• Opposing the theological doctrine of the Qāsimī state in 11th/17th century Yemen: a Shāfiʿī khat addict from Ṣanʿāʾ allegedly writing under the pseudonym of a Kurdish savant from Damascus

    Author(s):
    Gregor M. Schwarb (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Islamicate Studies
    Subject(s):
    Islam--Study and teaching, Islam, History, Books, Theology, Social history, Shīʻah, Biography, Historiography
    Item Type:
    Online publication
    Tag(s):
    Islamic studies, Islamic history, History of the book, History of theology, Book history, Shi`ism
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6XP6V32B
    Abstract:
    Among the great diversity of source material and multiple historio- and biographical works covering the history of the early Qāsimī state , Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim’s (d. after 1100/1687) Bahǧat al-zaman fī tārīḫ al-Yaman occupies a position of paramount importance. For the political, economic, social, cultural and intellectual history of Yemen in the five decades following the end of the first Ottoman occupation in 1046/1636, it amounts to an exceedingly rich mine of unique information. Even though it is referred to as ‘appendix’ (ḏayl) to the author’s overarching history of Yemen (Anbāʾ al-zaman fī tārīḫ al-Yaman) and its general introduction (al-ʿIbar fī aḫbār man maḍā wa-ghabar), it in many respects eclipses the Anbāʾ in importance, not least because it contains a substantial amount of data collected during the author’s lifetime from a wide range of sources and informants (travellers, tradesmen, students, men of learning, and commoners) from Yemen and all over the Islamic world. An equally amusing and intriguing section of Bahǧat al-zaman is the entry dedicated to ʿAbd al-Hādī al-Quwayʿī, a Ṣanʿāʾ based Šāfiʿī bibliophile. The article offers an annotated translation of passages extracted from that entry and are designed to prepare the ground for an in-depth study of K. al-Nibrās and a ramified network of related texts.
    Metadata:
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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