UniversityofCanlbridgeOrientalPublicatibns ptJbUshedforthe FacultyofOrientalStudies Seepage243 for thecompletelist J~,&-;JIJ~ .. , Jalal aI-din al-Suyuti VOLUME I Biographyand background E. M. S ART A IN CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON -NEW YORK· MELBOURNE ";,,!'to,, __'" ....S'ndl<s<>I...C>mbridl"Uol.. Th. Pi" Ilolldl"lh1'1....",.....",S"..t,C.mbr>1pCll IRP Ikn<lo,11""..,100E~""" Rood, L""~",,NWI Z!lR IIE."511.S,,,.t,Now y",~,NY IoonU~ "'<1"""'0< rl68<>0>"'&'"1\"....,"''''4''Po.,) 3106,Al><'''1io >€ F....." of0<1..",1Stud"" U";"'~lrofC.""",;oI&< 1915 1'1"","" L1lM.,.ofC""V'''C...I_C,,4 10_11116 ISBN• Y<>I,1 0 S21 10501 6 YoL2 n51' 205<6 1 Sot0 51' 1061J 2 c..., P,;.,ooI I. B,I"li"" ,I><u";,,,,"yYrl"t'"11""",C....,1ds< tE...Philljpo.l'"i"","1)'Prl",,,) Contents Prefacevii Acknowledgementsix PART I A biographical study ofJaHil aI-din aI-SuyutI Egypt under the rule of the Circassian Mamliiks (1382-1517) 1 1. The structure ofthe Mamlukstate I H. ThepositionofEgyptians underMamlUkrule 9 iiL An outline of the principal historical eventsin Egypt from 1445 to 1517 I3 2 Thelife ofJaHiIaI-dinaI-Suyiiti 19 i. The Khu~ayrifamily from Assiut 19 n. Al-Suyiitfschildhood 24 Hi.Studies 26 iv. A1-Suyii~f andSiifism 33 v. Travelsand teaching 37 vi. Fameabroad 46 Vii. Academicdisputes 53 vili. Al-Suyiitl'scontroversialclaims 61 ix.Contemporary opinion ofa1-SuyiitI 72 x. Retirementfrom teachingandiftli' 80 xi.The dispute withSultanQaytbay 86 xii. The appointment ofaJ-SuyUtf as qaqf-in-chief 91 xiii. The Baybarsiyyah troubles 94 xiv. Disappointmentand seclusion 102 xv. Recognition afterdeath 109 xvi. Al-SuyuHasapersonandascholar 113 3 Academiclifeinal-Suyii!fs time 117 PART II "AI-Tabadduth bini'mat allahH , JaIal al-dTn al-SuyutT's Autobiography 4 AutobiographicalwritinginclassicalArabic literature 137 5 Description of the manuscripts used ineditingthe textofal·Suyii~i'sautobiography 142 6 Explanatory noteson the textoftheauto- biography 153 Bibliography 218 Explanatory indexofArabic words 229 Indexofsubjectsand propernames 234 Preface This book is based on my dissertation "AI-Tahadduth bini'mat allah, the autobiography of Jalalai-din al-SuyutI", which was approved for the degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy at the University ofCambridge in t968. For publication, I have rewritten the dissertation, revising and rearranging the material in it, and I have attempted to make it more readable for those whoare not specialistsin Arabicstudies. In volume two of the present work, I have edited al-Suyuti's autobiography, al-Ta~taddlith bil1i'mat allah, from an incomplete manuscript preserved in the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ttibingen, supplying some of the missing parts from manuscripts of biographies of al·SuyUfi by two of his students, 'Abdal-Qadir aI-Shadhilr and Shamsai-din al·Dawudi al-Mlilikf, both of whom rely extensively on the autobiography and quote passagesfrom it. Asfar asI kno\v, none ofthese manuscripts has been consultedbefore py anyone whohaswritten on al-SuyutL In volume one, I have used the material contained in the autobiography and in the two biographies, as wellasinformation from other works by al-Suyuti and from contemporary sources, such as al-Sakhawi's al-J;>aw'al-lami', to write a study ofal-Suyu~l'slife. This study is preceded by abriefoutline ofpoliticalandsocialconditionsin Egypt in the late MamHik period, and is followed by a discussion of education and academic life ina1-Suyu~i'stime,based onmaterial from the above-mentioned sources. As this is primarily ahistorical and not aliterary study, no attempt has been made to evaluate al·Suyiit!'s works. The proper assessment ofal-Suyutfscontribution asa scholaris a task which must be left to specialists in each ofthe fields in which al-Suyutiworked. The historical value of al.Suyiiti's autobiography should be emphasized here. One of his principaI aims in this work was to make known the history of his life, so that his successors might be in vii Preface possession of the correct facts about him. Moreover, the accounts which al-SuyutI gives of his studies provide important material on education at that time, and the information about his subsequent academic career, his teaching, his writing, and his disputes, throws much light on the cultural scene in general. The lively descriptions of al-Suyu!Ts disputes with other scholars, which are written in a very conversational, almost colloqUial, style, are particularly valuable, and such revealing personal statements as we find here are rare in Arabic autobiographical writing, of which impersonality is one of the main characteristics. Hitherto, perhaps insufficient use has beenmade ofthe historical information contained in this and similar works,for instance al-Sakhawl's al-l)aw' al-Iami', which also gives much information on contemporary life, and provides an insight on the rivalries ofscholars. Acknowledgements I should like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me in the preparation ofthis work, especially Professor R.B.Serjeant, DrJ.F.P.Hopkins, Fu'ii'd Sayyid and the staff in charge of the manu scripts in the Egyptian National Library, Shaykh Abo '}-Wafli'of aI Azhar Library, Rashad 'Abdal-Muttalib,Mu~taraH.iJiizI,andmyhusband Dr HamdI al-SakkITt. I am also most grateful for the help of the following libraries, firstly the StiftungPreussischerKulturbesitz, Depot der Staatsbibliothek, TUbingen, which sent me microfilmsofal-SuyiltT's autobiography and of al-DiiwudT's Tarjamat al-Suyu(f, and gave me permission to use this material, and secondly both the Chester Beatty Collection, Dublin, and the India Office Library, London, which lent me manuscripts of al-ShlidhiIl'sIJahjat aI-'abidfn bitarjamatlaliilaI-dei!. E.M.sartain ix