Judith Pfeiffer: Why People Matter: A Bio-Bibliographical Approach to Intellectual History

Transcript

1. Why People Matter: A Bio-bibliographical Approach to Intellectual History Judith Pfeiffer From Late Medieval To Early Modern: 13th to 16th Century IslaMic Philosophy And Theology ERC Starting Grant IMPAcT
2. Islamic History (101) Politics: ‘Golden Age’ ca. 600-900; Non-Arab rule from 10th century onwards - Iranian Buyids (945) - Turkic Seljuqs (1055) - Mongol sack of Baghdad (1258) Law: Formation of the four major surviving Sunni legal schools completed by mid-10th century Theology: Formation of the two major surviving Sunni theological schools completed by mid-10th century Philosophy: End of 2nd translation movement from Arabic into Latin completed by 1200 (Ibn Rushd/Averroes d. 1198) Anything after 1258: Stagnation, decline, deviation from ‘true’ Islam Ca. 1500: Formation of early modern absolutist regional empires & new politico-religious ideologies - Safavids in Iran (1501) - Ottomans in Balkans, Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean, Hijaz (1517) - Mughals in India (1526)
3. 1258:
8. Rashīd al-Dīn, Jāmi‘ al-tavārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles, ca. 1305) Mountains in Tibet and India
9. What Decline?
10. Themes of the Middle Periods of Islamic History - Expansion of Islam - Islamization and Turcification of Anatolia - the Mongols convert to Islam and become vectors for the spread of Islam in Central Asia and China - Political devolution of the Abbasid Caliphate & caliphal idea - Militarization of society: - rise of warlords (“military patronage state”); - spread and development of Islam’s peculiar institution, military slavery (Mamluks of Egypt/Syria; Mamluks of Delhi; Janissaries of the Ottoman army) - Development of ‘secular law’ (esp. in the Ottoman Empire)
11. Themes of the Middle Periods of Islamic History II • Tremendous demographic change (Seljuq, Mongol migrations); the Central Asian ‘door’ is closed around 1600 • political unrest is often couched in religious terms • Linguistic pluralism • Many centers of cultural patronage (paralleled by warlordism) • politicization of religion (e.g., Sufi orders; later Sunni Ottomans vs. Shi‘i Safavids vs. Christian Habsburgs) • Confessional ambiguity: ‘Alid loyalism’ • development and spread of institutional Sufism and Sufi networks, development of a series of paths and orders • external challenges (Crusades until the end of 13th c.; Mongols; 16th & 17th century Christian missionaries; the Russians and Western Europe: Portuguese outposts in 16th century; taken over in 17th c. by British & Dutch).
13. RELIGIO-POLITICAL MOVEMENTS, 13TH-15TH CENTURIES Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1221)—Kubraviyya Mu‘in al-Din Chishti (d. 1230)—Chishtiyya Baba’i Rebellion (Baba Ishaq, 1239) Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273)—Mawlaviyya Safi al-Din Ishaq (d. 1334)—Safaviyya Hacı Bektaş Veli (d. 1271)—Bektaşiyye Baha’ al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389) —Naqshbandiyya Fazl Allah Astarabadi (d. 1394)—Hurufiyya Shaykh Badr al-Din Ibn Qadi Simavna (d. 1416) Shah Ni‘mat Allah Vali (d. 1430) —Ni‘matallahiyya Sayyid Muhamammad Nurbakhsh (d. 1464) —Nurbakhshshiyya Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Falah—Musha‘sha‘
15. Courtesy: Alfie Abdul-Rahman & Brian Duffy, OeRC, Oxford
16. Decline paradigm = 85% of the ‘post-classical’ texts on Islamic philosophy remain unpublished.
18. What the ideal manuscript can tell us – and why prosopography matters
19. 4 major categories Objects: Books (abstract title & physical copies: a work and its manifestations) People: Have roles (author, copyist, patron…) & affiliations (confessional, mystical, geographical, legal, by profession or philosophical school…) Locations: Places where books were written, copied, studied…/people taught etc. Time: Specific dates when books were written, copied, studied, taught… [Repositories: Where are these objects now?]
20. People Affiliation Profession/ occupation People Role vis-à- vis … Other people: Student, teacher, son/daughter, patron… Manifestation: Copyist, illuminator, teacher, student … Book: Translator, continuator, summarizer, commentator…. Book: Author, patron, teacher, versificator, abbreviator … Profession/occupation Other organization (occult and lettrist groups: ‘Brethren of Purity’) Sufi organization/tariqa Confession Philosophical school Theological school Legal school: madhhab With location: nisba
21. IMPAcT: https://impact.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/interface/impact.php
28. Thank you.