Symbol and Secret (1995) JRAS Review (1997) by Moojan Momen

THIRD SERIES -VOLUME J -PART 2 JULY I997 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY This content downloaded from 35.8.11.2 on Tue, 27 Mar 2018 06:29:24 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society THIRD SERIES VOLUME J PART 2 JULY IQQ7 CONTENTS The shape of the cosmos according to cuneiform sources. Margaret Huxley 189 The study of Islamic historiography: a progress report. Chase F. Robinson 199 A Waghorn letter book for 1840. Sarah Searight 229 Pre-Kus?na reliquaries from P?taka, Swat. Muhammad Farooq Sw?ti 249 A recipe to Qubilai Qan on governance: the case of Chang Te-hui and Li Chih. Hok-lam Chan 257 BOOK REVIEWS Francis Robinson (ed.): The Cambridge illustrated history of the Islamic world (Richard Rathbon G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville: The Islamic and Christian calendars AD 622-2222 (AH 1?1630). A complete guide for converting Christian and Islamic dates and dates of festivals. Revised 3rd edition (Farouk Topan) 286 G. Rex Smith, J. R. Smart andB. R. Pridham (ed.): New Arabian studies 3 (C. Edmund Bosworth) 287 Naphtali Kinberg: A lexicon ofal-Farr?* 's terminology in his Quif?n commentary, with full definitions, English summaries and extensive citations (W. Madelung) 288 Binyamin Abrahamov (ed., trans., introd., notes): Anthropomorphism and interpretation of the Qur'dn in the theology ofal-Qasim ibn Ibrahim: Kit?b al-Mustarshid (W. Madelung) 289 Christopher Buck: Symbol and secret: Qufan commentary in Baha'u'll?h's Kitab-i Iqan (Moojan Momen) 290 Robert Schick: The Christian communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic rule. A historical and archaeological study (John Haldon) 291 Sayyid Maqbul Ahmad: A history of Arab-Islamic geography (gth?i6th century A.D.) (C. F. Beckingham) 293 U. Vermeulen and D. de Smet (ed.): Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk eras. Proceedings of the ist, 2nd and 3rd International Colloquium organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 1992, 1993 and 1994. (D. S. Richards) 295 Louis Alexandre Olivier de Corancez, introd. by R. M. Burrell, trans, by Eric Tabet: The history of the Wahabisfrom their origin until the end of 1809. The founders of Saudi Arabia (C. Edmund Bosworth) 296 William F. Spengler and Wayne G. Sayles: Turkoman figurai bronze coins and their iconography. Vol. 1. The Artuqids (Carole Hillenbrand) 297 This content downloaded from 35.8.11.2 on Tue, 27 Mar 2018 06:29:24 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 290 Reviews of Books should have been taken into account in establishing the text. Among the numerous other variants of MS (q) quoted in the apparatus, many are evidently corruptions; some, however, seem preferable to the reading of (h). The text of the edition could evidently have substantially benefited from a judicious reliance on MS (q) in addition to (h). More care should also have been applied to the poetry cited by al-Q?sim. Abrahamov evidendy failed to recognize that the quotation on p. 60 1. 17 is a hemistich of tawil poetry (li read liya) and that the three quotations on p. 102 11. 1-2, 11. 5-6 (ya'udh read yuHdh), and 11. 6-7 are lines of poetry respectively in w?fir, rajaz, and tawil metre. Poetry should have been scanned in order to avoid breaking the metre. P. 56 1. 2 al-binya thus must be read al-baniyya (w?fir); p. 60 1. 13 wafadtu .. . qas?'ida: wafadat. . . qas?*idu (w?fir); p. 102 1. 14: wa-tatallab: wa-tattalib (tawil); p. 104 1. 7 asbahat: adhat (basit); p. no 1. 16 ra3?hu: r?hu (bas?t). Only a few other corrections, based on MS (h), or emendations (marked r.) can be given here. P. 50 1. 2 al-ahb?r. al-akhb?r, 1. 10 tawjih: r. tawajjuh; 1. n allati: r. alladhi; p. 66 1. 14 bi l-mus?b?h: bi l misbah; p. 68 1. n s?tir. bis?tir, p. 78 1. 2 anta: r. a"anta; p. 80 1. 15 ishtabaha: r. athbattuh?; p. 82 1. 6 madhah?: r. midhatan; p. 84 1. 4 al-s?ra: r. al-suwar, p. 88 1. 14 muthshfuh?: mushayyfuh?; p. 90 1. 16 tulzimu: talzamu; p. 94 1. 7 tasghiruh?: tasghirun; Lu yucraju ... min: yacriju . . . man; p. 96 1. 6 al amkina: al-amakin; p. 98 1. 7 rabb?ni: r. rabb?niyyi; 1. 9 tan?za'at: MS (h) has s?racat, but tan?zacat seems preferable; p. 104 1. 8 al-Sullam?: al-Sulam?; p. no 1. 1 la-mahjub?n: la-mahj?b?n; p. 124 1. 1 mustaqirra . . . wa-jan?n: musfira . . . wa-jin?n; p. 128 1. 3 la-ghallata . . . taghlitan: la-ghallaza . . . taghlizan; 1. 5 akhrajah?: ikhr?juh?; p. 134 1. 1 fa-waritha: fa-warratha; p. 136 1. 12 intic?shuhum: inbic?thuhum; 1. 15 la mahjub?n . . . mahjub?n: la-mahj?b?n . . . mahj?b?n; p. 138 1. ifaraj . . . bi-faraj: farah . . . bi-farah: p. 142 1. 7 unzila: nazala; 1. 9 akhadh?: ahdath?. The translation is offen inaccurate or glosses over difficulties and must be used with caution. W. Madelung Symbol and secret: Qur'an commentary in Bah?Vll?h's Kit?b-i Iq?n. By Christopher Buck. (Studies in the B?bi and Bah?'i Religions, Vol. 7.) pp. xliv, 326, 5 illus. Los Angeles, Kalim?t Press, 1995. US$42.50 (cloth), US$32.50 (paperback). The Book of Certitude (Kit?b-i Iq?n) is the main doctrinal work of Bah?Vll?h, the founder of the Bah?'i Faith. It deals with the subject of the nature of religion and interprets religious history and eschatological terminology. The main purpose of the book can be said to be to respond to Muslim objections to the possibility of a new religious revelation from God after the prophet Muhammad. In the course of doing this, it also lays the groundwork for all Bah?'i scriptural interpretation. It is therefore of very great importance in the Bah?'i Faith. It is second in importance only to the Kit?b-i Aqdas, Bah?Vll?h's book of laws, and it is arguably the best known and most quoted work of Bah?Vll?h. Christopher Buck's book represents the first book-length attempt in the English language to analyse one of the major works of Bah?Vll?h. There are many possible ways of analysing the Iq?n. Buck has chosen to concentrate on elucidating the way that the book emerges from traditional Islamic techniques of Qur'anic commentary (tafsir). I use the word emerges deliberately because the Iq?n emerges in two senses. First, it emerges in the sense of deriving from the terminology and exegetical techniques of classical Islamic tafsir works. Buck demonstrates this by showing how Bah?Vll?h has used all but two of the twelve procedural devices identified by Wansbrough (Quranic Studies) in his analysis of Islamic exegetical literature. Second, it emerges in the sense of going outside the Islamic tradition. For Bah?Vll?h uses the techniques of traditional Islamic tafsir literature precisely to undermine one of the main foundations of that tradition, the claim that Muhammad is the last prophet of God and that therefore Islam is the final revelation of God. Bah?Vll?h uses that which This content downloaded from 35.8.11.2 on Tue, 27 Mar 2018 06:40:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 291 Reviews of Books Islam considers most sacred, the text of the Qur'?n, to undermine the traditional interpretation ofthat book by Muslims. One of the interesting facts about the ?q?n is the fact that, at the time that Bah?'u'll?h produced it, he had not in fact put forward any religious claim for himself. The book is ostensibly in support of the claims of the B?b. One main theme that Buck explores in this book is the question of whether the text of the ?q?n contains hints by Bah?Vll?h of his future claim. Some have expressed doubt as to whether any such hints exist but Buck demonstrates, conclusively I think, that there are many covert and even overt indications of what he calls "Bah?'u'll?h's messianic secret". Buck touches upon, but does not explore in any great depth, other themes in the ?q?n: Bah?'u'll?h's interpretation of religious history ? the archetype of the prophet that he describes; the theme that purity of heart and moral rectitude (not knowledge particularly of the traditional Islamic sciences) are the keys to unlocking the meaning of the scriptures; and a number of theological positions that Bah?'u'll?h advances in the course of the book. In this book, Buck also describes the circumstances of the production of the ?q?n, as well as its manuscript and publication history. He describes a number of controversies that have centred on this book. He also describes the effect that it had on the B?b? community and the nascent Bah?'i community. My main criticism of Buck's book concerns his failure to pay due regard to the extent to which the themes and techniques of exegesis that appear in the ?q?n are indebted to and a continuation of what is in the writings of the B?b. In his exegesis of eschatology, for example, Bah?'u'll?h states that expected eschatological events, such as the darkening of the sun, the falling of the stars to earth, and the cleaving of the heavens are meant to be understood symbolically. They are symbols for events occurring in the spiritual world: the failure of the former religion to give out spiritual light any longer, the fall of the divines of that religion from their preeminent place, and the cleaving of the heaven of religion in its abrogation by the succeeding dispensation. Thus Bah?'u'll?h is interpreting eschatological signs as being symbolic representations of the spiritual significance of the earthly events that occur when a new prophet of God comes. This method of interpretation was clearly presaged, albeit not so clearly or in such detail, in works of the Bab, particularly the second w?hid of the Persian Bayan. Here the B?b gives a symbolic interpretation of such eschatological terms as the "Day of Resurrection", "the Balance", "the Reckoning", "Paradise", and "Hell-fire" in a manner similar to the method used by Bah?'u'll?h in the ?q?n. There are also a few minor errors of fact. Thus, for example, in note 67, p. 46, the khatt-i badic insofar as it was used by anyone other than its author, would have been used by the followers of Mirz? Muhammad 'Ali, and not the Azal?s. Having made these criticisms, however, it must also be said that in every other way, Buck has created a good starting point for what one would anticipate will be a new genre: critical analyses of the writings of Bah?'u'll?h. MoojAN Momen The Christian communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic rule. A historical and archaeological study. By Robert Schick. (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, 2.) pp. xviii, 583, 24 pi., 9 maps. Princeton, NJ, Darwin Press, 1995. US$ 59.95. Robert Schick has attempted in this solid volume to present and analyse the archaeological and literary evidence for the history of the Christian communities of late Roman Palestine from the late sixth until the ninth century. In so doing, he deals in nine chapters with the situation in the late sixth and first years of the seventh century, the Persian invasion and its consequences, the evidence for the limited results of the Byzantine recovery of the region from 628 (including the ecclesiastical This content downloaded from 35.8.11.2 on Tue, 27 Mar 2018 06:40:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms