AL-HALABI, Abū Bakr ‘Abd al-Wahhāb b. Muhammad b. Husayni; AL-HANNAM, Muhammad. [with] AL-ABĪŪERDI, Husam al-Dīn Hassan b. ‘Alī.

Two remarkably well-preserved, uncommon manuscript commentaries on Arabic logic, produced in the 15^th century at the famous madrasah Halifet (Gazi) in Amasya, Turkey,  the greatest centre for learning in Anatolia. A fine example of the complex and fascinating tradition of the study of logic in the Arabic-speaking world. We have traced only one other ms copy of the second work, formerly at the Royal Library in Berlin (Ahlwardt, p.412, n.27), while copies of the first are absent from major catalogues. Both authors and works are mentioned in Kâtip Çelebi’s (d.1658) bibliographical encyclopedia ‘Kashf al-Zunun’, under works descending from al-Abhāri’s logical treatise ‘Isagoge’. The paper of both manuscripts displays at times chainlines in groups of three, typically found in Syria, Egypt, and Palestine in the 15^th century. The colophon of the second work states that it was completed on Friday in the month of Shab’an in 867AH, at the madrasa of Helifat (Gezi), in Amasya, Turkiye, by the scribe Salmān b. Tawirād(?) b. Hamza. The layout, style, and marginal annotations suggest these were indeed textbooks for students of Islamic law, who trained in logic and rhetoric.

The title of the first work exemplifies the complex, interlinked tradition of glosses and commentaries on logic in the Islamic world. Little is known of Abu Bakr ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Halabi, sometimes said to have flourished in the 13th century, other times identified (as in our case) with ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Halabi (d.875 AH / 1470AH) (Brockelmann I, p.642). al-Halabi’s ‘Al-Farāid al-saniah fī hal al-fawāid al-fanāria’ is a commentary on al-Fanāri’s (d.1431) important logic manual called ‘al-Fawāid al-fanāria’. Al-Fanāri’s work was itself an advanced commentary of al-Abhāri’s (d.1265) famous introduction to logic, ‘al-Īsāghūjī’. However, the subtitle ‘Sharh risālat al-mīzān’ in this ms suggests it is a commentary of al-Halabi’s work; an added note, in different ink but arguably contemporary, attributes the ‘Sharh’ to the obscure Muhammad al-Hannam. (Whilst we have not been able to consult any other copies due to the rarity, we have seen that the incipit of this ms does not correspond to that of al-Halabi’s ‘al-Farāid al-saniah’ as quoted by Kâtip Çelebi.) The title ‘Sharh risālah al-mīzān’ looks back to the anonymous logic treatise ‘Mīzān al-manṭiq’ (sometimes called ‘Risalah fī l-mīzān’, see Brockelmann I, p.876), an abridgement of another major logic textbook in the Islamic world, ‘al-Risālah al-Shamsīyah’, by the Persian Islamic philosopher ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar al-Qazwīnī (d.675AH / 1276AD). With a view to forming scholars of ‘fiqh’ (Islamic law), most of these logic manuals, including the present, encompassed introductions to rhetoric and oratory, the construction of formal arguments in natural language, description and presentation in relation to categories and ‘genus’, the pronunciation of statements, disputations, and reasonings. An appended ms note focuses on the specific examples of linguistic praise and formal thanksgiving,

The author of the second work, Husam al-Dīn Hassan b. ‘Alī al-Abīūerdī (761-816AH / 1359-1413AD) was a Shāfiʿī jurist, scholar, teacher, and preacher from Turkmenistan. He travelled widely in his native country, as well as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Hijaz. A student of the Persian polymath Al-Taftazani – himself author of a ‘Sharh al-Risālah al-Shamsīyah’, a commentary on the previously-mentioned logic manual by al-Qazwīnī – al-Abīūerdī was known as ‘al-Khatīb’ for his rhetorical skills, and resided in Mecca for a while, where he was also a preacher at the Great Mosque, as stated in this title. ‘Rabī’a al-jinān […] fī ‘ilm al-m’anā wa al-baīān’ is his most important work. Like the first work, this also looks back to ‘Risalah fī l-mīzān’, but with a focus on the rhetorical disciplines of word order (al-ma’na) and figures of speech (al-baīān). It proceeds by quotations from the source, followed by al-Abīūardī’s observations, including topics such as substituting one word with another, and the choice of words more generally.

A most interesting and very scarce combination, awaiting further study.