Professor Joseph Schacht (1902–1969) — cited by Voorhoeve as Prof. J. Schacht — was a German-born Islamic scholar, one of the leading western scholars of Islamic law and of the manuscript traditions of Arabic scholastic literature. He is acknowledged by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of Raniri’s two Malay treatises for his guidance in the reading, explanation, and collation of the manuscripts of the *Tamhīd* of Abū Shakūr as-Sālimī — the principal source of the *Tibjān fī maʿrifat al-adyān* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī.
Guidance in the collation of the Tamhīd
Voorhoeve records, in the introduction to the 1955 edition, his “great debt to Professor J. Schacht for his guidance in the reading, explanation, and collation of the manuscripts of the last chapter of the Tamhīd.” The last chapter of the Tamhīd — Fīʾs-sunna waʾl-jamāʿa waʾr-radd ʿalāʾl-bidʿa — is the source from which Raniri translated more than a quarter of the text of the Tibjān. Schacht’s guidance was therefore indispensable to the identification of the Tamhīd as the principal source of the Tibjān — the most original contribution of Voorhoeve’s edition.
Schacht is also cited in Voorhoeve’s apparatus criticus for a number of emendations to the text of the Tamhīd. He is recorded, for instance, as the authority for the emendation of Halāliyya (in the manuscripts of the Tamhīd) to Hallājiyya — a sect of those who follow the doctrine of al-Ḥallāj — at p. 27 r. 13 of the *Tibjān*. He is also recorded as the authority for the identification of the dogma of the Mafrūʿiyya of the Jabriyya as a doctrine of kasb — the acquisition of human action by divine creation — originally signifying “responsibility,” but in Malay interpreted as usaha, “effort.”
Significance
Schacht’s guidance in the collation of the Tamhīd is one of the principal channels by which the source-study of the Tibjān was carried through. The identification of the Tamhīd as the principal source of the Tibjān — established by Voorhoeve with Schacht’s guidance — is the most original contribution of the 1955 edition, and the one on which the modern understanding of the textual genealogy of Raniri’s Malay encyclopaedia of religions and sects depends.
See Also
- Abu Syakur as-Salimi
- al-Hallaj
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Tamhid fi bayan at-tawhid
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
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 §2b (“De bronnen van de Tibjān”), p. 9, note (3), where Schacht’s guidance is acknowledged; and apparatus criticus, where his emendations are recorded.
J. Schacht, “On the popular literature of the sects,” Studia Islamica I, pp. 23 ff.
Professor Joseph Schacht (1902–1969) — cited by Voorhoeve as Prof. J. Schacht — was a German-born Islamic scholar, one of the leading western scholars of Islamic law and of the manuscript traditions of Arabic scholastic literature. He is acknowledged by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of Raniri’s two Malay treatises for his guidance in the reading, explanation, and collation of the manuscripts of the *Tamhīd* of Abū Shakūr as-Sālimī — the principal source of the *Tibjān fī maʿrifat al-adyān* of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī.
Guidance in the collation of the Tamhīd
Voorhoeve records, in the introduction to the 1955 edition, his “great debt to Professor J. Schacht for his guidance in the reading, explanation, and collation of the manuscripts of the last chapter of the Tamhīd.” The last chapter of the Tamhīd — Fīʾs-sunna waʾl-jamāʿa waʾr-radd ʿalāʾl-bidʿa — is the source from which Raniri translated more than a quarter of the text of the Tibjān. Schacht’s guidance was therefore indispensable to the identification of the Tamhīd as the principal source of the Tibjān — the most original contribution of Voorhoeve’s edition.
Schacht is also cited in Voorhoeve’s apparatus criticus for a number of emendations to the text of the Tamhīd. He is recorded, for instance, as the authority for the emendation of Halāliyya (in the manuscripts of the Tamhīd) to Hallājiyya — a sect of those who follow the doctrine of al-Ḥallāj — at p. 27 r. 13 of the *Tibjān*. He is also recorded as the authority for the identification of the dogma of the Mafrūʿiyya of the Jabriyya as a doctrine of kasb — the acquisition of human action by divine creation — originally signifying “responsibility,” but in Malay interpreted as usaha, “effort.”
Significance
Schacht’s guidance in the collation of the Tamhīd is one of the principal channels by which the source-study of the Tibjān was carried through. The identification of the Tamhīd as the principal source of the Tibjān — established by Voorhoeve with Schacht’s guidance — is the most original contribution of the 1955 edition, and the one on which the modern understanding of the textual genealogy of Raniri’s Malay encyclopaedia of religions and sects depends.
See Also
- Abu Syakur as-Salimi
- al-Hallaj
- P. Voorhoeve
- Raniri
- Tamhid fi bayan at-tawhid
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
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 §2b (“De bronnen van de Tibjān”), p. 9, note (3), where Schacht’s guidance is acknowledged; and apparatus criticus, where his emendations are recorded.
J. Schacht, “On the popular literature of the sects,” Studia Islamica I, pp. 23 ff.