The Virtues of Divergence

By examining in depth the polymath of Ottoman Damascus ?Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi’s (d. 1143/1731) commentaries on the ninth/fifteenth century Maghribi theologian Mu?ammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi’s (d. 895/1490) Creed, Hiroaki Kawanishi argues that the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman period was not a time of decline but of intellectual prosperity.

English summary: Hiroaki Kawanishi sheds light on theological trends of the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman world, an area of research that remains understudied in existing scholarship. The author challenges the “intellectual stagnation” thesis that has often framed post-classical Islamic intellectual history as a period of decline. In particular, he argues that the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman period was a time of intellectual prosperity by examining in depth the polymath of Ottoman Damascus ?Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi’s (d. 1143/1731) commentaries on the ninth/fifteenth century Maghribi theologian Mu?ammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi’s (d. 895/1490) Creed. The author focuses on Nabulusi’s theological project, which synthesises Ash?arite speculative theology (kalam) and Akbarian Sufism, while giving special attention to epistemology, cosmology, metaphysics, prophetology, and ethics. German description: Mit seiner Untersuchung zu den theologischen Stromungen der osmanischen Welt des 11./17. Jahrhunderts, beleuchtet Hiroaki Kawanishi einen in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur bisher wenig beachteten Forschungsbereich. Dabei stellt der Autor die These der “intellektuellen Stagnation” infrage, derzufolge die nachklassische islamische Geistesgeschichte eine Epoche intellektuellen Verfalls darstellt. Demgegenuber argumentiert er in seiner eingehenden Untersuchung der Kommentare des in Damaskus wirkenden osmanischen Universalgelehrten ?Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (gest. 1143/1731) zum Glaubensbekenntnis des Maghrebi-Theologen Mu?ammad ibn Yusuf al-Sanusi (gest. 895/1490) dafur, dass die Zeit des 11./17. Jahrhunderts im Osmanischen Reich eine Zeit intellektuellen Reichtums war. Der Autor konzentriert sich auf Nabulusis theologisches Projekt, das die asch?arische spekulative Theologie (kalam) und den Akbarianischen Sufismus miteinander vereint und bezieht dabei Aspekte der Erkenntnistheorie, Kosmologie, Metaphysik, Prophetologie und Ethik mit ein.

Introduction
1. Ottoman Islam?
2. Speculative Theology (ʿilm al-kalām) at Ottoman Madrasas
3. The Sanūsian Creed in the Ottoman Lands
4. ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and The Sanūsian Creed
5. Methodology
Chapter 1: Epistemology
1. Faith (īmān) in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
3. Nābulusī's Response to Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Epistemology
5. Recognition of One's Ignorance as the Highest Form of Knowledge
6. Conclusion
Chapter 2: Cosmology
1. The Ontological Quest in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe (ḥudūth al-ʿālam)
3. Nābulusī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Cosmology: Immutable Entities (al-aʿyān al-thābita)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 3: Metaphysics (ilāhiyyāt)
1. God-Talk
2. Sanūsī's Metaphysics: Twenty Divine Attributes
3. Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Divine Existence
4. There is No Existence but God (lā wujūd illā Allāh)
5. Immanent Transcendentalism
6. Conclusion
Chapter 4: Prophetology (nubuwwāt)
1. Prophetology in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Prophetology: Prerequisite Qualities of Messengerhood
3. Nābulusī's Prophetology: Muḥammad's Superiority over Other Prophets
4. The Muḥammadan Light (al-nūr al-muḥammadī)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 5: Ethics
1. The Problem of Evil in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Theology of Good and Evil
3. Nābulusī's Epistemology of Good and Evil
4. Nābulusī's Metaphysics of Good and Evil
5. Nābulusī's Mystical Metaphysics of Faith and Disbelief
6. The Perfect Universe: Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Good and Evil
7. Conclusion
Conclusion

• By (author) Hiroaki Kawanishi