تقنيات التوفيق والتقريب في بُنْية التَّنظير الصّوفي عند أبي القاسم القُشَيْرِيّ

Abstract

This paper investigates the different strategies of bridging used by al-Qushayrī in his discussion of the concept of knowledge of God (al-maʿrifa bi-Llāh). One of the inquiries that attracted a special attention was: Why al-Qushayrī did not simply avoid those problematic Sufi statements that constitute a serious challenge to the traditional institution of Sunnī Islam? Why did he gather many of such statements throughout his epistle?

Examining a complex topic like knowledge of God in the work of al-Qushayrī reveals to us the latter's systematic ways that enabled him maneuvering himself out of the essential controversy between Sufism and Islam in reference to maʿrifa as well as other "mystic" and esoteric elements of Islamic spirituality. Al-Qushayrī's desire to associate between Sufi ideas on knowledge and related aspects in Sunnī thought did not keep him from presenting Sufi conceptions that may appear far-removed from the 'safe' location under traditionalists' umbrella. Meanwhile, al-Qushayrī, at least from a formal perspective, displays an impressive ability to moderate the extreme sayings through an intensive use of certain structural arrangements. Our detailed examination of the "traditions" section of al-Qushayrī's chapter on al-maʿrifa particularly helped us reveal the existence of different semantic units that contributed by their own right to the process of reconciliation.