ʿAlī b. Aḥmad al-Mahāʾimī — in Dutch scholarship Ahmad al-Maha’imi — was an Indian Sufi mystic who died in 835 H / 1432 C.E. He is numbered among the Wujūdiyya — that is, the Sufis of the school of the unity of being — but, in Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī’s view, an orthodox Wujūdī, not one of the heretical Wujūdiyyah whom Raniri refutes in his Achehnese writings. He is cited as an authority in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* of Raniri, and is named among “the great mystics” in the *Ḥall aẓ-ẓill*.
The orthodox Wujūdī
Al-Mahāʾimī is a striking figure in the religious controversy of Acheh: a Wujūdī mystic — that is, a Sufi of the school of the unity of being — who is nonetheless cited by Raniri as an authority against the heretical Wujūdiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai. The distinction is the key to Raniri’s polemical strategy: the orthodox Wujūdiyyah (whom Raniri also calls the Wujūdiyya al-muwaḥḥid) are the Sufis themselves; the heretical Wujūdiyyah (the Wujūdiyya al-mulḥid) are those who teach that the being of God and the being of the world are one in essence. Al-Mahāʾimī is the principal Indian authority cited by Raniri in support of the orthodox distinction.
Works cited by Raniri
Two works of al-Mahāʾimī are cited by Raniri:
- The Ithbād an-naṣīḥa (more properly Ithbād an-naṣīḥa) — cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* at p. 14, and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* at pp. 39 and 40 of the London manuscript. The passage cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is: “Whoever teaches that the Reason, the Soul, etc. etc. are the Highest Reality is as wrong as one who says ‘Zaid’s hand is Zaid,’ and is an unbeliever and atheist.”
- The Irāʾat ad-daqāʾiq — lithographed at Bombay (undated), cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* at pp. 13 and 26, and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* at pp. 37 and 58 of the London manuscript. The passage cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is: “Whoever teaches that the Reason, the Soul, etc. etc. are the Highest Reality… is an unbeliever and atheist.” The Arabic text of the lithographed edition (p. 36) is also cited by Voorhoeve for several readings.
Significance
Al-Mahāʾimī is the principal Indian authority cited by Raniri against the heretical Wujūdiyyah of Acheh. The fact that an Indian Wujūdī mystic of the early fifteenth century could be cited, two centuries later, as an authority against the Wujūdiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri’s school is a measure of the difficulty of distinguishing the orthodox from the heterodox position in the scholastic Sufism of the seventeenth century, and of the role of commentary and interpretation — rather than the choice of authorities — in the religious controversy of Acheh. Al-Mahāʾimī is also a document of the Indian channel by which the Sufi scholasticism of the Arab and Persian worlds was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian archipelago: his works, lithographed at Bombay, were available to Raniri in Gujarat before his departure for Acheh in 1637.
See Also
- Abd al-Karim al-Jili
- Acheh
- Djawahir al-‘ulum
- Gudjarat
- Hall al-zill
- Hamzah Pansuri
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- Ibn Arabi
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Shaikh Shamsuddin of Sumatra
- Wujudiyyah
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3 (“Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq”) and apparatus criticus ad pp. 13, 14, 26 of the Ḥujjat; and notes to pp. 37, 39, 40, 58 of the London manuscript of the Jawāhir al-ʿulūm.
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) II, 221, where al-Mahāʾimī is listed with the date of death 835/1432.
ʿAlī b. Aḥmad al-Mahāʾimī — in Dutch scholarship Ahmad al-Maha’imi — was an Indian Sufi mystic who died in 835 H / 1432 C.E. He is numbered among the Wujūdiyya — that is, the Sufis of the school of the unity of being — but, in Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī’s view, an orthodox Wujūdī, not one of the heretical Wujūdiyyah whom Raniri refutes in his Achehnese writings. He is cited as an authority in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* of Raniri, and is named among “the great mystics” in the *Ḥall aẓ-ẓill*.
The orthodox Wujūdī
Al-Mahāʾimī is a striking figure in the religious controversy of Acheh: a Wujūdī mystic — that is, a Sufi of the school of the unity of being — who is nonetheless cited by Raniri as an authority against the heretical Wujūdiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai. The distinction is the key to Raniri’s polemical strategy: the orthodox Wujūdiyyah (whom Raniri also calls the Wujūdiyya al-muwaḥḥid) are the Sufis themselves; the heretical Wujūdiyyah (the Wujūdiyya al-mulḥid) are those who teach that the being of God and the being of the world are one in essence. Al-Mahāʾimī is the principal Indian authority cited by Raniri in support of the orthodox distinction.
Works cited by Raniri
Two works of al-Mahāʾimī are cited by Raniri:
- The Ithbād an-naṣīḥa (more properly Ithbād an-naṣīḥa) — cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* at p. 14, and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* at pp. 39 and 40 of the London manuscript. The passage cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is: “Whoever teaches that the Reason, the Soul, etc. etc. are the Highest Reality is as wrong as one who says ‘Zaid’s hand is Zaid,’ and is an unbeliever and atheist.”
- The Irāʾat ad-daqāʾiq — lithographed at Bombay (undated), cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* at pp. 13 and 26, and in the *Jawāhir al-ʿulūm* at pp. 37 and 58 of the London manuscript. The passage cited in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is: “Whoever teaches that the Reason, the Soul, etc. etc. are the Highest Reality… is an unbeliever and atheist.” The Arabic text of the lithographed edition (p. 36) is also cited by Voorhoeve for several readings.
Significance
Al-Mahāʾimī is the principal Indian authority cited by Raniri against the heretical Wujūdiyyah of Acheh. The fact that an Indian Wujūdī mystic of the early fifteenth century could be cited, two centuries later, as an authority against the Wujūdiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri’s school is a measure of the difficulty of distinguishing the orthodox from the heterodox position in the scholastic Sufism of the seventeenth century, and of the role of commentary and interpretation — rather than the choice of authorities — in the religious controversy of Acheh. Al-Mahāʾimī is also a document of the Indian channel by which the Sufi scholasticism of the Arab and Persian worlds was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian archipelago: his works, lithographed at Bombay, were available to Raniri in Gujarat before his departure for Acheh in 1637.
See Also
- Abd al-Karim al-Jili
- Acheh
- Djawahir al-‘ulum
- Gudjarat
- Hall al-zill
- Hamzah Pansuri
- Hudjdjat as-siddiq li-daf az-zindiq
- Ibn Arabi
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Shaikh Shamsuddin of Sumatra
- Wujudiyyah
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §3 (“Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq”) and apparatus criticus ad pp. 13, 14, 26 of the Ḥujjat; and notes to pp. 37, 39, 40, 58 of the London manuscript of the Jawāhir al-ʿulūm.
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) II, 221, where al-Mahāʾimī is listed with the date of death 835/1432.