1.1 - The Authenticity of the Attribution of the Fihrist to Shaykh Muhyiddin

Mahmoud Ghurab believes that the attribution of the Index to Sheikh Muhyiddin is not possible, because there are some important books not counted wereas they are mentioned by the Sheikh in his other books, and yet many other books mentioned in the Index and not in other confirmed books. But this argument is incorrect because the Sheikh himself says that his listing is approximate and he recorded only what he could remember at that time. Also, it is easy to explain why some of these books were not mentioned simply because he may have written them later, or due to the fact that they are amongst the group that he was not ordered to bring our to people as he clearly says in the Index.

Among some of the arguments that Mahmoud Ghurab makes to support his claim of the incorrectness of the attribution of the Index to Sheikh Muhyiddin is his mention of the book “Fusus al-Hikam”, which he says its attribution to the Sheikh is also not true, because there are issues therein that contradict what was reported in his other confirmed books such as the Meccan Revelations. But the fact is that all of these issues that he mentions in his study of the Fusus are fallacious and can be easily refuted; so there is no contradiction at all. Rather, when studied carefully, these same problems were addressed by the Sheikh in Revelations and in a quite similar manner to what is found in the Fusus, which confirms attribution instead of contradicting it. Moreover, doubting the discourse of the Fusus means doubting hundreds of great scholars who commented on it and quoted many of its statements, and many of them were close followers of Sheikh Muhyiddin and his immediate disciples, such as Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi and Ismail Ibn Sawdakin and others from early and following generations.

As for the many books that the sheikh mentioned in the Index and did not mention in his other confirmed books, most of them fall into the category that the sheikh said the time had not yet come to bring them out to people, and therefore even if he had written them before the Meccan Revelations, or other famous books, he would not quote from and cite them before it was time to bring them out. Moreover, as for the book of the Fusus in particular, since it is the subject of the primary dispute for those who deny the validity of the Index and the Leave, this book was written by the Sheikh in the last ten days of Muharram, the first month of the year 627 AH, after the completion of the first edition of the Meccan Revelations, as we explained in Volume I, and therefore the Sheikh would not mention it in this book even though it was edited again after that, but the new edition did not include the addition of new topics, but rather a revision of the first version. In addition to that also, this book is counted among the books of mysteries that the Sheikh did not want to show before time, so how does he cite it!

The critic also states that some books were mentioned twice in the index. He says that "al-Durrah al-Fakhirah: the Luxurious Pearl" is the same as "Rouh al-Quds: the Holy Spirit", and this is not true, but they are two different treatises, though they have some intersecting topics, but the original Luxurious Pearl is missing, because the Sheikh wrote it in the West and did not bring it with him to the East, although he rewrote it again in a brief abridged version. In either case, its description, as it will mentioned below with number (46), differs from the description of the Holy Spirit (54), although there are some intersections between them. He also says that the book "(184) Tarjumān al-Ashwāq: the Translator of Desires" and "(191) Dhakhāʾir al-Aʿlāq: the Precious Repositories" are the same book, but this is also not true, but the latter is a commentary on the first, and the Sheikh wrote them at different times. However, even if we imagine that there are duplicate titles, and that this repetition is present in the original copy, and not only due to transcription errors, this is could be an accidental error resulting from the overlapping of book titles and topics, and this does not affect at all the definite attribution of this treatise to Sheikh Muhyiddin, due to the presence of original manuscripts that prove this truth.

The critic also says that Sheikh Muhyiddin would rather write such an index of his books for one of his two sons who lived with him and were attending his councils when reading the Meccan Revelations, instead of writing it for his student and stepson Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi! But this is not an argument at all, firstly because the Sheikh did not specify the person to whom this Index was written, and secondly because he knows his children and his disciples and he knows who is the best to be granted the Leave or spiritual attention from them. History has proven that his stepson, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, was more eligible to preserve his books and sciences and was more efficient than his two sons, who had little to do in this regard, despite being from the people of virtue and literature. And it comes to me here to mention a phrase conveyed to me by some of the elder people in Damascus amongst the sheikhs who live in Sheikh Muhyiddin neighborhood, and he encountered other elderly people who were in straight contact with Sheikh Muhyiddin himself, or with his disciples who used to retreat in that mosque, then this great Sheikh says that the Sheikh Muhyiddin says: "The malevolence of the righteous man resides in his sperms!" Which means that he was not completely satisfied with the behavior of his two sons, Imad al-Din and Saad al-Din, although they were virtuous, but they were not at the high level that he was hoping for, and perhaps he had wished that they were like Sadr al-Din whom he adopted after the death of his father, Isaac al-Qunawi.

In addition to that, Sheikh Muhyiddin did not write the Index for al-Qunawi in particular, and did not say that he wrote it for him, nor did he write it as a kind of leave at all, because he mentioned intuitive details known to al-Qunawi; such as his description of the book of the Meccan Revelations (52) and others. It becomes clear to those who read the Index that Sheikh Muhyiddin counts some of his books and introduces them to all people, and not specifically to al-Qunawi, who wrote another list of books that he read on his teacher, or heard from him, which is the well-known leave from Sheikh Muhyiddin to Sheikh Sadr al-Din, which we will mention in chapter II.

All of these arguments are in fact false debating, and would never underrate the importance of this Index and its significance, and would not affect the validity of its attribution to Sheikh Muhyiddin. We cannot deny the validity of such historical document that is certain and verified, except through concrete and solid evidence, such as, for example, if there is a mention of a book classified after its date, or mentioning books known to be not by Sheikh Muhyiddin. As for the presumptive evidence, and the irrational inferences discussed above, they only express the opinion of their advocate.

On the other hand, there is no reason to falsify such a document, especially since most of the books mentioned therein are still missing books until now, and therefore what is the need of someone who wants to detriment Sheikh Muhyiddin to attribute missing books to him! As for the book of Fusus al-Hikam, which the critic denies its attribution to Sheikh Muhyiddin, this is something that can properly refuted as we mentioned in summary above. And even if we assume for the sake of argument that the book of Fusus, or any other books, were not mentioned in the Index or the Leave, or other sources, this would not mean that its attribution to the Sheikh is not correct, because it is an actual book that has many manuscript copies, historical and modern, and was explained and cited by the sheikhs as a book by Sheikh Muhyiddin, while no nobody has claimed this book to any other author. If this book was not by sheikh Muhyiddin, who is then the author who could produce such an articulated and wondrous books in its accuracy, expression and depth of the topics raised, which is not to be found in any other books at all!