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Sufi Hermeneutics The Quran Commentary On Rashid Al-din Maybudi
Synopsis
This is the first major study in a Western language of Rashid al-Din Maybudi’s Persian commentary on the Noble Qur’an, Kashf al-asrar wa ‘uddat al-abrar (Unveiling of Mysteries and Provision of the Righteous). The book explores how hermeneutics and doctrine interact in the writing of a Sufi commentary on the Qur’an and introduces an important Persian tafsir to new audiences.
Previously little known outside the Persian-speaking world, Maybudi’s Kashf al-asrar is today recognised as a work of considerable significance not only for an understanding of the development of Sufi hermeneutics, but also as a treasury of Sufi lore; the extensive esoteric sections of the commentary, which cover over a thousand pages, contain countless sayings and anecdotes of important figures in Islamic mysticism as well as detailed expositions of the doctrines of Sufism. Commenced in 520/1126 CE during one of the most exciting periods in Sufism’s history, the Kashf al-asrar is based on, and probably embodies, the only surviving text of an earlier Qur’an commentary by the famous Hanbali mystic, ‘Abd Allah al-Ansari (d. 481/1089 CE). Extant in over fifty manuscripts, the Kashf al-asrar may be counted among the most popular Persian tafsirs. Moreover, the emerging doctrines and poetic language of love-mysticism manifested in the text were to become essential elements in later Persian Sufi literature, influencing the style and content of Kamal al-Din Wa‘iz Kashifi’s (d. 910/1504 CE) Mawahib ‘Aliyya in Persian and Isma‘il Haqqi Burusawi’s (d. 1137/1724 CE) Ruh al-bayan in Arabic.
In her detailed analysis of the Kashf al-asrar, Annabel Keeler explores the way in which hermeneutics and doctrine interact in a Sufi commentary on the Qur’an. Like earlier works in the field of Sufi exegesis, such as those by Louis Massignon, Henri Corbin, Paul Nwyia, Gerhard Böwering and Pierre Lory, her study pays close attention to the relat
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Author: Dr Annabel Keeler
Pages: 406
Price: £55.00
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