The Virtues of Divergence

Hiroaki Kawanishi

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200109-2

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Hiroaki Kawanishi

The Virtues of Divergence

ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī’s Sufi Reception of al-ʿAqīda al-Sanūsiyya

2026. 260 pages.

forthcoming in May 2026

Sapientia Islamica (SapI)

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200109-2

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978-3-16-200109-2

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Summary

By examining in depth the polymath of Ottoman Damascus ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (d. 1143/1731) commentaries on the ninth/fifteenth century Maghribī theologian Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Sanūsī's (d. 895/1490) Creed, Hiroaki Kawanishi argues that the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman period was not a time of decline but of intellectual prosperity.

Hiroaki Kawanishi sheds light on theological trends of the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman world, an area of research that remains understudied in existing scholarship. The author challenges the »intellectual stagnation« thesis that has often framed post-classical Islamic intellectual history as a period of decline. In particular, he argues that the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman period was a time of intellectual prosperity by examining in depth the polymath of Ottoman Damascus ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī's (d. 1143/1731) commentaries on the ninth/fifteenth century Maghribī theologian Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Sanūsī's (d. 895/1490) Creed. The author focuses on Nābulusī's theological project, which synthesises Ashʿarite speculative theology (kalām) and Akbarian Sufism, while giving special attention to epistemology, cosmology, metaphysics, prophetology, and ethics.

Table of contents:

Introduction
1. Ottoman Islam?
2. Speculative Theology (ʿilm al-kalām) at Ottoman Madrasas
3. The Sanūsian Creed in the Ottoman Lands
4. ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and The Sanūsian Creed
5. Methodology
Chapter 1: Epistemology
1. Faith (īmān) in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
3. Nābulusī's Response to Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Epistemology
5. Recognition of One's Ignorance as the Highest Form of Knowledge
6. Conclusion
Chapter 2: Cosmology
1. The Ontological Quest in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe (ḥudūth al-ʿālam)
3. Nābulusī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Cosmology: Immutable Entities (al-aʿyān al-thābita)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 3: Metaphysics (ilāhiyyāt)
1. God-Talk
2. Sanūsī's Metaphysics: Twenty Divine Attributes
3. Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Divine Existence
4. There is No Existence but God (lā wujūd illā Allāh)
5. Immanent Transcendentalism
6. Conclusion
Chapter 4: Prophetology (nubuwwāt)
1. Prophetology in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Prophetology: Prerequisite Qualities of Messengerhood
3. Nābulusī's Prophetology: Muḥammad's Superiority over Other Prophets
4. The Muḥammadan Light (al-nūr al-muḥammadī)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 5: Ethics
1. The Problem of Evil in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Theology of Good and Evil
3. Nābulusī's Epistemology of Good and Evil
4. Nābulusī's Metaphysics of Good and Evil
5. Nābulusī's Mystical Metaphysics of Faith and Disbelief
6. The Perfect Universe: Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Good and Evil
7. Conclusion
Conclusion