Hagiography of the Muslim Mystic Ma Mingxin Wiqāyatullāh in Arabic Manuscripts of Chinese Origin

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Florian Sobieroj
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 520193396

The proposed inter-disciplinary project (Arabic and Chinese studies / Manuscriptology) aims at providing knowledge about one specific genre of Arabic literature that was developed by a branch of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi order mainly rooted in Northwest China and known by the name of al-Jahriyya. As the vita of its founder, Ma Mingxin Wiqāyatullāh (d. 1781), is situated at the center of the hagiographical works of the manāqib-genre it will be attempted to present the vita by way of an edition of the late nineteenth / early twentieth century Arabic text of Kitāb al-Jahrī (ch. 1) [published as a facsimile of the manuscript only], and of a German-language translation. Since the biographical tradition includes Chinese translations as well, these versions, besides two Arabic or Arabic-Persian parallels (Manāqib al-Jahriyya; Rashaḥāt), will also be taken into account; as a result, the biography will be studied from multiple perspectives. In this, the hagiographical works are conceived as literary productions that reflect the self-image of the adherents of the order rather than (merely) representing historical factuality. The shortcomings of language as appears in the Arabic text to be edited (K. al-Jahrī) will be compensated through the inclusion of the Chinese translation(s). The examination of parallel textual developments promises to furnish knowledge relating, i. a., to the authors’ perspectives and their competency in the Arabic language as well as to the translation strategies employed by Chinese Jahrī scholars. Both the mystic praxis and the attitudes toward the religion of the ‘other’ (mainly Chinese Buddhism), included among the major subjects of the vita, are to be examined – as a result of text edition and translation - with a view to the function of the ‘canonical’ panegyric texts, Madāʾiḥ and Muḫammas (containing praises of Prophet Muḥammad), that are recited in the liturgy, as well as to the legitimization of violence (jihād).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants