The Institute of Asian and African Studies The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation

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JERUSALEM STUDIES IN ARABIC AND ISLAM 36(2009)

Camilla Adang Intra- and interreligious controversies in 3rd /9th century Qayrawn: the polemics of a Muhammad b. Sahn n . . u

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

JSAI 36 (2009)

INTRA- AND INTERRELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES IN 3RD /9TH CENTURY QAYRAWAN: THE POLEMICS OF MUHAMMAD . B. SAHNUN . Camilla Adang Tel Aviv University

Introduction: Ibn Sahnn and his milieu1 . u

Ab Abd Allh Muhammad b. Sahnn2 was born in Qayrawn, Tunisia, u a a . . u in the year 202/817 as the son of the famous legal scholar Sahnn b. . u Sa al-Tankh (d. 240/854), who is to a large extent credited with d u the spread and ultimate victory of the Mlik school of law in North a Africa.3 For a number of years, Sahnn served the Aghlab dynasty u .
I wish to thank Miklos Muranyi, who provided me with bibliographical references, and Sabine Schmidtke for valuable comments on a rst draft of this article. 1 I do not aim to present a full biography of Ibn Sahn n here, but will provide a . u composite account; only where the sources listed in the following note contradict or supplement each other on important points will this be indicated. 2 On Muhammad b. Sahn n, see al-Sh az Tabaqt al-fuqah , p. 148; Ibn Hrith r , . a a . . u .a al-Khushan Ulam Ifr , a qiya, pp. 178182, no. 1; al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, a , a. u pp. 443458, no. 148; Qd Iyd, Tart al-madrik, vol. 1, pp. 424433; id, Tarjim a. a. b a a aghlabiyya, pp. 170188; Ibn Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, pp. 333335, no. 446; b . al-Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 13, p. 60, no. 45; Al- Ibar, vol. 2, p. 31; , a a al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj al-Tankh Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, pp. 122136, no. 116; ala a u , m Safad Kitb al-wf bi-l-wafayt, vol. 3, p. 86, no. 1005; Ibn al- Imd al-Hanbal , a a a a , . . Shadhart al-dhahab, vol. 2, p. 307 (year 265 AH); Makhlf, Shajarat al-nr, vol. a u u 1, p. 70; Mahfz, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, pp. 1924, no. 233; a n u n, . u. Lecomte, Muhammad b. Sahnn, EI 2 , s.v.; id., Le livre des r`gles de conduite; e . . u Sezgin, GAS, vol. 1, pp. 472f.; Muranyi, Materialien, pp. 76.; id., Dirst, pp. 161 a a 170; al-Hammd Muhammad b. Sahnn al-mutakallim al-sunn Talbi, LEmirat a , ; . . . u Aghlabide, passim; Gnther, Advice for teachers, pp. 9295; id., Be masters in u that you teach, pp. 369371. Full references to the works cited are given in the bibliography. 3 Talbi, Sahn n, EI 2 , s.v.; al-Hintt al-Madhhab al-Mlik pp. 4557. Accorda , a , . u ing to Idris, however, his role should not be exaggerated, since already before Sahnn . u many disciples of Mlik spread their masters teachings in Ifr a qiya; see his Laube du mlikisme ifr a qiyen. On Sahn n, whose full name is Ab Sa Abd al-Salm u d a . u

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which had established itself in Tunisia in 184/800 as qd although a. like the Abbs to whom they professed allegiance, the Aghlab were a s, s Hanaf as were many members of the local religious establishment. s, . The Maghrib sources dealing with this period seldom speak of Hanaf s, . though: they are called Irq and at times even Kfans, after the city a s, u where Ab Han (d. 150/767), the eponymous founder of the madhu . fa hab, had been active. In most cases this has nothing to do with the geographical origin of the individuals in question, but indicates that they were followers of the school that originated in Iraq, as opposed to the Mlik who are usually presented in these same sources as Medinans or a s, Hijz followers of the school associated with Mlik b. Anas of Medina a . a s, (d. 179/796) and his disciples.4 The fact that the religious and political leadership adhered to a different school than the majority of the population in the territories under Aghlabid rule often led to tensions. Thus when the representative of the Hanaf qd Sulaymn b. Imrn (about whom more below) wished to a. a a . introduce changes to the prayer ritual in the mosque of Monastir, he met with strong opposition from the local population, since it clashed with Mlik practice. They marched up to Qayrawn in protest, and the qd a a a. had to give in.5 Tensions ran high also in the eld of dogmatics. It is well known that Hanasm, though strictly speaking a legal school, is often combined with . a certain theological outlook, and discussions about the createdness or otherwise of the Qur n and the nature of belief ( an) were rife.6 Even a m
Sahnn b. Sa al-Tankh see al-Sh az Tabaqt al-fuqah , p. 147; Ab l- Arab, d u , r , . a a u . u Tabaqt ulam Ifr a a qiya, pp. 184187, no. 66; al-Khushan Ulam Ifr , a qiya, p. 297, . no. 160; Ibn Khallikn, Wafayt al-a yn, vol. 3, pp. 180., no. 382; al-Mlik Riyd a a a a , a. al-nufs, vol. 1, pp. 345375; Qd Iyd, Tart al-madrik, vol. 1, pp. 339363; u a. a. b a id, Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 86136; Ibn Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, pp. 263268, a b . no. 344; al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, pp. 77104, no. 102; ala a , m Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 12, pp. 6369, no. 15; Ibn al- Imd, Shadhart , a a a a al-dhahab, vol. 2, p. 221 (year 240 AH); Makhlf, Shajarat al-nr, vol. 1, pp. 69f., no. u u 80; Mahfz, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, pp. 1218, no. 232; on his a n u n, . u. legal works and their early transmission, see Sezgin, GAS, vol. 1, pp. 468471, and Muranyi, Die Rechtsbcher des Qairawners Sahnn b. Sa u a d. . u 4 Following Joseph Schacht, C. Melchert writes that such terminology reects the transition from regional to personal schools of law; see Melchert, The formation of the Sunni schools of law, Chapter Two; see also Tsafrir, The history of an Islamic school of law, p. 102, n. 3. Al-Hintt points out that although Ibn Sahnn at times a . u specically refers to the madhhab of Mlik and that of al-Sha regional designations a , remained in use among later compilers of Mlik . abaqt works: by associating their a t a school with Medina they enhanced its prestige, whereas by calling their opponents Irq or Kfans they put them down as strangers; see al-Hintt al-Madhhab ala s u a , Mlik pp. 29f. a , 5 It was Muhammad b. Sahn n who advised them to take this course of action. . . u 6 On theological discussions in Aghlab Ifr qiya, which echo those held at the same

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within the Mlik school there was no consensus on these issues, as we a shall see. Although Muhammad b. Sahnn would always stand in the shadow . . u of his father, both in his own lifetime and in later centuries, this is through no fault of Sahnns, who apparently had high hopes for his . u son and tried to make sure that he received the best education, which he himself monitored. Sahnn reportedly told his sons teacher, presumably . u at the kuttb, not to deal with him harshly, because he was not the kind a of boy who learns through beating, but only through gentle treatment and a friendly word.7 Sahnn fully expected Muhammad to become . u . unique in his generation and unmatched by his peers. He is said to have discerned leadership qualities in him, and to have compared him to his own former master, the renowned Mlik scholar Ashhab b. Abd a al- Az 8 However, it is said that he also feared his son would not live z. long, but in fact Muhammad died in 256/869, aged fty-four.9 . Muhammad was not Sahnns only child. We hear of a daughter, . . u Khad who was highly intelligent besides being very beautiful,10 and of ja, another son, Ja far. Once, comparing Ja far to his brother Muhammad, . Sahnn allegedly said, wistfully: Oh well, not every chick from the nest . u will y.11 This anecdote, like many others we encounter in the sources,
time in the Mashriq, see Vonderheyden, La Berbrie orientale, Chapter Four; Talbi, e Al-Ira ou de la Thologie du Salut; id., De lI tizl en Ifr g e a qiya; id., Theological polemics; van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft, IV, pp. 265272; Tsafrir, The history of an Islamic school of law, pp. 108.; al-Majdb, al-Sir al-madhhab Section Two; u , . a al-Hintt al-Madhhab al-Mlik pp. 97106. a , a , 7 Interestingly enough, in the tract that Ibn Sahn n himself wrote for school teach. u ers, he allows the administration of three, and in extreme cases up to ten stripes, though he adds that the teacher may not take out his anger on his pupils; see Lecomte, Le livre des r`gles de conduite, pp. 86f. and 92, and G nther, Advice for teachers, e u p. 99; id., Be masters in that you teach, p. 371. 8 L ushabbihuhu ill li-Ashhab, or m ashbaha li-Ashhab! The assonance in this a a a statement is probably intentional. On Ashhab, see Ibn Khallikn, Wafayt al-a yn, a a a vol. 1, pp. 238f., no. 100; Ibn Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, p. 162, no. 180; alb . Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 9, pp. 500503, no. 190; Makhlf, Shajarat , a a u al-nr, vol. 1, p. 59, no. 26. u 9 Some sources, at least in the editions available to me, give 265/878 instead of 256 as year of death. 10 See Qd Iyd, Tart al-madrik, vol. 1, p. 433; id, Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 188f. a. a. b a a The scholar Ahmad b. Lubda (d. 261/874) asked his uncle Sahn n for Khad jas hand . . u in marriage, but he refused. After Sahnn died, Ahmad tried his luck again with . u . Muhammad b. Sahnn, who refused to grant him what his father had not approved. . . u After Ibn Sahn n died, Ahmad indirectly approached Khad who also refused him, ja, . u . since neither her father nor her brother Muhammad had approved the match. Khad ja . died a virgin. 11 See al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, p. 448. In this context it should perhaps be a , a. u mentioned that according to most scholars, the nickname Sahn n (or Suhnn) means . u . u sharp-eyed bird, so that the comparison between his house and a birds nest is very

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probably serves the purpose of highlighting Muhammads brilliance . rather than Ja fars lack of it. Already in the lifetime of his father Muhammads scholarship became . widely known, and it is said that few people in his generation were as well-versed in the various branches of science as he, with the possible exception of Ibn Abds, another student of Sahnn who would in many u . u respects become Muhammads rival.12 . Although he was instrumental in the teaching and transmission of his fathers works, Muhammad disagreed with him at times, and even . held disputations with him. Moreover, he had his own circle of students (halqa), separate from that of his father, but when Sahnn died, . . u Muhammad started to preside over his majlis as well. a . An indirect student of Mlik, Sahnn had been Muhammads main a . u . mentor and teacher, but his son benetted also from the classes of direct students of the master from Medina, such as Ms b. Mu wiya ua a al-Sumdih13 and Abd Allh b. Ab Hassn al-Yahsub 14 In 235/849 a . a . a . . .. Muhammad travelled east, visiting Egypt and the holy cities in the Hi. jaz. There he met a number of scholars, such as Mliks aged companion a Ab Mus ab al-Zuhr 15 Ya qb b. Ham b. Ksib,16 Abd al- Az b. u , u d a z . . Yahy al-Madan 17 and Salama b. Shab 18 During the hajj he became a , b. . . embroiled in a discussion about the correct time to perform the rites at Arafa. Before Ibn Sahnn embarked on his rihla, at the age of thirty-three, . u .
apt.
12 On Ibn Abd s (d. 260/874), see al-Khushan Ulam Ifr u , a qiya, p. 296, no. 161; al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, pp. 459461, no. 148; Qd Iyd, Tart al-madrik, a , a. u a. a. b a vol. 1, pp. 433436; id, Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 189196; Ibn Farhun, Al-D aj ala b . mudhhab, pp. 335f., no. 447; al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, pp. a a , m 137144, no. 117; al-Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 13, pp. 6364, no. 46; , a a Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, pp. 345346, no. 350; Mons, a n u n, e . u. Ibn Abds; Sezgin, GAS, vol. 1, pp. 473f.; Muranyi, Materialien, pp. 66. u 13 On M s b. Mu wiya (d. 199/814), see Ab l- Arab, Tabaqt ulam Ifr u a a u a a qiya, . pp. 190194, no. 68; al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, 376384; Qd Iyd, Tart ala , a. u a. a. b madrik, vol. 1, pp. 424433; ; id, Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 141144; al-Dabbgh/Ibn a a a Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, pp. 5158, no. 92; Makhlf, Shajarat al-nr, vol. 1, a , m u u pp. 68f., no. 76; Idris, Laube, p. 25. 14 On Ibn Ab Hassn (d. 227/841), see al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, . a a a , m vol. 2, pp. 5862, no. 93; Idris, Laube, p. 31. 15 On this student of Mlik, who died in 241/8556 or 242/8567, see al-Dhahab a , Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 11, pp. 436440. a a 16 See on him al-Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 11, pp. 158161. He died at , a a the end of 241/856. 17 Student of Mlik, spent the year 2256/83941 in Qayrawn; see Idris, Laube, a a p. 32. It is unclear whether Ibn Sahn n rst met him then or had already made his . u acquaintance during his rihla. . 18 See on him al-Dhahab Siyar a lm al-nubal , vol. 12, pp. 256258. He died in , a a 247/861.

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his father is said to have told him that on his way to Mecca, he would be passing through a number of countries, which he then listed. He told him to make the most of his journey, probably meaning that he should acquire as much knowledge as possible. In an admission of his limitations, Sahnn also told his son that it was quite possible that he would . u hear opinions of Mliks which his father had neglected to teach him. a However, since exactly the same piece of advice was reportedly given by Sahnn to his above-mentioned student Ibn Abds, it is doubtful u . u whether we should take this piece of information at face value. The same is true for other colourful anecdotes with which the biographical entries on Ibn Sahnn abound, and we should always take the possibility . u of literary embellishment into account. When Muhammad b. Sahnn arrived in Egypt,19 he stayed at the . . u house of Ab Raj b. Ashhab, at the latters invitation.20 Many Egypu a tian scholars would come and see him there. Prominent among them was al-Muzan who had been a student of al-Sh 21 he would become , a ; a frequent visitor. Asked afterwards about his impressions of the young Qayrawn scholar, al-Muzan is said to have sworn that he had never a seen anyone more learned or sharp-witted. Ibn Sahnn, then, did not limit himself to discussions with fellow. u Mlik Already before his rihla he had been in contact with scholars a s. . belonging to other madhhib, especially with Hanaf while Sh ism a s: a . hardly gained a foothold in Ifr qiya, the Hanayya was, of course, well . represented in Qayrawn, and intellectual contacts with members of this a school were inevitable. When his father was still alive, Ibn Sahnn had . u started to write a tract against the lenient Hanaf position on nab 22 dh, . but Sahnn warned him that the people of Iraq possess intellectual . u sophistication and sharp tongues.23 Nevertheless, we know that Ibn
which probably stands here for Fustt, or old Cairo. .a. Ashhab had allegedly said that he had never met the like of Sahn n, . u and his son reportedly said the same thing about Sahnns son. . u 21 See on him al-Muzan EI 2 , s.v. (W. Heening). , 22 This topic was hotly debated in Qayrawn. H.R. Idris even states that [i]n a Qayrawn under the Aghlabids, Medinans (Mlik and Irq (Hanaf came a a s) a s . s) into conict above all over the consumption of wine (nab dh), forbidden to the former, but permitted by the latter (emphasis mine, C.A.). According to Idris, the fact that the ones allowing it belonged to the aristocracy whereas the opponents were the common people, is signicant. See Idris, Reections on Mlikism, pp. 16f. A a student of Ibn Sahnn, Ab Abd Allh Mlik b. Nasr al-Qafs (d. 305/917) also wrote u a a . u . . a book on the prohibition of nab dh; see Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy a n u n, . u. vol. 4, pp. 96f., no. 448. 23 That Sahn n and his son were well acquainted with Hanaf arguments is shown . u . by a passage in the entry on the well-known Andalus had . th scholar Baq b. Makhlad (d. 276/889) in Muhammad b. Hrith al-Khushan Akhbr al-fuqah was a a . .a l-muhaddith p. 61. On his way back from his rihla, Baq was received by Ibn n, . .
20 Interestingly, 19 Misr,

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Sahnn was particularly fond of the Hanaf Sulaymn b. Imrn, whose a a . u . interests he was continuously seeking to promote.24 It was apparently he who persuaded his father Sahnn, then acting as qd in Qayrawn, a. a . u to employ Sulaymn as his secretary, and later to appoint him qd in a a. the important town of Beja.25 When Sahnn died, Sulaymn succeeded him as judge in Qayrawn. a a . u His son Muhammad was ill rewarded for his role in Sulaymns promoa . tion: relations between the two men soured, and Ibn Sahnn became . u the target of a campaign of vilication and harassment by the Irq a faction in Qayrawn, to which Sulaymn, despite his agreement with a a Sahnn that he would apply Mlik law, continued to profess allegiance. a . u The sources contain a number of confused, and apparently conated, accounts describing the forms this harassment took.

Conicts with the Irq a s

According to our sources, the Irq paid a man to insult Muhammad a s . b. Sahnn and to report back to them. Whenever he encountered Ibn . u Sahnn alone, the man would abuse him aloud, and whenever he found . u him in company, he whispered vilications into his ear, calling him zn a or ibn al-f ila. Ibn Sahnn never said a word and put up patiently with a . u the insults and insinuations, hoping for a reward from God. One day the man came to see him and, as he found him in the company of his friends, whispered the usual words of abuse into his ear. When he had nished, Ibn Sahnn feared that his companions, catching . u on, would pounce on the man, so he said to him: With the greatest pleasure. When Im free, come back to me and God willing your aair will be settled. Thus he led those present to believe that the man had
Sahnn in his fathers house in Qayrawn. Baq was amazed to hear Ibn Sahn n a . u . u discuss certain matters that he had also heard discussed in Iraq, and even more so to encounter books by Ab Han in Sahn ns house. When he asked Sahnn about u . fa . u . u them, the latter replied that one has to know ones opponents views before one can criticize him. Cf. Turki, Dfense de la tradition, p. 16, n. 46. According to Turki, e it is Muhammad b. Sahn n, rather than his father, who is asked about the books, . . u but al-Khushan refers to Ab Sa which is Sahnns kuny. u d, a . u 24 On Sulaymn b. Imrn, see Khushan Qudat, p. 306, no. 193; al-Dabbgh/Ibn a a , a . Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, pp. 151158, no. 122; Ibn Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, a , m b . p. 196, no. 237. The latter work has only one line about Sulaymn, but the mere fact a that he is listed in a Mlik dictionary is interesting. Another Mlik list of scholars a a is Makhlfs Shajarat al-nr, where Sulaymn is discussed in vol. 1, pp. 70f., no. 83. u u a Al-Khushan lists him among the Irq a s. 25 On this town and its importance, see Bdja EI 2 , s.v. (H.H. Abdul Wahhab). a

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only asked him a favour. Word of this reached Ibn Sahnns enemies . u from the Irq camp, who now suspended their payments to their a agent, assuming that he had double-crossed them. In a characteristic show of magnanimity, Ibn Sahnn not only forgave the man, but even . u made up for the nancial loss incurred by him. However, verbal aggression on the part of the Irq was not the a s only threat Ibn Sahnn had to contend with, and at some point he felt u . compelled to go into hiding. When his situation became unbearable, he decided to appeal to the ruler at the time, Muhammad I b. Ahmad b. . . Aghlab (regn. 226/841242/856), who up to that point had apparently been unaware of the schemings of his qd Incensed, he guaranteed that a . . Ibn Sahnn would be safe from Sulaymn b. Imrn. The latter now u a a . retaliated by targeting Ibn Sahnns followers, who could not muster u . the kind of support enjoyed by their leader.26 The story about the insults is similar, in several details, to another account on the bad relations between Ibn Sahnn and the Irq which a s . u we encounter in various sources. According to this report Ibn Sahnn . u brought about the (temporary) dismissal of Sulaymn b. Imrn and a a his replacement with Abd Allh b. Ahmad b. Tlib, a member of the a . .a Aghlabid family. Here, the man who was commissioned to insult Ibn Sahnn is identied as Abd Allh b. Ab l-Hawjib, an Irq who a a . u . a was . hib al-salt and . hib al-khutba at the mosque of Qayrawn and sa . a sa . a . . was likewise dismissed at the recommendation of Ibn Sahnn. u . That Muhammad b. Sahnn was on good terms with the political . . u establishment is clear from a number of additional accounts. He felt condent enough to address a sermon to the Aghlab ruler, in which he reminded him of the fact that all actions performed in this life will have repercussions in the afterlife, and that he should therefore consider his actions well. He should also remember that his earthly power was given to him by God, and that everything he does should be in accordance with His commands.27

26 Among the Mlik harrassed by Sulaymn b. Imrn, mention is made in the a s a a sources of Ab Nasr Hab b. Nasr al-Tam (d. 287/901), who had been appointed u m . . b . qd l-mazalim by Sahn n. Muhammad b. Sahnn included material transmitted a. . . u . . u by him in his own Kitb; see Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 1, p. a a n u n, . u. 249, no. 84. Another follower of Ibn Sahn n, Muhammad b. Furt, was whipped. a . u . 27 For the text, see al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, pp. 447f. a , a. u

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The disputation with a Mu tazil

Muhammad b. Sahnn was also a welcome guest at the palace of the . . u vizier Al b. Humayd, who greatly admired him and kept inviting him to . intellectual gatherings. Such ocially sponsored meetings were common practice throughout the Muslim world. They usually followed a xed pattern, and all participants were aware of the fact that they were bound by a set of rules governing the procedure. One day Ibn Sahnn was again . u invited to the viziers majlis, along with several other people skilled in the art of disputation. The occasion for this particular gathering was the arrival of a shaykh from the Mashriq, a companion of the wellknown scholar al-Kis al-sagh 28 called Ab Sulaymn al-nahw (the a . r u a . grammarian),29 who subscribed to the idea of the createdness of the Qur n and to (other) Mu tazil views.30 Ibn Sahnn arrived after several a . u of his colleagues had already tried to outwit the Irq and the vizier a , ordered him to take his turn in arguing with the man. Ibn Sahnn . u opened the discussion by giving the shaykh the choice between talking rst or listening, at which the shaykh, somewhat condescendingly, said: Talk, my son.31 Ibn Sahnn got to the point straight away, and asked . u the much older man: In your view, is everything created inferior to its creator? This very rst question silenced the shaykh,32 who felt trapped, and when a long time had passed during which the man had not uttered a single word, Ibn Sahnn asked him how old he was. When . u the shaykh told him that he was eighty years old, Ibn Sahnn said to the . u vizier: The scholars hold dierent opinions with regard to the prayer over a deceased person after a year from the day he died. Some say that he will continue to be prayed over, but the common agreement
28 Ab Abd Allh Muhammad b. Yahy al-Kis al-sagh a well-known muqri u a a r, . . a . and grammarian of Baghdad (d. 280/893); see on him Ibn al-Jazar Ghyat al-nihya, , a a vol. 1, p. 279. 29 In al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, p. 134 he is simply referred to a a , m as a Mu tazil by the name of Muhammad. The editors of Riyd al-nufs (vol. 1, a. u . p. 449, n. 41) tentatively identify him as Ab Sulaymn al-Mu addib al-Kalwadhn u a a , about whom next to nothing is known. 30 According to van Ess, the Maghrib sources appear to use the term Mu tazil rather loosely; in some cases, Jahm or plain Hanaf may have been meant; see Thes s . ologie und Gesellschaft, vol. 4, p. 266. He does not discuss Ibn Sahn ns disputation . u with Ab Sulaymn. u a 31 The tendency was to let the younger and less experienced party in the disputation ask the opening question; see van Ess, Disputationspraxis, p. 37. 32 Van Ess terms this kind of question, which immediately produces a stalemate, a Versperrungsfrage. The Arabic term is mas alat hajr ; see van Ess, Disputation. spraxis, p. 41.

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is that when a year has gone by a deceased will no longer be prayed over.33 Now this shaykh has been dead for eighty years, and by common consensus the obligation to pray over him has lapsed.34 Then he got up. Al b. Humayd and those present at the majlis were delighted by the . comparison, even though they did not quite understand the point made by Ibn Sahnn. Asked to explain the meaning of his opening question, . u he replied that if the man had said that everything created is indeed inferior to its creator, he would have become an indel, for that would have meant calling the Qur an something inferior (dhal ), for after all, l he says that it has been created.35 If, on the other hand, he had said that the Qur n is not inferior, then he would in fact have returned to a the teaching of the ahl al-sunna, for in that case he would not have held that it was created, and this uncreatedness is one of its characteristics. Although there is no reason to doubt that Ibn Sahnn held a dis. u putation with a Mu tazil visiting from the East, the account need not be correct in all its details. A younger man eortlessly beating a much older and experienced opponent is a topos frequently encountered in disputation stories.36 It is interesting that Ibn Sahnn, who wrote a tract on the manners . u of disputants (see below) and must have been familiar with the earlier literature on the subject, violated the code of appropriate conduct during disputations by his own obnoxious behaviour towards the aged Mu tazil : all known discussions of this type emphasize the importance of polite manners.37 One should not, for example, insult ones opponent, nor lose ones temper. Mlik himself is said to have disapproved of religious a disputations, and according to Turki, all his followers in Qayrawn were a likewise averse to jadal and unnecessary verbal aggression.38 Ibn Sahnn . u seems to have been the exception to this rule.

have not been able to trace these opinions. this context it is interesting to mention that Ibn Sahnn, like several other . u Qayrawn Mlik refused to attend the funerals of people of disputed orthodoxy; a a s, see Majdb, al-Sir al-madhhab pp. 46f. Mlik himself apparently set this example, u , a . a as reported in Sahnns Mudawwana. See al-Hintt al-Madhhab al-Mlik pp. 97, a , a , . u 101 for further examples. 35 Here Ibn Sahn n inserts a passage from the Qur n (41:41f.): [f]or lo! it is an a . u unassailable Scripture. / Falsehood cannot come at it before it or behind it. (It is) a revelation from the Wise, The Owner of Praise (translation Pickthall). 36 Van Ess, Disputationspraxis, p. 35. 37 Van Ess, Disputationspraxis; Stroumsa, Ibn al-Rwand a . 38 Turki, Dfense de la tradition, p. 15, n. 46. e
34 In

33 I

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Discussions on the nature of belief

As was said earlier, discussions about theological issues which echo discussions taking place in the Mashriq were held not only between members of dierent sects or madhhib, but they took place also among a Mlik scholars. The rivalry between Muhammad b. Sahnn and Ibn a . . u Abds, who seem to have been the two most prominent disciples of u Sahnn, has already been referred to. Each of the two scholars had his . u own group of partisans, who followed their respective masters opinions on legal matters as well as on theological issues. Our sources even speak of the Sahnniyya or Muhammadiyya, the followers of Ibn Sahnn, and . u . . u the Abdsiyya, the partisans of Ibn Abds. Apart from their legal and u u theological opinions, their respective personalities seem to have constituted an important factor in attracting followers. Whereas Ibn Abds u comes across as a pious and modest scholar, Ibn Sahnn seems to have . u been rather overbearing. The followers of Ibn Abds were also called u Shukkiyya (the doubters) by their opponents, since they adhered to u istithn : when asked if he was a believer, one would say, I am a bea liever if God wills (an mu min, in sh a llh) which, their detractors a a a claimed, suggests certain doubts about ones status with God, and hence about ones future in the afterlife.39 Ibn Sahnn and his followers, by . u contrast, condently declared I am a believer in the eyes of God (an a mu min inda llh).40 For this reason Ibn Sahnn was regarded by some a u . as a Murji and thus, paradoxically, placed in the same camp as the much reviled Ab Han 41 One day, a man knocked on Ibn Abdss u . fa. u
39 On discussions of istithn in the Mashriq, see Gardet, Dieu et la destine de a e lhomme, pp. 388390. Laoust, Profession, pp. 7982 (translation); Madelung, Early Sunn doctrine concerning faith, pp. 238243. A Tunisian contemporary of Ibn Sahnn, Yahy b. Imrn, wrote a Radd al l-shukkiyya; see Mahfz, Tarjim a a u a . u . a . u. al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, pp. 447f., no. 388. n u n, 40 During a visit to Egypt a student of Sahn n, the faq Ab Abd al-Rahmn h u . u . a Abd Allh b. Ghq (d. 275/888), was asked about the dispute in Qayrawn on the a a a issue of an by the eminent Mlik scholar Muhammad b. Abd al-Hakam. The m a . . latter sided with Ibn Sahn n after receiving some information on his views and those . u of Ibn Abds; see Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, pp. 447f., no. u a n u n, . u. 388. 41 See van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft, vol. 4, p. 271. Talbi summarises this position as follows: En toute logique, pour la Muri a, la foi, conue dune faon g c c gnrale comme pure conviction, intime, chappe forcment ` lincertitude. On la, e e e e a ou on ne la pas. Il ny pas de position intermdiaire, ou dhsitation a ce sujet. En e e ` consquence, la formulation de ladhsion de foi est toujours formelle et inconditione e nelle. Un muri ite dira donc toujours avec assurance: An mu minun (je suis g a croyant), avec, comme implication, ncessairement sous-jacente, je suis donc sauv, e e mon salut est assur(. . . ); see Talbi, Al-Ir , p. 371. For a recent discussion of e ga

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door, and when he opened, the man asked him: Are you a believer? Ibn Abdss equivocal answer did not satisfy his visitor, who spat in u his face. The man had his comeuppance: he turned blind on the spot: En dautres termes, says Talbi, le Ciel se mla de la partie, prit poe sition pour Ibn Abds.42 The following account, too, illustrates the u dierences in opinion between the two students of Sahnn.43 A certain . u Ahmad b. Mas ud used to frequent the classes of Muhammad b. Sahnn, . . . u but then switched his allegiance to Ibn Abds. One day in the mosque u he asked his master about belief ( an): is it created or uncreated? Ibn m Abds replied that he did not know, and referred his student to Ibn u Sahnn, who was sitting in his usual place near one of the windows of . u the mosque. The man went over to Ibn Sahnn and asked him the same . u question, and the latter asked him: Where is your master? and he said, I asked him, but he didnt give me an answer and sent me to you. Muhammad said to him: This question has to be discussed for . [at least] a year, and then he added that an exists in some seventy m degrees; the lowest is to remove all harm from ones way, and the highest is to profess that there is no god but God.44 Iqrr (profession of faith) a is not created, but all other acts are. Ahmad b. Mas ud then went . to Iraq and there met with Dwd, i.e., Dwd b. Al al-Isfahn the a u a u . a , founder of the Zhir or literalist, school of law, and asked him about a , . the matter. His reply was like that of Ibn Sahnn. This statement is . u somewhat puzzling, since the Zhir were often regarded as reprehena s . sible innovators.45 It may be that according to the source, the Zhir . a s
Ab Han u . fas alleged Murji tendencies, see Rudolph, Al-Mtur , pp. 26. a d 42 Fa-basaqa al-rajul f wajhi Muhammad b. Abds, fa- amiya al-rajul li-waqtihi. u . . Talbi, Al-Ir , p. 373. ga 43 Talbi, Al-Ir , p. 373: Cette anecdote, qui nest pas forcment controuve, ga e e dpeint bien latmosph`re. e e 44 Variations on this saying may be found in all the canonical had . th collections. A somewhat dierent version is also quoted in Kitb al- an by an older contemporary a m of Ibn Sahnn, the traditionalist Sunn theologian Ab Ubayd al-Qsim b. Sallm u a a . u of Baghdad (d. 224/839); see Madelung, Early Sunn doctrine concerning faith, p. 238. 45 On Dw d (d. 270/883), see Schacht, Dw d b. Al b. Khalaf; Goldziher, a u a u Die Zahiriten, pp. 2740; id., The Zahir pp. 2739; Melchert, The formation, pp. . . s, 179184. Ibn Sahnn himself appears to have been familiar with Dwds views; a u . u al-Hintt (al-Madhhab al-Mlik p. 29) refers to his Kitb al-ajwiba (see the list a a , a of Ibn Sahnns works below), in which reference is made to Dwd. I have not a u . u been able to consult this work. It cannot be established whether Ibn Sahnn had . u access to Dwds writings. While they are known to have been introduced into ala u Andalus during the Zhir own lifetime (Adang, The beginnings, p. 118), we have . a s no clear indication that they were read in Qayrawn before the early Ftim period, a a. when Ab Ja far Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Khayrn al-Ma r brought some u u a . . of them (adkhala ba d kutub Dwd); see al-Khushan Ulam Ifr a u , a qiya, p. 229, no. . 69; id., Classes des savants, p. 175 (ed.), p. 263 (transl.); al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj ala a

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compare favourably with the Hanaf who were, after all, the Qayrawn s, a . Mlik main rivals. a s

Ibn Sahnn as a murbit a . . u

Ibn Sahnn defended his faith not only in his disputations and in his . u works (to be listed below), but he even took up arms in his struggle against the Christian threat. One anecdote casts Ibn Sahnn in the role of murbit: a warrior dea . . u fending the frontier against incursions by the non-Muslim enemy.46 According to this account, Ibn Sahnn left Qayrawn for Qasr al-Tub, the a . u . . brick castle near the coastal town of Sousse,47 to serve God and defend the Muslims. A band of Christian brigands the term used is Rm, u which may refer to Byzantines, but equally to Christians from other states on the Mediterranean coast, such as Amal or Naples landed on the sea-shore and attacked the people, who raised a clamour. Ibn Sahnn, however, only had a mule, and he feared that if he were to send . u for horses from Sousse, the Christians would in the meantime achieve their goal. He therefore girded his sword, took a lance and a shield, and rode out on his mule. A group of fellow murbitun and Bedouin from a . the surrounding deserts who happened to be in the vicinity of the castle, joined him and together they marched against the Christians who were about to loot property and capture the women. However, when the Muslims engaged them in battle the Christians discovered they were a erce enemy, and, says our source, God routed them at the hands of Ibn Sahnn. He killed a large number of them, and pursued them until he . u nally drove them into the sea. After that Ibn Sahnn swore that he . u would never go out on such missions except on horseback. One night in Monastir, another rib. ,48 a man heard someone reciting at a passage from Srat al-A rf (Qur n 7:21f.) from the Qur n: [Satan] u a a a swore unto [Adam and his wife]: I am a sincere adviser unto you! / Thus
Tankh Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, p. 289; Muranyi, Beitrge zur Geschichte, p. 155; u , m a al-Majd b, al-Sir al-madhhab pp. 92f., 96f. On Ibn Khayrn (d. 301/914), see u , u . a al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 2, pp. 5256, no. 175. The next Qayrawn faq with a , a. u a h Zhir leanings was Ab l-Qsim b. Masrr al-Abzr known as Ibn al-Mashsht, u a u a , a. .a who died in 349/960; see Qd Iyd, Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 415f. a. a. a 46 On the practice of ribt, see EI 2 , s.v. (J. Chabbi); Vonderheyden, La Berbrie a. e orientale, pp. 117119. This particular incursion is referred to by Fritz Meier, Almoravids and Marabouts, p. 343. 47 This ribt may have been constructed at the instigation of Ibn Sahn n himself; a. . u see al-Hintt al-Madhhab al-Mlik p. 142. a , a , 48 On Monastir, see EI 2 , s.v. (Soucek).

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did he lead them on with guile.49 He kept on repeating it and weeping, and the sound of teardrops falling on the mat could be heard. This went on for hours, and the man remained standing near the door from which he heard the sounds, until he almost missed his dawn prayer. Finally his curiosity was satised when the reciter came out, and much to his surprise it turned out to be Muhammad b. Sahnn. This account seems . . u to indicate that at times Ibn Sahnn was assailed by doubts and worries u . about his fate in the afterlife, despite the apparent condence with which he declared that he was a believer in the eyes of God, which set him apart from Ibn Abds and his followers. u

Ibn Sahnn and the good life . u

Despite these occasional bouts of contemplation and remorse, Ibn Sah. nn was by no means an ascetic:50 his love of women is reected in u several anecdotes. In a story reported by Qd Iyd, Ibn Sahnn appears a. a. . u to someone in a dream after his death. As is usual in such accounts, the one who has the vision asks how the deceased fared in the afterlife.51 Ibn Sahnn tells him that when he arrived to Paradise, God gave him . u seventy houris in marriage,52 since He was aware of his love of women. This love of women is further illustrated by the following account. It is said that Ibn Sahnn had nine beds, one for each of his concubines. . u One day he was with a concubine called Umm Mudm (or Qudm), a a and he asked her what there was for supper. When she told him that she had a couple of spring chickens, he asked her to prepare the birds for the two of them, which she did. In the meantime, however, he had started to work on a book in which he refuted certain opponents (ba d . al-mukhlif a n), and continued to work on it into the night. When the food was ready, Umm Mudm asked permission to enter, but he told a her he was busy. When this went on too long for her liking, she started feeding him morsels of food until he had nished o the two chickens. He continued with what he was doing until the call for the dawn prayer could be heard from the congregational mosque. He then apologized to Umm Mudm for neglecting her, and asked her to bring the food she a
translation is that of Marmaduke Pickthall, with some changes. several anecdotes suggest that he had a great admiration for people who were more ascetically disposed. 51 See Leah Kinbergs introduction to her edition of Ibn Ab Duny, Morality in a the guise of dreams, p. 21. 52 According to Ibn Farhun, D aj, p. 335, only fty. b .
50 Although 49 The

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had prepared. When she said that she had already fed it to him, he said: I never noticed. The aim of this story is apparently to show that while Ibn Sahnn . u was much attached to the pleasures of this world women53 and good food he immediately and totally forgot about these pleasures once he was immersed in his studies, and in particular when serving the cause of Mlik Islam by writing polemical tracts, which make up the major part a of his literary output, as will be seen below.

Ibn Sahnns works . u

Ibn Sahnns biographers state that he wrote some two hundred books, . u although the word book is not to be understood in the sense of a separate tract in every case, but rather as a section on a certain topic which forms part of a larger work, such as Kitb al-zakt.54 The following a a titles are attributed to Ibn Sahnn:55 . u Al-Jmi , apparently his largest and most famous work in which he a combined various disciplines of knowledge and legal science. It comprised some sixty books, or, according to another informant, a hundred parts: twenty on siyar,56 twenty-ve on proverbs (amthl ), ten on the manners a of qd ve on religious precepts, four on iqrr, four on history and a . s, a t a a . abaqt, and the remainder on the various branches of science. The Jmi may be the same work as al-kitb al-kab attributed to Ibn Sahnn, a r . u although this is said to be comprised of a hundred, not sixty books.57 The title D an Muhammad b. Sahnn probably also refers to the Jmi . w a . . u
53 Another concubine, Qart is mentioned in the entries on Ibn Sahn ns son and a . s, . u namesake Muhammad in al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 2, pp. 153f. and Qd Iyd, a , a. u a. a. . Tarjim aghlabiyya, pp. 382f. Ibn Sahnn bought her in Egypt from an Andalusian a . u after he had heard her crying and took pity on her. Although his original intention was to reunite her with her parents, he took her to Qayrawn instead. In the last year a of his life, Ibn Sahnn travelled to Sousse one day together with the emir Muhammad . u . II another indication of his excellent relations with the ruling family. He had a vision that a messenger would arrive from Qayrawn who would bring tidings of the a birth of his son by Qart A young slave of his duly arrived with the expected a . s. message, and was emancipated on the spot by Ibn Sahn n. . u 54 See al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. 2, p. 123; Muranyi, Materialien, a a , m pp. 78f. 55 Only four works have survived in part; they are indicated here with an asterisk. See Sezgin, GAS, vol. 1, p. 473, and cf. Muranyi, Materialien, pp. 7681. 56 Sometimes referred to as a separate work: Kitb al-siyar. a 57 In various later North African Mlik sources, such as Ibn Ab Zayd ala Qayrawn (d. 386/996) al-Nawdir wa-l-ziydt, al-Burzul (d. 841/1438) a s a a a s Fatw, and al-Mi yr al-mu rib of al-Wanshar (d. 914/1508), frequent reference a a a s is made to Kitb Ibn Sahnn. This generic title probably refers to dierent sections a . u

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Some of the titles listed below may actually have formed part of this, or these, compilations: Kitb al-ta r in six parts; a kh, Kitb . abaqt al- ulam , in seven parts; a t a a Kitb al-aqdiya; a . Kitb tafs (or Sharh) al-Muwat. a , in four parts; a r . .t Kitb ghar al-had in three parts; a b . th, Risla f l-Sunna;58 a Ahkm al-Qur n; a . a Kitb usul al-d (*) a . n; As ila wa-ajwiba f fur al-qh, also known as al-Risla al-Sah u a . nniyya;59 (*) u Al-Nawzil, or Nawzil al-salt; (*) a a . a F l-mu allim or Kitb db al-mu allim 60 (*) n a a a n; Kitb al-wara ; a Kitb al-imma;61 a a Kitb f tahr al-muskir or tahr al-nab a . m dh; on the prohibition . m of intoxicants (referred to above); perhaps identical to: Kitb al-ashriba; a Kitb al-ibha;62 a a.
from the authors composite works mentioned above. In the absence of most of Ibn Sahnns works, a full inventory of quotations from them in later writings remains a . u desideratum. 58 Probably a work in defense of had . th against Hanaf ra y. . 59 An edition by Hmid al- Alwn under the title Kitb al-ajwiba was published a a .a in 2000 in Tunis (non vidi). J. Schacht, On some manuscripts in the libraries of Kairouan and Tunis, pp. 254256, gives a survey of the contents of a manuscript of the work kept in the Zayt na Mosque in Tunis, adding that he is not sure of its auu thenticity. Additional manuscripts of the work are listed in J. Brockopp, Rereading the history, p. 236. 60 See the studies by Lecomte and G nther referred to in n. 2. The work is available u in several editions. The ones quoted most frequently are those of H.H. Abd al. . Wahhb (Tunis, 1392/1972) and M. al- Ars a-Matw (1406/1986). a u . 61 Of this book it is said that it was copied out in gold characters and presented to the Abbs caliph (al-Mutawakkil). Apparently, then, it reected pro- Abbs a a views. In the entry on the Qayrawn faq and theologian Ab Ishq Ibrh b. a h u .a a m Abd Allh al-Zubayd al-Qalnis (d. 359/969) in Ibn Farhuns D aj it is implied a a b . that Ibn Sahnns book on the Imamate may have been the reason for the mihna . u . to which the biographee was subjected by the second Ftim ruler, al-Q im (who a. a is not referred to by his throne name, but as Ab l-Qsim b. Abd Allh al-Rd u a a a . ) and which included 700 lashes and a four-month prison term in al-Mahdiyya; see Ibn Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, p. 144, no. 153; Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif b a n . . u. al-Tnisiyy vol. 2, p. 411. It is not clear what al-Zubayd connection to Ibn u n, s Sahn ns book was, but I assume he quoted it with approval in the tract he himself . u wrote on the Imamate, thus incurring the Ftim wrath. a . s 62 Possibly a work condemning the more lenient Hanaf attitude to alcohol con . sumption; if so, probably identical to the previous tract(s).

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Risla f a -man sabba al-nab 63 ; Risla f adab al-mun. ara or Risla f db al-mutan. ir in a az a a a az n, two parts;64 Kitb al-hujja al l-Qadariyya; a a . Kitb al-hujja al l-Nasr ; a a . .a a Kitb al-radd al l-Bakriyya;65 a a Kitb al- an wa-l-radd al ahl al-shirk ; a m a Kitb al-radd al ahl al-bida , in three books;66 a a Kitb f l-radd al al-Sh a a a ; Kitb f l-radd al ahl al- Irq (i.e. the Hanaf consisting of ve a a a s), . books. This list conrms what was said earlier about Ibn Sahnn being a . u diligent polemicist and fervent apologist for Sunni Islam in its Mlik a variety. In fact, a large part of his literary output is devoted to the refutation of groups within as well as outside Islam.67 Among the Islamic groups that are attacked, we nd sects of a theological nature such as the Bakriyya and the Qadariyya and legal schools, especially the Hanaf though when he uses the term Irq he may well be refuting s, a s, . the legal as well as the theological views associated with this madhhab. He also composed a tract against the polytheists, though it is not clear to whom this term refers. Moreover, he polemicized against Christianity. Interestingly enough, Ibn Sahnn does not seem to have devoted . u a special refutation to Judaism, although the Jews were much more
63 This is apparently the work referred to by Qd Iyd, al-Shif bi-ta r huqq a. a. a f . u al-Mus. af, vol. 2, pp. 566, 568, 570, 574 and Ibn Taymiyya, al-Sarim al-masll al u a .t a . shtim al-rasl, vol. 2, p. 15; vol. 3, pp. 575, 955, 998. a u 64 Referred to above. 65 According to van Ess, the Bakriyya are apparently the adherents of the early theologian Bakr b. Ukht Abd al-Wal (d. 793 CE); see his Theologie und Gesellschaft, d vol. 2, pp. 108118. For this and other explanations of the term, see Afsaruddin, In Praise of the Caliphs, p. 333. About a century after Ibn Sahnn the term Bakriyya . u had taken on a dierent meaning in Qayrawn: his fellow townsman Ibn Ab Zayd ala Qayrawn (d. 386/996), who was nicknamed al-Imm Mlik al-Sagh wrote a work a a a r, . entitled al-Istizhr f l-radd al l-Bakriyya (in some sources: al-Fikriyya), in which a . a he refuted the tract Karmt al-awliy wa-l-mut min al-sahaba wa-l-tbi waa a a a n . n . . man tabi ahum bi-ihsn by Ab l-Qsim Abd al-Rahmn b. Muhammad al-Bakr u a , . a . a . who was of Sicilian origin but lived in Qayrawn (see Ibn Ab Zayd al-Qayrawn a a , al-Nawdir wa-l-ziydt, vol. 2, introduction, p. 23). However, if the date of death a a a given for this Sicilian mystic (386/996) is correct, it can obviously not have been this man against whom Ibn Sahn n polemicized, although it is quite likely that the latter . u shared Ibn Ab Zayds views on miracles ascribed to others than prophets. 66 It would be interesting to know who exactly is meant by ahl al-bida . It is most likely a collective term for groups such as the Qadariyya and/or the Mu tazila, the Murji a, the Khawrij and the Sh a. Cf. Turki, Dfense de la tradition, p. 19. a e 67 Interestingly, many of the opinions refuted by Ibn Sahn n had already been . u attacked by his father.

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numerous in North Africa in general, and Qayrawn in particular, than a the Christians. He would have had ample opportunity for discussions of a private or public nature with Jews, who had begun to settle in Qayrawn a shortly after the citys foundation in the 1st /7th century.68 However, what may have impelled him to write against the Christians, rather than against the Jews, is the fact that the Aghlab state was under d threat from the Byzantines and other Christian powers. In fact, Ibn Sahnn himself is said to have successfully led a small band of warriors . u and bedouin against Christian raiders, as was related above. However, as will be seen in the text translated below, Ibn Sahnn apparently did . u not completely neglect to polemicize against Judaism: according to an account included in several of our biographical dictionaries, he was more or less forced into a disputation with a learned Jew after a fellow-Muslim botched up an attempt at convincing him, and Ibn Sahnn had to come . u to the rescue. It is to this episode that we shall turn presently. When Ibn Sahnn died in 256/869 at the age of fty-four, the Aghlab . u emir69 said the funeral prayer. The people of Qayrawn mourned him a for several months, and elegies were composed in his memory. People ocked to his grave, shops and food stalls were set up to cater to the many visitors, and a tent was erected over his tomb, which remained a popular place for ziyras long after his death.70 The emir Ibn Aghlab, a fearing that the situation at the grave was getting out of hand, sent Ibn Sahnns cousin Ahmad b. Lubda to disperse the people.71 . u .

Ibn Sahnns disputation with a Jew: the text . u

The text presented here in translation, which is included in al-Mlik a s biography of Ibn Sahnn, is the longest, and at the same time the oldest, u . of the accounts we possess of the confrontation with the Egyptian Jew that was referred to just now. Shorter versions, with slight variations in a the plot, may be encountered in Iyds Tart and in Ma lim al-Imn a. b a 72 by al-Dabbgh and Ibn Nj a a .
68 On the history of the Jewish community of Qayrawn, including the Aghlab a period, see M. Ben-Sasson, Emergence of the local Jewish community. 69 Ab Abd Allh Muhammad II b. Ahmad, also known as Ab l-Gharn u a u a q (regn. . . 250/863261/875); see also n. 53 above. 70 See al-Wanshar , Mi yr, vol. 1, p. 335; Lagard`re, Histoire et socit, p. 24, s a e ee no. 33. 71 See Mahf z, Tarjim al-mu allif al-Tnisiyy a n u n, vol. 3, p. 23; Azab, al-Imm a . u. Sahnn, pp. 211f. Ibn Lubda, it will be recalled, was the three-times rejected suitor . u of Ibn Sahn ns sister Khad see n. 10 above. ja; . u 72 Al-Mlik Riyd, vol. 1, pp. 450f.; al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim al- an, vol. a , a. a a , m 2, pp. 125f., Iyd, Tart vol. 2, pp. 429f.; see also Mahfz, Tarjim al-mu allif a. b, a n . u.

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** It is said that a young man known as Ab l-Fadl b. Humayd the u . . brother of the vizier Al b. Humayd would accompany Muhammad b. . . Sahnn and studied law and [the sciences of] theology and lawful things . u with him, but he was not procient in the art of disputation. He set out for the hajj, and passed through Misr.73 There he entered a hammm a . . . (bathhouse), which was owned by a Jew.74 When he came out of the hammm, he started to engage the Jew in a disputation about their a . madhhab, and the Jew prevailed over him. He went back to Qayrawn a after having performed the hajj, with distress in his heart, for he did . not have any retort with which he could refute the arguments of the Jew. When he had returned, he went to visit Muhammad b. Sahnn, . . u but he was afraid to tell him the story. Then God, may He be exalted, decreed that Muhammad b. Sahnn go on the hajj after this, and this . . u . man accompanied him to Misr. He said to him: Let us go to the . hammm, may God have mercy on you, and Ibn Sahnn consented.75 a . . u He took him to the hammm which was owned by this Jew,76 and when a . Ibn Sahnn was about to go out, this man went out ahead of him, and . u plunged into a disputation with the Jew. Now, when Ibn Sahnn came . u out he found the two of them engaged in a disputation, and the Jew had already got the better of the man with his manifold arguments and worthless confutations because of the mans weakness and the paucity of his knowledge of the art of disputation. Ibn Sahnn now joined them at . u the point they were at, and from now on the disputation was conducted between the Jew and Muhammad b. Sahnn, until the time of the . uhr z . . u prayer was upon them and Muhammad got up to pray and performed . his prayer. He resumed the disputation until the arrival of the time of the asr prayer, when Muhammad got up to pray and performed the asr . . . prayer. Then he resumed the disputation, and continued to do so until the maghrib prayer. In the meantime, people had ocked to them from every place. Word spread about in Misr, and the people said to each . other: Lets go and hear the disputation between the Maghrib faq h and the Jew. When the maghrib prayer was near, the Jew was cornered and ran out of arguments, and Ibn Sahnn bested him with clear proofs . u and eloquent arguments.
al-Tnisiyy vol. 3, p. 22; Azab, al-Imm Sahnn, pp. 210f.; al-Majdb, al-Sir u n, a u . u . a al-madhhab p. 151. , 73 See n. 19. 74 Or perhaps supervised by a Jew: hammm. . . alayhi rajul yahd a u . . 75 According to the version of the account given in al-Dabbgh/Ibn Nj Ma alim a a , al- an, vol. 2, p. 125, Ibn Sahnns companion suggested to him that it might be m . u appropriate to go and bathe, since many people would be coming to see him. 76 See n. 74.

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[451] When the Jew understood the truth in the proof [adduced], and God, may He be mighty and exalted, willed his right guidance, he said at that point: I testify that there is no god but God, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and [with that] he . adopted Islam, and his conversion was a successful one. The people praised [God] at that, and raised their voices in the takb saying: The r, Jew adopted Islam at the hands of the Maghrib faq h! Muhammad . got up, wiping the sweat o his brow, and then turned towards his companion, saying: God, may He be mighty and exalted, will not give you a good recompense if its up to me! and he scolded him severely. He said: You almost brought about an enormous tna! How could you go to a Jew and dispute with him, when you are weak in disputation and dialectics!? If a person whom God, may He be mighty and exalted, intended to tempt had seen this, that is, that a Jew bested you and defeated you with his lies, temptation would have entered him and he would have started to doubt his religion, and you would have no way to reverse it. Turn to God, may He be mighty and exalted, in repentance for this. If I had not feared that the people would be aicted by temptation and seized by doubt about their religion, I would not have disputed with [this man].

Ibn Sahnn and the Jew: discussion . u

The disputation is mentioned in a number of (mainly Maghrib bio) graphical dictionaries. It has long been recognized that despite the enormous importance of this type of literature for the study of the intellectual and social history of Islam, it should be used with caution, and that one cannot always take its data at face value. We should therefore keep an open mind when looking at the accounts of the disputation, as well as other accounts in the biographical entries on Ibn Sahnn. . u The unsurprising outcome of the encounter as presented in the text was that the Jew converted to Islam.77 This element makes one suspect that we are dealing here with a topos and that the account is ctional, though quite plausible at rst glance since Ibn Sahnn was famous for . u his written and oral polemics.78 Considering his record, it would be surprising if he had not polemicized against Judaism.
77 According to Azab (al-Imm Sahnn, p. 210), min fada il Ibn Sahnn annahu a . u . . u najaha f idkhl yahd f l-d al-islm a u n a . According to van Ess, Disputations. praxis, p. 47, Bekehrung stand immer auch im Hintergrund der Erwartungen, wenn in einem Religionsgesprch ein Muslim auf einen Nichtmuslim traf. a 78 Idris, Contribution ` lhistoire de lIfrikiya, p. 141, does seem to take the story a at face value and refers to it as evidence of the fact that Les Malikites soutiennent

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The account presented above seems to be serving a number of purposes, apart from the obvious one of emphasizing the superiority of Islam, viz. (1) to demonstrate Ibn Sahnns superior learning (and here it may . u be signicant that his ineectual companion is a student of his famous father Sahnn who would always overshadow him); (2) to impress upon . u the reader that only someone with sucient preparation and rhetorical skills can hope to prevail in a disputation, even if he is in possession of the true faith and his opponent is not; faith alone is not enough. Ibn Sahnn tells his fellow-Muslim in no uncertain terms that he did Islam . u a disservice: had he himself not come to the rescue, the Muslims in the audience might have started to have doubts about their own faith, which the other man had not been able to defend against the arguments of the Jew. The fact that the man who botched up his disputation with the Egyptian Jew was apparently the brother of Al b. Humayd,79 the . vizier of the Aghlab who had hosted the oriental shaykh who ended up s being insulted, does not prevent Ibn Sahnn from scolding him after the . u disputation with the Jew has been successfully concluded, no thanks to him! According to the above account, Ibn Sahnn prevails over the Jew . u in a disputation which lasted an entire day (if not longer), and was interrupted only by Ibn Sahnns prayers, which he performed at their . u appropriate times. The prayers which punctuate the course of the disputation are mentioned not only in order to emphasize the length of the disputation, and the fact that the Muslim polemicist strictly observed the precepts of his religion, but they also suggest that Ibn Sahnn derived . u strength from them, so that he ultimately emerged victorious. That the Jew was a hard nut to crack and was not easily impressed with his opponents arguments is indicated not only by the amount of time it allegedly took Ibn Sahnn to defeat him, but also by the fact that he wiped the . u sweat o his brow once he was done: it had been a dicult task, but thanks to his knowledge, his rhetorical skills, his faith and his prayers, it is suggested, he prevailed over the Jew. It is clear that this is a way to vaunt the prowess of Ibn Sahnn: describing the Jew as a pushover . u would not have suited the purpose at all. Unlike in the accounts of his aborted disputation with the oriental shaykh (about the Qur n) and a his disagreement with Ibn Abds (about the nature of faith), not the u slightest indication is given in this account of the subject matter of the alleged disputation. However, it may be surmised that if a disputation
aussi la discussion avec les gens du livre. 79 His name is given as Ab l-Fadl Ahmad b. Al b. Humayd al-Tam (d. 251/865 u m . . . or 256/869); see al-Mlik Riyd al-nufs, vol. 1, p. 479, no. 156, and p. 450; Ibn a , a. u Farhun, al-D aj al-mudhhab, p. 87, no. 12. On the Ban Humayd, see Tsafrir, The b u . . history of an Islamic school of law, p. 113.

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between Muhammad b. Sahnn and a Jew did in fact take place and . . u again, there is no a priori reason to assume that it did not it would have centred on the status of the Prophet Muhammad and of the Jewish . scriptures. By the 9th century CE the arguments most frequently used were: (a) the Torah contains references to the advent of Muhammad and . his old-new religion; (b) the Torah was abrogated, rst by the Christian inj and then by the Qur n and the shar a; and (c) in order to conceal l, a the testimonies of Muhammad, the Jews tampered either with the text . of their scriptures, or with their interpretation.80 Since I have dealt at length with these issues elsewhere, I shall not dwell on them here. A nal point worthy of note is the fact that Ibn Sahnns Jewish interlocu. u tor is presented as the owner or supervisor of a bathhouse, a somewhat unlikely profession for a man of clearly scholarly disposition. What is moreover interesting is that his hammm was frequented by Muslims. If a . the account reects a true event, or contains a grain of truth, we have here an indication of the extent to which Muslims and non-Muslims interacted, and further evidence to support Grotzfelds assumption that up to the period of the Ftim al-Hkim (regn. 386/996411/1021), Musa. .a lims and dhimm in Egypt used the same bathhouses, without any need s for distinctive signs.81 Although according to Grotzfeld many religious scholars seem to have objected to this especially to dhimm being s tended by Muslims neither Ibn Sahnn nor his companion seems to u . have had any qualms about patronizing the mixed establishment. This is all the more interesting considering that the hammm, apart from bea . ing a recreational facility, was rst and foremost connected with ritual purity, which is why the baths were often adjacent to mosques.82 Even if the account about the disputation should be entirely ctional, its details must have seemed plausible to its audience, meaning that the suggestion of a Jew owning or supervising a hammm catering to Muslims was not a . rejected out of hand as being preposterous. If we are dealing here with pure ction, we must ask ourselves why the narrator chose to cast the Jew in the role of owner or caretaker of a bathhouse, which was regarded as a lowly profession to which attitudes were rather ambivalent.83 Is the man given a subservient position precisely in order to emphasize that even a humble Jew will have no diculty defeating a Muslim who is not properly prepared, in other words: is it an attempt to caution irresponsible Muslims who are not up to the task? Is the mans conversion
80 See on these aguments Perlmann, The medieval polemics; Lazarus-Yafeh, Intertwined worlds; Adang, Muslim writers, especially Chapters Five, Six and Seven; ead., Torah. 81 Grotzfeld, Das Bad, pp. 123128. 82 See EI 2 , s.v. Hammm, (J. Sourdel-Thomine/A. Louis) p. 139. a . 83 See Brunschvig, Mtiers vils en Islam, p. 46. e

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to Islam all the more rewarding since he supposedly ministered to the purication of the Muslims?

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