{"id":2049,"date":"2022-10-07T02:06:17","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T02:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/?p=2049"},"modified":"2022-10-07T15:32:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T15:32:25","slug":"the-thrill-of-the-find-subkis-quran-commentary-in-osterreichische-nationalbibliothek-2052-cod-mixt-780","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/?p=2049","title":{"rendered":"The Thrill of the Find: Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary in \u00d6sterreichische Nationalbibliothek 2052 (Cod. Mixt. 780)*"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Shuaib ALLY<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I am fairly certain I found a copy Ibn \u1e24ajar had come across of Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary. I am excited about this lucky discovery because it is tangible evidence for a network of readership, and also because it establishes Subk\u012b as a known Qur\u2019anic exegete. It is these types of discoveries that are the most gratifying and keep the process of scholarship interesting, so I will tell you all about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was working on an article about the reception of a Qur\u2019an commentary by Zamakhshar\u012b in Mamluk Cairo and Damascus, around the thirteenth to sixteenth century. Zamakhshar\u012b was an early twelfth century Persian scholar who wrote a Qur\u2019an commentary called The Unveiler of the Realities of Revelation and Selected Opinions on Aspects of Interpretation<\/em> (Arabic: al-Kashsh\u0101f \u02bfan \u1e25aq\u0101\u02beiq al-tanz\u012bl wa \u02bfuy\u016bn al-aq\u0101w\u012bl f\u012b wuj\u016bh al-ta\u02bew\u012bl<\/em>). This book was met with wide acclaim across the Islamic world because it adapted methods of language interpretation from the fields of Arabic linguistics and literary theory to the study of the Qur\u2019an. This allowed a deeper analysis of the language and style of the Qur\u2019an than the commentary tradition had previously engaged in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The article I was writing was about whether, as has previously been thought, Mamluk era scholars nevertheless held a negative attitude towards Zamakhshar\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary because the author held theological (Mu\u02bftazilite) beliefs that did not conform to the dominant (Ash\u02bfarite) theological school in Mamluk Cairo and Damascus. This article, \u2018Forbidding the Reading of the Kashsh\u0101f<\/em>,\u2019 was recently published<\/a> in Asiatische Studien<\/em>. In short, it turns out that the evidence for this negative positionality is largely exaggerated: the author or the work\u2019s heterodox opinions did not prevent Mamluk scholars from holding the work up as the standard for Qur\u2019an commentary. It was widely used in teaching and research, and it even precipitated a new type of commentary, the supercommentary, because the extra attention this work received meant that commentaries began to be written on it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the Mamluk era scholars I began working on in connection to this project was Taq\u012b al-D\u012bn al-Subk\u012b (d. 756\/1355). Subk\u012b was a prominent jurist from the fourteenth century and one of the most well-known members of the Subk\u012b family, which produced a number of other notable scholars, including two of Subk\u012b\u2019s sons, T\u0101j al-D\u012bn and Bah\u0101\u02be al-D\u012bn. Taq\u012b al-D\u012bn al-Subk\u012b had a long history of studying, teaching and using Zamakhshar\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary in research. Shortly before he died, he had a change of heart. Troubled by some of the content of this work, he swore to never teach it again. This episode was discussed by Walid Saleh previously in an article<\/a> called \u2018The Gloss as Intellectual History: The \u1e24\u0101shiyahs<\/em> on al-Kashsh\u0101f\u2019<\/em> and precipitated my interest in Subk\u012b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began looking into Subk\u012b\u2019s activities related to Qur\u2019an commentary to see if I could determine how he had used the Kashsh\u0101f<\/em>, and to track his use of that work over time. Subk\u012b had written a Qur\u2019an commentary called The Strung Pearl: Explaining the Glorious Qur\u02be\u0101n<\/em> (Arabic: al-Durr al-na\u1e93\u012bm f\u012b tafs\u012br al-Qur\u02be\u0101n al-\u02bfa\u1e93\u012bm<\/em>). Not much is known about this work; no one appears to have worked on this commentary in secondary scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subk\u012b seems to have started writing this work early on in his scholarly career, and probably envisioned it to cover the whole Qur\u2019an in its completed form. For whatever reason, he never got around to finishing it. This could have been due to the many official judicial, administrative, and teaching appointments he ended up holding as he progressed as a scholar. The difficulty in finishing projects because of increasing appointments is probably something the modern scholar of the academy can sympathize with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary did not enjoy much of a scholarly reception, possibly because it was never finished. There are also hardly any copies of the work extant, which corroborates this lack of reception. There are only two volumes of the larger work available. One is Ambrosiana 475. C219. It covers in commentary a sizable chunk of the Qur\u2019an, from verse 35 of chapter 19 (al-Kahf<\/em>, The Cave<\/em>) to the end chapter 37 (al-\u1e62\u0101ff\u0101t<\/em>, In Rows<\/em>). This volume was copied in 1164\/1751, four hundred years after Subk\u012b. Even though the work did not garner much of a reception, at least part of it had remained extant such that it could be copied significantly later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second copy is held at the Austrian National Library in Vienna 2052 (Cod. Mixt. 780). This copy is unavailable for physical use because of damage. However, it has been digitized in high quality and is available<\/a> on the Austrian National Library site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a two-volume copy; it covers, in this order, from the beginning of chapter 48 (al-Fat\u1e25<\/em>, The<\/em> Victory<\/em>) to verse seven of chapter 59 (al-\u1e24ashr<\/em>, The Mobilization<\/em>). It then covers the first seven verses of chapter 14 (Ibr\u0101h\u012bm<\/em>, Abraham<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When writing a commentary, scholars did not necessarily start writing them from the beginning of the work they were commenting upon, such as the Qur\u2019an; they often started at some other point, and later may have filled in the other sections to make a complete work. They may then have gone back and revised the previously written sections to polish the work as a whole. Other times, their commentary might simply remain on portions of the Qur\u2019an, either because they only intended to write on that portion, or because they never got around to finishing the project. This practice was facilitated by the nature of the chapters of the Qur\u2019an, which are discrete units and not necessarily chapters in an order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This volume of Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary is an example of this writing process, where the material written does not correspond to the order of the codified Qur\u2019an: he wrote a commentary on eleven or so chapters towards the end of the Qur\u2019an, in order, and did not finish commenting upon the final chapter (chapter 59) in that series, which has 24 verses. Instead of finishing that chapter, he then went back to start writing on a solitary chapter (chapter 14) much earlier in the Qur\u2019an, which he also did not complete. This overall process of writing and\/or compilation, incidentally, is not much different from the writing of a monograph or other large project today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These judgements about authorial process can be made because the Vienna copy was written by Subk\u012b himself (it is an autograph), which is exciting! Here is a note in his hand that he wrote to sign off a section (a colophon) of this copy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure\u00a01: Taq\u012b al-D\u012bn al-Subk\u012b,\u00a0al-Durr al-na\u1e93\u012bm f\u012b tafs\u012br al-Qur\u02be\u0101n al-\u02bfa\u1e93\u012bm<\/em>,<\/span>
\u00a0\u00d6sterreichische Nationalbibliothek 2052 (Cod. Mixt. 780),<\/span>
folio 192a. Courtesy: Austrian National Library.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Arabic, this reads: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u062a\u0645 \u062a\u0641\u0633\u064a\u0631 \u0647\u0630\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0648\u0631\u0629\u060c \u0648\u0628\u062a\u0645\u0627\u0645\u0647 \u062a\u0645 \u0647\u0630\u0627 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062c\u0644\u062f \u0628\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u062a\u0639\u0627\u0644\u0649\u060c \u0648\u0630\u0644\u0643 \u0641\u064a \u064a\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u062d\u062f \u062b\u0627\u0644\u062b \u0639\u0634\u0631 \u0630\u064a \u0627\u0644\u062d\u062c\u0629 \u0633\u0646\u0629 \u0623\u0631\u0628\u0639 \u0648\u062b\u0644\u0627\u062b\u064a\u0646 \u0648\u0633\u0628\u0639\u0645\u0627\u0626\u0629 \u0648\u0647\u0648 \u064a\u0648\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0641\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u062b\u0627\u0646\u064a \u0645\u0646 \u0645\u0646\u0649. \u063a\u0641\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0644\u0646\u0627 \u0645\u0639 \u0645\u0646 \u0646\u0641\u0631 \u0645\u0646\u0647\u0627\u060c \u0648\u0644\u0622\u0628\u0627\u0626\u0646\u0627 \u0648\u0623\u0645\u0647\u0627\u062a\u0646\u0627 \u0648\u0623\u0648\u0644\u0627\u062f\u0646\u0627 \u0648\u0623\u0647\u0644\u064a\u0646\u0627 \u0648\u0645\u0646 \u0623\u062d\u0628\u0646\u0627 \u0648\u0623\u062d\u0628\u0628\u0646\u0627\u0647 \u0648\u0644\u062c\u0645\u064a\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u0644\u0645\u064a\u0646\u060c \u0648\u062e\u062a\u0645 \u0644\u0646\u0627 \u0628\u062e\u064a\u0631 \u0648\u062d\u0634\u0631\u0646\u0627 \u0641\u064a \u0632\u0645\u0631\u0629 \u0646\u0628\u064a\u0646\u0627 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0635\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u064a\u0647 \u0648\u0633\u0644\u0645. \u0648\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0645\u0635\u0646\u0641\u0647 \u0639\u0644\u064a \u0628\u0646 \u0639\u0628\u062f \u0627\u0644\u0643\u0627\u0641\u064a \u0628\u0646 \u0639\u0644\u064a \u0628\u0646 \u062a\u0645\u0627\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0628\u0643\u064a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In English:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of the commentary of this chapter, and with its end, thus ends this volume, with the praise of God the Most High. This is on Sunday, the thirteenth of Dh\u016b-l-\u1e24ijjah, year seven hundred and thirty four, the day of the second departure from Min\u0101. May God forgive us along with those who departed from there, and our fathers, our mothers, our children, our families, those who love us and those we love, and all Muslims; and grant us a good end, and resurrect us in the group of our Prophet Muhammad \u2013 God send peace and blessings upon him! Written by its author, \u02bfAl\u012b b. \u02bfAbd al-K\u0101f\u012b b. \u02bfAl\u012b b. Tam\u0101m al-Subk\u012b.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018day of the second departure from Min\u0101\u2019 Subk\u012b mentions in this note is a reference to one of the pilgrimage rites. Pilgrims stay overnight in the Min\u0101 valley and leave there to Makka either on the twelfth or the thirteenth of Dh\u016b-l-\u1e24ijjah<\/em>, in the hijri calendar. Subk\u012b\u2019s reference to this date and his prayer for those departing is a possible indication that he was among them. The date from this note is 734 AH (1334 CE). Subk\u012b would become chief judge of Damascus a few years later, in 739 AH (1339 CE), and would subsequently take up a number of prestigious teaching positions there as well.  It is possible that this was one of the reasons his work on the commentary stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, while a closer look at what is extant of Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary in these two copies is deserved, it was clear to me even from a cursory look that Zamakhshar\u012b was one of the primary interlocutors of Subk\u012b\u2019s work in this period of his life and scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of my interest in Subk\u012b, I also began looking into biographical notices about him recorded in medieval biographical dictionaries and chronicles. One of these biographical dictionaries was written by Ibn \u1e24ajar (d. 852\/1449), a fifteenth century scholar and judge. He remains one of the most immediately recognizable scholars in Islamic history because of a commentary he wrote on a collection of highly authenticated reports of Prophetic sayings and activities, which he called Inspiration of the Creator<\/em> (Fat\u1e25 al-b\u0101r\u012b<\/em>). This commentary continues to be consulted today for interpreting Prophetic reports. Ibn \u1e24ajar\u2019s biographical dictionary was about people who had passed away in the eighth century hijri, corresponding to about the fourteenth century of the Gregorian calendar. He named this work Concealed Pearls: Notables of the Eighth Century<\/em> (Arabic: al-Durar al-<\/em>k\u0101mina f\u012b a\u02bfy\u0101n al-mi\u02bea al-th\u0101mina<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this work, Ibn \u1e24ajar wrote that he had seen a volume of Subk\u012b\u2019s commentary. He had seen on the cover of that volume a couplet of poetic verse written in the hand of another prominent scholar, Shams al-D\u012bn Mu\u1e25ammad b. \u02bfAbd al-Ra\u1e25m\u0101n Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh al-\u1e24anaf\u012b (d. 776\/1375). Scholars of this period would write verses of poetry, or whole poems, for various social purposes. One such reason was in praise of the work a contemporary scholar had written. Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh appears to have written verses of this nature on this copy of the commentary Ibn \u1e24ajar had seen. They serve a function similar to the endorsements from academic celebrities found on modern print books: to sing the praises of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couplet Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh had written was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0623\u062a\u064a\u062a \u0644\u0646\u0627 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0638\u064a\u0645\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0633\u0644\u0648\u0643\u0627 \u0644\u0644\u0635\u0631\u0627\u0637 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0633\u062a\u0642\u064a\u0645
\u062c\u0645\u0639\u062a \u0628\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0648\u0645 \u0641\u064a\u0627 \u0644\u0641\u0631\u062f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u062d\u0648\u0649 \u062a\u0635\u0646\u064a\u0641\u0647 \u062c\u0645\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0644\u0648\u0645<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You laid out for us, through pearls strung, the way to the straight path<\/em>
You combined in it all the fields \u2013 acclaimed is one whose writing encompasses all!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazingly, this couplet is on the cover of the Vienna copy! Here it is in all its glory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure\u00a02: Taq\u012b al-D\u012bn al-Subk\u012b,\u00a0al-Durr al-na\u1e93\u012bm f\u012b tafs\u012br al-Qur\u02be\u0101n al-\u02bfa\u1e93\u012bm<\/em>,\u00a0\u00d6sterreichische Nationalbibliothek 2052 (Cod. Mixt. 780), folio 1a. Courtesy: Austrian National Library.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The legible part of the first line in the figure above appears to read, \u201cBy Mu\u1e25ammad b. \u02bfAbd al-Ra\u1e25m\u0101n al-\u1e24anaf\u012b;\u201d that is, Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh. This introduces the couplet in the two lines just below it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am fairly certain that the copy of Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary Ibn \u1e24ajar said that he had seen, with a couplet in praise of it in the hand of Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh, is in fact the autograph copy now held at the Austrian Library. What sheer luck that Ibn \u1e24ajar had pointed out these verses in his biography of Subk\u012b, and they turn out to be in the hand of Ibn al-\u1e62\u0101\u02beigh preserved in this copy in Vienna!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with commentary and manuscripts can sometimes yield these connections and serendipitous finds. This discovery was a side note in the article I had written about the reception of the Kashsh\u0101f<\/em>; it was not substantively related to that topic. However, it was still one of the more exciting moments for me in the research for that paper. Of course, scholars owned books, and autographs or scholar-owned copies were often preserved because of their value. Nevertheless, whenever I find specific instances of copies of pre-modern works with evidence that they were owned by significant medieval scholars, the connections between scholars and disciplines, authors and readers, and the transmission and preservation of knowledge past and present is all brought into greater relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*This blog post draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Shuaib ALLY I am fairly certain I found a copy Ibn \u1e24ajar had come across of Subk\u012b\u2019s Qur\u2019an commentary. I am excited about this lucky discovery because it is tangible evidence for a network of readership, and also because it establishes Subk\u012b as a known Qur\u2019anic exegete. It is these types of discoveries that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,160,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-blog-posts","8":"category-practices-of-commentary","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2049"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalcommentary.utoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}