Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh was a Sufi author of the school of the unity of being, the author of the Tuḥfa al-mursala ilāʾn-nabī (“The Gift Addressed to the Prophet”). He is cited by Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* as one of the orthodox authorities against the heretical Wujudiyyah of Acheh. The citation is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position — the position that distinguishes the orthodox Sufi from the heretical Wujūdiyyah — was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world.
The Tuḥfa al-mursala
The Tuḥfa al-mursala ilāʾn-nabī of Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is a Sufi treatise on the unity of being (waḥdat al-wujūd) in the tradition of Ibn ʿArabī. The work is listed by Brockelmann in GAL II, 418, and is cited by Raniri in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* (p. 25 of the Voorhoeve facsimile) for the doctrine that the mystic, even in the highest ecstasy, remains a creature. The passage cited is: “Whoever teaches that the mystic, even in the highest state, departs from the condition of the created, or attains the degree of divinity, is wrong, contrary to what some fools suppose.”
The orthodox Wujūdī position
The citation of Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position — the position that distinguishes the Sufi from the heretical Wujūdiyyah — was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world. Like al-Mahāʾimī and Ibn ʿArabī, Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is a Sufi of the school of the unity of being whom Raniri cites as an authority against the Wujūdiyyah — a remarkable fact, since the same school is the principal authority of the Wujudiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai. The distinction between the orthodox and the heretical Wujūdī is the key to Raniri’s polemical strategy.
Significance
Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is one of the Sufi authorities cited by Raniri in support of the orthodox distinction between the Sufi and the heretical Wujūdiyyah. His Tuḥfa al-mursala is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world. The fact that a Sufi of the school of the unity of being could be cited, by Raniri, 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.
See Also
- Ahmad al-Mahaimi
- Acheh
- 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 p. 25 of the Ḥujjat.
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) II, 418.
Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh was a Sufi author of the school of the unity of being, the author of the Tuḥfa al-mursala ilāʾn-nabī (“The Gift Addressed to the Prophet”). He is cited by Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq li-dafʿ az-zindīq* as one of the orthodox authorities against the heretical Wujudiyyah of Acheh. The citation is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position — the position that distinguishes the orthodox Sufi from the heretical Wujūdiyyah — was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world.
The Tuḥfa al-mursala
The Tuḥfa al-mursala ilāʾn-nabī of Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is a Sufi treatise on the unity of being (waḥdat al-wujūd) in the tradition of Ibn ʿArabī. The work is listed by Brockelmann in GAL II, 418, and is cited by Raniri in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* (p. 25 of the Voorhoeve facsimile) for the doctrine that the mystic, even in the highest ecstasy, remains a creature. The passage cited is: “Whoever teaches that the mystic, even in the highest state, departs from the condition of the created, or attains the degree of divinity, is wrong, contrary to what some fools suppose.”
The orthodox Wujūdī position
The citation of Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh in the *Ḥujjat aṣ-ṣiddīq* is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position — the position that distinguishes the Sufi from the heretical Wujūdiyyah — was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world. Like al-Mahāʾimī and Ibn ʿArabī, Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is a Sufi of the school of the unity of being whom Raniri cites as an authority against the Wujūdiyyah — a remarkable fact, since the same school is the principal authority of the Wujudiyyah of Hamzah Pansuri and Shamsuddin of Pasai. The distinction between the orthodox and the heretical Wujūdī is the key to Raniri’s polemical strategy.
Significance
Muḥammad b. Faḍl Allāh is one of the Sufi authorities cited by Raniri in support of the orthodox distinction between the Sufi and the heretical Wujūdiyyah. His Tuḥfa al-mursala is one of the principal channels by which the orthodox Wujūdī position was transmitted to the Malay-Indonesian world. The fact that a Sufi of the school of the unity of being could be cited, by Raniri, 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.
See Also
- Ahmad al-Mahaimi
- Acheh
- 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 p. 25 of the Ḥujjat.
C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (GAL) II, 418.