Al-Shahrastānī — Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (467–548 H / 1076–1153 C.E.) — was a Persian scholar of Islamic sects and religions, the author of the al-Milal waʾl-niḥal (“The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects”), one of the principal scholastic authorities on the classification of Muslim heresies. He is cited by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of the two Malay treatises of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī as one of the comparative authorities for the sectarian classifications of the *Tibjān*.
The al-Milal waʾl-niḥal
The al-Milal waʾl-niḥal of al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal scholastic authorities on the classification of Muslim heresies. The work is cited by Voorhoeve, in the comparative notes to his introduction to the 1955 edition, as Sjahr. — abbreviated from the Dutch form Sjahrastānī — for the variant readings of the names of the sects and for the doctrines attributed to them. The translation of Haarbrücker is the form in which the work was available to Voorhoeve.
The Barāhima
Al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal authorities cited by Voorhoeve for the question of the Barāhima — the so-called “followers of Ibrāhīm” whom Raniri treats in the *Tibjān* as a scriptuary religion. Al-Shahrastānī — unlike al-Jīlī, from whom Raniri drew his account of the Barāhima — rejects the derivation of the name from the prophet Ibrāhīm. He says: “There are people who claim that the Indian Barāhima are named after the prophet Ibrāhīm. This is incorrect, for this group is characterised by an absolute denial of prophecy. The Indian Barāhima, according to al-Shahrastānī, are descended from a Persian king named Barhām, and he reckons them not among the scriptuaries but, on the contrary, among those who follow their own ideas without divine revelation.” The classification of the Barāhima among the scriptuaries in the *Tibjān* is therefore — as Voorhoeve notes — “everything but usual in the sect-literature.”
Significance
Al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal scholastic authorities cited by Voorhoeve for the comparative study of the sectarian classifications of the *Tibjān*. His al-Milal waʾl-niḥal is the principal comparative authority for the names of the sects and for the doctrines attributed to them. The contrast between his account of the Barāhima and that of al-Jīlī is one of the principal documents for the singularity of Raniri’s classification of the Barāhima among the scriptuaries — a singularity that Voorhoeve traces to Raniri’s source in al-Jīlī’s *al-Insān al-kāmil*.
See Also
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”) and §2c (“De secten”), where al-Shahrastānī is cited as Sjahr. — translated by Haarbrücker.
Al-Shahrastānī — Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (467–548 H / 1076–1153 C.E.) — was a Persian scholar of Islamic sects and religions, the author of the al-Milal waʾl-niḥal (“The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects”), one of the principal scholastic authorities on the classification of Muslim heresies. He is cited by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of the two Malay treatises of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī as one of the comparative authorities for the sectarian classifications of the *Tibjān*.
The al-Milal waʾl-niḥal
The al-Milal waʾl-niḥal of al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal scholastic authorities on the classification of Muslim heresies. The work is cited by Voorhoeve, in the comparative notes to his introduction to the 1955 edition, as Sjahr. — abbreviated from the Dutch form Sjahrastānī — for the variant readings of the names of the sects and for the doctrines attributed to them. The translation of Haarbrücker is the form in which the work was available to Voorhoeve.
The Barāhima
Al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal authorities cited by Voorhoeve for the question of the Barāhima — the so-called “followers of Ibrāhīm” whom Raniri treats in the *Tibjān* as a scriptuary religion. Al-Shahrastānī — unlike al-Jīlī, from whom Raniri drew his account of the Barāhima — rejects the derivation of the name from the prophet Ibrāhīm. He says: “There are people who claim that the Indian Barāhima are named after the prophet Ibrāhīm. This is incorrect, for this group is characterised by an absolute denial of prophecy. The Indian Barāhima, according to al-Shahrastānī, are descended from a Persian king named Barhām, and he reckons them not among the scriptuaries but, on the contrary, among those who follow their own ideas without divine revelation.” The classification of the Barāhima among the scriptuaries in the *Tibjān* is therefore — as Voorhoeve notes — “everything but usual in the sect-literature.”
Significance
Al-Shahrastānī is one of the principal scholastic authorities cited by Voorhoeve for the comparative study of the sectarian classifications of the *Tibjān*. His al-Milal waʾl-niḥal is the principal comparative authority for the names of the sects and for the doctrines attributed to them. The contrast between his account of the Barāhima and that of al-Jīlī is one of the principal documents for the singularity of Raniri’s classification of the Barāhima among the scriptuaries — a singularity that Voorhoeve traces to Raniri’s source in al-Jīlī’s *al-Insān al-kāmil*.
See Also
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”) and §2c (“De secten”), where al-Shahrastānī is cited as Sjahr. — translated by Haarbrücker.