Keys to the Arcana : Shahrastānī’s Esoteric Commentary on the Qur’an – A translation of the commentary on Sūrat al-fātiḥa from Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī’s Mafātīḥ al-asrār wa-maṣābīḥ al-abrār, by Toby Mayer, with the Arabic text reproduced from the edition by M. A. Adharshab

Abstract

First paragraph: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (c. 1086-1153) is the well-known heresiographer, author of the Kitāb al-milal wa-l-niḥal, one of the most important sources for the knowledge of the religious sects in Medieval Islam. Perhaps, he is less studied as a theologian, although his Nihāyat al-iqdām has a distinguished position in the history of philosophical kalām. As a theologian, al-Shahrastānī wrote a Qurʾānic commentary whose title is Mafātīḥ al-asrār wa-maṣābīḥ al-abrār (Keys of the Secrets or Arcana), virtually an unknown work. This book provides the edition and the English translation of a section of the Commentary by Toby Mayer.

Keys to the Arcana : Shahrastānī’s Esoteric Commentary on the Qur’an – A translation of the commentary on Sūrat al-fātiḥa from Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī’s Mafātīḥ al-asrār wa-maṣābīḥ al-abrār, by Toby Mayer, with the Arabic text reproduced from the edition by M. A. Adharshab

Abstract

First paragraph: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī (c. 1086-1153) is the well-known heresiographer, author of the Kitāb al-milal wa-l-niḥal, one of the most important sources for the knowledge of the religious sects in Medieval Islam. Perhaps, he is less studied as a theologian, although his Nihāyat al-iqdām has a distinguished position in the history of philosophical kalām. As a theologian, al-Shahrastānī wrote a Qurʾānic commentary whose title is Mafātīḥ al-asrār wa-maṣābīḥ al-abrār (Keys of the Secrets or Arcana), virtually an unknown work. This book provides the edition and the English translation of a section of the Commentary by Toby Mayer.

Keywords

• Keys to the Arcana
• Shahrastānī’s Esoteric Commentary
• Qur’an