PROPOSED STUDY OF IBN KĪRĀN’S COMMENTARY ON THE APHORISMS OF IBN ʿAṬĀʾ ALLĀH

PROPOSED STUDY OF IBN KĪRĀN’S COMMENTARY ON THE APHORISMS OF IBN ʿAṬĀʾ ALLĀH by MUHAMMAD YAHYA NINOWY (Under the Direction of KENNETH HONERKAMP) ABSTRACT Sufism, iḥsān, or tazkiyah are terms referring to the spiritual dimension of Islam. Islam consists of creed, law, and a spiritual and/or character building and ethical component. The spiritual, character building and ethical component deals with the state of the heart and how to perfect it. In the past few decades, Muslim communities have focused on the creed and law components, but Sufism, iḥsān, or tazkiyah have taken a backseat. This led to turning the religion into philosophy with a reductionist attitude emphasizing the ritual over the spiritual. Some Muslims (Salafists) accuse Sufism, and/or related Islamic disciplines of self-transformation or inner and outward refinement, as well as the study and interiorization of facets of the Islamic wisdom teachings like the Ḥikam, as unorthodox innovations in Islam founded on the personal experiences of Sufi’s rather than an approach sourced in Qurʼān and Prophetic narratives. The present critical edition and analysis of the Moroccan scholar, Ibn Kīrān’s, unpublished commentary on Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh’s al-Ḥikam al-ʿAṭāʾīyyah establishes that Sufi concepts and aphorisms are drawn from and validated by the Qurʼān and Prophetic ḥadith. Additionally, it unequivocally establishes that Sufism’s iḥsān and tazkiyah are core Islamic principles and practices. The present work, with its critical edition based upon five original manuscripts, will focus on the profound link between the Sufī Ḥikam presented and the Qurʼān and Prophetic ḥadith narratives.