Muhammad's Ascension in Muslim Spain: Elaborations and Contestations of the Miʿrāj in the Eleventh- to Twelfth-Century Maghrib

Description

A survey of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian debates and mystical discussions about Muhammad's heavenly journey that took place in early medieval Spain. This book demonstrates how Muhammad's heavenly journey, as discussed throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the western Mediterranean, was the site both of polemical religious debates and of a rich and varied tradition of mystical commentary. Out of these fertile contexts sprang two very influential sets of ascension discourses: First, the growth of the "Perfect and Complete" version of the Islamic ascension tale that spread throughout the Muslim world; second, the complex and multidimensional mystical interpretations of Muhammad's journey by one of the most famous Sufis of all time, the "Grand Master" Muhyi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240 CE). This work surveys key sources of this Andalusi contemplative tradition and also includes a complete translation of one of its very earliest written texts, preserved in a unique fragmentary Arabic manuscript, making this important historical document accessible to scholars, students, and general audiences alike for the very first time. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction The History of the Night Journey and Ascension Narratives What Is Islam? What Is an Islamic Ascension Narrative? “Pre-Texts”: Ancient Greeks, Jews, and Christians on the Theme of Ascension Islamic Origins and Foundational Muslim Texts Further Context: Hadith Literature and Other Oral Traditions Islamic Spain up through the Twelfth Century CE Major Players of the Iberian Response Chapter Contents and Main Argument Chapter One. Antecedents, Commentaries, and Fragments Jewish Antecedents Ascension Traditions from eleventh Century Nishapur: Sulamī, Qushayrī, Khargūshī Transmission of the Khudrī Version of Muhammad’s Ascension to the Muslim West A Fragmentary Version from al-Andalus: Real Academia de la Historia MS Codera 241 Chapter Two. Shared Discourses and Polemics of Ascent The Theme of Ascension in Isma‘īlī Esoteric Writings, and Those of the “Brethren of Purity” Ibn Masarra and Early Muslim Maghribī Contemplatives Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Ezra, and “Dialogue” in the Treatment of Philosophical Ascent The Jewish Polemical Treatise of Judah Halevi A Christian Anti-Muhammad Polemic Based on Details from an Islamic Ascension Text Chapter Three. Emerging Andalūsī Mālikī Traditions Transmitting Prophetic Reports: The Approach of Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ Interpretation of Prophetic Biography: al-Suhaylī Chapter Four. Intertextual Qurʾān and Prophetic Reports: Ibn Barrajān Wisdom Deciphered, the Unseen Discovered Reminder of Understandings The Esoteric Meaning of Muslim Prayer The Inner Journey Chapter Five. Contemplation of the Visionary Experience: Ibn Qaṣī Removing of the Removing Two Horizons A Vision of Divinity? The Criterion / Making Plain Other Esoteric Interpretations Conclusion Appendix: Translation of Real Academia de la Historia MS Codera 241 Translation of Real Academia de la Historia MS Codera 241 Notes Bibliography Index