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Al-Sha'rani

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Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (1492/3–1565, AH 898–973, full name Arabic: عبد الوهاب ابن أحمد الشعرانى ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Aḥmad ash-Shaʿrānī) was a highly influential Egyptian scholar.[2] He was an eminent jurist, traditionist, historian, mystic and theologian.[3][4][5][6] He is credited for spreading Islam and is one of the most prolific writers of the early Egyptian-Ottoman period.[7][8] His legal, spiritual, and theological writings are still widely read in the Muslim world today.[9]

'Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani
عبد الوهاب ابن أحمد الشعرانى
Personal
Born1493
Cairo, Mamluk Sultanate
Died5 December 1565(1565-12-05) (aged 71–72)
Cairo, Egypt Eyalet, Ottoman Empire
ReligionIslam
RegionEgypt
DenominationSunni
SchoolShafi'i
CreedAshari[1]
Main interest(s)Fiqh, Hadith, History, Tasawwuf
Alma materAl-Azhar University
Muslim leader
Influenced by
Influenced

Name and Origin

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Al-Sha'rani claimed that Musa Abu 'Imran, the son of the Sultan of Tlemcen in North Africa, was his ancestor five generations ago. Sheikh Abu Madyan Shu'ayb, the Shadhili Sufi tradition's founder, sent Musa to Egypt as one of his disciples. The family finally made their home in the Monufia province's Sakiyat Abu Sha'ra village, hence the name "Sha'rani."[10]

Biography

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Birth

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In a village north of Cairo, Egypt Abd al-Wahhab Ibn Ahmad al-Sha'rani was born in the years 898 or 899 A.H. (1492/1493 C.E.).

Education

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Despite the fact that he lost his father when he was still a little child, he started his quest for knowledge at a young age. Under the guidance of his brother, he had memorised the Qur'an by the time he was seven years old. He relocated to Cairo with an aim of studying at Al-Azhar University, where he would flourish in his quest for knowledge. He had memorised countless scriptures from all the sacred disciplines in a short period of time. These manuscripts ranged in length from hundreds to thousands of pages and they include Al-Minhaj by Al-Nawawi, Alfiyyah Malik by Ibn Malik, Al-Tawhid by Ibn Hisham, and other valuable books. He also memorized the book “Al-Rawd Mukhtasar Al-Rawdah”, which is considered one of the most comprehensive books on the jurisprudence of the Shafi’i school. It was in this school where he gained his high fame.[11] Al-Sha'rani's impressive study of all four schools of Islamic jurisprudence places him among the elite and of the few Islamic scholars in history to master all four Sunni Madhhabs. He was in love with hadith sciences and exhaustively worked hard in mastering it and he took the path of Sufism and strived for himself after mastering the Arabic sciences.[12]

Teachers

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Al-Sha'rani elaborated extensively in mentioning his sheikhs in his books, and showed the extent of his veneration for them, especially in his book “Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra”, and mentioned that they are about fifty of them. Al-Sha'rani gained the blessings of the shiekhs of many Sufi Orders.[10] Among his teachers were:

Death

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Al-Sha’rani died on 12 Jumada 973 AH/5 December 1565 AD). His final words were: “I am going to my Lord, the Merciful, the Munificent.”[14] He was buried in the Zawiya that had been created for him. As the leader of Zawiya and the tariqa, his son 'Abd al-Rahim succeeded him.[10]

Views

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His seminal work Al-Mīzan al-Kubra (The Supreme Scale), al-Sha'rani present a theory based on Sufi presumptions that strives to unite or at least equalise the four madhabs and emphasises the need to reduce the gaps between them. In contrast to the opinions held by their narrow-minded imitators (Muqallid), he thought there were no fundamental differences between the founders of the madhab. As saints, the founders had access to the Source of the Law. There is only one Sharia, he claims, and it has two standards: one that is harsh for those who are steadfast in their faith and one that is lenient for those who are not. Al-Sha'rani often condemned the fuqaha (jurists) for burdening the common people with intricate legal issues that had little bearing on the core principles of Islam.[15][10]

Al-Sha'rani exposed frauds and impostors posing as Sufis in his work al-Tabaqat. He was very critical and harsh towards charlatans who engage in innovation that go against the Book and Sunnah.[14]

In his capacity as a historian of Sufism and as a defender of it, Al-Sha'rani assembled collections of Tabakat that contained the lives and sayings of Sufis. He maintains that genuine Sufis have never violated the Shar'ia in word or deed, and that any appearance to the contrary is the result of misunderstanding, erroneous interpretation, a lack of comprehension of Sufi terminology, or interpolation by adversaries. Al-Sha'rani made this decision to uphold the orthodoxy of the great mystic Shaykh al-Akhbar Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi, whose principles he epitomises in his Al-Yawakit wa 'I-djawahir by simplifying the mystic's complex doctrines. Al-Sha'rani, like Al-Suyuti before him, maintained that one should regard Ibn Arabi as a great saint but refrain from reading his problematic books.[16][10]

Works

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  • Al-Ajwiba-t al-Marḍiyya
  • Al-Kibrīt al-Aḥmar
  • Al-Mīzan al-Kubra (The Supreme Scale) [Arabic ed. Cairo: al-Maṭābi` al-Amīriyya, 1900. 2 vols.]
  • Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (The supreme levels)
  • Lata'if al-minan wa al-akhlaq (Subtleties of gifts and character)
  • Lawaqih al-anwar al-qudsiyya (The fecundating sacred illuminations)
  • Kitab al-yawaqit wa al-jawahir fī bayan 'aqa'id al-akabir (The book of rubies and jewels: an explanation of the tenets of faith of mystic luminaries).
  • Al-Jawahir wa al-Durar (The jewels and pearls)
  • Durar al-Ghawas li sayyidi Ali al-Khawas
  • Al-Kawkab al-shahiq fī al-farq bayn al-Mureed al-sadiq wa Ghayri sadiq
  • Mawazin al-qaswirin min shuyukhin wa muridin
  • al-Fulk al-mashḥūn fī bayān anna l-taṣawwuf huwa mā takhluqu bihi al-'ulamā' al-'āmilūn
  • Muẖtaṣar taḏkira-t as-Suwaydī fī l-ṭibb

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Spevack, Aaron (2014). The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bajuri. State University of New York Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-4384-5370-5.
  2. ^ Amy Singer, Michael Bonner, Mine Ener (17 July 2003). Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts. State University of New York Press. p. 230. ISBN 9780791457375.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Choueiri, Youssef M. (2 September 2008). A Companion to the History of the Middle East. Wiley. p. 120. ISBN 9781405183796.
  4. ^ Carl F. Petry, M. Daly (10 December 1998). The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 26.
  5. ^ Katz, Marion H. (6 May 2013). Prayer in Islamic Thought and Practice. Cambridge University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780521887885.
  6. ^ Martin, B. G. (13 February 2003). Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 32. ISBN 9780521534512.
  7. ^ Woodhead, Christine, ed. (15 December 2011). The Ottoman World. Routledge. ISBN 9781136498947 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Willis, John R. (3 April 2013). In the Path of Allah 'Umar, An Essay Into the Nature of Charisma in Islam'. Taylor & Francis. p. 164. ISBN 9781136283505.
  9. ^ "Our Pledge with the Prophet: The Muhammadan Covenants By Imam al-Sha'rani". almadina.org.
  10. ^ a b c d e Hanif, N. (2002). Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis Africa and Europe. Sarup & Sons. p. 171-2. ISBN 9788176252676.
  11. ^ "Who is Imam Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani?". mufakeroon.com.
  12. ^ Al-Shaarani, Flags of Islam, authored by: Tawfiq Al-Taweel.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani and His al-Minan al-Kubra". traversingtradition.com.
  14. ^ a b "Sayyidina Abdul Wahhab Al-Sha'rani". mazaratmisr.org.
  15. ^ This issue is partially discussed by Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim, "Al-Sha`rani's Response to Legal Purism: A Theory of Legal Pluralism", in Islamic Law and Society, vol. 20 (2013, pp. 110-140.
  16. ^ Spevack, Aaron (2014). The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of Al-Bajuri. State University of New York Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4384-5370-5.

Sources

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  • C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL), 1st edition, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1889–1936), vol. 2, pp. 335–8.
  • M. Winter, 'Shaʿrānī' in Gibbs et al. (eds.), The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 11 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960–2002), vol. 9, p. 316.
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