Palimpsests of Themselves

Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program

from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and
reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases
the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published
in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high
standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as
those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org
 THE BERKELEY SERIES IN POSTCLASSICAL ISLAMIC SCHOLARSHIP
Series Editors
Asad Q. Ahmed, University of California, Berkeley
Margaret Larkin, University of California, Berkeley
1. The Light of the World: Astronomy in al-Andalus, by Joseph Ibn Naḥmias and edited, trans-
lated, and with a commentary by Robert G. Morrison
2. Language between God and the Poets: Ma‘nā in the Eleventh Century, by Alexander Key
3. R
 eason and Revelation in Byzantine Antioch: The Christian Translation Program of Abdallah
ibn-al-Faḍl, by Alexandre M. Roberts
4. Avicenna’s Theory of Science: Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology, by Riccardo Strobino
5. P
 alimpsests of Themselves: Logic and Commentary in Postclassical Muslim South Asia,
by Asad Q. Ahmed
 Palimpsests of Themselves
Logic and Commentary in Postclassical Muslim South Asia

Asad Q. Ahmed

UNIVERSIT Y OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

University of California Press
Oakland, California

© 2022 by Asad Ahmed

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons [CC BY-NC-ND] license.

To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses.

Suggested citation: Ahmed, A. Q. Palimpsests of Themselves: Logic and

Commentary in Postclassical Muslim South Asia. Oakland: University of
California Press, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.127

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978–0-520–34465–5 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978–0-520–97576–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

28  27  26  25  24  23  22
10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
 ‫‪For Marjaan‬‬

‫���ا � ہے ب �� ی�کرا ن��ہ‬ ‫�ك‬

‫ت��اروں ى ف ض‬
‫��‬
‫ت��و ب ھی ی��ہ �م ق�ام آ�ر�ز و �کر‬

‫‪—Muḥammad Iqbāl, Bāl-e Jibrīl‬‬

‫ص ْد ِري َويَسِّرْ لِي أَ ْم ِري َواحْ لُلْ ُع ْق َدةً ِّمن لِّ َسانِي يَ ْفقَهُوا قَوْ لِي‬
‫َربِّ ا ْش َرحْ لِي َ‬
‫‪Qurʾān, 20:25–28‬‬

‫ا� غ� ی�ر سے �ک ی�ا ش�رح آ�ر�ز و �کر�تے“‬

‫” �ز ب�� ن‬
‫�گ‬
‫وہ خ��ود ا�گر �ک ہ� ی�ں �مل ت�ا ت��و ف� ت�گو �کر�تے‬
‫”‪— Muṣṭafā Zaydī, “Zabān-e Ghayr‬‬
‫”‪adapted from Ḥaydar ʿAlī Ātish, “Yeh ārzū thī‬‬