Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
Poésie ésotérique ismaīlienne: La Tā'iyya de 'Āmir b. 'Āmir al—Bạsrī (al—Asrār al—khafīya fīash'ār al—Ismā'īlīya) by Yves Marquet; 'Āmir b. 'Āmir Al-BasrīReview by: James Winston MorrisMiddle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 1 (July 1988), pp. 101-102Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23060618 .
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Poesie esoterique ismallienne: La Ta'iyya de 'Amir b. 'Amir al-Basri (al-Asrar al-khafiya fi ash'ar al-Isma'TKya), edited, trans
lated, introduction, and commentary by Yves Marquet. 245 pages. Maison
neuve k. Larose, Paris 1985. FF 148.
This volume by the leading French specialist in Ismaili Studies is of consid
erably wider interest and historical importance than its title might suggest. The core of the work (pp. 44-125) is the critical edition and facing literal translation of a long didactic poem composed by a Shi'ite propagandist in Sivas (eastern Turkey) in 700 A.H., ostensibly as a "clarification" of is sues inadequately treated in the celebrated Ta 'iya of the famous Egyptian
mystic Ibn al-Farid.* Professor Marquet's edition is excellent and a great
improvement over its two predecessors (by A. Maghrebi and A. Tamer), es
pecially in separating out the "supplemental," more openly Ismaili verses
added in many manuscripts by a later Nizari author.
However, apart from the considerable historical interest of this text,
neither its artistic qualities nor its intellectual content are really compa rable to those of Ibn al-Farid's classic poem. Instead, it is the transla
tor's extensive commentaries (pp. 144-238) and introductions, summariz
ing decades of research (especially on the Ikhwan al-Safa'), that make this
an excellent introduction, for the non-specialist reader, to the full range of
religious and philosophic questions typifying the major currents of earlier
Ismaili thought. (Although this commentary is largely based on the Ikhwan al-Safa'—whose Ismaili credentials have been challenged by some—it also draws on such major figures as Qadl Nu'man, Ja'far Ibn Mansur, SijistanI,
et al.). The usefulness of this book as an introduction is greatly enhanced
by Professor Marquet's foreword (pp. 7-25) summarizing the main lines of earlier Ismaili history and doctrinal development.
The little available historical information about 'Amir (much of it drawn from this poem itself) is summarized in the introduction (pp. 27-38), which mentions a remarkable corroboration of 'Amir's Shi'ite (batini) allegiance and missionary activity by his contemporary Ibn Taymlya and discusses
the preservation of his work by the later Syrian Nizari Ismaili community. However, Professor Marquet does recognize the uncertainties surrounding
the specific nature of 'Amir's Shi'ism, since the poem itself—at least in its
* Here we may also note the recent appearance of a slightly abridged French translation of Ibn al-Farid's poem, La grande Ta'iyya: la voie mystique, by Claudine Chonez
(Editions La Difference, Paris 1987). Although without notes or explanatory matter, and largely based on Nicholson's early English translation (revised with reference to the
Arabic), this version is surprisingly readable and accessible by itself.
101
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102 Book Reviews
"exoteric" appearance—clearly presents him as a Twelver Shi'ite of vaguely
gnostic, but explicitly anti-Sufi, inclinations. In fact, what is striking about the poem itself is the way it beautifully
illustrates certain profoundly influential, but still little-understood tenden cies in the popular Islam of this region in the post-Mongol period: (1) the widespread mass appeal of a mixture of antinomian (or simply anti
"orthodox") attitudes and diffuse messianic or apocalyptic expectations, with only a vaguely Shi'ite coloring; and (2) a melange of Sufi, Shi'ite and Avicennan metaphysical language with little direct relation to the more
learned literary traditions. These popular tendencies and assumptions un
derlying at least the "exoteric" appeal of 'Amir's poem are equally appar
ent in such better-known Sufi writers of the time as Nasafi or Hamul, and
clearly underly such subsequent developments as the spread of the Bektashi
order or the rise of Shah Ismail and the Qizil-Bash—not to mention the
virtually undocumented survival of the Nizari Ismailis in the same period.
Finally, as Professor Marquet again points out, 'Amir's own explicit
comparisons between his Shi'ism and the Sufism of Ibn al-Farid point to a wider set of unavoidable, if admittedly difficult, questions about the
philosophic and spiritual (as well as historical) relations between Sufism and Shi'ism throughout Islamic thought. Even if he only prudently alludes to those questions, this work does suggest something of their complexity and importance for all researchers in this field.
James Winston Morris
IIS, Paris
Atlas of Israel, edited by R. Adler, et al. 3rd ed. (English-Hebrew). The
Survey of Israel, Tel Aviv; Macmillan, New York 1985.
In the period from 1956 to 1964, the first (Hebrew) edition in 101 sheets of the National Atlas was published. In 1970 a second edition in English that had 71 sheets came on to the market and in 1985 a third edition appeared that again is remarkable for both content and presentation.
These 40 sheets make an up-to-date supplement to the two previous
editions that together form the complete work. The historical maps, to which much room was given in the previous editions, are not included in the present one, and the physical-geographical section has also been re
duced (among other things the botanical and zoological maps have been
omitted). The editors and authors this time presented maps based on recent
numerical data and dealing with human geography (which has undergone
considerable changes since the 1970s, mainly in urban and rural settle
ments), population, and economy. In addition, completely new maps were
included.
MESA Bulletin 22 1988
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