Shams Al-Din Al-Samarqandi’s (d. 1322) Two Unknown Commentaries on Al-Nasafi: Sharh ManshaʾAl-Nazar, Sharh Al-Nikat Al-Daruriyya Al-Arbaʿiniyya

Abstract

In this article, we argue two anonymous manuscripts on Islamic jurisprudential disputation theory (‘ilm al-khilāf) to belong to Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī (d. 1322), a scholar in the late period of Islamic thought, based on content analysis and textual phrase comparisons. The manuscripts are not referenced as belonging to al-Samarqandī in the library catalogues or bibliographic studies. The manuscripts are commentaries on two distinct works from Burhān al-Dīn al-Nasafī (d. 1289), one being on Manshaʾ al-naẓar in which al-Nasafī summarizes ʿilm al-khilāf in theory and practice and the other being on al-Nikāt al-ḍarūriyya al-arba‘īniyya, which is also known as al-Usṭuqussāt. Here al-Nasafī inquired about 40 points of disagreement between Ḥanafiyya and Shāfiʿiyya in al-Nikāt. In conclusion, the facts that support our argument are: (a) Preface (ḥamdala and ṣalwala), and introduction (muqaddima) of the manuscripts match the ḥamdala, ṣalwala, and muqaddima from al-Samarqandī’s works, (b) in the commentary on al-Nikāt, al-Samarqandī referenced his other works by name saying “z̠ akarnā,” (c) Kamāl al-Dīn al-Turkānī (d. 1354), who wrote a gloss (ḥāshiya) on al-Samarqandī’s Sharḥ al-Fuṣūl declared in the ḥāshiya that the commentaries belong to al-Samarqandī, (d) Sharḥ al-Fuṣūl and Sharḥ Manshaʾ al-naẓar have the same assertions and mannerisms on various issues. Lastly, we have appended a critical edition of the Arabic text from Sharḥ Manshaʾ al-naẓar.

Keywords

• khilāf
• shams al-dīn al-samarqandī
• burhān al-dīn al-nasafī
• sharḥ mansha’ al-naẓar
• sharḥ al-nikāt al-ḍarūriyya al-arba‘īniyya
• ‘ilm al-naẓar
• ’ādāb
• baḥth
• munāẓara