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Lot Essay
'ABDULLAH THE 'TATAR', THE OTTOMAN CALLIGRAPHER
This important manuscript is signed by ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi (d. AH 999/1590-91 AD), one of the masters of Ottoman calligraphy and a principal calligrapher of the Age of Sulayman the Magnificent (d.1566 AD). Al-Qirimi was one of Shaykh Hamdullah’s (d. 1520) most prominent followers and was trained in this style by Darwish Muhammad (Dervish Mehmed, d. 1580), Shaykh Hamdullah’s grandson and son of Mustafa Dede (d.1538).
In her long work on Islamic calligraphy, Sheila Blair describes al-Qirimi as katib-i tatar or the Tatar as his nisba al-Qirimi indicates that he came from Crimea. He was ‘one of the foremost calligraphers at the Ottoman court’ (Blair, 2008, p.458). Al-Qirimi studied under Shaykh Hamdullah but he is also known to have been influenced by other calligraphers around him into changing his manner of writing (Derman, 2009, pp.50-51 and Safwat, 2014, p.575). Annemarie Schimmel refers to him as ‘a noted calligrapher’ stating that he ‘wanted to invent a new style of naskh “with long teeth of the sin”’ and depart from the school of Shaykh Hamdullah (Schimmel, 1984, p.73 and n.281, p.188). The shark’s teeth of the sin letters and other long meanderings are characteristic of his style as is the tight spacing of the words. Safwat adds to his biography that he was also a noted player of the stringed instrument tambour (Safwat, 2014, vol.II, cat.141, pp.574-575). He died in 1590-91 and composed his own epitaph as follows: ‘He folded the pages of his work and copied the stories of hope as stories of the hereafter’. He appears to be buried near Edirne Kapı in Istanbul (Renard, 2014, cat.39).
Al-Qirimi is one of the main sources for the important treatise on calligraphers and painters titled ‘The Exploits of Artists’ (Manaqib-i hunarvaran) by the Turkish poet and historian Mustafa ‘Ali Efendi (1541-1600) (Blair, 2008, p.458). The work, composed in 1586-87 for Sultan Murad III, is based on an earlier Persian work by Qutb al-Din Yazdi and remains a major source for our knowledge of calligraphy both at the Persian and Ottoman courts. As she discusses the treatise, Schimmel indicates that it is ‘Abdullah Qirimi’ who helped ‘Ali Efendi in composing it (Schimmel, 1984, p.73 and n.281, p.188). Al-Qirimi also appears in Mustaqimzadeh’s Tuhfat al-Khattatin, a seminal work on calligraphers composed in the 18th century.
A calligraphic wooden frieze signed by al-Qirimi and dated AH 986/1570-71 AD published by Alexis Renard, Paris shows that he was also capable of producing compositions in jali thuluth on a monumental scale (Renard, 2014, cat.39). A Qur’an by him is in the Türk ve Islam Muzesi, Istanbul, dated AH 966/1558-59 AD (TIEM 385; Istanbul, 2010, cat.108, pp.404-405). A calligraphic panel in naskh and rayhan by the master, dated AH 995, is published by Rado, 1984 (cat.78); another piece is published by Serin, 2010 and a qit’a is in the Cengiz Cetindogan collection, no.inv.757 (Safwat, 2014, vol.II, cat.141, pp.574-575). It is noted that Emrullah bin Mehmed (d. Ah 1040/1631 AD) was one of his foremost students. For a panel by this calligrapher, see Derman, 2009, pp.50-51.
THE WORK AND AUTHOR
The scribe, ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi, does not mention his patron but it is obvious that this manuscript is a luxurious copy. Although gold and polychrome illumination is mostly reserved to the opening two bifolios, great care was given to the layout of the manuscript, executed on high quality paper. Although the second part of this manuscript is mostly the work of another scribe, al-Qirimi signed the first half in an elegantly composed colophon. The manuscript is complete, in very good condition and now kept in an 18th century Ottoman binding with stamped decoration.
The author of this manuscript is Abu Bakr ‘Atiq bin Muhammad al-Surabadi. Very little is known of his life except that he was a contemporary of Alp Arslan, that he composed this Commentary or Tafsir in around 1077-87 and that he was a prominent leader of the Karramis in Nishapur (Gilliot, 2010, p.57). He was probably born in Zur, north-west of Herat, although other sources suggest that he was born in Suriyan near Nishapur as he is sometimes known through his other nisba al-Suryani. Al-Surabadi died in Safar AH 494 (December 1100/January 1101 AD). A number of commentaries of this tafsir are known, such as the isharat al-tafsir fi basharat al-tadhkir and the mustakhrij min tafsir al-‘atiq. It draws from earlier works by scholars such as Muhammad bin Sabir, Ibrahim al-Muhajir and the prominent Karrami theologian Muhammad bin al-Haysam (d. 1019) (Gilliot, 2010, p.57).
This work is one of the earliest tafsirs in Persian language, ‘one of the most elegantly written commentaries in Persian’ and marks an important stage in the development of Persian exegesis (N. Pourjavady, ‘Genre of Religious Literature’, in Yarshater, 2009, vol.I, pp. 274 -75). The catalogue of the India Office Library describes its copy Ms.3077 (incomplete) as follows: ‘The comments on each surah begin with a tradition concerning the rewards promised for reciting it. [..] The explanatory remarks are [..] concise except where the author introduces historical or legendary matter. He poses and answers questions relating to problems which arise out of the sacred text. He introduces these by the words su’al and jawwab which are one of the main characteristics of the work (Ms.3077, Storey, et al., unpublished). The tafsir is full of prophetic tales ‘told in an attractive prose style’ (Yarshater, 2009, pp.274-275). The manuscript Ms.3077 now in the British Library, is made of two sections dated 1129 and 1330. The earlier part is one of the oldest surviving copies. Other copies are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (vol.I, dated 1285, 2778. Ms. Pers. c. 34) in Dresden and Leyden. Another copy, dated 1329 is in the Waseda University Library, Tokyo (inv.IO.ISL.3838-40).
THE KARRAMIS AND THE KARRAMIYA SECT
Al-Surabadi was a leader of the Karramiya sect in Nishapur. Very few Karrami manuscripts have survived today but a number of works ranging from fiqh (jurisprudence) and qisas (prophetic stories) to our tafsir are known. Most of what is known of the sect is primarily through authors who condemn them as ‘innovators and heretics’ (Malamud, 1994, vol.27, p.39). The sect takes its name from its founder, Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad bin Karram (circa 806- 869). Ibn Karram was born in Zaranjd and was brought up in Sistan. At a young age, he sold all his goods and went to Mecca where he spent five years before returning to Nishapur where he spent most of his life. He studied with the ascetic Ahmad bin Harb (d. 848) who was also influential in his formation as a jurist. He followed other teachers in Balkh, Merw and Herat. He left for Jerusalem in 865 where he died in 869. Ibn Karram gained fame as an ascetic and a fiery preacher (Qadhi, 2013, pp.293-294).
The fullest account of the docrine of his sect is given in Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi’s (d. 1037) Farq bayn al-Firaq, a work that outlines the various sects and doctrines in Islam (Saleh, 2004, p.48). The Karramiya is a Sunni pietistic sect, with distinct modes of prayer, ablution and burial. Although the 10th century geographer Al-Maqdisi describes the sect as powerful and popular, their characteristics are ‘piety, fanaticism, baseness and beggary’. Ibn Karram’s preaching is said to have been instrumental in converting the region of Ghur, in today’s Afghanistan (Flood, 2009, p. 96). The sect was subdivided in twelve minor sects which were mutually tolerant and they attracted followers of the Shafi’i and Hanafi schools of fiqh with which they were in competition (Brill, 1993, p.774). However, they were accused of anthropomorphism and literalism by their opponents as their doctrine was thought to undermine ‘the notion of an eternal and uncreated deity’ (Flood, 2009, p.96). They stressed a simple lifestyle, shunned excessively worldly pleasures and prohibited certain forms of economic gain (Bowering, 2013, pp.293-294). The sect appealed to the poor and rural class in Nishapur and its region whilst the wealthy class of urban merchants followed the Hanafi and Shafi’i madhhabs. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, their numbers are given as 20,000 in the city in the 10th century. Whilst Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1210) apparently thinks of them as still existing in the late 12th century ‘the sect was practically exterminated when the lieutenants of Gengis Khan massacred the inhabitants of Khorasan (Article Karramiya, Brill, 1993, vol.4, p.774). However, Ibn Karram’s ideas travelled far and wide and were known as far away as India; perhaps explaining why our manuscript bears a seal impression with the name Aurangzeb, suggesting it passed through Indian hands (Cambridge, 1999, pp. 182, 319 and 457).
Material traces of the Karramis are scarce as most disappeared with them in the wake of the Mongol invasions. However, the spectacular Ghurid minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, built circa 1190, has recently been associated with the Karramis (Flood, 2009, p.96). It is said the Ghurid Sultan Ghiyath al-Din (d. 1202) founded madrasas and khanqas for the sect and provided them with Qur’ans. The famed Ghurid Qur’an in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, dated AH 584/1189 AD, includes the present tafsir of Surabadi. It was therefore suggested that it was a royal commission for a Karrami institution, probably a madrasa (Ms.3507, Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran; Flood, 2009, p.96).
CONCLUSION
This fascinating manuscript raises an intriguing question: why would a master calligrapher of the Ottoman Golden Age copy on nearly one thousand folios the work of an 11th century follower of a long forgotten Islamic sect? Was the Karrami heritage so distant by the 16th century that this tafsir was accepted for what it is: a commentary on the Qur’an? Did the unusual flavour of this exegesis fit the political thinking of a 16th century Ottoman official? Was the manuscript commissioned by an eminent scholar curious of the heterodox doctrine of the Karramis? Whist this remains unanswered, our manuscript brings to light the Ottoman interest for this important Persian text and adds to the very small corpus of Karrami manuscripts known today. It probably also is the longest surviving manuscript by ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi, a master Ottoman calligrapher.
This important manuscript is signed by ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi (d. AH 999/1590-91 AD), one of the masters of Ottoman calligraphy and a principal calligrapher of the Age of Sulayman the Magnificent (d.1566 AD). Al-Qirimi was one of Shaykh Hamdullah’s (d. 1520) most prominent followers and was trained in this style by Darwish Muhammad (Dervish Mehmed, d. 1580), Shaykh Hamdullah’s grandson and son of Mustafa Dede (d.1538).
In her long work on Islamic calligraphy, Sheila Blair describes al-Qirimi as katib-i tatar or the Tatar as his nisba al-Qirimi indicates that he came from Crimea. He was ‘one of the foremost calligraphers at the Ottoman court’ (Blair, 2008, p.458). Al-Qirimi studied under Shaykh Hamdullah but he is also known to have been influenced by other calligraphers around him into changing his manner of writing (Derman, 2009, pp.50-51 and Safwat, 2014, p.575). Annemarie Schimmel refers to him as ‘a noted calligrapher’ stating that he ‘wanted to invent a new style of naskh “with long teeth of the sin”’ and depart from the school of Shaykh Hamdullah (Schimmel, 1984, p.73 and n.281, p.188). The shark’s teeth of the sin letters and other long meanderings are characteristic of his style as is the tight spacing of the words. Safwat adds to his biography that he was also a noted player of the stringed instrument tambour (Safwat, 2014, vol.II, cat.141, pp.574-575). He died in 1590-91 and composed his own epitaph as follows: ‘He folded the pages of his work and copied the stories of hope as stories of the hereafter’. He appears to be buried near Edirne Kapı in Istanbul (Renard, 2014, cat.39).
Al-Qirimi is one of the main sources for the important treatise on calligraphers and painters titled ‘The Exploits of Artists’ (Manaqib-i hunarvaran) by the Turkish poet and historian Mustafa ‘Ali Efendi (1541-1600) (Blair, 2008, p.458). The work, composed in 1586-87 for Sultan Murad III, is based on an earlier Persian work by Qutb al-Din Yazdi and remains a major source for our knowledge of calligraphy both at the Persian and Ottoman courts. As she discusses the treatise, Schimmel indicates that it is ‘Abdullah Qirimi’ who helped ‘Ali Efendi in composing it (Schimmel, 1984, p.73 and n.281, p.188). Al-Qirimi also appears in Mustaqimzadeh’s Tuhfat al-Khattatin, a seminal work on calligraphers composed in the 18th century.
A calligraphic wooden frieze signed by al-Qirimi and dated AH 986/1570-71 AD published by Alexis Renard, Paris shows that he was also capable of producing compositions in jali thuluth on a monumental scale (Renard, 2014, cat.39). A Qur’an by him is in the Türk ve Islam Muzesi, Istanbul, dated AH 966/1558-59 AD (TIEM 385; Istanbul, 2010, cat.108, pp.404-405). A calligraphic panel in naskh and rayhan by the master, dated AH 995, is published by Rado, 1984 (cat.78); another piece is published by Serin, 2010 and a qit’a is in the Cengiz Cetindogan collection, no.inv.757 (Safwat, 2014, vol.II, cat.141, pp.574-575). It is noted that Emrullah bin Mehmed (d. Ah 1040/1631 AD) was one of his foremost students. For a panel by this calligrapher, see Derman, 2009, pp.50-51.
THE WORK AND AUTHOR
The scribe, ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi, does not mention his patron but it is obvious that this manuscript is a luxurious copy. Although gold and polychrome illumination is mostly reserved to the opening two bifolios, great care was given to the layout of the manuscript, executed on high quality paper. Although the second part of this manuscript is mostly the work of another scribe, al-Qirimi signed the first half in an elegantly composed colophon. The manuscript is complete, in very good condition and now kept in an 18th century Ottoman binding with stamped decoration.
The author of this manuscript is Abu Bakr ‘Atiq bin Muhammad al-Surabadi. Very little is known of his life except that he was a contemporary of Alp Arslan, that he composed this Commentary or Tafsir in around 1077-87 and that he was a prominent leader of the Karramis in Nishapur (Gilliot, 2010, p.57). He was probably born in Zur, north-west of Herat, although other sources suggest that he was born in Suriyan near Nishapur as he is sometimes known through his other nisba al-Suryani. Al-Surabadi died in Safar AH 494 (December 1100/January 1101 AD). A number of commentaries of this tafsir are known, such as the isharat al-tafsir fi basharat al-tadhkir and the mustakhrij min tafsir al-‘atiq. It draws from earlier works by scholars such as Muhammad bin Sabir, Ibrahim al-Muhajir and the prominent Karrami theologian Muhammad bin al-Haysam (d. 1019) (Gilliot, 2010, p.57).
This work is one of the earliest tafsirs in Persian language, ‘one of the most elegantly written commentaries in Persian’ and marks an important stage in the development of Persian exegesis (N. Pourjavady, ‘Genre of Religious Literature’, in Yarshater, 2009, vol.I, pp. 274 -75). The catalogue of the India Office Library describes its copy Ms.3077 (incomplete) as follows: ‘The comments on each surah begin with a tradition concerning the rewards promised for reciting it. [..] The explanatory remarks are [..] concise except where the author introduces historical or legendary matter. He poses and answers questions relating to problems which arise out of the sacred text. He introduces these by the words su’al and jawwab which are one of the main characteristics of the work (Ms.3077, Storey, et al., unpublished). The tafsir is full of prophetic tales ‘told in an attractive prose style’ (Yarshater, 2009, pp.274-275). The manuscript Ms.3077 now in the British Library, is made of two sections dated 1129 and 1330. The earlier part is one of the oldest surviving copies. Other copies are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (vol.I, dated 1285, 2778. Ms. Pers. c. 34) in Dresden and Leyden. Another copy, dated 1329 is in the Waseda University Library, Tokyo (inv.IO.ISL.3838-40).
THE KARRAMIS AND THE KARRAMIYA SECT
Al-Surabadi was a leader of the Karramiya sect in Nishapur. Very few Karrami manuscripts have survived today but a number of works ranging from fiqh (jurisprudence) and qisas (prophetic stories) to our tafsir are known. Most of what is known of the sect is primarily through authors who condemn them as ‘innovators and heretics’ (Malamud, 1994, vol.27, p.39). The sect takes its name from its founder, Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad bin Karram (circa 806- 869). Ibn Karram was born in Zaranjd and was brought up in Sistan. At a young age, he sold all his goods and went to Mecca where he spent five years before returning to Nishapur where he spent most of his life. He studied with the ascetic Ahmad bin Harb (d. 848) who was also influential in his formation as a jurist. He followed other teachers in Balkh, Merw and Herat. He left for Jerusalem in 865 where he died in 869. Ibn Karram gained fame as an ascetic and a fiery preacher (Qadhi, 2013, pp.293-294).
The fullest account of the docrine of his sect is given in Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi’s (d. 1037) Farq bayn al-Firaq, a work that outlines the various sects and doctrines in Islam (Saleh, 2004, p.48). The Karramiya is a Sunni pietistic sect, with distinct modes of prayer, ablution and burial. Although the 10th century geographer Al-Maqdisi describes the sect as powerful and popular, their characteristics are ‘piety, fanaticism, baseness and beggary’. Ibn Karram’s preaching is said to have been instrumental in converting the region of Ghur, in today’s Afghanistan (Flood, 2009, p. 96). The sect was subdivided in twelve minor sects which were mutually tolerant and they attracted followers of the Shafi’i and Hanafi schools of fiqh with which they were in competition (Brill, 1993, p.774). However, they were accused of anthropomorphism and literalism by their opponents as their doctrine was thought to undermine ‘the notion of an eternal and uncreated deity’ (Flood, 2009, p.96). They stressed a simple lifestyle, shunned excessively worldly pleasures and prohibited certain forms of economic gain (Bowering, 2013, pp.293-294). The sect appealed to the poor and rural class in Nishapur and its region whilst the wealthy class of urban merchants followed the Hanafi and Shafi’i madhhabs. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, their numbers are given as 20,000 in the city in the 10th century. Whilst Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1210) apparently thinks of them as still existing in the late 12th century ‘the sect was practically exterminated when the lieutenants of Gengis Khan massacred the inhabitants of Khorasan (Article Karramiya, Brill, 1993, vol.4, p.774). However, Ibn Karram’s ideas travelled far and wide and were known as far away as India; perhaps explaining why our manuscript bears a seal impression with the name Aurangzeb, suggesting it passed through Indian hands (Cambridge, 1999, pp. 182, 319 and 457).
Material traces of the Karramis are scarce as most disappeared with them in the wake of the Mongol invasions. However, the spectacular Ghurid minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, built circa 1190, has recently been associated with the Karramis (Flood, 2009, p.96). It is said the Ghurid Sultan Ghiyath al-Din (d. 1202) founded madrasas and khanqas for the sect and provided them with Qur’ans. The famed Ghurid Qur’an in the Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran, dated AH 584/1189 AD, includes the present tafsir of Surabadi. It was therefore suggested that it was a royal commission for a Karrami institution, probably a madrasa (Ms.3507, Iran Bastan Museum, Tehran; Flood, 2009, p.96).
CONCLUSION
This fascinating manuscript raises an intriguing question: why would a master calligrapher of the Ottoman Golden Age copy on nearly one thousand folios the work of an 11th century follower of a long forgotten Islamic sect? Was the Karrami heritage so distant by the 16th century that this tafsir was accepted for what it is: a commentary on the Qur’an? Did the unusual flavour of this exegesis fit the political thinking of a 16th century Ottoman official? Was the manuscript commissioned by an eminent scholar curious of the heterodox doctrine of the Karramis? Whist this remains unanswered, our manuscript brings to light the Ottoman interest for this important Persian text and adds to the very small corpus of Karrami manuscripts known today. It probably also is the longest surviving manuscript by ‘Abdullah al-Qirimi, a master Ottoman calligrapher.