Tahera Qutbuddin

Last updated

Tahera Qutbuddin
Born1964 (age 5960)
Alma mater Ain Shams University, Harvard University
Awards Sheikh Zayed Book Award (2021)
Scientific career
Fields Arabic literature, oratory
Institutions University of Chicago, University of Oxford
Thesis Al-Mua̓yyad fī al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī: Founder of a new tradition of Fatimid Dawa poetry  (1999)
Doctoral advisor Wolfhart Heinrichs

Tahera Qutbuddin (born 1964, Mumbai) is the Abdulaziz Saud AlBabtain Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford. A Guggenheim Fellow (2020) and a winner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2021, she is best known for her works on Arabic oratory and the usage of Arabic in India, especially in the Dawoodi Bohra tradition.

Contents

Life

Tahera Qutbuddin was born in Mumbai in 1964 in a Dawoodi Bohra family. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, a leader of the Bohra community, was a relative. She attended Villa Theresa High School and Sophia College for Women, where she completed her secondary education in 1984. [1] [2]

Qutbuddin learned Arabic from her father Khuzaima Qutbuddin. [1] She received a bachelor's degree (1988) and a tamhidi magister (1990) from the Ain Shams University, Cairo, followed by master's (1994) and doctoral degrees from Harvard University (1999), where her advisor was Wolfhart Heinrichs. [3] [4]

Career

In 2002, Qutbuddin joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago. She was made a Carnegie Scholar in 2008 and a Guggenheim fellow (2020). [5]

Among her early publications was a study of the Arabic language in India, especially among the Dawoodi Bohras, and its influence on the Gujarati language sermons of Taher Fakhruddin. [1]

Qutbuddin's 2005 monograph Al-Muʾayyad al-Shirāzī and Fāṭimid Daʿwa Poetry. A Case of Commitment in Classical Arabic Literature expanded on her doctoral thesis of 1999. It was deemed especially important for its access to private manuscripts of the Tayyibi Ismaili Daʿwa in India. She showed that Al-Muʾayyad al-Shirāzī was a major innovator in the development of committed literature, i.e., literature produced by someone convinced of a particular ideology who then seeks to persuade society of its truth. She showed that Fatimid poetry prior to al-Shirāzī was stylistically and thematically similar to that of the Abbasids, whose main exponents were panegyrists, whereas al-Shirāzī's works were entirely in the promotion of the Daʿwa. [3] She also showed how the traditions of the Tayyibi Ismailis moved to Yemen and thereafter in India after the death of al-Shirāzī, where his poetry's influence on the Dawoodi Bohra community endures to present times. [6]

In 2013, Qutbuddin published an edition of her translations of Al-Qāḍī Al-Quḍāʿī's collection of the sayings and sermons of Imam Ali and Al-Jāḥiẓ's selection of proverbs attributed to Ali. It was considered a definitive work as it considered all available editions and manuscripts, unlike previous translations of these important examples of Islamic religious literature. [7] In particular, she was lauded for the quality of the translations, which conveyed well the punchiness of the pithy Arabic expressions and the variations in their meanings. [8]

Qutbuddin's book Arabic Oration – Art and Function (2019) traced Arabic literature from its oral origins to its influence on modern sermons. [9] She created a comparative framework between Arabic and Greek oratory, and explored how oratory was the foundation for the shaping of politics and public speaking, and thence to literature. [10] She had worked on it for over a decade, although she had had the idea for it during her undergraduate days in Cairo. She explored the cultural milieu around Imam Ali and the aesthetics of his sermons. She established that public preaching in the form of khutbah popular till today stemmed from pre-Islamic oratory, with texts available from decades before the founding of the faith. Much of the orally transmitted literature was lost but several texts in Arabic survive. The oratory depended much on visual imagery, but especially on rhythm and similar grammatical structure in every line, serving to reinforce the message in the listeners' minds. Qutbuddin also found that women held important positions in early Islamic society but would be permitted to speak publicly only in times of acute troubles. An example was the declamation by Imam Ali's daughter Zaynab who, following the defeat of Ali's descendants at the Battle of Karbala, castigated the victor, Yazid I, for his actions. [4]

In 2021, Qutbuddin was working on a monograph on Imam Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam, titled ʿAli ibn Abi Talib: Life, Teachings, and Eloquence of the Sage of Islam. Ali is considered a master guide for life on earth and in heaven by both Sunnis and Shiites; his orations exemplary and beautiful, with ornate, difficult vocabulary. Qutbuddin focussed on the interrelationships between political, religious and literary aspects of his life, aiming to reconstruct his life. [5]

As of July 2023, she has been the AlBabtain Laudian Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford, and a Professorial Fellow of St John’s College. [11]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isma'ilism</span> Branch of Shia Islam

Isma'ilism is a branch or sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept Musa al-Kadhim, the younger brother of Isma'il, as the true Imām.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawoodi Bohra</span> Sect of Ismaili Shia Islam

The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. They number approximately one million worldwide and have settled in over 40 countries around the world. The majority of the Dawoodi Bohra community resides in India, with sizable congregations in Pakistan, Yemen, East Africa, and the Middle East. They also have a growing presence in Europe, North America, and Australia. The present leader is the 53rd al-Dai al-Mutlaq, Mufaddal Saifuddin who assumed office in January 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Burhanuddin</span> 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra (1915-2014)

Mohammed Burhanuddin was the 52nd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras. He led the community for 49 years in a period of social, economic, and educational prosperity; strengthened and re-institutionalized the fundamental core of the community's faith; revived its culture, tradition, and heritage. In successfully achieving coexistence of traditional Islamic values and modern Western practices within the community, Burhanuddin completed the work his predecessor Taher Saifuddin had started. Burhanuddin was presented the highest national civilian honors of the states of Egypt and Jordan recognising his revivalism and restoration efforts. He was known in Arab countries as Azamat us-Sultan. Owing to extensive travels for community reach-out, he was the first Dā'ī al-Mutlaq to visit Europe, Australia, and America.

The Musta‘lī are a branch of Isma'ilism named for their acceptance of al-Musta'li as the legitimate nineteenth Fatimid caliph and legitimate successor to his father, al-Mustansir Billah. In contrast, the Nizari—the other living branch of Ismailism, presently led by Aga Khan IV—believe the nineteenth caliph was al-Musta'li's elder brother, Nizar. Isma'ilism is a branch of Shia Islam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Da'i al-Mutlaq</span> Religious leader

The term Da'i al-Mutlaq literally meaning 'the absolute, or unrestricted, missionary', is the most senior spiritual rank and office in Tayyibi Isma'ilism. The Da'i al-Mutlaq has headed the Tayyibi community since the seclusion of the 21st Tayyibi Imam, at-Tayyib Abu'l-Qasim, traditionally placed in 528 AH/1134 AD.

Al-Mu'ayyad fid-din Abu Nasr Hibat Allah b. Abi 'Imran Musa b. Da'ud ash-Shirazi was an 11th-century Isma'ili scholar, philosopher-poet, preacher and theologian of Persian origin. He served the Fatimid Caliph-Imām al-Mustansir Billah as a Da'i in varying capacities, eventually attaining the highest rank of Bab al-Abwab "The Gate of Gates" and Da'i al-du'at "Chief Missionary" in the Fatimid Da‘wah. In his theological and philosophical writings he brought the Isma'ili spiritual heritage to its pinnacle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Hussein Mosque</span> Mosque in Cairo, Egypt

The al-Hussein Mosque or al-Husayn Mosque, also known as the Mosque of al-Imam al-Husayn and the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Husayn, is a mosque and mausoleum of Husayn ibn Ali, originally built in 1154, and then later reconstructed in 1874. The mosque is located in Cairo, Egypt, near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar, near-by the famous Al Azhar Mosque, in an area known as Al-Hussain. It is considered to be one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt. Some Shia Muslims believe that Husayn's head is buried on the grounds of the mosque where a mausoleum is located today and considered to be what is left of the Fatimid architecture in the building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raudat Tahera</span>

Raudat Tahera is the mausoleum of Syedna Taher Saifuddin and his son and successor Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, the 51st and 52nd Dāʿī al-Mutlaqs of the Dawoodi Bohra Ismaili Muslims. It is located in the Bhendi Bazaar, Mumbai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alavi Bohras</span> Muslim community from Gujarat, India

The Alavi Bohras are a Tayyibi Musta'lavi Isma'ili Shi'i Muslim community from Gujarat, India. In India, during the time of the 18th Fatimid Imam Al-Mustansir Billah around 1093 AD in Egypt, the designated learned people (wulaat) who were sent from Yemen by missionaries (du'aat) under the guidance of the imam established a da'wah in Khambhat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idris Imad al-Din</span> 15th-century Yemeni religious and political leader

Idris Imad al-Din was the 19th Tayyibi Isma'ili Da'i al-Mutlaq and a major religious and political leader in 15th-century Yemen, as well as a notable theologian and the most important medieval Isma'ili historian. His work is fundamental for the history of the Fatimid Caliphate and the Isma'ili communities in Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qutub Khan Qutbuddin</span> 32nd Dai al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras

Syedna Qutub Khan Qutbuddin as-Shaheed was the 32nd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra. He succeeded Kasim Khan Zainuddin bin Feer Khan. He was the first Da'i to be killed for being Muslim, and in a manner that resembles the death of Husayn ibn Ali, and so his burial place, Mazar-e-Qutbi, is referred to as Choti Karbala.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mufaddal Saifuddin</span> 53rd Dāī al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra

Mufaddal Saifuddin is the spiritual leader, the 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq of one million Dawoodi Bohras, a subgroup of the Tayyibi, Mustaali, Ismaili Shia branch of Islam. He is the second son of the 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq, Mohammed Burhanuddin, whom he succeeded in 2014. He is the Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Miliya Islamia University situated in India. He has led a number of cultural, social, and economic initiatives. In Islamic Cairo, he rebuilt shrines of the Ahl al-Bayt and led the restoration of medieval Fatimid architecture, notably Al-Anwar Mosque, Al-Aqmar Mosque, Al-Juyushi Mosque, and Lulua Mosque. In Yemen, he has spearheaded several campaigns to improve socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants of the Haraaz region, introducing sustainable agricultural systems, improving local infrastructure and providing equal access to education for children.

Muḥammad ibn Salāma al-Quḍā'ī was a Shafi'i Sunni judge, preacher and historian in the Fatimid Caliphate of North Africa. He was of Iranian origin.

The 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras, Mohammed Burhanuddin died in January 2014. As per the tenets of the sect each predecessor is required to nominate his successor prior to his death. Following his death, a question on succession arose where two rival claimants emerged for the title of 53rd Dā'ī al-Mutlaq: his son, Mufaddal Saifuddin, and his half-brother, Khuzaima Qutbuddin, who was previously Mazoon of the Dawoodi Bohra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jafar us Sadiq Imaduddin</span> Indian Islamic Scholar, Author, and Professor

Ja'far us Sadiq Imaduddin or Jafar us Sadiq Mufaddal Saifuddin, is the eldest son of Mufaddal Saifuddin, the current incumbent of the office of the 53rd Dawoodi Bohra Da'i al-Mutlaq, and the grandson of Mohammed Burhanuddin. He is a poet, scholar and one of the four rectors of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdallah (Ismaili missionary to Gujarat)</span>

Abdallah was the first Isma'ili missionary in Gujarat.

Syedi Nuruddin, an 11th-century famous saint and was the Fatimid Ismaili Mustaali Missionary. He was the companion of Maulaya Abdullah and visited the Imam Al-Mustansir Billah in Cairo, Egypt. He joined the Ismaili Mustaali faith under the Fatimid Da'i Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi, and came back to Dongaon, Deccan, India to propagate the faith. His earlier name was Roop Nath. His mausoleum is at DonGaon, Maharashtra, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abde Ali Saifuddin</span>

Abdeali Saifuddin was the 43rd Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohra. He was the son of 41st Da'i al-Mutlaq Abduttayyeb Zakiuddin III and the brother of the 42nd Da'i al-Mutlaq Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin. He was a Dai, scholar and poet and one of the most venerated Dawoodi Bohra Dai's.

Syedna Ismail Badruddin (I) Bin Maulaya Raj was the 34th Da'i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras. He succeeded the 33rd Da'i Feer Khan Shujauddin to the religious post. Syedna Ismail became Da'i al-Mutlaq in 1085AH/1657AD. His period of Dawat was 1065–1085 AH/1657–1676 AD. He is the first Da'i descendant of Moulaya Bharmal.

Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhı̄m al-Nı̄sābūrı̄ or al-Naysābūrı̄ was an Isma'ili scholar from Nishapur, who entered the service of the Fatimid caliphs al-Aziz Billah and al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in Cairo. His life is relatively obscure, and is known chiefly from references in his works. Among them three stand out as highly important for Fatimid and Isma'ili history: the Istitār al-imām, a historical work that offers unique information on the early history of the Isma'ili movement and the rise of the Fatimid Caliphate, the Risāla al-mūjaza, which contains an exposition on the qualities and duties of the ideal Isma'ili missionary, and the Ithbāt al-imāma, an influential analysis of Isma'ili conceptions of the imamate, combining rationalist philosophical argument with Islamic theology.

References

Bibliography