Sabine Schmidtke

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12111/16

Sabine Schmidtke is Professor of Islamic Intellectual History in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6181-5065.

For a full curriculum vitae and list of publication, see here.

For my Collection of Manuscript Surrogates (the list is continuously being expanded), see here.

News

For my recent monograph Martin Schreiner between Islamic Studies and "Wissenschaft des Judentums": Reconstructing His Scholarly Biography (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024), see here.

For current events and scholars in Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the School of Historical Studies, see here.

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Browsing Sabine Schmidtke by Title

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  • A Manual of Zaydī Muʿtazilī Dogmatic Texts from Early Sixth/Twelfth-Century Iran
    (Shii Studies Review (Brill), 2023)
    Sabine Schmidtke
    ;
    Hassan F. Ansari
    ;
    Khalkhali, Ehsan Mousavi
    ;
    Jomah Falaheih Zadeh, Ammar
    MS Riyadh, Maktabat Malik Fahd al-Waṭaniyya 748 is a multitext volume copied by al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī Ibn Abī l-ʿAshīra in 552/1157 in Ṣaʿda. It consists of doctrinal texts by Zaydī and Muʿtazilī authors, invariably Iranian. The codex is the only known extant witness of all but two of the tracts it includes (the exceptions being Ismāʿīl b. ʿAlī b. Ismāʿīl al-Farrazādhī’s K. Taʿlīq al-Tabṣira and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Dāʿī al-Ḥasanī’s K. Ḥaqāʾiq al-aʿrāḍ wa-aḥwālihā wa-sharḥihā), and two of its tracts, K. al-Nasīm fī l-uṣūl by one Abū Jaʿfar and K. Muhaj al-ʿulūm by Muʿādh b. Abī l-Khayr al-Hamadhānī, are not even attested in the relevant biobibliographical sources. This study includes critical editions of the doctrinal tracts included in the majmūʿa as well as an additional tract preserved in a related codex that was apparently also copied by Ibn Abī l-ʿAshīra (MS Milan, Ambrosiana, ar. E 462). The edited tracts include Abū l-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās Ibn Sharwīn’s K. al-Wujūh allatī taʿẓumu ʿalayhā l-ṭāʿāt ʿinda llāh, his K. al-Yāqūta, and his Ḥaqāʾiq al-ashyāʾ, ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Hamadhānī’s Ḥudūd al-alfāẓ, Ibn al-Dāʿī’s K. Ḥaqāʾiq al-aʿrāḍ wa-aḥwālihā wa-sharḥihā, the extant part of the K. al-Nasīm fī l-uṣūl, K. Muhaj al-ʿulūm, by Muʿādh b. Abī l-Khayr al-Hamadhānī, fragments of two theological summae by unidentified Zaydī scholars, and collections of doctrinal definitions of uncertain authorship.
      112  18
  • Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī and his transmission of biblical materials from Kitāb al-dīn wa-al-dawla by Ibn Rabban al-Ṭabarī: The evidence from Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s Mafātīḥ al-ghayb
    (Taylor & Francis, 2009)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    The authenticity of the Kitāb al-dīn wa-al-dawla by the Nestorian convert to Islam, Abū al-asan ʿAlī b. Sahl Rabban al-abarī (d. ca. 251/865), has been discussed since the publication of the text by A. Mingana in 1922 Mingana, A. (1922) The Book of Religion and Empire. A Semi-Official Defence and Exposition of Islam Written by Order at the Court and with the Assistance of the Caliph Mutawakkil (A.D. 847–861) by ʿAlī abarī. Translated with a critical apparatus from an apparently unique MS. in the John Rylands Library (Manchester/New York). [Google Scholar]/23. A comparison between the chapter of the Twelver Shīʿī Sadīd al-Dīn Mamūd b. ʿAlī al-immaī al-Rāzī's (d. after 600/1204) Munqidh min al-taqlīd discussing the biblical predictions of the Prophet Muammad and the corresponding sections of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's (d. 606/1209) Mafāti al-ghayb reveals a substantial degree of verbal and structural agreement. It becomes evident that Fakhr al-Dīn, like al-immaī, are using material from Ibn Rabban's Al-dīn wa-al-dawla, although they were both relying on an intermediate source, Abū al-usayn al-Barī's (d. 436/1045) Kitāb ghurar al-adilla.
      337  193
  • Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī on the Torah and its Abrogation
    (Université Saint Joseph, 2008)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
      325  212
  • Accusations of Unbelief in Islam: A Diachronic Perspective on takfīr
    (Brill Publishers, 2016)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    ;
    Adang, Camilla
    ;
    Ansari, Hassan
    ;
    Fierro, Maribel
    The present volume—the first of its kind—deals with takfīr: accusing one´s opponents of unbelief (kufr). Originating in the first decades of Islam, this practice has been applied intermittently ever since. The nineteen studies included here deal with cases, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world, of individuals or groups that used the instrument of takfīr to brand their opponents—either persons, groups or even institutions—as unbelievers who should be condemned, anathematized or even persecuted. Each case presented is placed in its sociopolitical and religious context. Together the contributions show the multifariousness that has always characterized Islam and the various ways in which Muslims either sought to suppress or to come to terms with this diversity. With contributions by: Roswitha Badry, Sonja Brentjes, Brian J. Didier, Michael Ebstein, Simeon Evstatiev, Ersilia Francesca, Robert Gleave, Steven Judd, István T. Kristó-Nagy, Göran Larsson, Amalia Levanoni, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Hossein Modarressi, Justyna Nedza, Intisar A. Rabb, Sajjad Rizvi, Daniel de Smet, Zoltan Szombathy, Joas Wagemakers.
      367  297
  • Al-Maḥajja al-bayḍāʾ fī uṣūl al-dīn
    (Brill, 2019)
    Ḥusām al-Dīn al-ʿAnsī
    ;
    Ansari, Hassan
    ;
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    From the time of its foundation in 284/897, the Zaydī Imamate of Yemen was home to Muʿtazilī ideas. During the first centuries and starting with Imam al-Hādī ila ʼl-Ḥaqq (d. 298/911), Zaydī ideology included elements akin to the opinions of the Baghdad School of the Muʿtazila as founded by Bishr b. al-Muʿtamir (d. 210/825). However, in the 5-6th/11-12th centuries, we see a rise in popularity of Bahshamiyya ideas, a sub-group of the Basran School of the Muʿtazila around Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī (d. 321/933). These ideas were systematized and elaborated upon by the Zaydī theologian al-Raṣṣāṣ (d. 584/1188). Among those who resisted Bahshamī ideas to defend the teachings of the earlier imams was the jurist, theologian and author of more than 100 works, Ḥusām al-Dīn al-ʿAnsī (d. 667/1268). This volume contains a facsimile of the largest copy of al-Maḥajja al-bayḍāʾ fī uṣūl al-dīn, al-ʿAnsī’s major theological handbook, covering the first four parts out of eight.
      266  90
  • Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā’s Responses to Theological Questions posed by Abū Yaʿlā Sallār [Sālār] b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Daylamī (d. 448/1057): A Critical Edition
    (2018)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    ;
    Ansari, Hassan
    Among the responsa collections by al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā that still remain to be edited are the Jawābāt al-masāʾil al-Sallāriyya, which consist of responsa to eight questions most of which revolve around issues related to the subtleties of kalām. On the basis of the two earliest witnesses of this text, MS Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Petermann II [Pm.] 169 and MS Mashhad, Āstān-i quds 1448, an edition has been prepared.
      541  319
  • Al-Šarīf al-Murtaḍā's Oeuvre and Thought in Context: An Archaeological Inquiry into Texts and their Transmission
    (UCOpress, )
    Ansari, Hassan
    ;
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    Hassan Ansari and Sabine Schmidtke, Al-Šarīf al-Murtaḍā's Oeuvre and Thought in Context: An Archaeological Inquiry into Texts and their Transmission, 2 vols. Cordoba: UCOpress, 2022
      1743  1002
  • Al-Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād Promoter of Rational Theology: Two Muʿtazilī kalām texts from the Cairo Geniza
    (Brill, 2016)
    Madelung, Wilferd
    ;
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    The volume contains critical editions of the extant parts of two hitherto unknown theological works by the Buyid vizier al-Sahib b. 'Abbad (d. 385/925), who is well known to have vigorously promoted the teaching of Mu'tazili theology throughout Buyid territories and beyond. The manuscripts on which the edition is based come from Cairo Geniza store rooms. They consist of two manuscripts for each of the two texts—testimony to the impact of al-Sahib’s education policy on the contemporaneous Jewish community in Cairo. The longer treatise of al-Sahib of ca. 350/960, possibly his Kitab Nahj al-sabil fi usul al-din, appears to be the earliest Mu'tazili work preserved among the Jewish community. The second, briefer treatise also contains a commentary by Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamadani (d. 415/1025).
      345  182
  •   350  390
  •   385  464
  • Asās al-maqālāt fī qamʿ al-jahālāt: A Hitherto Unknown Zaydī Heresiography from Northern Iran
    (Shii Studies Review (Brill, Leiden), 2021)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    ;
    Ansari, Hassan
    ;
    Foroughi, Rouhallah
    This paper revolves around a hitherto unknown heresiography from northern Iran, Asās al-maqālāt fī qamʿ al-jahālāt, which is preserved in a unique manuscript contained in a majmūʿa (Ms. Tehran, Majlis 10727). In the introduction, we describe the multitext codex, one of the few extant codices testifying to the continuous presence of Zaydism in northern Iran beyond the sixth/twelfth century. Additionally, we discuss two alternative tentative identifications of the author of Asās al-maqālāt, Abū Muḍar Shurayḥ b. al-Muʾayyad al-Muʾayyadī al-Shurayḥī and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shurayḥī al-Muʾayyadī. While the latter is entirely unknown, Abū Muḍar is renowned for his Asrār al-Ziyādāt, and we attempt to situate him more precisely in the chronology of Zaydī scholarship. Finally, we provide an editio princeps of Asās al-maqālāt fī qamʿ al-jahālāt.
      324  139
  •   764  3437
  • Başlangıçtan Günümüze İslâm Kelâmı
    (Kure Yayinlari, 2020)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    İslâm düşünce geleneğinin temel disiplinlerinden olan kelâm, Batılı İslâm araştırmalarının da her zaman başta gelen ilgi alanlarından biri olmuştur. Başlangıçtan Günümüze İslâm Kelâmı, bu alakanın günümüzde geldiği yeri göstermesi açısından en kapsamlı ve en yeni çalışmadır. Seleflerinin önyargılı bakışlarından nispeten daha arınmış bir eser olarak ön plana çıkan bu çalışma, kırka yakın araştırmacının ortak emeğinin bir ürünüdür. Kelâm araştırmalarının günümüzdeki durumunu ortaya koyduğu gibi gelecek araştırmalar için de yeni yönelimler öneren eser, beş ana bölümde hem tarihsel hem de problematik olarak kelâm disiplinini bütün yönleriyle ele alarak okuyuculara kuşatıcı bir bakış açısı sunmaktadır.
      698  210
  • The Beginnings of Shīʿī Studies in Germany: Rudolf Strothmann and His Correspondences with Carl Heinrich Becker, Ignaz Goldziher, Eugenio Griffini, and Cornelis van Arendonk, 1910 through 1926
    (2023)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    Rudolf Strothmann (1877-1960) played a pioneering role in the scholarly exploration of Shīʿī Islam in Western, and in particular German, scholarship. Between 1910 and 1923, he published a number of pathbreaking studies on the Zaydiyya, consulting primarily the recently purchased collections of Yemeni Zaydī manuscripts in Berlin. At the same time, and to the extent that this was possible in view of the lack of relevant sources in Germany and the rest of Europe, Strothmann began to delve into Twelver Shīʿī literature, an endeavour which culminated in his 1926 monograph, Die Zwölfer-Schīʿa: Zwei religionsgeschichtliche Charakterbilder aus der Mongolenzeit, a portrait of the two prominent seventh/thirteenth-century Imāmī scholars Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274) and Raḍī al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Mūsā Ibn Ṭāwūs (d. 664/1266). During the later decades of his life, Strothmann primarily focussed on various strands of Ismāʿīlism. His rich published work testifies to his erudition and versatility and continues to form an important point of departure for scholars working on different aspects of Shīʿism in the early twenty-first century. In addition, Strothmann’s use of the manuscript treasures of Berlin State Library between 1908 and 1926 reflects his evolution as a scholar during those years. This study examines the earlier decades of Strothmann’s life and his formation as a theologian and a scholar of Semitic languages and Islamic culture. Moreover, it sheds light on his scholarly work during the 1910s through his correspondences with Carl Heinrich Becker, Ignaz Goldziher, Eugenio Griffini, and Cornelis van Arendonk, of which an annotated edition is provided.
      814  227
  • The Beginnings of Yemeni and Zaydi Studies in Europe: The Eugenio Griffini Archive, Milan
    (Shii Studies Review (Leiden: Brill), 2022)
    Schmidtke, Sabine
    ;
    Sagaria Rossi, Valentina
    The arrival of large numbers of Yemeni manuscripts in European libraries towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth century was a sensation that was enthusiastically received by the scholarly world. One of the principal reasons for this enthusiastic reception was the upsurge of South Arabian studies in Europe since the first half of the nineteenth century, together with the hope that the new material would fill some of the gaps in the literary sources on the history and geography of southern Arabia, especially during the pre-Islamic period. The most significant such lacuna was the missing volumes 1 through 7 and 9 of al-Hamdānī’s Iklīl. The two most important collections of Yemeni manuscripts that arrived in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had been gathered by Eduard Glaser and Giuseppe Caprotti, respectively, and their collections were sold to Berlin, London, and Vienna (Glaser) and to Munich, Milan, and the Vatican (Caprotti). The collections included some new material on South Arabian history (including volumes 1, 2, and 6 of the Iklīl), but they also opened up entirely new vistas and laid the foundation for the new discipline of Zaydi studies. Unlike South Arabian studies, the study of Zaydism had a slow start, with initially only a few scholars being interested in this entirely new field. Moreover, the scholarly exploration of the respective subcollections depended on the availability of catalogues. The early history of the Caprotti collection is intimately linked to Eugenio Griffini. Caprotti had dispatched nearly his entire manuscript collection of some 1,600 codices to Griffini, who kept it in his apartment in Milan until 1909, when the collection was donated to the Ambrosiana Library. Griffini was also the first and, for a long time, the only scholar to study the collection and prepare studies as well as catalogues of it. The process of his engagement with the material can be reconstructed on the basis of the Griffini archive, the whereabouts of which were for decades uncertain. This study outlines the discovery of the Griffini archive in the Biblioteca Comunale Centrale Palazzo Sormani in Milan and provides an initial overview of its contents, including Griffini’s epistolary exchanges with some ninety-nine correspondents, his descriptions of some of the Ethiopic manuscripts of the Ambrosiana, and, most importantly, his schedario, containing his extensive notes on all manuscripts of series A of the Caprotti collection. The large corpus of so far unexplored material promises to provide new insights into the network of Islamicists and Arabists at the turn of the twentieth century and the nascent phase of Zaydi studies in Europe.
      142  53
  •   433  275