1361). He was a believer in the school of Ibn Masarra and made no attempt to conceal this fact. He oriented himself towards astronomical east during prayer. 149 Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. `Umar b. Khayr al-Qays, Ab `Abd Allh, born in Jaen but resident at Cordoba, 303-382 (pp. 389f., #1364; alwaraq.net p. 175, #1366). To him was ascribed belief in the school of Ibn Masarra. Ab al-Mughra b. Butr said: I knew Ab `Abd Allh b. Khayr, and I swear that he did not believe in a single teaching of the school of Ibn Masarra. He made a rila to the East in 320 and a second one at a later date. Ibn al-Fara also gives notices for ten individuals who studied under Ibn Masarras father `Abd Allh (excluding Ibn Masarra himself, one of whose teachers was his father). These are entries no. 117, 214, 306, 602, 895, 1068, 1164, 1185, 1216 150 and 1232. Ibn al-Fara provides information on two of the early opponents of Ibn Masarra. Muammad b. Yabq b. Muammad b. Zarb b. Yazd b. Maslama, Ab Bakr, Cordoban, 317-381 (pp. 387f., #1361; alwaraq.net pp. 174f., #1363). He succeeded Muammad b. Isq as the chief q of Cordoba. I dont know anything he transmitted other
This person is discussed further in Appendix A. This is the only Masarr in our sources who is described as praying in this way. Goldziher thought that this was a distinctive practice of the Masarriyya on the basis of this notice; see chapter one, above. One other person is also identified as praying in this way in Ibn al-Fara: Muslim b. Amad al-Layth, known (on account of his unusual prayer practices) as ib al-Qibla, d. 295 (Ibn al-Fara, #1418, 1420 on alwaraq.net). He was an astronomer/astrologer and had as one of his students the important scholar Qsim b. Abagh, a person closely connected to Ibn Masarra via a large number of master-student relationships. 150 This person Muammad b. Qsim is identified as a student of `Abd Allh b. Masarra in the latters biographical notice but not in his own entry. He was an important scholar, a state functionary, and a teacher of many of Ibn Masarras followers.
149 148

63 than a booklet (afa) in which he denounced the teachings of Muammad b. Masarra. Ive read it several times. Amad b. Khlid b. Yazd b. Muammad b. Slim b. Sulaymn, Ab `Umar, known as Ibn al-abbb, Cordoban, 246-322 (#94). 151 He made a rila to the East. He was the imm of his time in fiqh, adth, and pious deeds. Ibn al-Fara also gives notices of two individuals connected to Ibn Masarra but not said explicitly to be his followers. These are `Uthmn b. Sa`d b. Hishm b. `Abd al-Salm b. `Abd al-Raf, Granadan (d. 325 or 6), who is said to have corresponded with Ibn Masarra; 152 and `Abd Allh b. Muarrif b. Muammad, known as Ibn al-mina, Cordoban (no dates given), who according to Ibn al-Fara made a rila in the year 311, accompanied by Amad b. Sa`d, Ibn Ab `s, and Muammad b. Masarra. 153 Finally, the Trkh `ulam al-Andalus, in a notice on a man who died in the year 319, states that: At the end of this same year died al-jib Ms b. udhayr, Muammad b. Masarra, and indeed so many famous people that this year was called the Year of the Illustrious Ones, as in it so many illustrious people died. 154 Thus we now know that Ibn Masarra died in the `m al-ashrf, the Year of the Illustrious Ones. Secondary literature: Ibn al-Fara has been used as a principal source for Ibn Masarra studies since the 19th century, so most of the secondary literature draws on him. The most extensive use of the Trkh is Asn, Mystical Philosophy.
His radd against Ibn Masarra is not mentioned in this notice but rather in the entry on Ibn Masarra. At least six of Ibn Masarras followers are identified in Ibn Fara or Ibn al-Abbr as students of his; these are Ibn al-Imm al-Khawln, Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. `Umar al-Qays, Muammad b. Sulaymn b. Mawrr, Muammad b. azm Ibn al-Madn, Ilys b. Ysuf, and Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Khayr (the last was also a student of Ibn al-A`rb). 152 Trkh, p. 253, #897, alwaraq.net p. 113, #899. 153 Ibid., p. 395, #693, alwaraq.net p. 84, #695. 154 Ibid., pp. 167f., #278; alwaraq.net p. 34, #280. The biographical notice is of Aslam b. `Abd al-`Azz. Note that in the alwaraq.net text a line has been elided which states that Aslam was twice appointed to the post of chief Q of Cordoba.
151

64

Ibn al-Kattn, Muammad b. al-asan, Andalus (d. 1029) Kitb al-tashbht min ash`r ahl al-Andalus (ed. Ihsan Abbas, Beirut, 1966), pp. 222 (#466) and 271 (#603) (also on alwaraq.net, pp. 39 and 48). This important anthology of Andalus poets contains two poems written by Ibn Masarra. See above, entry under Ibn Masarra This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Talamank, Ab Umar, Maghrib (d. 1037) al-Radd `al Ibn Masarra and (which may be identical to) Radd `al al-biniyya. Whether these titles refer to one or two separate works, they are not known to be extant. Dhahab (see below) mentions Talamank in his entry on Wahb b. Masarra, where he mistakes this figure for Ibn Masarra, and refers to Talamanks refutation of Ibn Masarra as appearing in his radd `al al-biniyya. 155 Talamank is also credited with a radd `al Ibn Masarra by Q `Iy and Ibn Farn (see below). Neither of the latter two sources have been noticed in the scholarship. Dhahab writes that Talamanks radd says of Ibn Masarra that the latter claimed prophecy and put forth that he heard voices that he could establish within himself as having come from God. Secondary literature: See Morris, Reconsideration, pp. 39f. and iii; Fierro, The Polemic about the karmt al-awliy, p. 247; idem, Binism in al-Andalus, pp. 103f.

155

This is elaborated in Appendix A.

65 Ibn azm, Andalus (d. 1064) al-Fal fi al-milal wal-ahw` wal-nial, 5 vols. in 2 (Baghdad: Maktaba al-Muthanna, 1964; this is a reprint of the Cairo edition of 1899-1903, with Shahrastns Milal walnial printed in the margins); 2:126-127; 4:80; 4:198-200. These discussions of what Ibn azm was able to gather of the beliefs of the Masarrs are described in detail, often with accompanying translations, in Asns Mystical Philosophy, chaper six. Secondary literature: Morris provides an analysis of the theses enumerated by Ibn azm in light of the biographical sources in A Reconsideration, pp. 27ff. Tornero makes a preliminary comparison between these theses and the texts of Ibn Masarra edited by Ja`far in his Report on the Publication, pp. 13ff. (145ff. of continuous pagination).

Risla f fa`il al-Andalus, in al-Maqqar, Naf al-b (ed. Dozy), 1:121. Ibn Masarra is mentioned here as one of several Andaluss notable for eloquence, though we dont approve of his teachings (madhhabahu), writes Ibn azm. (See also below, under alMaqqar.)

al-Muall, alwaraq.net, p. 2121 Here Ibn azm cites a adth (dont call a hypocrite sayyid) tranmitted through `Abd Allh b. Masarra, one link away from Ab Sa`d Ibn al-A`rb. (See above, entry on `Abd Allh b. Masarra.) This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

66 id b. Amad, Andalus (d. 1070) abaqt al-umam (ed. L. Cheiko, Beirut, 1912), 20-21. In the entry on Empedocles in this work, `id claims that Ibn Masarra was a devotee of Empedocles writings. See chapter one, where the relevant passage is translated, and chapter three, where the scholarly account of Ibn Masarra based on this source is dismantled.

Ibn ayyan, Abu Marwan ayyan b. Khalaf, Andalusi (d. 1076) al-Muqtabas. al-juz` al-khamis (ed. P. Chalmeta Gendron, F. Corriente, and M. Subh, Madrid, 1979; trans. as Crnica del califa Abdarrahman III an-Nasir entre los aos 912 y 942 (al-Muqtabis V), M.J. Viguera and F. Corriente, Zaragoza, 1981). This important historical work devotes a greater number of pages to Ibn Masarra than any other early source. In a section on Caliph Nir l-Dns acts in defense of the sunna and the negation of heresy, Ibn ayyn provides an account of the persecution of the Masarriyya during that caliphs reign, citing two long passages from Amad al-Rzs Trkh, reproducing the text of a caliphal decree against Ibn Masarra, and including other material on Ibn Masarra from Ibn al-Faras Trkh `ulam al-Andalus. 156 The quotation of Ibn al-Faras biographical entry on Ibn Masarra is particularly interesting, as it begins with a series of statements about Ibn Masarra not actually found in Ibn alFara or any other source. 157 I translate that section below:

156 157

Muqtabas V, pp. 20-36; Spanish trans., pp. 25-39. One wonders if the attribution of this passage to Ibn al-Fara is due to a scribal error; immediately following the passage which I translate, Ibn ayyn writes: al-Q Ab al-Wald [Ibn al-Fara] returns to mentioning Muammad b. Masarra in his book Trkh al-`ulam al-Andalus, where he says....

67 In the book by Q Ab al-Wald Ibn al-Fara on the scholars of al-Andalus, [it says]: Ab `Abd Allh Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra b. Naj b. Marzq, a client of obscure patronage. 158 It is said that he was a client of someone from Ban Hishm; that he was a client of a man from Jaen; and that he was a client of a man from Fez in North Africa. He had much knowledge of akhbr 159 and an extensive body of transmitted material. He was a master of wisdom (ma`rifa), an erudite philosopher, a physician, an astronomer, an astrologer, an outstanding man of culture, an incisive jurisconsult, an eloquent orator, a man wise in the skills of speech, Arabic and the study of language. [There follows a brief and technical account of Muammad b. usayn [sic] al-Zubayds 160 criticism of Ibn Masarras skills as a grammarian, giving examples of errors that Zubayd claims Ibn Masarra made in this regard, having to do with verb-forms and derivations.] He said 161 that the teachings (madhhab) of Ibn Masarra were at great variance from many of the well-known beliefs of Sunnism. He perished (halaka) in early Shawwal of the year 319 at the age of 56 and three months. 162 Among his poetry is the following: [here follows a poem by Ibn Masarra on the theme of death and time]. 163

This passage is one of our only sources to preserve a substantive criticism of Ibn Masarra, and no other source attributes anything close to mastery of medicine, astronomy or astrology to Ibn Masarra; nor is he elsewhere labeled a faylasf, outside of the modern Western scholarship.
Following this is the actual biographical entry on Ibn Masarra from that work. If the first passage is not from Ibn al-Fara, is it Ibn ayyns own statement or is it drawn from still another source? 158 On the Muslim social practice of integrating non-Arab Muslims into the community via patronage from an Arab or already-integrated non-Arab Muslim, see EI, s.v. Mawl (P. Crone). 159 Lit. reports. This can have several meanings; it could imply adth, historical anecdotes, or biographical information. 160 This is Muammad b. asan al-Zubayd (d. 318/930), on whom see the entry above. It is not unlikely that his criticisms of Ibn Masarra transmitted here by Ibn ayyn are from his otherwise lost radd work against Ibn Masarra, the Hatk sutr al-mulidn. 161 This is further citation of Zubayd. 162 This is incorrect; Ibn Masarra was 50 lunar years old at his death. 163 Muqtabas V, pp. 30-32; Spanish trans., pp. 35f.

68 Secondary literature: See Cruz Hernndez, La persecucin; Fierro, Heterodoxia, pp. 132ff.; eadem, Opposition to Sufism, pp. 180f.; Safran, Command of the Faithful, pp. 190f.

al-umayd, Ab Abd Allh Muammad b. Ab Nar, Andalus (d. 1095) Jadhwat al-muqtabis f dhikr wult al-Andalus 164 (ed. al-Tanji, Cairo, 1952), pp. 58-9, #83. This source provides an unfriendly biographical notice on Ibn Masarra, which was copied by Ibn Khqn (who in turn was copied by al-Maqqar) and al-abb.

Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, Ab `Abd Allh. He followed the way of asceticism and godly servitude and excelled therein, on account of which he was able to dupe the people. He had an eloquent way with words, and a precise mastery of the abstruse allusions of f teaching. 165 He authored works on hermeneutics (f al-ma`na), and is credited in that regard with writings from which we seek refuge in God and God knows best about that. Ab Sa`d b. Ynis said that he transmitted adth. He died in the year 319. [al-umayd then provides, on the authority of Ab Muammad `Al b. Amad, by way of Ab `Umar Amad b. abrn, a poem that Ibn Masarra wrote to Ab Bakr al-Lulu. The gist of the poem is that Ibn Masarra expresses longing for Lulus company on a gloomy and rainy day.]

Jayyni, al-usayn b. Muammad (1035-1105?) Alqb al-aba wal-tbi`n f al-musnadayn al-saayn (ed. `Azab and Nar)

164 165

Also known as Jadhwat al-muqtabas f trkh `ulam al-Andalus. This is the earliest instance in our sources in which Ibn Masarra is connected to fism.

69 At pp. 53f (alwaraq.net p. 5), a report on a lexical obscurity is given as transmitted from Qsim b. Abagh, from Muammad b. Abd al-Salm al-Khushan and Abd Allh b. Masarra; the latter two said: we heard from Amr b. Ali al-Falls, that al-dnj is aldn in Persian, which means a learned one (al-`lim). A report with the same chain is given at p. 72 (alwaraq.net p. 9), this time having to do with the identification of the laqab Atq. See above, section on Ibn Masarra, `Abd Allh. This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Ibn Khqn, Ab Nar al-Fat b. Muammad b. `Ubayd Allh, Andalus (d. 1134) Mama al-anfus wa masra al-taannus fi mula ahl al-Andalus (Istanbul, 1302AH), p. 58. This source provides a short biographical notice on Ibn Masarra, drawn entirely from umayd but converting the latters short report into rhymed prose. (See above, entry under umayd).

Ab Bakr Ibn al-`Arab, Andalus (d. 1148) Kitb al-awim min al-qawim (ed. Ammar Talibi, in r Ab Bakr b. al-`Arab alkalmiyya, 2 vols. [Algiers, 1974], 2:493). Here, Ab Bakr Ibn al-`Arab (the Mlik faqh, not the famous mystic) mentions Ibn Masarra briefly as one of two people belonging to a misguided party (qawm min alall), who were persecuted in al-Andalus. The other person mentioned is Maslama b. Qsim, whom Fierro has argued was the author of the Ghyat al-akm (the Picatrix).

70 Secondary literature: Fierro, Binism in al-Andalus, p. 102.

Qd `Iy b. Ms, Andalus (1083-1149) Tartb al-madrik wa taqrb al-maslik, online at alwaraq.net This source, while largely derivative of earlier sources, does present some interesting new information. At p. 406 `Iy cites a poem very similar to the one that Ibn al-Fara records as being addressed by Ibn Masarra to Ab Bakr al-Lulu. Here, however, the poem is clearly attributed to al-Lulu, addressed to Ibn Masarra. There is also an ambiguous sentence right before the poem, which says and he was one of his more famous students, the intended referents of the pronouns here being unclear. On the same page, `Iy cites a poem written by al-Lulu to Ab Bakr [Muammad b. Yabq] b. Zarb, who is identified as al-Lulus student (Ibn Yabq wrote a radd work against Ibn Masarra and officiated as the chief q of Cordoba over the persecution of the Masarrs in the late tenth century). At p. 478f., he gives a biographical notice on Muammad al-Zubayd, crediting him with a book in radd against Ibn Masarra. At p. 500, theres a notice on Muammad b. Yaqb b. Zarb, and credits him as well with a kitb radd `al Ibn Masarra. At p. 552 is a biography of Ab Bakr al-Talamank, attributing to him also a book radd `al Ibn Masarra. This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Ibn Bashkuwl, Khalaf b. `Abd al-Mlik, Andalus (d. 1183)

71 al-ila f akhbr aimmat al-Andalus (ed. F. Codera, Madrid, 1882 [vol. 1 of Bibliotheca Arabic-Hispana], pp. 142, #332; 211, #470; 393-4, #809, and on alwaraq.net, pp. 78 and 157. Ibn Bashkuwl provides the sole notice on `Abd al-Wahhb b. Mundhir, son of the Cordoban chief q Mundhir b. Sa`d, that names him as a Masarr. Entries #332 and #470 are notices on his two brothers, akam b. Mundhir and Sa`d b. Mundhir, respectively, though Ibn Bashkuwl does not identify them as Masarrs (they are identified as such in Ibn al-Abbr and Ibn azm). Ibn Bashkuwl also provides two notices regarding men who wrote works against Ibn Masarra.

`Abd al-Wahhb b. Mundhir, Ab `im, Cordoban. He was a pious ascetic (nsikan `affan), disliking the company of men and very devoted to prayer and remembrance of God (exalted be He). He had views about certain things having to do with theology, on account of which he was accused of i`tizl (i.e., of being a mu`tazil). He was associated with the school of Ibn Masarra al-Jabal. He deviated from the way of the Mlik fuqah, and they consulted about this matter. He would spend entire days in prayer in the Badr Mosque in the inner city. He died at the end of Rabi` al-Awwal, 436. Hes mentioned in Ibn ayyn. pp. 393f., #809 (alwaraq.net p. 121). Secondary literature: On this Masarr, see Asn, Mystical Philosophy, p. 105; Morris, Reconsideration, p. xiv.

`Abd Allh b. Muammad b. Nar b. Abya b. Mabb b. Thbit al-Umaw alNaw, Ab Muammad, originally from ulayula (Toledo), but resident in

72 Cordoba. He transmitted from Ab Ja`far b. `Awn Allh 166 , Ab `Abd Allh b. Mufarrij, Khalaf b. al-Qsim, `Abbs b. Abagh, Ab al-asan `Al b. Mualli, Hshim b. Yay, Ab Muammad b. arb, Ab Ghlib Tammm b. `Abd Allh, and many others besides. He had ijzas (diplomas) from Ab al-`Abbs Tamm b. Muammad b. Tamm al-Qayrawn, 167 Ab al-asan Ziyd b. `Abd alRaman al-Lulu al-Qayrawn, Muammad b. al-Qsim b. Mas`ada al-ijr, Ab Maymna, and others. He devoted himself to the collecting and classification of adth. He was a cultured, erudite and noble man, and the people studied under him. He composed a book in refutation of Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, which contained many adth and proof-texts (shawhid). It was a large and comprehensive (afl) book. Of those who transmitted from him, there was al-Q Ab `Umar b. Samq(?), akam b. Muammad, Ab Isq and his companion Ab Ja`far. He was born in Sha`ban, 329. He was laid to rest in the Ab al-`Abbs cemetary, and his funeral prayers were performed in the mosque by the Amr Hishm b. `Abd al-Raman. He died in the year 399 or 400. (alwaraq.net, p. 78) This notice has been neglected in the scholarship.

Muammad b. Qsim b. Muammad b. al-Umaw, Ab `Abd Allh, known as alJli (al-Jlia is a village in the environs of Cordoba). He transmitted from Ab `Ubayd al-Jubayr, Ab `Abd Allh al-Rab(?), Ab Bakr al-Zubayd, Ab Bakr b. al-Amar al-Qurash, and others. He made a rila to the East and performed the ajj in the year 270. He studied with the communities of scholars [on his journey]. In Qayrawn he took transmissions from Ab Muammad b. Ab Zayd, Ab al-asan al-Qbis. Ab Muammad b. Ab Zayd 168 received from him the transmission of al-Zubayds book in refutation of Ibn Masarra, which

Who was also a teacher of Ab `Umar al-alamank and a student of Ibn al-A`rb, two other authors of radd works against Ibn Masarra. 167 See Moris, Reconsideration, p. iii, bottom paragraph, on this person. 168 Sezgin, GAS 1:481, vi, says without citing a source that an Ab Muammad Ibn Ab Zayd wrote a radd `al Ibn Masarra al-Mriq, but see Morris, Reconsideration, p. iii.

166

73 Muammad b. Qsim had received from the author himself, Ab Bakr alZubayd. [The rest of the notice praises his knowledge and character, says he specialized in fiqh, and notes that he was killed in Corboba during the Berber Revolt, around the end of the first decade of the 11th century CE (beginning of the 5th century AH).] (alwaraq.net, p. 157.) This notice, neglected in the scholarship, shows that polemical works on Ibn Masarra continued to be studied and transmitted into the 11th century.

al-abb, Amad b. Yay (d. 1203) Bughyat al-multamis f trkh rijl ahl al-Andalus (ed. F. Codera and J. Ribera, Madrid, 1884 [vol. 3 of Bibliotheca Arabic-Hispana]), p. 78, # 163. This source gives a brief notice on Ibn Masarra that copies al-umayds report verbatim save for one insignificant variation.

Ibn al-Mara b. Dahhq, 169 Andalus (d. 1214) Shar al-irshd 170 (fragment ed. L. Massignon in Recueil de textes indits concernant lhistoire de la mystique en pays dIslam, Paris, 1929), p. 70. This is the sole witness to a book of Ibn Masarra titled Tawd al-Mqinn, from which Ibn al-Mara picks out for criticism a doctrine of the divine attributes.
Cornell, Axial Intellect, p. 57n. 63, believes that Dahhq is an incorrect reading of Dahhn, and cites one 17th-century source (Ibn Maryams al-Bustn f dhikr al-awliy wal-`ulam bi-Tilimsn) that has the name this way. He also says that dahhq is meaningless in Arabic. On the first point, the much earlier writers Dhahab (d. 1348), Lisn al-Dn Ibn al-Khab (d. 1374), and Ibn Farn (d. 1397) all have his name as Ibn Dahhq. Also, the word dahhq is not meaningless in Arabic; see al-Khall b. Amads Kitb al-`Ayn, s.v. d-h-q, which defines dahhq as full, filled up (as do modern dictionaries). 170 A commentary of Imm al-aramayn al-Juwayns (d. 1085) Kitb al-irshd il qawti` al-adilla f ul al-i`tiqd, which sets out Juwayns theology (Paul Walker has recently translated Juwayns work, as A Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief, Reading, UK, 2000).
169

74

Ibn Masarra said in his book Tawd al-Mqinn that the attributes of God are infinite in number and that Gods knowledge is, with respect to Him (`indihi), a Living One, a Knowing One, a Powerful One, a Hearer, an All-Seeing, a Speaker, and that His [attribute of] power is in the same manner living, knowing [etc....], 171 and in such wise did he speak about all of the attributes, saying that this is divine unity (tawd). Thus has he made gods of each of the attributes. Similarly, in his saying that the attributes are infinite in number, he has made of God gods infinite in number God save us!

al-amaw, Yqt b. Abd Allh (1179?-1229) Irshd al-arb il marifat al-adb, online at alwaraq.net. At p. 859 is a biography of Muammad b. Ism`l the grammarian, whose teachers are listed as Ibn Wa, Muammad b. Abd al-Salm al-Khushan, Muarrif b. Qays, Abd Allh b. Masarra, and Muammad b. Abd Allh b. al-Ghz. This student of Ibn Masarras father is also noted as such in Ibn al-Fara, #1230 (alwaraq.net #1232) This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Muyi al-Dn Ibn al-Arab, Andalus (d. 1240) Along with Ibn azm, Ibn al-`Arab was Asns primary source for information on the thought of Ibn Masarra. Ibn al-`Arab clearly held Ibn Masarra in high regard, and refers to him and his works in at least four places. The material from the Futt al-Makkiyya has been described in detail, often with accompanying translations, in Asn, Mystical

171

Cf. the second proposition attributed to the Slimiyya by Ibn al-Farr (in Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 94): Through a single attribute God compehends that which He comprehends through all His attributes.

75 Philosophy, chapter six and passim. I include below the brief reference to Ibn Masarra in the Fu al-ikam and the longer passage from the Kitb al-mm wal-ww wal-nn.

al-Futt al-Makkiyya, 4 vols. (Cairo, 1293AH and many subsequent reprints of the Bulaq ed.), pagination varies, but: 1293AH ed., 1:191 and 194, 2:767; 1329AH ed., 1:147 and 149, 2:581.

Fu al-ikam (ed. `Aff, 1:84; trans. Austin, p. 95) fa on Abraham. It was because Abraham attained this rank by which he was called the Intimate [of God] that hospitality became a [sacred] act. Ibn Masarra put him with Michael [the Archangel] as a source of provisions, provisions being the food of those provided. Food penetrates to the essence of the one being fed, permeating every part. So also with God, although in His case there are no parts but only Divine Stations or Names through which His Essence is manifest. 172

Kitb al-mm wal-ww wal-nn (ed. and trans. Charles-Andr Gilis, Beirut, 2002), 56f.

Among the levels of the mysteries of letters is the case, in some languages, where the last letter [in the name of a letter] is the same as the first, such as in mm, ww, and nn in Arabic. This is among the levels of mystery having to do with the pronunciation of the letters, and is not among those levels of mystery relating to script. Our discussion of these mysteries will follow the way of Ibn Masarra al-Jabal and others, though not in accordance [with his treatment of] their theurgic properties (khaw), for discussion of the theurgic properties of things leads in most intances to accusations against the theurgist and the denial of

172

This is Austins translation; the bracketed additions are his.

76 [the existence and/or efficacy of such properties]. 173 As for such accusations, they may be against [the theurgists] piety, such that one among the party of unveiling and being 174 will be labelled a sorcerer or unbeliever. Yet while charged with infidelity, such a one may have spoken only of the mysteries that the True One has deposited in the things of His creation, and have been made by God a trustee over such mysteries. The people, though, attribute the operative effects to these existent things and so declare him an infidel. Thus do they grossly err before God, inasmuch as they have not been faithful with respect to their responsibility to consider closely this matter of ours, and have failed to inquire of us regarding it. It is on account of this ignorance that they make accusations of infidelity.

With respect to their denials [of the efficacy of theurgy], this is on account of the fact that the experimenters 175 in these matters must know well the formulae of operation, the appropriate times and instruments etc., and any omission or deficiency in this regard will immediately result in the nullification of the intended effects of the operation. So, rather than admitting a misstep on their part in the procedure, or aknowledging that they were not in a suitable state and subsequently purifying their souls, they instead say so-and-so lied, for I carried out the experiment as they said and found that no effect was produced.

It is on any account best for the people of our path to observe silence about the sciences of astral-spiritual theurgy. 176 Indeed, it is forbidden to them to explain these matters in such a manner as to be comprehensible to both the elite and the masses, since the unscrupulous could thereby attain the means to pursue their wicked ends. I have set down in my books with regard to these matters only such
173

The Arabic sentence here is very terse and requires some elaboration in translation; a literal translation would be: This inasmuch as the discussion of the theurgic properties of things leads to accusations against the master/author of it and the denial of it in most instances. 174 I.e., a wujd Sufi. 175 Reading mujarrabn (experimenters) for mujrimn (criminals, reprobates), which doesnt make sense here. Whether the error is a lapsus calami in the single autograph ms. or a result of a typographical error in Gilis edition is unclear. Orthographically the difference is very small. 176 al-ulm al-amaliyya al-runiyya

77 hints as my trusted followers can understand, and that none besides them can attain to. Thus I am not concerned by the denials and accusations against me, so long as I am secure in my religion.

al-Qif, `Al b. Ysuf (d. 1248) Trkh al-ukam` (aka Akhbr al-ulam` bi-akhyr al-ukam`) (ed. J. Lippert and A. Mueller, Leipzig, 1903), pp. 16f. This source copies `id al-Andaluss report on Empedocles, including `ids claim that Ibn asarra was an avid reader of Empedoclean works, and adds biographical details about Ibn Masarra that al-Qif drew from Ibn al-Fara. For discussion of this source, see above, beginning of chapter one, and below, chapter three, section on the Empedoclean Illusion.

Ibn al-Abbr (d. 1260) al-Takmila li-kitb al-ila ([1] ed. F. Codera, Madrid 1886 [vols. 5-6 of Bibliotheca Arabic-Hispana]; [2] ed. al-Husani, Cairo, 1955; [3] Appendice a la edicin Codera de la Tecmila de Aben al-Abbar, ed. M. Alarcn and A. Gonzlez-Palencia, pp. 147-690 in Miscelanea de Estudios y Textos rabes, Madrid, 1915). Each of these editions or appendices contains information on followers of Ibn Masarra not found in the others; Asn only knew the first. The biographical notices on Masarrs in Ibn al-Abbr are unique for several reasons. First of all, this is the only source that clearly describes a number of disciples actually living with Ibn Masarra and following his ascetic path at his direction; the individuals identified as Masarrs in Ibn al-Fara almost

78 all were born too late to have met Ibn Masarra. Secondly, most of these individuals do not appear to have been part of the scholarly mainstream in Cordoba and its environs, as most of them are not listed in other biographical sources, 177 which is again in contrast to the Masarrs mentioned in Ibn al-Fara, who were very much intergrated into the international Islamicate education networks, and were many of them members of the scholarly elite in al-Andalus. Finally, Ibn al-Abbr is the only witness to a Kitb akhbr Ibn Masarra wa abihi, probably Ibn al-Abbrs main source for his information on Ibn Masarras followers. I provide below translations of all of the notices on Ibn Masarras followers. Note that I have opted not to translate aaba, a third person masculine past tense transitive verb; this verb literally means he was or become a companion, an associate, a comrade, a friend, 178 but in this context it means something like he was a personal disciple of [so-and-so] and was trained through his spiritual companionship and example. In the early history of Sufism (or perhaps proto-Sufism), prior to the development of institutional orders (arqt) with clearly defined rules defining master-disciple relationships, it was through this suba or spiritual companionship that individuals sought guidance and training from recognized holy people. ayy b. `Abd al-Malik, a Cordoban, he aaba Muammad b. Masarra from early on, was his intimate associate, and lived for a long time in [Ibn Masarras] monastic retreat (muta`abbad) in the mountains, coming and going between there [and Cordoba]. Since Ibn Masarra wouldnt allow his Kitb al-tabira 179 to go
177

A fact easily ascertained by consulting the extremely useful index compiled by Manuela Marn, Nmina de sabios de al-Andalus (93-350/711-961), in eadem, ed., Estudios Onomstico-biogrficos de al-Andalus, vol 1, pp. 22-158. 178 As per the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th ed. (Urbana, IL: Spoken Language Services, 1994). 179 There appears to be a scholarly consensus that this refers to the Rislat al-i`tibr. See the arguments in Ja`far, Min qay al-fikr, pp. 289-294.

79 out to anyone unless theyd spent a good long while correcting copy of it, ayy schemed to get his own copy, and, taking it without Ibn Masarras permission, he made his own copy of the text and then returned the original. Later he showed his copy to Ibn Masarra who, upon seeing it, exclaimed: May God prevent you from obtaining any benefit from the study of that book! From that time, [Ibn Masarra] would not let out a copy of that book to anyone. (p. 37, #113)

Khall b. `Abd al-Malik, a Cordoban, he aaba Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal, studied the latters books and mastered them. He went to great lengths in asceticism and God-wariness (al-wara`), performing many acts in that regard. His manner of spiritual counsel was to make mention of the righteous forebears (al-salaf al-li). He died in 322 or 3. (p. 56, #186).

Muammad b. Wahb, a Cordoban, known as al-ayqal, he aaba Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal, and was younger than him. He accompanied [Ibn Masarra] on the pilgrimage. He was virtuous, distinguished and diligent. He died in [...] in 321. (p. 97, #326)

Muammad b. Sulayman al-`Akk [?], known as Ibn Mrr [?], he heard from Amad b. Khlid. 180 He aaba Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal, and studied his books assiduously. He was of the people of piety and asceticism. He died in [...] 357. (p. 102, #347)

Muammad b. azm b. Bakr al-Tankh, originally from Toledo but resident in Cordoba, he was known as Ibn al-Madn. He heard from Amad b. Khalid and others. He aaba Muhammad b. Masarra al-Jabal since early on and had a special position among [Ibn Masarras] entourage while on the pilgrimage, remaining a close companion upon their return. He was of the people of Godwariness and solemn penitence (inqib). He related of Ibn Masarra that when the latter was living in Medina, he followed in the traces of the Prophet (yatatabba`a athr al-nab) 181 (blessings). A Medinan pointed out to him the
180 181

Author of a radd work against Ibn Masarra. See above, entry under Ibn Wa

80 house of Mriyya, mother of Ibrhm and concubine of the Prophet. He went and saw that it was a fine and well-proportioned house set amidst gardens in the eastern part of Medina. Through the middle of the house ran a wall from which extended a sleeping terrace [or platform] made of thick wood. It was accessed by an elegant exterior staircase. Upon the terrace was a bench (saqfa) where the Prophet used to sit during the summer. I saw Ab `Abd Allh [b. Masarra] measure by hand-spans the complete dimensions of one of the rooms in the house. I asked him to explain this after our return - he was living on the mountain from that time (skin f l-jabal min dhalik) - and he said, this house (bayt) in which you now see me was constructed after the dimensions of that one, without adding or subtracting from its lenghth or width. (pp. 99-100, #339) 182

arf, client of the wazr Amad b. Muammad b. udayr, Cordoban, he lived in the environs of Rota until his death. He received the books of Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal, though he never met him. He was of the people of asceticism and virtue. (p. 85, #281)

Muammad b. Fal Allh b. Sa`d, Ab `Abd Allh, Cordoban, received teachings from al-Rabb and studied Arabic linguistics (`ilm al-`arabiyya). Sa`d b. `s al-Afar transmitted from him. Ibn al-Dabbgh and Ibn `yd said that he was the son of Mundhir, but this is incorrect; he was the son of the brother of Mundhir b. Sa`d al-Q al-Ball. He received the books of Ibn Masarra alJabal, along with his cousins akam and Sa`d, sons of Mundhir. 183 (p. 113, #389)

Takmila, usayn ed. (Cairo, 1955)

Amad b. Ghnim, known as al-Madn, Cordoban. He accompanied Ab `Abd Allh b. Masarra al-Jabal on the ajj in the year 311, for two years, and then accompanied him again on two further pilgrimages after the first. He remained

182 183

Copied in Maqqar, Naf al-b (al-waraq.net, p. 289). On the last two, see Ibn Bashkuwl, #332 and 470; and ibid., #809, for a sibling of these, `Abd alWahhb, called a Mu`tazil and a follower of Ibn Masarra.

81 with Ibn Masarra upon their return, and then performed an additional two pilgrimages so in total he performed the ajj five times. Then he returned and remained in his home until his death (the mercy of God be upon him). He was a faqh, a scholar, wary of God (wara`an), a pious recluse (nsikan), a striver [in religion]. This from the book Akhbr Ibn Masarra wa ahbihi. (p. 11, #8).

Amad b. Ab mid, Cordoban, a city where he heard from the Shaykhs thereof. He travelled to the East and studied there as well. He aaba Ab `Abd Allh b. Masarra. He was a God-wary faqh, rich in an abundance of virtues and pious deeds. He died in the year 345. (p. 13, #17).

Ayyb b. Sulayman b. Ism`l al-ulayul (the Toledan). He lived in Cordoba and aaba Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal, and was his intimiate associate from early on and for many years. He died in 343. (p. 199, #529)

Ayyb b. Fat, Cordoban. He journeyed with Muammad b. Masarra and accompanied him into the ijz and performed the ajj with him. He received his books from him personally. He was a man of many pious acts, perseverant, and practiced hermitism and asceticism. He died in 345. (p. 199, #530)

Ilys b. Ysuf al-ulayul. He lived in Cordoba and heard from Amad b. Khlid, 184 among others. He and his brother `Awn were among the companions (ab) of Muammad b. Masarra al-Jabal. He died in 321. 185 (p. 211, #562)

A d. Sa`d, Cordoban. He followed the teachings (madhhab) of Ibn Masarra. He received his books but never met him. He was of the people of virtue and solemn penitence (inqib), and was well-educated in the Qurn. (p. 211, #565)

Appendice a la edicin Codera

184 185

Author of a radd work against Ibn Masarra. For the brother, see below; for reasons I cant discern, Morris, Reconsideration, p. vii, says that these brothers were both possibly of Jewish ancestry.

82

`Awn b. Ysuf al-ulayul. He lived in Cordoba and, along with his brother Ilys b. Ysuf, was among the companions (ab) of Muammad b. Masarra alJabal.

Shushtar, Ab al-asan `Al b. `Abd Allh (d. 1269). Qada nniyya, apud Dwn Ab l-asan al-Shushtar, pp. 73-6. This poem by Ibn Sa`bns principal disciple includes Ibn Masarra in the long list of Ibn Sab`ns spiritual forebears. 186 The list begins with all of the Hermeses (p. 74, last line), then Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, al-allj, al-Shibl, al-Niffar, Ibn Jinn, 187 Qab al-Bn, 188 al-Shdh, Suhraward al-Maqtl, Ibn Qas, Ibn Masarra (p. 75, bottom), Ibn Sn, al-s (= al-Ghazl), Ibn ufayl, Ibn Rushd, Shu`ayb Ab Madyan, Ibn al-`Arab al-, `Umar b. al-Fri, al-arrl, 189 al-Umaw, 190 and finally Ibn Sab`n. 191 Secondary literature: Massignon, Ibn Sab`n, pp. 123f. (but without mentioning Ibn Masarra); Cornell, The Way of the Axial Intellect, pp. 54ff.; Massignon, Passion of alHallj, 3:313f.
As Cornell says, The Way of the Axial Intellect, p. 55. While Cornell notes that Ibn Masarra is mentioned in this poem, it has otherwise been neglected in the Ibn Masarra scholarship. 187 Ab al-Fah `Uthmn b. Jinn (d. 1002), a famous grammarian and linguist. Massignon, Passion 2:313, has `Abd Allh b. Badr al-Habash, the disciple of Ibn al-`Arab, in the place of Ibn Jinn here in his listing of the people mentioned in this poem. The text of the poem (in Dwn Abl-asan al-Shushtar, p. 75, ln. 10) clearly refers to Ibn Jinn and makes no apparent reference to Habash. Massignon also has Ibn al-Fri in a different place, between Suhraward and Ibn Qas (whom Massignon always refered to as Ibn Qays). 188 Qab al-Bn al-Mawsil (d. 1174), a famous Sufi and miracle-worker. 189 Abl-asan `Al b. Amad b. al-asan b. Ibrhm al-arrl (d. 1241), (called arrl after a village near Murcia) a maghrib Sufi who died in Syria while on a rila to the East. 190 Massignon, Passion 2:314, identifies this person as Shaykh `Ad (d. 1166), a Sufi who became a central figure of the Yazd religion; I have no idea as to how or why Massignon made this connection, as I could not find the nisba Umaw associated with that shaykh. (Qab al-Bn was an associate of Shaykh `Ad, so it is perhaps the formers presence in the list that led Massignon in this direction.) 191 I concur with Cornell, The Way of the Axial Intellect, p. 55n. 52, that Massignon is incorrect in interpreting this list as Ibn Sab`ns chain of doctrinal transmission (nasab). Rather, it is an inventory of those philosophers and Sufis who were thought to be on a similar path.
186

83

Ibn Ab Uaybi`a (d. 1270) `Uyn al-anb f abaqt al-aibb (ed. Nizr Ri, Beirut, 1965), p. 61. This source copies `id al-Andaluss notice on Empedocles, including the statement that Ibn Masarra was a devotee of the latters writings.

Ibn Sab`n, Andalus (d. 1270) al-Rislat al-faqriyya, apud Rasil Ibn Sab`n, pp. 1-22. At pp. 14f., Ibn Sab`n expresses his disagreement with (literally, he takes refuge in God from) Ibn Masarras letter theurgy (tarf Ibn Masarra al-Jabal f al-urf), his understanding of the divisions of certain surahs of the Quran, the audacity of his legal judgements and his manner of connecting certain parts of the Quran to other parts. Note, however, that this occurs in the course of a long list of people and ideas that begins with the verb I take refuge [in God from] (a`dha), and a number of these people figure prominently (and positively) in Ibn Sab`ns works; the list includes Aristotle and his theology (though he says that he didnt err in that regard but to a small extent), the the doubtful [teachings] of the Peripatetics; the perplexity of Ab Nar [al-Frb]; the falsities of Ibn Sn on certain matters; the confusion of al-Ghazl and his feebleness; the inconsistency of Ibn `igh [Ibn Bjja]; the wavering of Ibn Rushd; the Talwt of alSuhraward, author of ikmat al-Ishrq; the adulterations of [or to] the school of Plato, as well as the enigmas (rumz) of Ja`far al-diq, the sixth Sh Imm, the theopathic locutions (shaat) of certain claimants of messengership, Ibn Masarras theurgy etc., Ibn Qass approach to the divine names and attributes, and various errors on the part of

84 Ibn Barrajn and al-Niffar. Most of these people are named in the qada of Shushtr that describes Ibn Sab`ns spiritual forebears (see above, entry under Shushtr). Thus, taking exception with certain teachings does not amount for Ibn Sab`n to a blanket dismissal of a given thinker. In any case, Ibn Sab`n was not known for his irenic qualities. 192 As to his taking refuge from Ibn Masarras theurgical use of letters, this has to be understood as Ibn Sab`n taking exception to the character and not the fact of such theurgy, as he himself was an unapologetic theurgist who made use of the letters in his operations. 193 Secondary literature: Taftzn, Ibn Sab`n wa falsatuhu al-fiyya, pp. 75ff. (and see index, s.v. [sic] )

al-Fat al-mushtarak, apud Rasil Ibn Sab`n, 247-58. At pp. 253f., Ibn Sab`n discusses smy (letter-magic) and refers to Ibn Masarra as having had a doubful approach to this practice. "As for letter-magic (smy), it has five divisions. First, there is the specious sort, this being that which was mentioned by Maslama al-Majr, author of the Ras'il Ikhwn al-af. 194 Then, there is a doubtful division, this being that which Ibn Masarra claimed to have attained. Then there are the sound (sa)
Ibn Sab`n was famously iconoclastic, and was hounded out of town after town for his controversial teachings. One Moroccon critic, `Abd al-aqq al-Bdis (d. 1311), accused him of arrogance, writing that he believed that no one before him had understood Sufism correctly (Cornell, The Way of the Axial Intellect, p. 43). See also Ibn Sab`ns unfriendly portraits of various thinkers translated by Massignon, Ibn Sab`n, pp. 125-8, where he makes such acerbic statements as this: Quant Ghazl? Langage sans mthode, sonorit sans locution, pot-pourri mlangeant les contraires, divagation couper le souffle. 193 As Cornell writes in ibid., p. 62: For Ibn Sab`n, these letters [that appear disconnected at the beginning of certain surahs of the Quran] comprised formulas of incantation or adjuration (urf al-qasam) that conferred paranormal powers on those who knew how to use them. See also Taftzn, Ibn Sab`n, pp. 84ff. 194 Maslama al-Majrt was a famous astronomer to whom was attributed several works dealing with the occult sciences, including the Rasil mentioned by Ibn Sab`n here, but more famously the Ghyat alakm (the Picatrix), which Fierro has argued was written by Maslama b. Qsim al-Qurub (see her Binism in al-Andalus, passim). There is no doubt as to the spurious nature of these attributions to alMajr. The Rasil Ikhwn al-af, regardless of their authorship, do deal with linguistic theurgy.
192

85 divisions [of letter magic]. When described by the faqh, it is called miracle (karamt); when mentioned by the sage (al-akm), it is named theurgy (tarf); and when mentioned by the intimate of God (al-muqarrab) it is called enchantment [or trial, or temptation; fitna]. This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Shams al-Dn Muammad b. Amad Qurub, Andalus (d. 1272). al-Tadhkira f awl al-mawt wa umr al-khira. Beirut: Dr al-Fikr, n.d., p. 341. This source contains a reference to a Kitb al-tabyn of Ibn Masarra, which Qurub states contained a adth regarding intercession, transmitted from Ibn Wa and Ibn Masarras father. See above, entry under Ibn Masarra, Muammad.

Ibn Khallikn, Kurdish (d. 1282) Wafayt al-a`yn wa anb` abn al-zamn (ed. Ahsan Abbas, Beirut, n.d.), vol 4, p. 372, #651. In a biographical notice on Muammad al-Zubayd, he mentions a book written by the latter against Ibn Masarra and his followers entitled Hatk sutr al-mulidn. This is the sole known source to give the title of this work.

Ibn `Adhr [or `Idhr], Marrkush (d. 1312) al-Bayn al-mughrib f akhbr al-maghrib (ed. R. Dozy, Leiden, 1848), vol. 1, pp. 201f. Ibn `Adhr records an anecdote that has the historian al-Khushan encountering Ibn Masarra at the majlis of Amad b. Nar in Qayrawan when Ibn Masarra was still a young

86 man (shb); the story is flattering of Ibn Masarra. This is copied from al-Khushan, abaqt al-`ulam Ifrqiyya (see above, under Khushan).

Dhahab, Muammad b. Amad, Damascene (d. 1348) Dhahab appears to have copied most of his information on Ibn Masarra and related figures from Ibn al-Fara, but there are some exceptions (see Appendix A, below), inviting a careful comparison of his notices with earlier sources to see if he transmits any other unique details. Here I will simply identify the relevant notices and their location in the alwaraq.net editions of the texts. Trkh al-Islm, online at alwaraq.net (all page references are to this version). At p. 2202 is a biographical entry on `Abd Allh b. Masarra, having much of the same data as Ibn alFara, but nothing apparently verbatim. The entry on Muammad b. Masarra begins at p. 2414. At p. 2473 is an entry on Amad b. Muammad b. Sa`d b. Ms b. udayr, Ab Umar al-Qurub, with two listed teachers, `Abd Allh b. Masarra and Ibn Wa. At p. 2519 is a notice on Muammad b. Ism`l al-Qurub, a grammarian known as alakm, with four teachers listed, one of them `Abd Allh b. Masarra. At p. 2648 is an entry on Ism`l b. Badr b. Ism`l b. Ziyd Ab Bakr al-Qurub, with five teachers listed, one of them being `Abd Allh b. Masarra. At p. 2758 is a bio of Muammad Mufarrij, known as al-Bq, Ab Sa`d b. al-Arb among his teachers, and is called a devotee of the school of Ibn Masarra. At p. 2794 is a bio of the Cordoban Muammad b. Amad b. amdn b. `s, known as Ibn al-Imm, of the school of Ibn Masarra. At pp. 2809f. is a bio of Muammad. b. Yabq b. Zarb, where he is credited with a kitb radd `al Ibn Masarra. At p. 2812 is a bio of Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. `Umar,

87 whose teachers included Amad b. Khlid al-abbb and Ibn al-A`rb, and says he was suspected/accused of being of the school of Ibn Masarra. At p. 2896 is a bio of Ibn Abya al-Umawi, crediting him with a radd `al Muammad b. Abd Allb b. Masarra, calling it large and comprehensive. At p. 2930 is an entry for Muammad b. Qsim b. Muammad, Ab `Abd Allh al-Umaw al-Qurubi al-Jlii, saying he transmitted alZubayds radd work against Ibn Masarra to Ab Muammad b. Zayd.

Siyar a`lm al-nubal, online at alwaraq.net. At p. 1989 is a biographical entry on Wahb b. Masarra, on which see below, Appendix A. At p. 2018 is a bio of Isq b. Ibrhm b. Masarra (d. 354AH), in which Dhahab gives the following brief notice on Muammad b. Masarra: As for the ascetic Muammad b. Abd Allh b. Masarra the Andalus, who composed Sufi books, he died in 329. He was charged with qadar. 195 At p. 2094 is a brief bio of Ibn Yabq b. Zarb, crediting him with a radd `al Ibn Masarra. At p. 2095 is a brief bio on al-Zubayd, crediting him with a radd `ala Ibn Masarra. All of this has been neglected in the scholarship. 196

afad, Khall b. Aybak 197 (d. 1363) Kitab al-wf bil-wafayyt, online at alwaraq.net.

195

I.e., he taught a doctrine of the freedom of the human will to act, against what was an increasingly orthodox determinism. 196 With the exception of Fierro and Zanon, Andalusies en dos obras de al-Dhahabi, p. 187, where they note that Dhahab confused Wahb b. Masarra for Muammad b. Masarra in the Siyar; see Appendix A, below. 197 He was a student of Dhahab.

88 This source mentions Ibn Abya al-Umaw as the author of a radd work against Ibn Masarra, saying it was large and comprehensive (p. 2476). He also gives a bio, at p. 237, for Muammad b. Ism`l Ab `Abd Allh, Cordoban grammarian (d. 331AH), who studied with Abd Allh b. Masarra (and Ibn Wa, Khushan, and two others). At p. 657 is a brief entry on Ibn Yabq b. Zarb (d. 381AH), crediting him with a radd work against Ibn Masarra.

Anon. (al-ulal) (completed in 783/1381) al-ulal al-mawshiyya fi dhikr al-akhbr al-marrkushiyya (ed. Allouche, Rabat, 1936), p. 65. This source reproduces a adth that was purportedly found among Ibn Masarras writings, having to do with the conversion of the Jews to Islam. See above, entry under Ibn Masarra.

al-Nubh (d. 1392) Trkh qut al-Andalus (ed. E. Lvi-Provenal, Cairo, 1948), p. 78 This source provides details in its notice on Ibn Yabq b. Zarb of the latters efforts against the Masarriyya, including his radd book against them, the forced-recantation proceedings that he initiated against them, and the burning of Ibn Masarras books. See above, entry under Muammad b. Yabq.

89 Ibn Farn, Ibrhm b. Al, Medinan 198 (d. 1397) al-Dbj al-mudhhab f marifat a`yn `ulam al-madhhab, online at alwaraw.net. At p. 141ff., Ibn Farn gives a biographical entry for Muammad b. Abd Allh b. Yahy, known as Ab `s (d. 339), who went on a rila with Muammad b. Masarra, Amad b. azm, and Amad b. `Ibda al-Ru`ayn. This information is unique to this source. At p. 143, he mentions Muammad b. Yabq b. Zarb and his radd work against Ibn Masarra. At p. 24f. is an entry for Ab Umar al-Talamank and attributes to him a radd work against Ibn Masarra. This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

Ibn ajar al-Asqaln, Egyptian (d. 1449) Lisn al-Mzn, online at alwaraq.net. At p. 174 Ibn ajar gives a biographical notice on the famous Masarr Ism`l al-Ru`ayn, with a brief discussion of the major doctrinal issues surrounding Ru`ayn and his sect, including the death of the spirits, the rulership of the Throne, the acquisition of prophecy, Ru`ayns claims to immat, etc. On the teachings of al-Ru`ayn, our best source is Ibn azms Fal. See above, entry under Ibn azm. Ibn Hajar also transmits Dhahabs error with regard to Wahb b. Masarra (see below, Appendix A). This source has been neglected in the scholarship.

198

But from an Andalus family.

90 al-Tha`lib, `Abd al-Ramn b. Muammad (d. 1470) al-`Ulm al-fkhira f al-naar f al-umr al-khira (Cairo, 1327AH), p. 34. This source quotes a adth from Ibn Masarra: Ab `Abd Allh b. Masarra said: I saw in a book which was said to be the Psalms (al-Zabr), Verily I will call my self-denying servants (`ubd al-zhidn) on the Day of Resurrection, and will say to them: Indeed, I have not withheld the world from you in order to magnify your debasement, and in this day I desire that you should abundantly receive your full share. Form ranks then, and if any of you loved someone in this world, or if someone provided for your needs or gave you to eat a morsel of food, for My sake and seeking My good pleasure, then take them by the hand and usher them into Paradise. 199 See above, entry under Ibn Masarra. Aside from Morris inclusion of this passage in his Reconsideration paper, p. xxxvii, this source has been neglected in the scholarship.

al-Suy, `Abd al-Ramn b. al-Kaml, Egyptian (d. 1505) Bughyat al-wut f abaqt al-lughawiyyn wal-nut (Cairo, n.d.), p. 289. al-Suy gives the following notice on one of the authors of a radd work against Ibn Masarra:

Cf. Ibn Kathr (d. 1373), al-Nihyat al-fitan wal-malim, alwaraq.net p. 224, where the identical matn is prefaced with And some have related that the following was written in the Psalms of David. Interestingly, Tha`lib follows this citation here with a adth he cites as from al-Ghazls Iy which is identical in meaning to the adith transmitted from Ibn Masarra in Qurubs Tadhkira, though phrased like the matn in Ibn Maja, which is slightly different from Ibn Masarras version a rather striking coincidence.

199

91 `Abd Allah b. Muammad b. Nar b. Abya Ab l-asan, Toledan, he was a grammarian and adth transmitter. He lived in Cordoba and transmitted from Tamm b. Muammad al-Qayrawn, Ab Ja`far b. `Awn Allah, and al-Q Ab `Umar b. Samq. He composed a refutation of Ibn Masarra. He died in Cordoba in 400 or 399. Hes mentioned by al-afad.

al-Maqqar, Amad b. Muammad, Algerian (d. 1633) Naf al-b min ghun al-Andalus al-rab (ed. R. Dozy et al., Leiden, 1855-1861), 1:47 (alwaraq, p. 289); 1:560 (alwaraq, p. 706). The first passage is a biographical entry on Ibn Masarra which Maqqar copies, with attribution from Ibn Khqn. The second is the account of Muammad b. azm alTankh and Ibn Masarras measuring of the house of Mriyya, the concubine of the Prophet Muammad, taken from Ibn al-Abbr. This text also includes the risla of Ibn azm; at p. 576 (on alwaraq.net), in the course of enumerating a host of notable Andalus scholars of various branches of study, Ibn azm turns to those who labored in the field of rhetoric/eloquence (balgha) and its various branches, including `Amr, Sahl, and Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra, in his own way (f arqihi allat salaka fh), though we did not approve of his teaching (madhhabahu).

Chapter Three: A Preliminary Analysis

Introduction
For such an early period of Islamicate history, our sources on Ibn Masarra are relatively abundant, as the preceding inventory has shown. Long known to be an important figure in Islamicate intellectual history, Ibn Masarra can now receive the attention he deserves, free of the accumulated speculations and conjectures of the past century and a half of scholarship. In this concluding chapter I will identify which avenues in the existing secondary literature are decisively closed by our new sources and which remain open, and will evaluate in the light of the sources the adequacy of recent attempts at assessing Ibn Masarras significance. While the larger project of a full reappraisal must be left for the future, I will also offer some preliminary observations in this direction, and will highlight directions that future research might fruitfully pursue.

94 The Empedoclean Illusion The most persistent element of the twentieth-century representation of Ibn Masarra is his putative relationship with writings attributed to Empedocles. Most fully elaborated by Asn Palacios, some of the basic problems with this picture were pointed out forty years ago by S. M. Stern, and, as shown in chapter one, a number of scholars have more recently dismissed the Empedoclean or Pseudo-Empedoclean connection as baseless. Nevertheless, this remains the regnant academic account of Ibn Masarra, represented in nearly every basic reference work on the history of Islamic thought or alAndalus. Some scholars have defended this account against Sterns criticisms; some have even defended it since the publication of Ibn Masarras writings. Before anything else, then, the Pseudo-Empedoclean question must be resolved. Fortunately, our sources allow us to finally do so. Probably the single most devastating fact with regard to this question is that there is no such thing as Pseudo-Empedocleanism, at least not in the Islamicate context. There are no discrete pseudepigrapha attributed to Empedocles, and thus there is no PseudoEmpedocles properly speaking. 200 More to the point, disparate ideas and precepts are attributed to Empedocles in a heterogeneous variety of Islamicate texts, sometimes introduced with a he said (qla), sometimes not. As shown by De Smet, the PseudoEmpedoclean doctrine constructed by Munk, Kaufmann and Asn is a myth, amounting to an unwarranted construal of a host of Neoplatonic and even Gnostic ideas as Pseudo-

200

Note also that neither al-`mir nor `id refer to any books or writings of Empedocles; al-`mir attributes to a party of Bins the claim that lahu rumz, that Empedocles communicated in riddles or symbols, but it is not specified how he communicated them. See Kitb al-Amad, ed. Rowson, p. 71.

95 Empedoclean. 201 Most of the information on Empedocles in the early Islamicate doxographical tradition goes back to a single source, the r al-falsifa of PseudoAmmonius. 202 Some sources, however, attribute to Empedocles statements contradictory to those attributed to him in other sources, so that, while it is possible to identify some central themes of the Arabic Empedocles, 203 there is not a self-consistent system of Empedocles across the various sources. 204 Granting that Asns Pseudo-Empedoclean doctrine is a baseless myth, what about the r al-falsifa is there any basis for connecting the Empedoclean teachings in that text to Ibn Masarra? Fortunately, with Ibn Masarras writings in hand, this question can be unequivocally answered in the negative. First of all, the cosmology attributed to Empedocles in that source is at significant variance from the cosmology adumbrated by Ibn Masarra in his surviving works. In the r al-falsifa and the works dependent upon it, Empedocles is credited with a cosmology that begins with a Primal Matter (al-`unur al-awwal), a simple intelligible thing (or, in other passages, composed of Love [maabba] and Conquering [ghalaba], roughly corresponding to the ancient Empedoclean doctrine of the twin forces of Love and Hate) from which originated, in an emanative process, the Intellect, the Universal Soul (al-nafs al-kulliyya), Nature (alab`a), and Secondary Matter, which together make up the five primary constituents of the cosmos. Ibn Masarra, however, presents a much different hierarchy, having the basic
De Smet, Empedocles Arabus, first chapter. Ed. U. Rudolph, Die Doxographie des Pseudo-Annonios, pp. 33-79. Rudolph provides a German translation (pp. 80-111), and De Smet gives a French translation of the passages on Empedocles in Empedocles Arabus, pp. 157-9. 203 As De Smet does, in ibid., chapter three; he argues that the apparent homogeneity in a number of the sources is due to their shared dependence on the r al-falsifa (or the latters Urtext). 204 As noted in chapter one, Rudolph, Doxographie, p. 132, had already pointed out that the PseudoEmpedoclean doctrine reconstructed by Asn was based on late, derivative treatments of Empedocles in Shahrastn and Shahrazr, and that the primary sources provide no basis for Asns groer Phantasie of ein pseudo-empedokleisches Weltbild.
202 201

96 features of a more widespread Neoplatonic cosmology. In his Rislat al-i`tibr, Ibn Masarra identifies the first created thing with the Intellect, (al-`aql), not Primary Matter, and equates the Intellect with the Quranic Throne. 205 Beneath this is the sphere of Soul (fulk an-nafs), followed by the spheres of the seven heavens, beneath which is our world, composed of the four natures of fire, air, water and earth. 206 Thus, one of the only characteristic ideas by which the Arabic Empedocles is distinct from the widespread Neoplatonism of the tenth century that the first created thing was Prime Matter is flatly contradicted by Ibn Masarra. Nor is this the only point of divergence between Ibn Masarra and the Arabic Empedocles. In terms of soteriology, the r al-falsifa describes a process whereby a person makes him-/herself receptive of the divine emanation. Near the bottom of the cosmic hierarchy, a human being humbles him-/herself (taarra`a) before the entity immediately above it, which in turn humbles itself before the next level, on up the chain of being, until the Creator (al-br) causes Its light to flow (sa) to the humbly supplicating Intellect, which has the light flow to the humbly supplicating Soul, on down the chain to the supplicating person. 207 The person relates only to the immediatelysuperior link in the chain, and is entirely receptive, not actively climbing the chain of emanative being. In contrast to this, the Rislat al-i`tibr directly addresses the question of the permissibility of inductive inference, of going from the lowest being and thinking ones way to the highest (as opposed to prophecy, which proceeds from the highest to the

205

The cosmological and cosmogonic discussions in the Kitb khaw al-urf are more various; at one point the divine Will (irda) is identified as the first creation, at other times Arabic letters are discussed as the building blocks of creation, but in no case does Ibn Masarras statements conform to those of the Arabic Empedocles on these matters. 206 Min qay al-fikr, pp. 351ff. 207 Doxographie, ed. Rudolph, p. 71 (sec. XXII).

97 lowest). The entire treatise is devoted to the defense of this sort of inference, and in the course of it Ibn Masarra describes a process whereby a person reflects inferentially from a plant all the way to the Creator, going from link to link up the chain of being, stating that by this path (arqa) one can acquire a light which shall never be extinguished. 208 He even affirms the equality of this process with the sending down of prophetic revelation, identifying the former as the ascending and the latter as the descending arcs of the same soteriological process. 209 Aside from the fact that one ends up receiving divine light in both processes, the soteriology of the r clearly has nothing in common with Ibn Masarras; the former involves a passive reception of a top-down emanation, while the latter involves an active, bottom-up climb by the intellectual wayfarer. Another example of Ibn Masarras lack of harmony with the Arabic Empedocles can be seen in their differing accounts of what causes a plant to grow. As mentioned above, the Rislat al-i`tibr describes an inferential ascent process that begins with consideration of a plant. Ibn Masarra has a hypothetical thinker consider how nourishment moves upwards through a plant, how the plant is divided into different parts, such as the branches, leaves, fruits and so forth, and how the four elements of water, earth, fire and air are perfectly harmonized and distributed in these various parts. The thinker considers whether any of these particular elements is responsible for this movement of nutriment, division into parts and harmony of material:
208 209

Min qay al-fikr, p. 351. Ibid., p. 350. Ibn Masarra writes: Thus the world and all its creatures and signs are steps (daraj) by which those who reflect climb (yataa``ad) to that which is above, the great signs of God. For one who ascends (mutaraqq) must ascend from the lowest to the highest. Thus they ascend with an intellectual climb (bi-ta`id al-`uql) from their lowly station until they reach their goal in such exalted signs as the attributes of the prophets. Thus when they think, they understand; when they understand, they become deserving of the truth (al-aqq), in accordance with what the messengers blessings be upon them related, and as they described the truth from God. So it [sc. the intellectual ascent] agrees with it [sc. prophecy] and confirms it. There is no difference between them when you really approach the matter; they are exactly the same (fahuwa huwa). This point is reiterated in the same treatise in similar terms at p. 359.

98 So he considered water, but it did not have the necessary attributes. He considered earth, and it too had to be excluded. He considered fire, and found that it had to be denied. He observed air, and it too had to be denied. So he was forced in his thinking to go beyond these things, seeking for what, as witnessed by its nature, could necessitate this. His heart's understanding fled to what is above these things, since what harmonizes them with their differences and exerts control over their natures must be above them, encompassing them and being exalted above and greater than them. 210 From here the thinker proceeds up the chain of being, finding along the way that the harmonization of the elements in the plant is controlled by the sphere of the Soul. In direct contradiction to this is the following thesis regarding plant life attributed to Empedocles in Ibn Rushds Talkhs Kitb al-Nafs (Middle Commentary on the De Anima): Plants grow, decay, and are nourished by means of this principle [sc. the soul], even as animals have sensation by means of the sensory soul; and nothing is nourished without having this aspect of soul. Empedocles was not correct when he attributed these activities in the plants to the elements. He said that the branches of plants grow upward because of the fire in them, since fire moves upward, while the growth of its roots is downward because of the earth in them. Were the issue as he thought, the fiery part of the plant would be separate from the earthy part, and the plant would thereby perish. There has to be something which mixes these parts together, and this is the part which moves them everywhere in the plant. 211 This example gives eloquent testimony to the definite lack of congruence between Ibn Masarra and the Arabic Empedocles. On the identical question, in identical terms, Ibn Masarra parts company with Empedocles (and agrees with Ibn Rushd). Both Ibn Masarra

210 211

Ibid., p. 353. Trans. by Ivry, Middle Commentary on Aristotles De Anima, p. 57.

99 and Ibn Rushd conclude that the elements cannot be harmonized by themselves and require a supra-lunar or supra-elemental force to control them. Both authors identify soul as this force that harmonizes the elements in plants and fosters their life, as against the account of Empedocles that Ibn Rushd gives, according to which the elements themselves are responsible for this, a view that Ibn Masarra explicitly rejects in the Rislat al-i`tibr. We thus find that it is not simply that Ibn Masarra never mentions Empedocles in his extant works, nor is it true that his works simply show no apparent influence of the Arabic Empedocles. On the contrary, he differs radically from the Arabic Empedocles on fundamental issues treated by both. 212 We can therefore dismiss the argument sometimes made in defense of the Empedoclean connection that `id al-Andalus may have had access to other, no longer extant writings of Ibn Masarra. 213 It would be simply absurd to assume that `id may have had access to works of Ibn Masarra that directly contradict those that we have. 214

212

I noted a number of other instances of this in comparing the texts, but the foregoing three examples are sufficient to prove that there is a philosophical gulf between Ibn Masarra and the Arabic Empedocles. 213 This argument is put forward by Tornero, Notas sobre el pensamiento de Abenmasarra, p. 505, and Stroumsa, Review of Empedocles Arabus, p. 95. Peter Kingsley, in his enigmatic Ancient Philosophy Mystery, and Magic, pp. 381f., lambasts Stern as cynical and his argument against Asn as highly implausible and, at the very least, over-simplistic, noting that in the absence of supporting evidence, Sterns critique is purely speculative. This is simply incorrect; Sterns critique was based precisely on supporting evidence, evidence proving that `id cribbed his account of Empedocles from al-`mir, which, in the absence of any supporting evidence, made Asns argument appear for what it was: purely speculative. Kingsleys argument is made all the more surprising by the fact that he had a copy of and makes refernce to Morris unpublished Reconsideration paper, and knew of the discovery and publication of the two works of Ibn Masarra, even having some familiarity with their contents; he refers to two places in the Kitb khaw al-urf where Ibn Masarra supposedly refers repeatedly, and most respectfully, to philosophers with a very obvious Neoplatonic (or rather Gnostic, Hermetic, and Platonic) background. While Ibn Masarra does refer to anonymous falsifa and cites their opinions, Kingsley fails to mention the passage in the Rislat al-i`tibr, p. 357, where Ibn Masarra refers to the philosophers as that group of insolents with no clear and straightforward intention, who went wide of the mark, losing themselves in ridiculous fallacies (turruht). He thus had in hand all the supporting evidence he could have needed to confirm Sterns critique. (NB: Kingsleys bibliography misidentifies Morris Reconsideration paper as an unpublished Oberlin College thesis, when in fact it was the result of a 1972 graduate seminar at Harvard under the direction of Muhsin Mahdi.) 214 It is often overlooked, but it should be emphasized in this connection that `id does not even claim that Ibn Masarra wrote anything about Empedocles; he simply calls him a Bin and says he was devoted to the

100 Even if we did not have the conclusive evidence set forth above, it must not be forgotten that `id was a student of Ibn azm. `id made a single passing reference to Ibn Masarra, while his mentor refers to Ibn Masarra in a number of his works, devoting special attention in his Fal f l-milal to an account of the beliefs of the Masarrs living in his day. In the latter work he states that he was shown some of Ibn Masarras writings by certain of his informants. In other words, we know that a contemporary and countryman of `id, under whom he studied, had extensive first-hand knowledge of Ibn Masarra and some familiarity with his writings, and nowhere made any reference to Empedocles or writings attributed to the latter. In addition to the argument about no-longer-extant books that `id may have had, it has sometimes been argued that Ibn Masarras treatment of the attributes of God puts him in the philosophical company of the Arabic Empedocles, who also discussed the attributes. 215 This argument has nothing to recommend it; obviously, discussing the divine attributes is hardly the exclusive province of Empedocles. This was a preoccupation of Mu`tazilism generally, as well as being a central concern of Islamicate Neoplatonism. 216 Both of these currents of thought figure prominently in Ibn Masarras works and in the notices on him in the Islamicate biographical tradition. The thrust of the Arab Empedocles view of the divine attributes (that divine unity requires the attributes of God to be identical with His essence and to not have independent existence) is

study of Empedocles philosophy. Note also that, contrary to what Stroumsa writes in her review of Empedocles Arabus, p. 95, `id does not attribute any ideas to Ibn Masarra, so there is no question of waiting on texts of Ibn Masarra that may or may not contain such ideas. 215 Stroumsa is the most recent writer to make this argument. In her review of De Smets Empedocles Arabus, p. 95, refering to De Smets statement that the extant works of Ibn Masarra present no positive links to the Arab Empedocles, she writes: The validity of this claim itself is questionable; the Divine attributes, which intrigued Ibn Masarra [...] may have served as just such a positive link. 216 The latter point is well made, with extensive references, by De Smet, in Empedocles Arabus, pp. 72ff.

101 indistinguishable from that found in late Neoplatonism, so the fact of Ibn Masarras interest in this issue which is actually attested only vaguely, in a hostile account in Ibn al-Mara 217 proves nothing more than his familiarity with Neoplatonic thought. On the face of it, this passage actually distances Ibn Masarra from the doctrine of the attributes in the Arab Empedocles; Empedocles, as mentioned above, was said to have taught that the attributes of God are not separate entities but names of His Essence, since the absolute unity of the Godhead require the exclusion of there being a multiplicity of real existences in His being. 218 Ibn al-Mara, on the other hand, charges Ibn Masarra with having upheld the independent reality of an infinity of divine attributes, and thus of postulating an infinity of gods. 219 While he certainly says nothing of this sort in any of his extant writings, Ibn Masarra does say that the teachings of the ancient philosophers on the issue of the divine names is at variance with what is set forth in prophecy. 220

In the fragment edited by Massignon, Ibn Mara writes that Ibn Masarra said in his book Tawd alMuqinn that the attributes of God are infinite in number and that Gods knowledge is, with respect to Him (`indihi), a Living One, a Knowing One, a Powerful One, a Hearer, an All-Seeing, a Speaker, and that His [attribute of] power is in the same manner living, knowing [etc....], and in such wise did he speak about all of the attributes, saying that this is divine unity (tawd). Thus has he made gods of each of the attributes. Similarly, in his saying that the attributes are infinite in number, he has made of God gods infinite in number God save us! It may be that Ibn Mara is attributing to Ibn Masarra here some manner of doctrine of the unity of the attributes, but it has apparently been so distorted by the polemical context as to render any judgement about how this treatment may have appeared in the actual Tawd al-Muqinn impossible. As presented by Ibn al-Mara, it does not appear to have much in common with the Arab Empedocles doctrine of the unity of attributes, on which see De Smet, Empedocles Arabus, pp. 72ff. The charge of making the attributes into so many gods is actually a frequent attack in the polemical literature made by supporters of the doctrine of the unity of attributes against opponents of that doctrine, the latter upholding the distinct reality of the attributes. For an overview of this conflict, see H. A. Wolfsons (now rather dated) Philosophy of the Kalam, ch. 2. 218 See, e.g., al-mir, Kitb al-Amad, p. 78; r al-falsifa, p. 37 (sec. V). 219 See second-to-last note. Asn attempted to find a Neoplatonic doctrine of the transcendence of the One from real attributes in Ibn azms report that the Masarrs believed that divine knowledge was a created and contingent entity (see Mystical Philosophy, p. 83). 220 Kitb khaw al-urf, in Ja`far, Min qay al-fikr, p. 315, where, in the course of commenting on the inner meanings of the basmala, he writes: From the name of divinity together with the names al-ramn and al-ram it is learned that the universal intellect is immersed in the universal soul, and that the universal soul is immersed in the body of the world, according to the teachings of the philosophers and the ancient nations that were astray the people of natural disposition who arrived at knowledge of divine unity without prophecy (though their knowledge in that regard that had to do with the divine names was

217

102 Regardless of Ibn Masarras position with regard to divine attributes, this issue cannot in any case serve as the positive link to Empedocles that Stroumsa suggests. Many of Ibn Masarras contemporaries took a position similar to the Arab Empedocles on the divine attributes, but no one has suggested for any of these figures that they were devotees of Empedoclean writings. 221 While only one source `id implies (but does not say explicitly) that Empedocles may have been Ibn Masarras source for his approach to the divine attributes, an abundance of our sources link him instead to Mu`taliz and Bin thought, two currents very much concerned with the attributes and divine transcendence. In sum, Ibn Masarras connection to Empedocles must be considered, as Stern suggested long ago, an illusion. There is not a consistent teaching of PseudoEmpedocles in the Arabic sources, but rather a diverse and sometimes contradictory body of ideas attributed to him in the doxographical literature. On central themes of Empedoclean thought as represented in that literature, it has been shown that Ibn Masarra was in complete disagreement. The fact that Empedocles is credited in the Arabic sources with teaching the unity of the attributes of God cannot be used to prove anything, as, a) this same teaching is found in many other sources and currents of thought in early Islamic history; b) Ibn Masarra is associated with these latter currents by a number of authors in the early biographical tradition and by his own writings; and c), none of our sources actually represent Ibn Masarra as clearly holding a doctrine of the unity of attributes, though two second-hand sources vaguely imply that. There is thus no

different from what prophecy has elucidated in most comprehensive arguments and with the clearest proofs). 221 (Except for the Mu`tazil Ab al-Hudhayl al-`Allf, whom `id connects to Empedocles in the same place where he mentions Ibn Masarra.) This position on the unity of the attributes with the divine essence is a basic feature of most forms of Islamicate negative theology, so any list of thinkers through the 10thcentury who shared this position with the Arabic Empedocles would be impossibly long. One will find extremely ample coverage of this issue in the learned tomes of Josef van Ess Theologie und Gesellschaft.

103 evidence in favor of the Empedoclean connection, and a decisive body of evidence against it.

104 Andalus Sufism and the Schools of Almera and Murcia

In her article on Andalus mysticism up to the time of Ibn al-`Arab, Claude Addas identified two main theses in Asns scholarship that influenced most later writing on Ibn Masarra; the first was the Empedoclean illusion, while the second thesis was that Andalus Sufism subsequent to Ibn Masarra, from Ism`l al-Ru`ayn to Ibn `Arab by way of Ibn al-`Arf and Ibn Qas, sprang from the Masarr school and itself represented the continuation of this school. 222 Elsewhere she noted that Asn had no document or any other source of information to support this thesis, or rather hypothesis. 223 While it is true that Asns suggestion of Ibn Masarras influence on Andalus Sufism was conjectural, we now have a number of sources relevant to this issue, and the question needs to be re-examined. Asns argument, set out in the eighth chapter of his monograph on Ibn Masarra, posited that the continuity of the mystic spirit of Ibn Masarra in the heart of Spanish Sufism was found in the enormous influence exercised by the esoteric center which existed in the school of Almera. 224 While the existence of this school of Almera has been called into serious question, 225 Asn in any case had in mind here the twelfth-

222

Andalus Mysticism, pp. 912f. Addas leaves Ibn Barrajn out here, though hes an important figure in Asns hypothetical continuation of the school of Ibn Masarra. 223 Quest for the Red Sulphur, p. 57. 224 Mystical Philosophy, p. 120. This sentence is repeated almost verbatim in Corbins History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 225. Corbin follows Asn very closely, though at times he exaggerates Asns claims or distorts Asns characterizations. Thus, Corbin writes that Ibn al-`Arab was strongly influenced by Ibn Masarrahs school of Almera, which propagated the teaching of Ismaili and Shiite missionaries. The latter half of this sentence represents a claim not made by Asn, though Asn is Corbins sole source for the school of Almera. 225 See Addas, Andalus Mysticism, pp. 919ff. In addition to the fact that the sources do not treat the figures in question in a uniform manner or refer to them as a school, Addas shows that sources unavailable to Asn contradict most of the details of his description of the relationships pertaining between these Sufis. Asn had Ibn al-`Arf the leader of the school, with both Ibn Barrajn and Ibn Qas as his

105 century Andalus `ulam (not all of whom were identified as Sufis in the earliest sources) Ab al-`Abbs Ibn al-`Arf (d. 536/1141), Ab al-akam Ibn Barrajn (d. 536/1141), Ab Bakr al-Mayrq (d. 537/1142) and Ibn Qas (d. 546/1151), founder of the murdn movement. 226 Their purported enormous influence lay mainly, for Asn, in the influence that he supposed all of them to have had on Muyi al-Dn Ibn al-`Arab (d. 1240), who was in turn the most influential Andalus Sufi in history. 227 None of the sources that have become available in recent years have yielded any confirmation of Asns hypothesis, as no direct link between Ibn Masarra and any of these figures has emerged. 228 It would appear, then, contra Asn, that Ibn Masarras importance in the history of Andalus Sufism does not consist in his relationship to these twelfth-century mystics and revolutionaries. Significant evidence has emerged, however, that Ibn Masarra was of some importance to a network of Andalus Sufis who all died during the thireenth century and who exerted a much more far-reaching influence than any of the Sufis highlighted by Asn. Though not a part of Asns argument, some scholars have refered, somewhat loosely, to a Sufi school of Murcia, with Ibn al-`Arab, Ibn Sab`n (d. 1270) and Ab

disciples; in fact, Ibn Barrajn was Ibn al-`Arfs shaykh, and the latter was decidedly not the shaykh of Ibn Qas, with whom he had serious and fundamental disagreements. 226 Asn considered the first three individuals in this list to constitute the school of Almera proper, with Ibn Qas and his movement being its filial (p. 122). 227 Asn frequently characterized Ibn al-`Arab as having been fundamentally influenced directly by Ibn Masarras writings, so it is a bit unclear as to why he felt the need to posit, admittedly lacking proper documents (p. 122), a chain of Masarrian influence on Ibn al-`Arab via the school of Almera. Addas, Andalus Mysticism, p. 927, argues that any such influence was minor. On the other hand, Addas confirms (pp. 918f.) that Ibn Masarra played a greater role in Ibn al-`Arabs thought, being cited by him at least four times, in two of which Ibn al-`Arab explicly says that he approaches a particular question in the manner or after the teachings of Ibn Masarra. 228 However, there are two indirect links to Ibn al-`Arf. Ibn al-Mara, who had seen and discussed in writing at least one of Ibn Masarras works (the Kitb tawd al-mqinn), also wrote a commentary on one of Ibn al-`Arfs writings (the Masin al-majlis). Secondly, Ibn al-`Arf was a disciple of `Abd al-Bq b. Muammad b. Abagh (d. 502/1109), who in turn was a student of al-Talamank, the author of a radd work against Ibn Masarra.

106 `Al Ibn Hd its chief representatives. 229 Our new sources have established a continuous tradition of study or awareness of Ibn Masarras works by the Sufis associated with the school of Murcia. Ibn al-Mara (d. 1214), who taught in Murcia, knew of at least one of Ibn Masarras writings and commented on it in one of his own works. 230 The great Murcian mystic Ibn al-`Arab likewise knew Ibn Masarras works, refers to them at least four times, 231 praised his writing on the urf, and attributes to Ibn Masarra a discussion of the divine throne not found in the extant works, indicating that Ibn al-`Arab may have known other works of Ibn Masarra as well. These details have long been known; what the scholarship on Ibn Masarra has not yet taken into account is the fact that at least two other thirteenth-century school of Murcia Sufis also knew Ibn Masarras teachings. Ibn Sab`n, who was a student of Ibn Al (d. 1247), Ibn al-Maras principal disciple, refers in two of his works to Ibn Masarra and his teachings on the urf, while Ibn Sab`ns chief disciple Ab al-asan al-Shushtar (d. 1269) mentions Ibn Masarra in a poem that lists the spiritual forebears of his master. 232 All of these figures are connected to one another, either through master-disciple relationships, social networks, or mutual citation hence the appelation school of Murcia. While there may be some similar emphases, the various thinkers associated with this school do not have a great deal in common on the doctrinal or philosophical level. 233 The fact that, despite their doctrinal or philosophical differences, three

229

Joel Kraemer defends the notion of the Sufi school of Murcia in his article The Andalusian Mystic Ibn Hd and the Conversion of the Jews, p. 68 and n. 34. See also my Andalus Mysticism: A Recontextualization, in The Journal of Islamic Philosophy 2 (2006), forthcoming. 230 This is of course the Kitb tawd al-mqinn, cited by Ibn al-Mara in his Shar al-Irshd. 231 See chapter two, entry under Ibn al-`Arab. 232 See the entries under these two in chapter two. 233 With the exception of a certain preoccupation with mystical ontology, for which these figures are sometimes refered to as wujd Sufis. Ibn Sab`n actually coined the phrase wadat al-wujd (unicity of being) in its technical, panentheistic sense, and while the phrase is often fathered on Ibn al-`Arab, any

107 generations of these interconnected mystics refer to Ibn Masarra and cite his writings is proof that he remained a figure of importance and prominence three centuries after his death, and that his writings were continuously transmitted during this time. Thus, while the Masarriyya may have been somewhat short-lived, Ibn Masarra nevertheless turned out to be a significant influence on Andalus Sufism at the time of its greatest flowering.

usage of it in his writings has yet to be found. On this, see W. Chittick, Rumi and wahdat al-wujud, passim.

108 Khaw, urf and tarf: Ibn Masarra as Theurgist

One of the most significant revelations to emerge from our new sources is that Ibn Masarra, though not the vastly-influential bearer of Pseudo-Empedocleanism he was long thought to be, was in fact of considerable importance in another field letter magic. It is in the context of letter magic that he is most often cited in the Islamicate sources, and there is every indication that, at least through the thirteenth century, his fame rested primarily in his accomplishments as an alphabetical theurgist. That this is where his lasting influence lied is all the more remarkable in that the modern scholarship has rarely connected Ibn Masarra to it. 234 In fact, nearly ever modern writer to comment on the character of Ibn Masarras Kitb khaw al-urf has explicitly discounted any magical or theurgical significance it may have had. 235 In the light of the sources, that judgement needs to be re-assessed. Islamicate linguistic theurgy, though of immense importance in the history Sufism and in Islamicate intellectual history generally, is a greatly understudied topic. There are a number of studies of closely related issues, such as the disconnected letters of the
Important but brief exceptions are D. Grils Science of the Letters, pp. 140f., and Fentons Judaism and Sufism, p. 204. Our sources lend support to Grils hunch that Ibn Masarra looks very much like the founder of Andalus `ilm al-urf. Fenton is right to emphasize that scholars have overlooked the fact that Ibn Masarrah ... laid significant emphasis on the mystical role of the Arabic alphabet, but his assertion that there is little doubt as to an initial Jewish influence on the Muslim science of letters has yet to satisfy the burden of proof. Aside from the question of influence, however, it is indisputable that `ilm alurf and Kabbalistic letter-magic are historically intertwined. Fentons assertion may rest on an assumption of antiquity for the Sefer Yeira, a foundational text for Jewish letter-magic long thought to have been written in the first few centuries of the Common Era but which Steven Wassertrom has demonstrated to be post-Islamic; see his Sefer Yeira and Early Islam: A Reappraisal, and Further Thoughts on the Origins of Sefer Yeira. 235 Thus Addas, in Andalus Mysticism, p. 917, draws a distinction between two trends in `ilm al-urf the cosmological, alchemical and even divinatory kind and that leading to knowledge of metaphysical truths and identifies Ibn Masarras work with the latter. Tornero, in A Report on the Publication, p. 5 (p. 137 of continuous pagination), writes of the Kitb khaw al-urf that Ibn Masarras goal is neither magical interpretation nor foretelling the future. This judgment is seconded by Fierro, in Binism in alAndalus, p. 104.
234

109 Quran, 236 the notion of khaw (sympatheia; occult properties), 237 and `ilm al-urf (science of the letters) in general, 238 but almost no attention has been given to the importance of `ilm al-tarf or taarruf, the science of theurgy, in Islamicate history. 239 It is therefore not surprising that Ibn Masarra has not hitherto been recognized as a key figure in the history of linguistic theurgy, though this is strongly indicated by a number of our new sources. There is, to begin with, the evidence of Ibn Masarras own work, the Kitb khaw al-urf wa aqiquh wa uluh. While it is true that this work treats the disconnected letters of the Quran as keys to cosmological mysteries, this does not preclude, as most scholars seem to have assumed, a theurgical application of this information. 240 Like the similar Sefer Yeira, written not long before Ibn Masarras own time, the Kitb khaw al-urf addresses the theoretical basis rather than the practical application of linguistic theurgy. Both texts describe how the letters of the alphabet were
236

See, e.g., A. Jeffery, The Mystical Letters of the Koran; A. Jones, The Mystical Letters of the Quran; EI, s.v. al-Kuran, 4.d, The Mysterious Letters (by A. T. Welch); Encyclopedia of the Qurn, vol. 3, s.v. Mysterious Letters (K. Massey). 237 See M. Ullmann, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam, 393ff.; P. Kraus, Jbir b. ayyn, pp. 61ff.; T. Fahd, La Divination Arabe, pp. 214-245. See also EI, s.v. Kha, (M. Ullmann) and s.v. Khaw al-Kurn (T. Fahd). 238 Such as the studies of D. Gril, Science of Letters; P. Lory, La science des lettres; T. Fahd, La Divination Arabe, index s.v. urf (`ilm al-). The essential bibliographic study of the sources of Islamicate magic remains Manfred Ullmans Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam, and there are numerous references there to works on `ilm al-urf. Emilie Savage-Smith provides a good survey of the secondary literature on Islamicate magic in her Introduction (pp. xiii-li) to Magic and Divination in Early Islam. 239 P. Kraus, in has magnificent Jbir ibn ayyn study, provides a sophisticated and abundantly-sourced analysis of this but solely with respect to the Jabirian corpus, which includes a Kitb al-tarf; see esp. pp. 223-236. The only study of tarf / taarruf in the history of Sufism is Fritz Meiers Kraftakt und Faustrecht des Heiligen, though Meier was primarily interested in exploring taarruf and its shades of meaning in Naqshband literature from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries and does not discuss the earlier, formative period. The most recent major study to bear upon this history would appear to be D. A. Pielows Die Quellen der Weisheit: dies arabische Magie im Spiegel des Ul al-ikma von Amad `Al alBn (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1995), which I have unfortunately not been able to consult. 240 See for instance the passages mentioning Ibn Masarra in Ibn al-`Arabs Kitb al-mm wal-ww walnn, where he describes a situation in which a practical theurgist, for the sake of esotericism, will have spoken only of the mysteries that the True One has deposited in the things of His creation. Cf. al-Kinds De Radiis stellarum, fundamentally a work of metaphysics, lacking any recipes or magical procedures, yet foundational for Islamicate (and subsequently European) astral theurgy.

110 the primordial materials used by God in the creation of the world. While neither text gives directions for how precisely to use the knowledge of these letters and their cosmological and cosmogonic functions in theurgical permutations, both texts were recognized in the Islamicate context as having precisely this sort of practical application. 241 The title of the work also bears witness to its theurgical significance. The issue of khaw al-urf is a staple of Islamicate magical literature, and there are many works in this vein with titles similar to Ibn Masarras. 242 In Hjj Khalfas seventeenth-century encyclopedia, the Kashf al-unn, khaw al-urf are identified as central to linguistic theurgy: The science of theurgic operation by means of the Greatest Name of God (`ilm altaarruf bil-ism al-a`am): Abl-Khayr 243 referred to it as a branch of the discipline of [Quran] commentary. He said: No one among the people had obtained knowledge thereof except for the Prophets and Saints, and so the latter did not categorically define it. This inasmuch as the unveiling of this science is fundamentally forbidden, for such would bring about the corruption of the world and the disruption of the hierarchical order of humanity. 244 Among the classifications [of this science] is divination.
Sefer Yeira was used in a wide range of theurgical and magical operations; for one important application, see Moshe Idel, Golem (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1990): 9-26. Note that Idel treats the text as having originated in late antiquity, whereas it has been demonstrated to be post-Islamic; see Steven Wasserstom, opera cit. 242 As Ullmann notes, in his EI Kha article: Muammad b. Zakariyy al-Rz, Djbir b. ayyn, Ibn al-Djazzr, Abu l-`Al Zuhr, `Al b. Aydamir al-Djildak and others wrote books with the title Khaw al-ashy (and the like). [...] Further, abstract entities were also believed to possess mysterious forces: al-Bn, al-Djl, al-Nadrum and others wrote about the khaw of letters and numbers, of the names of Allh and of the verses of the Kurn. More information on the authors of magical and theurgical khaw works mentioned here can be found in Ullmanns Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam. See also T. Fahds EI Khaw al-Kuran article, which also lists important works on the theurgic properties of Quranic letters and surahs. 243 `Im al-Dn Amad b. Mutafa b. Khall, Abl Khayr Tshkprzde, author of the Mifta al-Sa`da, which is frequently quoted by Hjj Khalfa with regard to magic and the occult.
244

241

On this esotericism, cf. Ibn al-`Arab s reference to Ibn Masarra in his Kit b al-m m wal-w w wal-n n, p. 56: Our discussion of these mysteries will follow the way of Ibn Masarra al-Jabal and others, though not in accordance with his treatment of their theurgic properties (khaw ), for discussion of the theurgic

111 The science of theurgic permutation by means of letters and Names (`ilm al-tarf bil-urf wal-asm): Abl-Khayr said: This is the noble science of obtaining control of the occult properties (khaw) corresponding to letters of names, gotten by proceeding in accordance with determined procedural conditions and with special exercises. The object and goal of this science is obvious. It is said that under this science are one hundred and forty-eight other sciences. The works of Shaykh Amad al-Bn and al-Bism 245 are famous in this field. 246 Another piece of evidence that places Ibn Masarra in a theurgical context is the codex in which his two surviving works were discovered. Chester Beatty Arabic number 3168 comprises the following seven works. Natij al-qurba wa-nafis al-ghurba, by Fakhr al-Dn Muammad b. Ibrhm al-Khabr al-Fris (d. 622/1225). 247 Transcribed from authors autograph, copy dated, at Cairo, 5 Rajab 687 (5 August 1288).

properties of things leads in most intances to accusations against the theurgist and the denial of the existence and/or efficacy of such properties. And, further on in the same passage: It is on any account best for the people of our path to observe silence about the sciences of astral-spiritual theurgy. Indeed, it is forbidden to them to explain these matters in such a manner as to be comprehensible to both the elite and the masses, since the unscrupulous could thereby attain the means to pursue their wicked ends. I have set down in my books with regard to these matters only such hints as my trusted followers can understand, and that none besides them can attain to. 245 Abd al-Raman b. Muammad al-Bism, d. 1454, author of a number of still-unpublished works on jafr and letter-magic (see Fahd, Divination, pp. 228f. and notes thereon, all to mss. in Turkish libraries; see also the several mss. of his works in R. Machs Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts (Yahuda Section) in the Garrett Collection, Princeton University Library [Princeton, 1977], pp. 446ff.). According to Bism, the theurgic formulas for using the disconnected letters of the Quran originated in a book written by Adam entitled Sifr al-khafy, the Book of Secrets, sifr operating here as a transliteration of the Hebrew sefer. See Hamdan, Ghazali and the Science of urf, p. 192. jj Khalfa (who knew Bisms work) also lists a Sifr al-khafy in his Kashf al-unn, saying it was the first book on the science of letters. He also lists separately a Sifr dam f `ilm al-urf, which was written on twenty-one leaves from the olive trees of Paradise, and which the Byzantine Emperor Romanos (Armns al-akm) sought from the Muslim King Nir in the year 337/948 (on alwaraq.net, p. 491). (There were three Byzantine emperors around this time named Romanos and dozens of Muslim potentates named Nir, but I was unable to match any of them to this date; Emperor Romanos I was deposed in 944, and Romanos II came to the throne in 959.) Interestingly, between the Sifr al-khafy and the Sifr al-dam f `ilm al-urf, ajj Khalfah lists the Sifr Idrs, on which Ibn Sab`n wrote a commentary. 246 Kashf al-zunun, vol. 1, pp. 288f. 247 al-Khabr was a well-known Sufi and author of widely-respected works on Sufi topics. He studied with many of the great shaykhs of his day, including, in Damascus, Ibn `Askir (d. 1223) the great adth scholar and historian of Damascus. He lived the last years of his life in the hermitage of Dhl-Nn in

112 Kitb khaw al-urf, by Ibn Masarra. Rislat f al-urf, by Sahl b. `Abd Allh al-Tustar (d. ca. 896). Rislat al-i`tibr, by Ibn Masarra. al-Lum`at al-nrniyya, 248 by Ab l-`Abbs Amad b. `Al al-Qurash al-Bn (d. 622/1225). Copy dated 2 Jumada al-Thani 686 (15 July 1287). Nuzhat al-qulb wa bughyat al-malb, by Ab al-asan `Ali b. `Abd Allh al-Shdhil (d. 656/1258). Dated 4 Jumada al-Thani 686 (17 July 1287). Rislat fl-urf, anonymous. Colophon signed by the copyist, `Uthmn b. Ysuf b. Muammad b. Arsln al-anaf alarr, Cairo, 686-7 (1287-8). Four of these works deal with `ilm al-urf. The Rislat al-urf of Sahl al-Tustar is cited by Ibn Masarra in his book on the topic, and indeed it appears to be Ibn Masarras source for some of his letter theory. The Lum`at al-nrniyya is a famous work on linguistic theurgy by the undisputed master of this discipline, Muyi al-Dn Amad alBn (d. 1225). The most famous work of the latter, the Shams al-Ma`rif, often quotes Ab al-asan al-Shdhil, connecting the author the sixth item in this codex with tarf as

Qarfa (Cairos City of the Dead). See Amad Nuwayrs Nihyat al-arab f funn al-adab, alwaraq.net p. 3583; and Dhahab, Trkh al-islm, alwaraq.net p. 4576. 248 Ch. Pellats article on al-Bn in EI describes this as a more or less accurate extract from al-Bns most famous work, the Shams al-ma`rif. It would appear that the latter may very well be a collection of shorter works of al-Bn compiled after his death. Kruk, in Harry Potter in the Gulf, p. 48n. 6, refers to the above-mentioned study on al-Bn by D. A. Pielow and states that the latter pointed out that the name of Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, who lived later than al-Buni, is repeatedly mentioned in Bunis Shams almaarif.... This might indicate that at least this work was compiled posthumously. A comprehensive survey of al-Bns oeuvre would certainly represent a dramatic advance in the scholarship on Islamicate magic.

113 well. We thus find that the only surviving works of Ibn Masarra traveled as sections in a collection dealing primarily with `ilm al-urf and its theurgical applications. 249 The most compelling argument for situating Ibn Masarra within the history of linguistic theurgy emerges from the history of the study of his works by the Andalus mystics discussed in the previous section. This reception history consistently and explicitly identifies Ibn Masarra as a tarf mystic and discusses his writings in terms of letter magic. It needs to be emphasized in this connection that urf theurgy was a central preoccupation of the school of Murcia, and the subsequent history of this science is ultimately derivative from the works and theories of these writers the only group of writers known to have studied Ibn Masarras writings continuously over the course of several generations. 250 This tradition, as noted above, began with Ibn al-Mara and his response to Ibn Masarras Kitb tawd al-mqinn. Ibn al-Mara does not refer to Ibn Masarras works on letter-magic, but that by no means indicates his lack of interest in the topic. In addition to commentaries on the works of earlier mystics, Ibn al-Mara is also credited with a work in exposition of the divine names, a subject closely-related and often intertwined with letter-magic. 251 More importantly, we have a very interesting report on

249

It is likewise significant that this codex was copied in the thireenth-century, a period in which the majority of our references to Ibn Masarra as a theurgist also originate. It was during this period that Ibn al`Arab and Amad al-Bn both wrote their influential works on letter magic, making this the golden age of that occult science. 250 The important exception to this would be the tradition of radd literature againt Ibn Masarra, all of which emerged from a closely-knit network of scholars; as we have little to no idea as to the content of these works, it is impossible at this stage to say whether or to what extent these polemical works were based on actual familiarity with Ibn Masarras writings. These scholars, in any case, had much less impact on Islamicate intellectual history than did e.g. Ibn al-`Arab or al-Bn. 251 Ibn al-Maras work on the Names is titled in our sources the Shar al-asm al-usn; the title of one of the sections in al-Bns Shams al-Ma`rif al-Sughr is F shar al-asm al-usn wa khawuh (a later section is entitled F asrr wa khaw al-urf). However, there are also many works with similar titles in Islamic history that do not have theurgical or magical emphases at all.

114 Ibn al-Mara from Ibn al-Khab that very clearly connects him with theurgy. The latter writes:

Ibn al-Mara was proficient in parlor tricks (iyal) 252 and knew many humorous anecdotes, with which he would entertain his companions. He also knew how to do strange things with the occult properties (khaw) and things of that sort, and he revealed some of that to many witnesses, some of whom saw him perpetrate in that regard some abominable things forbidden by the divine law. On account of this some of the people were disgusted with him and a controversy arose. Our shaykh, the just q Ab Bakr b. al-Murbi, was among those who denounced him. I was informed about this from someone who witnessed this condemnation. Ibn al-Mara got free of this by relocating to Murcia. 253

The next author from the Murcian tradition to cite Ibn Masarra was Ibn al-`Arab. Of the four presently-known references to Ibn Masarra by Ibn al-`Arab, two of them refer to the Kitb khaw al-urf. In Ibn al-`Arabs Kitb al-mm wal-ww wal-nn, he writes: Among the levels of the mysteries of letters is the case, in some languages, where the last letter [in the name of a letter] is the same as the first, such as in mm, ww, and nn in Arabic. This is among the levels of mystery having to do with the pronunciation of the letters, and is not among those levels of mystery relating to script. Our discussion of these mysteries will follow the way of Ibn Masarra al-Jabal and others, though not in accordance [with his treatment of]

252

This term is sometimes applied to forms of illicit sorcery that involve creating illusions with the help of jinn or shayin. In this context though it probably means magic tricks, legerdemain. 253 Lisn al-Dn b. al-Khab, Ia f akhbr Gharna, alwaraq.net, p. 66. Massignon, Passion, 2:316, in a characteristically tantalizing yet un-sourced statement, writes of Ibn al-Mara that he had a way involving the isqt al-wasit, the legal observances, and alphabetical talismans (Qd Ibn al-Murbit, in Malaga, stupidly accused him of cabalistic marvels, like Hallj, like Itfh). Clearly he is at least partly relying on Ibn al-Khab here, but one wonders if he had another source that more explicitly connected Ibn al-Mara to letter magic. (The source keyed to this sentence by Massignon deals only with the condemnations of allj and If for magical practices, making no mention of Ibn al-Mara.)

115 their theurgic properties (khaw), for discussion of the theurgic properties of things leads in most intances to accusations against the theurgist and the denial of [the existence and/or efficacy of such properties]. As for such accusations, they may be against [the theurgists] piety, such that one among the party of unveiling and being will be labelled a sorcerer or unbeliever. 254 This passage is completely unambiguous in its association of Ibn Masarra with linguistic theurgy. We lack the evidence to be sure, but it is certainly possible that, similar to what Ibn al-`Arab describes here, some of the early opposition to Ibn Masarra may have related to his teachings on the urf. In any case, this work, in light of the far-reaching influence of Ibn al-`Arab and the growing popularity of letter magic from this period on, ensured Ibn Masarra a famous name in the ranks of urf theurgists. This status was reinforced later in the same century by Ibn Sab`n, in whose oeuvre letter magic was much more central than it was for Ibn al-`Arab. 255 In both of his presently-known references to Ibn Masarra, Ibn Sab`n treats him solely as a letter theurgist. In his Fat al-mushtarak, Ibn Sab`n includes the doubtful form of letter magic (smy) that Ibn Masarra claimed to have attained as one of five divisions of letter magic generally. In his Rislat al-faqriyya, he again criticizes the alphabetical theurgy of Ibn Masarra al-Jabal (tarf Ibn Masarra al-Jabal f al-urf). In both of these cases Ibn Sab`n speaks negatively of Ibn Masarras letter-magic, but prior to further research, it should not be assumed that these criticisms indicate a complete lack of

254

A lengthier translation, including more of the surrounding context, is provided in chapter two, under the section Muyi al-Dn Ibn al-`Arab. 255 Ibn al-Khab calls him a master of the names [c.f. Heb. baal shem], to whom is credited many works on letter magic (smy) and theurgy (tarf). Iaa, quoted in Taztzn, Ibn Sab`n, p. 84.

116 influence or similarity between the approaches to linguistic theurgy taken by these two mystics. 256 Given the continuous familiarity with Ibn Masarras writings on the part of the generations of mystics known as the school of Murcia, and considering the enormous influence that these people had on later developments in linguistic theurgy (not to mention theosophical Sufism), 257 a further search of the letter-magic literature for references to Ibn Masarra is clearly a desideratum. This area of Islamicate literature is one of the most neglected in the field, and discoveries of important new connections are nearly inevitable. In particular, it would be interesting to know if al-Bn knew Ibn Masarras writings directly; if so, references to Ibn Masarra would likely be legion in the later Islamicate literature on this topic, as so much of it was beholden to al-Bns massive oeuvre. While future research is sure to further enrich our understanding of Ibn Masarra, enough evidence has accumulated for us to say with some confidence that, in

To take an example more or less at random, one can see a similarity in their general definitions of the onto-cosmological status of the letters. According to `Abd al-Raam al-Bism, Ibn Sab`n, in the introduction to his commentary on the Kitb Idrs (The Book of Hermes/Enoch), writes: Know that the letters are the treasure-houses of God, in which are His mysteries, His names, His knowledge, His creative command, His attributes, His power and His intention. Similar statements are made throughout Ibn Masarras Kitb khaw al-urf, such as this: The people of esoteric knowledge (ahl al-`ilm al-bin) assert that the letters which appear at the beginning of the surahs are the source of all things, and from them Gods knowledge is made manifest, as are the Prophets. Sahl b. `Abd Allh al-Tustar has said that they are the primordial dust, which is the root principle of all things at the beginning of their creation. Gods creative command is composed of the letters, and Gods dominion is manifested through them. (Ja`far, Min qay al-fikr, p. 317). 257 This trajectory has also been completely neglected. The commentarial traditions on Ibn al-`Arabs and, to a lesser extent, Ibn Sab`ns works, represent international, centuries-long endeavors involving scores of authors writing in every Islamicate language. Anyone writing a commentary on the Fu al-ikam or the Futt al-Makkiyya (and there are legions of both) would have occasion to comment on Ibn Masarra, as he is mentioned in both. To take just a single example that happens to be at hand, Dad Qayar (d. ca. 1350), in his commentary on the Fu, briefly discusses Ibn Masarra when he comes to the relevant passage in the fa on Abraham. Qayar calls Ibn Masarra a fully realized Shaykh (al-shaykh almuaqqiq), a term of the highest praise in the Akbarian tradition, and then goes on to quote passages from the Futt that make further reference to Ibn Masarra. Shushtars poem on Ibn Sab`ns spiritual forebears has also drawn the attention of commentators, including Ibn `Ajba, and his works might also yield further discussion of Ibn Masarra. See his q al-himam f shar al-ikam and his Futt alilhiyya, published together, both of which comment at various places on this poem (I skimmed both of these works but did not spot any reference to Ibn Masarra; further research is needed).

256

117 addition to his contributions to early Andalus Sufism, Ibn Masarra has a place of honor in the history of Islamicate theurgy.

118 Conclusion

For more than a hundred and fifty years, conjecture and supposition have obscured Ibn Masarras true historical significance and given him a false fame. The mark on the history of Western philosophy that, as an Empedoclean sage, he was thought to have made, we now know to have been utter fiction. He was not, however, without importance in Islamicate intellectual history, and the preceding pages have demonstrated his central role in the interrelated currents of early Sufism and Islamicate magic. The beginnings of a new appreciation of Ibn Masarra have thus emerged, and the sources for a complete reappraisal have been identified. Much work remains to be done, and it is hoped that this thesis will serve, in however small a capacity, as a foundation for those future endeavors.

119

Appendix A Wahb b. Masarra: A Case of Mistaken Identity

In the definitive twentieth-century dictionary of Muslim biography, Khayr al-Dn Zirikls (1893-1976) Alm, there is the following entry for a certain Wahb b. Masarra: Wahb b. Masarra (d. 346/957), Wahb b. Masarra b. Mufarrij b. akm [sic], Ab al-azm al-Tamm al-Hijz [sic], Mlik faqh, of the people of Guadalajara [...]. He died in the region of his birth. He wrote a Kitb fl-sunna wa ithbt al-qadr wal-ruy [a book about prophetic tradition and the affirmation of free will and spiritual vision, though this sentence bears a variety of readings]. Ibn ajar al`Asqaln said: He spoke of things having to do with qadr [i.e., he affirmed a certain amount of freedom of human will, which was perceived as a heretical denial of the omnipotence and omniscience of God], so they censured him on account of that, and the community followed this judgement with regard to his writings. 258

Ibn ajars (d. 1449) notice is a bit shorter than Zirikl indicates. In his Lisn alMzn, he writes: Muammad b. Mufarrij al-Qurub: Ibn al-Fara says, he was forsaken because he proselytized for the heresy (turika li-annahu kna yad`u il bida) of Wahb b. Masarra. Wahb was a Qadirite. 259

Zirikl has misunderstood Ibn ajar here, since the latter says that it was Muammad b. Mufarrij, and not Wahb b. Masarra b. Mufarrij, who was forsaken by the
258 259

Zirikl, A`lm, 8:125, 3rd column; on alwaraq.net, p. 1317. Lisn al-Mzn, on alwaraq.net, p. 984.

120 people, a report from which Zirikl has gotten the mistaken idea that Wahbs works were abandoned. But Zirikl is not alone in his error; Ibn ajar has his information from a mistaken report in Dhahab (d. 1348), one which Dhahab gives twice in similar form, once in his Trkh al-Islm [=TI], and once in his Siyar A`lm al-Nubal [=SAN]. The entry in SAN is somewhat longer, and includes two pieces of information about Ibn Masarra not found in TI. Otherwise the two reports give almost identical information. Below I translate the passage from SAN, noting wherever additional or variant information is found in TI. Wahb b. Masarra b. Mufarrij b. Bakr, Ab al-azm al-Tamm al-Andalus alHijr [TI= al-Hijz] al-Mlik, guardian of knowledge (al-fi) and master of various branches of study. He was born in the 60s of the third century. He studied in Cordoba with Muammad b. Wa al-fi, `Ubayd Allh b. Yay b. Yay, Amad b. al-Ra [sic; read al-Fara], and Ab `Uthmn al-A`nq. In Guadalajara (a city that fell to the enemies) he studied with Muammad b. `Azra [sic: read `Udhra] and Ab Wahb b. Ab Nukhla. He transmitted the Musnad of Ibn Ab Shayba from Ibn Wa. He was a leading scholar [ras; TI= fi] of jurisprudence and a man of great insight in studies of hadith and hadith-biography, pious and godfearing. The young men of his homeland sought him out. He composed a number of [TI= good] works. He spread in Cordoba the [jurisprudential and hadith-related] principles of Ibn Wa which he had learned from the great scholar himself. Among those who studied with him were Ab Muammad al-Qal`, Ab `Abd alRam b. al-`Ajz [TI= Amad b. `Ajz, the father of Shaykh `Abd al-Ram], Muammad b. `Al b. al-Shaykh [TI adds al-Sibt], Ab `Umar Amad b. alJasr and Amad b. al-Qsim al-Thirat. He also took on as disciples those two guardians of knowledge (fiayn), Ibn `Abd al-Barr and Ibn azm. He was in error (kna minhi hafwa) on account of statements about qadr [i.e., he affirmed free human will] we seek refuge in God! Abu Wald b. al-Fara said:

121 Muammad b. Mufarrij al-Qurub 260 was forsaken because he proselytized for the heretical innovation (turika li-annahu kna yad`u il bida) of Wahb b. Masarra. Among the things that have come down to us from Ibn Masarra is his saying that the paradise from which our father Adam was expelled was not a heavenly paradise (jannat al-khuld) but rather an earthly one (jannat fil-ar). In such wise did he obstinately descend to the depths of depravity! alamank, in his refutation of the Bins (raddihi `al biniyya), tells us that Ibn Masarra claimed prophecy and alleged that he heard voices that he could establish within his soul as having come from God. I say: this is not among the kinds of the assumption of prophecy, but is rather among the species of error and stupidity. He died in his home town after returning there from Cordoba, in the middle of Sha`ban in the year 346.

The only constant in all of these passages is a statement that supposedly goes back to Ibn al-Fara, which runs: He [or specifically Muammad b. Mufarrij al-Qurub] was forsaken for proselytizing for the heretical innovation of Wahb b. Masarra. In fact, Ibn al-Fara wrote no such thing. Here is his entry for Wahb b. Masarra from his Trkh `ulam al-Andalus (ed. Codera, Madrid, 1890-1892, and online at alwaraq.net):

1516 [1518 on alwaraq.net]: Wahb b. Masarra b. Mufarrij b. akam al-Tamm, of the people of Guadalajara. His kunya is Ab al-azm. In Cordoba he studied with Muammad b. Wa, `Ubayd Allh b. Yaya, Amad b. Ibrhm al-Fara al-A`nq, Sa`d b. Mu`dh, Ab li Ayyb b. Sulaymn, Aslam b. `Abd al-`Azz, Muammad b. Wald, Ibn Ab Tamm,

So TI; the quotation from Ibn al-Fara in SAN does not include the name, and simply begins turika liannahu...

260

122 Muammad b. `Umar b. Lubba, hir b. `Abd al-`Azz, Amad b. Khlid, Ibn Ayman, Muammad b. Qsim, Qsim b. Abagh, and Ibn Khushan. In Guadalajara he studied with Ab Wahb b. Ab Nukhla, Muammad b. `Udhra, `Al b. al-Hasan, and Muammad b. Ibrhm ayyn. He was a guardian of knowledge (fi) in jurisprudence and a man of great insight in studies of hadith and hadith-biography, pious and godfearing. People would journey from the seaport to study with him. He spread in Cordoba the principles of Ibn Wa that he had studied from him. He transmitted, among other works, the Mudawwana 261 and the Musnad of Ibn Ab Shayba. The whole community (jama`a) of Cordoba and other towns studied with him, and he later returned to his home town. I have this information from Abd Allh b. Muammad al-Tughr, who reported the names of those men from whom [Wahb] transmitted material. From a number of [Wahbs] disciples, with whom I corresponded, I have the following: Wahb b. Masarra God rest his soul died on Sunday night, the fourteenth of Sha`ban, of the year 346, in Guadalajara.

This was obviously Dhahabs primary source for the bulk of his information on Wahb; witness the verbatim quotation of the sentence He was a guardian of knowledge (fi) in jurisprudence and a man of great insight in studies of hadith and hadithbiography, pious and godfearing. The names of Wahbs teachers given in Dhahab can all be found in this report, and the date of death is consistent. Whats missing is the critical passage about someone proselytizing for his heresy. As noted above, Dhahab names this proselytizer in his Trkh al-Islm Muammad b. Mufarrij al-Qurub and in Ibn al-Fara one finds the following entry for this same individual:

261

The important Mlik fiqh text by Sann b. Sa`d al-Tankh (d. 854).

123 1329 [1331 on alwaraq.net]: Muammad b. Mufarrij b. `Abd Allh b. Mufarrij alMu`fir, of the people of Cordoba. His kunya is Ab `Abd Allh, and he was known as al-Fann. He studied with Qim b. Abagh and others. On his journeys to the east, he studied with Ibn al-A`rb in Mecca and, in Bara, with `Abd al-Mlik b. Muammad b. Bar b. Shdhn al-Jallb. In Basra he also met Ab Ja`far Amad b. Muammad al-Naas, and transmitted from him his works on Quranic readings and lexicography, the abrogating and abrogated verses, and other subjects. He was the first to introduce the transmission of these books into al-Andalus. He was an adherent of the school of Ibn Masarra and proselytized for it (yu`taqida madhhab Ibn Masarra wa yad`u ilayh). Since he had little information to transmit, the people left off (taraka al-ns) taking [transmitted material] from him. He died on Saturday night, the sixth of Ramadan of the year 371.

The Ibn Masarra mentioned in this report, for whom Muammad b. Mufarrij was a missionary, is without doubt our Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Masarra (d. 319/931), not Wahb. Clearly, Dhahab has mistakenly conflated the Ibn Masarra mentioned in this entry with Wahb b. Masarra, a completely orthodox transmitter of hadith whose good reputation is otherwise universally upheld in the literature. We can also say without doubt that this entry of Ibn al-Faras on Muammad b. Mufarrij was Dhahabs ultimate source for his confused statements about Wahb. First of all, as already noted, Dhahab mentions this fellow by name in Trkh al-Islm. Secondly, it is extremely rare to find individuals described in the literature as open missionaries for Ibn Masarra; Ibn al-Fara says this of only two other people (Muammad al-Qays alQurub and `Abd al-`Azz b. al-Imm al-Qurub), and in neither case does he use the verb da`a. Third, and most importantly, this entry describes Muammad b. Mufarrij as having been forsaken, abandoned, turika, though the verb here is active rather than

124 passive; its passive in Dhahab. Note, though, that Dhahab has gotten this detail mixed up as well, since Ibn al-Fara does not state that Ibn Mufarrij was forsaken on account of his adherence to or missionary work for the teachings of Ibn Masarra, but rather due to the fact that he had little that people wanted to learn from him (kna qall al-`ilm addath).

Though thus full of misunderstandings, Dhahabs report is actually quite significant for the study of Ibn Masarra. Interestingly, Dhahab has been almost completely neglected in the scholarship on Ibn Masarra, 262 despite the fact that he mentions him or his father at least eleven times in TI and thrice in SAN, not counting the entries on Wahb. Most of these instances follow earlier sources, principally Ibn alFara, but the new information in these entries on Wahb invites a careful comparison to see if his works hold other revelations for our knowledge of the Masarriyya.

Dhahabs report contributes three important pieces of information with regard to Ibn Masarra (the fact that Muammad b. Mufarrij was a follower and open supporter of Ibn Masarra has long been known; see Asin, Mystical Philosophy, p. 97; Ibn Masarras qadarism, or his affirmation of free will, is also mentioned in earlier sources, including Ibn azm). First of all, Dhahab informs us that: Among the things that have come down to us from Ibn Masarra is his saying that the paradise from which our father Adam was expelled was not a heavenly paradise (jannat al-khuld) but rather an earthly one
With the exception of Fierro and Zanon, Andaluses en dos obras de al-Dhahab, p. 187, who note in passing that Dhahab has confused Wahb for Muammad b. Masarra in this case. They do not discuss the content of these notices in Dhahab, however. Fierro discusses some of this content in two articles, cited below.
262

125 (janna fl-ar). 263 No other known source on Ibn Masarra attributes this thesis to him, nor does he discuss this in either of his two extant writings. There is, however, a lengthy discussion and refutation of this thesis in Ibn azms Fal, where it is attributed to Mundhir b. Sa`d. 264 Mundhir b. Sa`d (d. 355/966) was a Mu`tazil and proponent of the hir legal madhhab, though even with these two strikes against his orthodoxy (in the Andalus context) he was appointed supreme q of Cordoba by Caliph `Abd al-Raman III, the highest magistracy in the kingdom. 265 Three of his sons and one of his nephews are recorded in the early literature as adherents of Ibn Masarra, and his son akam was one of Ibn azms principal sources for the doctrines of the Masarriyya.266 These details make Dhahabs ascription of this thesis to Ibn Masarra quite plausible; at the very least, it was probably a belief of the later Masarriyya. 267

Secondly, Dhahab provides us with an additional independent confirmation that Ab `Umar al-alamank (d. 1038) wrote a radd work denouncing the teachings of Ibn Masarra, and Dhahab is the only witness to this work being a radd `al biniyya. In the

See Q 2:36f., where Adam, Eve and Ibls (Lucifer) are told to get down ... to earth, the basis for the orthodox understanding of Eden (`Adn) as heavenly. 264 Kitb al-fal f milal, vol. 4, pp. 82f., in the chapter al-kalm f khalq al-janna wal-nr 265 See Asn, Mystical Philosophy, Appendix II, no. VII. Cf. Fierro, `Abd al-Rahman III, pp. 128ff., where she notes that Mundhir denied the charges of Mu`tazilism and that he was in charge of the persecution against the Masarris, who were often accused of Mu`tazilism. This would appear to be purely inferential, as Mundhir is not named in the sources as participating in the actual persecution, though he was the q of Cordoba during part of the period in question (952-957). Ibn ayyns sources, in Muqtabas V, refer rather to caliphal viziers being given this responsibility, in particular al-wazr ib al-madna, `Abd Allh b. Badr (pp. 24f.). 266 Mundhirs sons akam, Sa`d, and `Abd al-Wahhb are all identified as Masarrs (the first two in Ibn alAbbr, the latter in Ibn Bashkuwl), as is his nephew Muammad b. Fal Allh b. Sa`d (in Ibn al-Abbr). 267 For more on the Islamic theological approach to the question of the status of the janna from which Adam was expelled, see al-Shibl (d. 1367), Kitb al-km, pp. 201-204; Shibl cites Ibn azm and refers to Mundhir and his views as well. Shibl observes that the majority of commentators have held that [the paradise from which Adam was expelled] was in heaven and was the Paradise of refuge (jannat al-maw), in accordance with the outward sense of the verses [of the Qurn] and the prophetic traditions, p. 202.

263

126 introduction to his translation of Khushans abaqt al-`ulam Ifrqiyya, Ben Cheneb reported that a manuscript in the Khaldunian Museum of Tunis gave an extensive bibliography of alamanks work, among which was a kitb yashtamil `al ashy fhi kashf madhhab Muammad b. Masarra ajz kathra (a book comprising many sections, among which was an expos of the school of Muammad b. Masarra). This datum was repeated by Asn (Mystical Philosopy, p. 99) and Morris (Reconsideration, p. iii). Until Fierro spotted these lines of Dhahab, the note by Ben Cheneb was the sole piece of evidence known to modern scholars that alamank wrote such a work. 268 Recently, though, I have discovered two additional witnesses to this work, one earlier and one later than Dhahab. In his Tartb al-madrik, Q `Iy (d. 1149) gives the following biographical notice for this man:269 Amad b. Muammad b. `Abd Allh b. Ab `s (aka Lubb) b. Yay b. Muammad b. Quzalmn 270 al-Mu`fir, from alamanka, on the eastern coast of al-Andalus; he lived in Cordoba and studied with the scholars thereof, including Ibn Mufarraj, Ibn `Awn Allh, 271 Ab Muammad al-Qal`, Ibn `s, Ab al-Qsim Khalaf b. Muammad, Zakariyy b. Khlid, Ibn Nir al-Sibt, Ibn Nu`mn alAnk, Ibn Zarb, 272 usayn Bundil(?), al-Zubayd, 273 `Abbs b. Abagh, Muammad b. Khalfa, Maslama b. Batr, Ibn Jandal, and Ibn Balkwash(?). He made a rila to the East and met with the communities of scholars [in the cities thereof]. [Names various Eastern teachers, and a handful of people who
Fierro, The Polemic about the karmt al-awliy, p. 247 and n. 103. Fierro doesnt allude to the fact here that the line in question has been mistakenly associated by Dhahab with Wahb instead of Muammad b. Masarra. She discusses this source again in Binism in al-Andalus, p. 103. 269 Though not mentioned in this notice, one of alamanks students was Ibn azm. 270 Possibly a misprint for Qarluman, which is how Cornell spells it, Mirrors of Prophethood, p. 182, top of chart. 271 This important scholar, a student of Ibn al-A`rb, also taught `Abd Allh b. Muammad b. Nar b. Abya al-Umaw, another author of a radd work against Ibn Masarra (not known to be extant). 272 Muammad b. Yabq b. Zarb (d. 381/991), also credited with having written a work in radd `al Ibn Masarra (not known to be extant). 273 al-Zubayd (d. 379/988) also wrote a work against Ibn Masarra, entitled Hatk sutr al-mulidn (not known to be extant).
268

127 transmitted from him]. He specialized in the sciences of the holy law (`ulum alshari`a) and mastered [the study of] the Quran and adth. He composed many works, large and small, such as his Kitb al-dall il ma`rifa al-jall, in one hundred sections, a commentary on the Quran, a Kitb al-bayn f i`rb alQurn, a book on the excellent qualities of Mlik (fail Mlik), a biographical work on men named in the Muwaa [of Mlik], a Kitb al-radd `al Ibn Masarra, a Kitb al-wul il ma`rifat al-ul, and others. [A number of remarks by other scholars in praise of Amads knowledge and personal qualities are quoted; one man called him a sword unto the heretical innovations]. He lived and taught in Cordoba, and subsequently in the towns of Almeria, Ilbra, and Saraqusa. Then he retired to his native alamanka, living in seclusion and dying there at the beginning of Muharram of the year 429 (some say Dhul-Hijja, 428), having lived to be nearly ninety, still of sound mind. He was born in 340. 274

The other witness to this radd is the Dbj al-Mudhahhab of Ibn Farn (d. 1397), where, in a brief biographical notice on alamank, he attributes to him a kitb al-radd `al Abi Masarra, an obvious mistake for Ibn Masarra. 275 In any case, Dhahabs reference to this text is important in that it refers to the actual contents, and not simply the title, of a refutation of Ibn Masarra. While nearly a dozen such radd works are known all of which were written within a hundred years of the death of Ibn Masarra none have survived, and none of the references to these works, except for Dhahab here, provide any information about their contents. 276 Dhahabs citation also raises the possibility that alamank wrote about Ibn Masarra in more than one work. Dhahabs citation refers to

Tartb al-madrik, on alwaraq.net, p. 552. The mistake may be a typo exclusive to the online text of the work at alwaraq.net; I have been unable to consult a printed edition. 276 Ibn Abya al-Umaws radd work was said by Ibn Bashkuwl to have been large, containing many adth and proof-texts; we are not told anything of the nature of the contents, however. It is possible that Ibn ayyn preserves something of al-Zubayds radd work; see chapter two, entries under Muammad alZubayd and Ibn ayyn.
275

274

128 a radd `al biniyya, while the other sources refer to a radd `al Ibn Masarra, though neither of these are necessarily book titles. That Dhahab knew more of this work than simply the title is also an indication that at least one radd work against Ibn Masarra was still in circulation in the fourteenth century.

The third piece of new information provided by Dhahab is Ibn Masarras claim to prophecy, which Dhahab transmits from Talamank. This can be seen as support for Ibn azms report that Ibn Masarra taught the possibility of man acquiring the gift of prophecy (iktisb al-nubuwwa), in the sense that, when he reaches the goal (ghya) of purification and spiritual limpidity of the soul, he attains the status of the prophet. 277 Ibn azm was told this by Masarrs, and he goes on to say that the passages of Ibn Masarras works which these Masarrs showed him tended to confirm this. Ibn Masarras surviving works do not contain claims to prophecy or to hearing divine voices, nor do any of the other sources attribute such claims to him. Their plausibility, however, in light of Ibn azms report, is high. Note that Ibn Masarras Kitb khaw al-urf is of a genre of occult-science literature that was very much concerned with the acquisition of prophecy. Perhaps more importantly, both of the surviving works of Ibn Masarra refer to the possibility of the human intellect reaching the same truths as prophecy, which is obviously relevant to Ibn azms comment.

For ease of reference, I give below the Arabic texts translated and discussed above.

277

Fal 4:199, following Asns trans., Mystical Philosophy, p. 91.

921 Dhahab, Siyar a`lm al-nubal`, p. 1989 on alwaraq.net . . . . . . . . . . : . .

.Dhahab, Trkh al-Islm, p. 2599 on alwaraq.net : . : . : . . . . . : . : . . . : .

Ibn ajar, Lisn al-Mzn, p. 984 on alwaraq

031 : : .

.7131 .Zirikl (b. 1893), A`lm, p )00 - 643 00 - 759 ( : ) ( . . . . ) ( :

872 .961 .Ibn al-Fara, Trkh `ulam al-Andalus, alwaraq p 1331- : : : . : . : : : : . : . . : . . : .

.991 .Ibn al-Fara, Trkh, alwaraq p 8151- : : . : . : . : . . . : .

872

,6151 Note that in the printed edition, these two entries from Ibn al-Fara are numbered 1329 and .respectively

131

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