The Social and Theoretical Dimensions of Sainthood in Early Islam: Al-Tirmidhi's Gnoseology and the ...

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" The Social and Theoretical Dimensions of Sainthood in Early Islam: Al-Tirmidhi's Gnoseology and the Foundations of Sufi Social Praxis "
Aiyub Palmer Knysh, Alexander

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	803648
Doc. No	:	TL48446
Call number	:	‭1728125081;‮ ‬3722068‬
Main Entry	:	Miller, Katherine Joanne Ledbetter
Title & Author	:	The Social and Theoretical Dimensions of Sainthood in Early Islam: Al-Tirmidhi's Gnoseology and the Foundations of Sufi Social Praxis\ Aiyub PalmerKnysh, Alexander
College	:	University of Michigan
Date	:	2015
Degree	:	Ph.D.
field of study	:	Near Eastern Studies
student score	:	2015
Page No	:	373
Note	:	Committee members: Ahbel-Rappe, Sara; Babayan, Kathryn; Eliav, Yaron Z.; Jackson, Sherman A.; Ohlander, Erik S.
Note	:	Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-339-03975-6
Abstract	:	This dissertation offers new perspectives on al-Tirmidhī’s contribution to the Sūfī doctrine of sainthood and to the development of early Islamic mysticism. Included in this study is codicological work that presents al-Tirmidhī’s <i>Kitāb al-Hikma </i> for the first time in print. The first chapter introduces al-Tirmidhī’s social and political context and how this context played an important factor in shaping al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood. Al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood casts the Sunnī '<i>ulamā</i>' as the true representatives of Islamic religious authority, as embodied in the saints who are counted as coming from their ranks. Al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood also incorporates aspects of various discourse streams within his learned context. The discourse streams addressed in this study are: Hellenism, early Hanafī/Murji’ī theology and Islamic mysticism. Within Hellenism we find that al-Tirmidhī focuses on Pythagorean wisdom as one aspect of his gnoseology that serves to frame the non-dual quality of saintly knowledge. Al-Tirmidhī’s Hanafī theological background leads him to expand sainthood to all Muslims while restricting it in practice to the scholarly class of '<i>ulamā </i>'. Islamic mysticism is a discourse stream that also informs al-Tirmidhī’s gnoseology and doctrine of sainthood through al-Muhasibī’s ‘asceticism of the soul’, an approach adopted by al-Tirmidhī and applied to his process of mystical development. Al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood played a pivotal role in providing a Khurāsānian structure to Islamic mysticism in the later form that Sufism would take. The seal of sainthood and the idea that there will always be a constant presence of saints in the world are aspects of al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood that provide an optimistic alternative to the world outlook of Tradionalists. Ibn Arabī further refines and develops al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood in his <i>Fusūs al-Hikam </i>. Other mystics such as the eponyms of the <i>Shādhilī Tarīqa </i> developed al-Tirmidhī’s concept of wisdom as a practical tool for the education of aspirants upon the Sūfī path. This dissertation presents al-Tirmidhī’s doctrine of sainthood in light of new methodological approaches and textual research that has important implications for how we understand early Islamic mysticism.
Subject	:	Religion; Philosophy; Social psychology; Near Eastern Studies
Descriptor	:	Philosophy, religion and theology;Social sciences;Psychology;Al-tirmidhi;Authority;Islam;Mysticism;Saints;Sufism
Added Entry	:	Knysh, Alexander
Added Entry	:	Near Eastern StudiesUniversity of Michigan