2102119 Canon Formation and Affirmation in Sunnism – The Example of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq Dihlawī's Maraj al-Baḥrayn

Abstract

What defines Sunnism?In the centuries that Islam has existed, a number of attempts have been made to define what Sunnism (Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jama) comprises in a way that goes beyond the smaller categories of the competing schools of theology Asharism and Maturidism, the legal schools, or the Sufi methods -and thus to define which authors and books should be counted within the scope of Sunni orthodoxy.With the rise of the Islamic gunpowder empires and their respective denominational outlooks and rivalries, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw several attempts to synthesize and harmonize Sufism and fiqh, emulating the grand synthesis in Ab mid al-Ghazl's Iy Ulm al-Dn.Such attempts were made, for instance, in the works of Zakariyy al-Anr (1420-1520) and Abd al-Wahhb al-Sharn (1492/3-1565).Often, these syntheses were also attempts at tajdd, revival.This paper analyses the rhetorical strategies of the influential Sufi hadith scholar Shaykh Abd al-aqq Dihlaw (1551-1642) in his work Maraj al-Barayn fi'l-Jam bayn al-arqayn.By trying to harmonize Sufism and Fiqh, the book narrates the story of the Ahl al-Sunna, both applauding and censoring various scholars and methods.In this chapter, I will focus on the epistemological and psychological arguments and narratives that Shaykh Abd al-aqq Dihlaw employs to sustain his agenda and outline a canon of his own.Ultimately, this paper argues that Islamic orthodoxy must be expressed as a narrative in historiography.