Dr Stephen Burge, who specialises in the religious works of al-Suyuti in the Institute鈥檚 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Studies Unit, attended the School of Mamluk Studies Conference which was held in Venice on 22-25 June 2014.
Each year the conference devotes one day to focus on a particular figure or theme within Mamluk Studies. This year鈥檚 focus was on the life and work of the late-Mamluk polymath Jalal听al-Din听al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH/1505 CE).
Dr Burge presented a conference paper entitled听Al-Suyuti鈥檚 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Hermeneutics Revised: A听Comparison of his Tahbir and Itqan;听illustrating the way al-Suyuti worked as a scholar, specifically how he used and revised his older writings when producing new works.
While exploring al-Suyuti鈥檚 seminal work on the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic sciences,听Kitab al-Itqan fi 鈥榰lum al-蚕耻谤鈥檃苍听(The Book of Perfection in the Sciences of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍Muslims believe that the Holy 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More), and its relationship to his earlier contribution to the field,听Kitab al-Tahbir fi 鈥榠lm al-Tafsir听(The Refined Book on the Knowledge of Exegesis), Dr Burge argued that, contrary to established opinion, the听Itqan听shows significant reliance on the听Tahbir.
He suggested further that the听Tahbir听appears to have acted as a model or starting point for the much more complex听Itqan. However, Dr Burge clarified that a comparative study of the two works also suggests that in some areas, al-Suyuti felt the need to completely re-work his ideas. It is for this reason that a few equivalent chapters in the听Itqan听and the听Tahbir听have little in common.
Jalal听al-Din听al-Suyuti was famed for his extraordinarily large output, with estimates ranging from 500 to 900 works in total. He is one of the most famous scholars of the late Mamluk period. He worked in the dying days of the Circassian Mamluk听Sultanate, with the听Ottomans听taking control of Cairo within a decade of al-Suyuti鈥檚 death. Although a Sunni, working at the end of the Mamluk period, al-Suyuti鈥檚 work on the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Sciences (鈥榰lum al-蚕耻谤鈥檃苍) provides the most in depth medieval study of ways of interpreting the听蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, benefitting both Sunni and Shi鈥榠 scholarship.
听is an organisation that seeks to promote the study of the Mamluk world in all its aspects: history, culture and its scholarship.
