القسم الثاني: السحاب المركوم الممطر بأنواع الفنون وأصناف العلومIntroduction — Names Subjects and Classification of Sciences

The Second Section: The Heaped Rain-Bearing Clouds in the Varieties of Arts and Kinds of Sciences

Introduction: On Explaining the Names of the Sciences, Their Subjects, and the Non-Determination of the Subject in Some of Them

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The Second Section: The Heaped Rain-Bearing Clouds in the Varieties of Arts and Kinds of Sciences

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Praise be to God, whom no grateful one can ever adequately ... praise

Then may God's blessings follow one another upon ... the Chosen One, his family, and whoever follows

Their path, like the moon of guidance; today no one but he is ... just

And a supplication by which I ask of His bounty ... that I may be saved from the severity of the Station

To proceed: this is the other section of the book Abjad al-'Uloom, entitled The Heaped Rain-Bearing Clouds in the Varieties of Arts and Kinds of Sciences. I have included in it an introduction, chapters, and a conclusion.

Introduction: On Explaining the Names of the Sciences, Their Subjects, and the Non-Determination of the Subject in Some of Them

Know that the well-known view among the majority is that the reality of the names of the recorded sciences—whether the particular questions, assent to them, or the disposition acquired through apprehending them time after time, by which its possessor is able to recall them whenever he wishes or to acquire them—is unknown.

Al-Sayyid al-Shareef says in Sharh al-Mawaaqif: “The name of every science is assigned to a comprehensive general concept embracing it.” End quote.

Then, the names of the sciences may be applied to both questions and principles. Yet the words of some suggest that this application is literal. The more correct view is that it is by way of metaphor, predominance, and the consequent implication of a confusion between the two sciences; for some of the principles of one science may be a question in another science, and thus they are not distinguished from one another.

Among matters that must be noted is their disagreement as to what class of nouns the names of the sciences belong.

Al-Sayyid al-Shareef al-Hanafee—may God have mercy on him—chose the view that they are generic proper names, for the name of every science is universal and encompasses multiple individuals, since what exists of it increases, in age and in persons, over what does not exist.

Zayn al-Deen al-Hawaafee said: They are personal proper names, in view of the fact that the difference of accidents follows the difference of their substrates, according to the ruling of justice.

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Al-'Allaamah al-Hafeed said: What is transferred from a genitive compound is not conventionally a generic proper name, while many names of the sciences are genitive compounds.

It occurred to me that the assignment of the names of the sciences may be made of the same kind as the assignment of pronouns, in view of the particularity of the referent and the generality of the assignment. There is no objection to this interpretation, except that their use in particular instances has not become customary.

It should be known that the necessity of a subject, principles, and questions in the stated manner pertains only to demonstrative theoretical disciplines. In others, however, it may be evident, as in jurisprudence and its principles; or it may not be evident except with exertion, as in some literary disciplines. For a discipline may consist of several conventions, technical terms, and observations connected with one matter, without there being an establishment of essential accidents of one subject by proofs founded upon premises. This is a manifestly useful point mentioned by Sa'd al-Deen al-Taftaazaanee al-Shaafi'ee in Sharh al-Maqaasid, from which benefit may be drawn in various places.

Among them is the permissibility of referring the conception of conceptual principles in one science to another science.

Among them is the making of language, exegesis, hadeeth, and their like into sciences, and so forth.

As for the subjects of the sciences, a group has composed works on them.

Among them was the imam Fakhr al-Deen Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Raazee, who composed a book in which he included sixty sciences and named it Hadaa'iq al-Anwaar fee Haqaa'iq al-Asraar. Shaykh Jalaal al-Deen Muhammad ibn As'ad al-Siddeeqee al-Dawaanee, who died in the year 908, composed a book in which he included ten sciences and named it Anmoodhaj.

Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Muhammad al-Bistaamee also composed a book, and in its opening sections he mentioned a portion of the sciences. He included in it wonders and rarities such as the ears of the age had not heard, until they reached the number of one hundred sciences; and he mentioned therein the divisions of the religious and Arabic sciences.

Shaykh Lutf Allaah ibn Hasan al-Tawqaanee, killed in the year 900, composed for Sultan Baayazeed a book collecting excerpts from the sciences. It is an abridgment; then he commented upon it and named it al-Mataalib al-Ilaahiyya. In it is a treatise by Shaykh Muhyee al-Deen Muhammad ibn Khateeb Qaasim.

Shaykh Jalaal al-Deen 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Abee Bakr al-Suyootee has a book in which he collected fourteen sciences and named it al-Naqaaya; then he commented upon it and named it Itmaam al-Diraaya.

He died in the year 911.

Shaykh Muhammad Ameen ibn Sadr al-Deen al-Shirwaanee, who died in the year 1036, compiled a book for the Ottoman Sultan Ahmad in which he included fifty-three sciences from the rational and transmitted sciences, and named it al-Fawaa'id al-Khaaqaaniyya al-Ahmadiyya al-Khaaniyya. He arranged it as an introduction, right wing, left wing, rear guard, and heart, in the manner of the arrangement of the Sultan's army.

The introduction: on the quiddity of the sciences and their division.

The heart: on the religious sciences.

The right wing: on the literary sciences.

He says in the preface: Or, if it occurs to you that the arts are numerous, acquiring them all is not easy, life is short, and acquiring the instruments of acquisition is difficult, then how is one to escape this constriction? Reflect on the sciences I have presented to you in name, description, subject, and benefit. If acquiring all those sciences is easy for you, then well and good—or say, “Praise be to God who guided us to this,” as Plato said: “There is no science whose ignorance is not more repugnant than the science itself.” If time presses you and you fear that distractions will cut you off through missed opportunity, take from every science its finest part. If it occurs to you that aims differ concerning the sciences, that temperaments and understandings vary in their inclination toward them, and that customs and conventions differ in deeming them admirable—so much so that some people regard acquiring what others possess of the arts as madness, since every party rejoices in what it has—reflect on the words of one who said:

All sciences besides the Qur'aan are preoccupation, ... save hadeeth and jurisprudence in religion.

Science is what contains “he said: he narrated to us,” ... all else is the whispering of devils.

It has also been said:

All knowledge is in the Qur'aan, but ... men's understandings have fallen short of it.

In sum, the finest sciences are those about which Gabriel—peace be upon him—asked our Prophet—God's blessings and peace be upon him—when he first asked about faith, then Islam, then ihsaan. Hadeeth and exegesis are the mothers and foundations of these sciences, and their orbit returns to them. End of its substance.

I say: In the hadeeth, 'Abd Allaah ibn 'Amr reported that the Messenger of God—God's blessings and peace be upon him—said: “Knowledge is threefold: a decisive verse, an established sunna, or an equitable obligation; anything beyond that is superfluous.” Aboo Daawood and Ibn Maajah transmitted it.

“Superfluous” means something additional, not necessary:

I love the hadeeth of the Chosen One and cherish it; ... I study it throughout my life and master its books.

And with the Chosen One I have a witness ... who appeared to him; a person is with the one he loves.

Pause. In this book we chose the arrangement selected by the author of Kashf al-Dhunoon because it is easy to consult. We found no arrangement by Ibn Khaldoon in his enumeration of the sciences. Yes, the author of Madeenat al-'Uloom arranged his book according to an order other than that of the letters of the alphabet, and in the introduction he gave a general enumeration of the sciences, as previously quoted. In the book he discussed seven domes, each explaining one of the seven principles.

Within each dome he then mentioned branches to explain the subdivisions. The first dome concerns the sciences of writing and contains an introduction and two branches.

The introduction concerns the need for writing. This explanation will appear in the discussion of the science of writing in this book, but it is appropriate here to cite the wording of Madeena in introducing each of the seven principles, so that the character of its arrangement and subdivision becomes clear and it is easy for the reader to attach each branch to its principle.

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The left wing: on the rational sciences. He included thirty sciences among them.

The rear guard: on the science of the etiquette of kings. He limited himself to that number so that it would accord with the numerical value of Ahmad according to the abjad reckoning.

Shaykh 'Isaam al-Deen Ahmad ibn Mustafaa, known as Taashkubreezaadah, compiled a great book in which he included about five hundred sciences and named it Miftaah al-Sa'aada wa-Misbaah al-Siyaada. He made it in two parts:

The first: on the essence of knowledge; in it he mentioned eighteen counsels for seekers.

The second: on the multiplicity of sciences; he included in it three divisions: divine, doctrinal, and practical.

He made the science of ethics the fruit of all the sciences, and died in the year 967.

Then his son, Shaykh Kamaal al-Deen Muhammad, translated it into Turkish with some additions and alterations, in a large volume, and died in the year 1032.

Al-Arneeqee, the student of Qaadheezaadah Mahmood al-Roomee, commentator on al-Jaghmeenee, has a book which he named Madeenat al-'Uloom and arranged as an introduction, two parts, and a conclusion.

He said in the introduction: Things have existence in writing, expression, minds, and external entities, each of which precedes the one following it.

Then the science connected with the first three is instrumental, whereas the science connected with the last is either practical, whose own acquisition is not intended but rather the acquisition of something else, or theoretical, whose own acquisition alone is intended.

Then each of them is either investigated insofar as it is taken from the Revealed Law, and this is religious science;

or insofar as it is required by reason alone, and this is philosophical science. These, then, are the seven principles, and each has types, while its types have branches, though they cannot be exhaustively enumerated.

One of the learned men said: The science of exegesis is not complete without twenty-four sciences. Imam al-Shaafi'ee enumerated, in the assembly of al-Rasheed, sixty-three kinds of the sciences of the Qur'aan.

One of the scholars said: The sciences derived from the Qur'aan are eighty sciences, and books have been written on them.

It has been said that the philosophical sciences comprise fifteen arts, although their branches are more than fifty. Then he said: The chosen view in my opinion is that the number of sciences is greater than the pen can delimit.

From Imam al-Ghazaalee, on the authority of some of them: The Qur'aan contains seventy-seven thousand two hundred sciences. Thus he mentioned in the fourth chapter of the Book of the Etiquette of Recitation from Ihyaa' 'Uloom al-Deen.

Al-Suyootee transmitted from Qaadhee Aboo Bakr ibn al-'Arabee that he mentioned in Qaanoon al-Ta'weel: The sciences of the Qur'aan are fifty sciences, four hundred sciences, seven thousand sciences, and seventy thousand sciences, according to the number of the words of the Qur'aan multiplied by four, since every word has an outward aspect, an inward aspect, a limit, and a point of ascent.

He also transmitted from al-Ghazaalee: Among the sciences are those which God has kept exclusively to Himself and disclosed to no one.

Among them are those known by the angels but not by humankind.

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Among them are those known by the prophets but not by anyone besides them.

Among them are those conceived by minds but not recorded in books.

Among them are those which were recorded, then whose books were lost, whose traces were effaced, and whose reports ceased. End quote.

1 The number increases. We found in Miftaah al-Sa'aada only what had already been quoted from Hajjee Khaleefa in Kashf al-Dhunoon. We also examined Madeenat al-'Uloom and found it almost identical in wording and not excessive in allusion. Yet the author of Kashf did not mention it as he mentioned Miftaah, although it was composed earlier. We could not discern a difference between the two books in structure or meaning, except that their names differ while their referent is one. Whoever knows this matter is invited to clarify its reality in the margin of this book and not to withhold it from us. God is the source of success; may the author receive enduring glory.

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We say: In explaining the need for writing, he says the following: Since the benefit of correspondence and discussion in the sciences depends on knowing the states of expressions—especially the Arabic expressions upon which our law is built, despite Arabic being the finest of languages and the most complete in taste and demonstration—the scholars of our community devoted themselves to investigating their states, regulating their roots and branches, and extracting their properties and excellences. They therefore established sciences, foundational and derivative, for that purpose.

Know that, since the benefits of expressions were confined to those present, while the aspirations of nations rose toward informing absent contemporaries and those who would be born after them, they devised scripts indicating those expressions. They investigated the states of these scripts: how their forms, movements, and pauses are made; their rules through dots, gemination marks, and lengthening marks; their composition and lineation; and other such states. Thus various sciences arose. End quote.

He then presented them within two branches.

The first concerns the sciences related to the manner of the scribal craft. He mentioned the science of writing instruments; the science of the rules of writing; the science of improving letters; the science of generating scripts from their principles; the science of arranging the letters of the alphabet; the science of arranging the forms of the simple letters; the science of orthography in Arabic script; the science of Qur'aanic script; and the science of prosodic script.

He then made the second dome concern sciences related to expressions; it contains an introduction and three branches.

The introduction explains the need for the sciences mentioned.

He says: Know that, since the human being is social by nature, he needs, for his livelihood, to communicate to others what is in his mind and to learn what is in the minds of others. Divine wisdom and primordial mercy therefore required the creation of signs whose utterance would be easy and would not be followed by opposites, and whose acquisition would require no instruments other than natural instruments, lest one spend one's time on what distracts one from many natural and religious necessities. Divine inspiration thus led him to use the sound that issues from the soul, a sound necessary to animals, by means of the natural bodily instruments, and to divide it through those instruments: the instruments impart to sounds various qualities in diverse forms and differing modes, by which some sounds are distinguished from others according to their points and qualities of articulation. These expressions are called letters. From them, through varied combinations, arise words which, according to different conventions, indicate the meanings present in the minds of speakers, on which livelihoods and the acquisition of knowledge depend.

Since combinations of these letters could be formed in different ways and varied patterns, and since the points and kinds of articulation differed according to the diversity of temperaments and customs among groups in every religious community—even in every region—different tongues and divergent languages arose, too numerous to count. The best and highest of them, however, is the language assigned to the most balanced and select of nations, upon which the noblest, highest, most authoritative, and most enduring of books was revealed until the Day of Resurrection. In this language spoke the finest, final, and noblest of the prophets, the bezel of their seal: namely, the pure Arabic language, distinguished by eloquence and inimitability and by the magic of allusion and metaphor. Has any other language been distinguished by arts whose most famous examples, if counted, would reach forty or more? Has any other language been honored by the challenge so that one surpassed hundreds?

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Tell me: Have the sciences, even the rational sciences, ever appeared so refined in another language? Is this language not therefore more worthy and deserving of exaltation and veneration? It is incumbent to attend to this language, great in rank, by distinguishing the qualities of its letters according to their points of articulation;

then the states of its combinations according to derivation;

then the states of its assignment of meanings;

then the substitution of some of its letters for others to achieve lightness;

then the manner of its inflections, so that one may move easily from them to their meanings; then adapting them to the requirements of the situation, to elevate the rank of speech; then expressing them in clear formulations, so that subtle meanings will not be difficult for minds prepared to receive them; and finally knowing the states of the scripts that indicate them. These are the foundations of the Arabic sciences, and they have many branches.

Know further that the literary sciences are of three kinds: they either investigate simple expressions, compound expressions, or their branches. They therefore comprise three branches.

The first concerns simple expressions. End quote.

In this branch he mentioned the science of the points of articulation of letters; the science of language; the science of lexical convention; the science of derivation; the science of morphology; the science of grammar; the science of meanings; the science of eloquence; the science of rhetorical embellishment; the science of prosody; the science of rhyme; the science of composing poetry; the science of the principles of poetry; the science of composition; the science of the principles and instruments of composition; the science of scholarly conversation; the science of chancery records; and the science of history.

He says: The third branch of the second dome concerns the branches of the Arabic sciences. He mentioned the science of proverbs; the science of the events of nations; the science of using expressions; the science of epistolary writing; the science of legal instruments and registers; the science of riddles and sophistical puzzles; the science of enigmas; the science of cryptic puzzles; the science of textual alteration; the science of inverted forms; the science of paronomasia; the science of entertaining kings; the science of the tales of the righteous; the science of the reports of the prophets; the science of military campaigns and biographies; the science of the history of the caliphs; the science of the classes of Qur'aan reciters; the science of the classes of exegetes; the science of the classes of hadeeth transmitters; the science of the biographies of the Companions and Successors; the science of the classes of Shaafi'ees; the science of the classes of Hanafees; the science of the classes of Maalikees; the science of the classes of Hanbalees; the science of the classes of grammarians; the science of the classes of philosophers; and the science of the classes of physicians.

He says: The third dome contains two branches.

The first concerns the instrumental sciences that protect against error in acquiring knowledge; in this dome he mentioned the science of logic.

He says: The second concerns sciences that protect against error in disputation and study. Under it he mentioned the etiquette of study, dialectical inquiry, disputation, and the science of legal disagreement.

He says: The fourth dome concerns knowledge related to entities. This has two divisions: what is investigated through opinion and the demands of reason alone—namely, the philosophical sciences that investigate external existents insofar as human capacity permits—and what is investigated according to the rules of the law, accepting the claim and taking it from revelation; this is the science of the principles of religion. It contains an introduction and several branches.

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Introduction: Know that the theoretical philosophical sciences either investigate an existent separate from matter externally and in investigation; an existent externally conjoined to matter but separate in investigation; or an existent conjoined to matter both externally and in investigation.

The first division is called divine science, because it investigates divine matters; the higher science, because its subject is elevated by being separate from matter; and metaphysics, because the ancients read it after natural science.

The second is called mathematics, because it first disciplines souls through it: the ancients began instruction with it because its demonstrations are certain, and so that souls would become accustomed to certainties at the outset. They even placed it before logic. It is also called the middle science, because it is neither wholly separate from matter nor wholly conjoined to it.

The third is called natural science, because it investigates the natures of bodies, and primary science, because it is wholly conjoined to matter. These are the three foundations of the philosophical sciences. End quote.

He then discussed each in a branch, each having innumerable subdivisions. He mentioned a subdivision of each in another branch, making six branches in all. He placed divine science before the others because of its nobility, followed by the middle and then the lower science. He said:

The first branch concerns divine science. The second concerns its subdivisions: the science of knowing human souls; the science of knowing the angelic souls; the science of knowing the Return; the science of the signs of prophethood; the science of the doctrines of the sects; and the science of the classification of the sciences. The third branch concerns natural science. It has seven subdivisions, or ten according to some:

1 - The science of medicine; 2 - veterinary medicine and animal tracking; 3 - physiognomy; 4 - the interpretation of dreams; 5 - astrology; 6 - magic; 7 - talismans; 8 - seemiyaa'; 9 - alchemy;

10 - agriculture. This is because its investigation concerns either what branches from simple and composite bodies, or what encompasses both.

Simple bodies are either celestial, in which case the science is astrology;

or elemental, in which case it is talismans.

Composite bodies are either those not requiring temperament, which is the science of seemiyaa',

or those requiring temperament, which are either without a soul—in which case it is alchemy—or with a soul.

Those with a soul are either unperceiving, as in agriculture, or perceiving.

The latter are either considered with complete rationality or not. The second is veterinary medicine, animal tracking, and what is analogous to them. The possessor of a rational soul is the human being, and this concerns either preserving and restoring health, which is medicine; his outward states that indicate inward states, which is physiognomy; or the states of his soul while absent from his senses, which is dream interpretation. The general simple and composite [matter] is magic. These subdivisions have further subdivisions, whose discussion will follow.

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He says: The fourth branch concerns the subdivisions of natural science. He mentioned, in addition to those already given, the science of plants, the science of animals, the science of minerals, the science of meteorology, the science of generation and corruption, and the science of the rainbow.

He says: The fifth branch contains several clusters. The first concerns the subdivisions of medicine: anatomy; ophthalmology; pharmacy; the preparation of medicinal drinks; removing stains from clothing; the composition of kinds of ink; surgery; venesection; cupping; quantities and weights; and sexual medicine.

The second cluster concerns the subdivisions of physiognomy: moles and birthmarks; the lines of the palms; the shoulders; tracking footprints; reading human features; finding one's way through deserts and wastelands; hydromancy; extracting minerals; predicting rainfall; divination; and involuntary twitching.

The third cluster concerns the subdivisions of astrology. Know that it differs from astronomy: the latter is known through calculation and is therefore a subdivision of mathematics, whereas the former is known through nature's indication of effects and is therefore a subdivision of natural science. These are electional astrology, geomancy, omen interpretation, sortilege, augury, and divination by signs.

The fourth cluster concerns the subdivisions of magic.

Know that if the production of events occurs solely through psychic influence, it is magic.

If it occurs by seeking aid from celestial bodies, it is the invocation of the stars.

If it occurs by blending human powers with earthly powers, it is talismans.

If it occurs by seeking aid through natural properties, then if it is through recitation it is the science of occult properties; if through writing it is the science of neeranjaat; and if through neither, it is incantations.

If it occurs by seeking aid from simple spirits, it is the science of adjurations.

If it occurs by bringing those spirits into the form of apparitions, it is the science of conjuration, also called the science of subjugating the jinn.

As for reports of absent events, whether past, present, or future, that is the science of soothsaying.

Since the human being can summon immaterial things, he can likewise make what is present absent from perception; this is called the science of concealment. He can also conceal present things from those present; this is called Sasanian deception. There are many things of this kind. End quote.

He then listed these sciences in this manner, including the science of qalfuteeraat; the science of writing, called the Hidden Secret; the science of unveiling the die; the science of legerdemain; the science of attachment of the heart; and the science of seeking aid through the properties of medicines.

He says: The fifth branch concerns the mathematical sciences, which investigate matters that can be abstracted from matter in the mind alone. These are confined to four divisions, because their investigation concerns either continuous quantity or discrete quantity, and each of these is either substantial in itself or not. The first is geometry, the second astronomy, the third arithmetic, and the fourth music.

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The sixth branch concerns the subdivisions of geometry. He included the science of building vaults; optics; burning mirrors; centers of gravity; lifting weights; surveying; the extraction of water; military machines; archery; adjustment; manjaneeqaat; navigation and swimming; weights and balances; and machines built on the necessity of a vacuum's absence.

He says: The seventh branch concerns the subdivisions of astronomy. He mentioned astronomical tables and calendars; the science of writing them; the computation of the stars; the manner of making observations; observational instruments; timekeeping; shadow instruments; spheres; moving spheres; the projection of the sphere; the constellations; the magnitudes of celestial bodies; the lunar mansions; geography; routes between countries and cities; knowing the distances of postal stages; the properties of regions; cycles and epochs; conjunctions; apocalyptic battles; the seasons of the year; prayer times; the construction of the astrolabe; the operation of the astrolabe; the construction of the quadrant; the operation of the quadrant; and clock instruments.

The eighth branch concerns the subdivisions of arithmetic: calculation; reckoning with the dust board and inclining; algebra and al-muqaabala; the rule of double false position; reckoning of dirhams and dinars; reckoning of cycles and bequests; reckoning of contracts; harmonious and discordant numbers; and numerical talismans.

The ninth branch concerns the subdivisions of music, including wondrous instruments, the science of dancing, and the science of coquettish grace.

He says: The fifth dome concerns practical wisdom. Since the human being is social by nature, and since nearly all people—apart from a small group whom God has protected, and how few they are—are disposed to obtain benefits and repel harms, wishing through their appetitive power to seize what is in the hands of others and through their irascible power to repel whoever competes with them, this would lead to fighting and quarrelling, or at least to enmity and rancor. Such matters conflict with the requirements of civilization, social life, and the building of cities. Divine wisdom, as a kindness and mercy, therefore honored His chosen servants—the messengers and prophets, peace be upon them—with revelation containing laws by which the affairs of livelihood are ordered and through whose implementation the affairs of the Hereafter are perfected. These laws are the prophetic laws and divine ordinances. The philosophers then derived from earlier laws rules concerned with perfecting character, ordering household administration, and administering the city, and called them practical wisdom. We shall mention each in a branch.

The first branch: the science of ethics.

The second: household administration.

The third: political science.

The fourth concerns the subdivisions of practical wisdom, including the etiquette of kings; the etiquette of the vizierate; the science of market inspection; and the science of commanding armies.

The sixth dome concerns the religious sciences.

Know that the doctrinal sciences either concern transmitted material; understanding, establishing, and reinforcing what is transmitted with proofs; or extracting derived rulings.

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Transmission, if it is what the Messenger brought through revelation, is the science of the Qur'aan; or if it is what issued from his self, supported by infallibility, it is the science of hadeeth transmission.

Understanding what is transmitted, if it is the speech of God Most High, is Qur'aanic exegesis; or if it is the speech of the Messenger, it is the science of hadeeth understanding.

Establishing principles concerns either opinions, which is the science of the principles of religion; or actions, which is the science of the principles of jurisprudence; or extracting rulings from their proofs, which is jurisprudence.

The benefits of these sciences are immense. In this world they preserve lives and property and order all circumstances; in the Hereafter they bring deliverance from painful punishment and attainment of everlasting bliss. This dome has branches.

The first: Qur'aanic recitation.

The second: hadeeth transmission.

The third: Qur'aanic exegesis.

The fourth: hadeeth understanding.

The fifth: the principles of religion, called kalaam.

The sixth: the principles of jurisprudence.

The seventh: jurisprudence.

The eighth: the subdivisions of the religious sciences: knowing anomalous readings and distinguishing them from mass-transmitted readings; the points of articulation of letters; the points of articulation of expressions; pauses; the causes underlying readings; the orthography of the Qur'aan; and the etiquette of writing the mushaf.

Among the subdivisions of hadeeth are commentary on hadeeth; the occasions of the hadeeths' utterance; abrogating and abrogated hadeeths; interpreting the Prophet's statements—God's blessings and peace be upon him; the symbols in the Prophet's statements; rare hadeeth vocabulary; refuting objections to hadeeth; reconciling hadeeths; the circumstances of hadeeth transmitters; and prophetic medicine—God's blessings and peace be upon him.

As for the subdivisions of exegesis, the Qur'aan is a sea whose wonders never end. He says: Let us mention of them what the power of exposition can sustain and the scope of writing encompass. He then mentioned knowledge of the Meccan and Medinan revelations and the other types listed by al-Suyootee in al-Itqaan, making each type an independent science. This is not as it should be, but we have mentioned them in this book in his arrangement, following him—may God Most High have mercy on him—as you will see.

He says: What I have mentioned of the subdivisions of exegesis is what occurs in al-Itqaan. This is only a portion of sciences counted as subdivisions of exegesis by the slightest connection. Let us therefore mention here the science of the properties of letters; knowledge of spiritual properties; manipulating letters and names; the science of luminous and dark letters; manipulating the Greatest Name; the science of expansion and contraction; the science of jafr and the comprehensive tablet; the science of zaa'irja; and refuting objections to the Qur'aan.

Among the subdivisions of hadeeth are also exhortations; supplications and litanies; reports; asceticism;

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scrupulous piety; the prayer for needs; and the science of military campaigns.

As for the subdivisions of the principles of religion, know that the subject of kalaam, according to the established position of the investigators, is the known insofar as the establishment of religious doctrines is related to it. There is no doubt that the subjects of all sciences are included under the known. It is established concerning subjects that foundational and derivative status in the sciences follows the generality and particularity of the subject; thus all the religious sciences are subdivisions of the principles of religion.

The subdivisions of the principles of jurisprudence include dialectical inquiry, disputation, debate, and legal disagreement.

The subdivisions of jurisprudence include inheritance law; legal instruments and registers; knowing the rulings of the revealed laws; and fatwas.

He says: This is the end of what was possible for me in detailing the theoretical sciences included in the first wing of this abridgment. We shall now begin the sciences related to actions, namely the sciences of purification.

Knowledge is of two kinds. The first is knowledge by way of investigation, and it is not complete except through action. The second is knowledge by way of action, and it is the culmination of knowledge of God Most High. The knowledge related to the first is called the science of study, because it is acquired through study and repetition. The knowledge related to the second is called the science of inheritance, because action bequeaths it. It is also called the science of purification, the science of the inward, the science of spiritual state, the science of unveiling, and the science of realities.

This second wing has four divisions.

The first concerns the sciences related to acts of worship: the secrets of purification; the secrets of prayer; the secrets of almsgiving; and the secrets of pilgrimage.

The second concerns the sciences related to customary practices: the etiquette of eating; the etiquette of marriage; the etiquette of earning; the etiquette of companionship and social intercourse; the etiquette of seclusion; the etiquette of travel; the etiquette of audition and ecstasy; the etiquette of market inspection; and the etiquette of prophethood.

The third concerns destructive character traits: the wonders of the heart; disciplining the soul and refining character; the virtue of breaking the two appetites; the etiquette and afflictions of the tongue; the afflictions of anger; the afflictions of this world; the afflictions of property; the afflictions of status; the afflictions of ostentation; the afflictions of pride; the afflictions of conceit; and the afflictions of delusion.

The fourth concerns saving character traits: the etiquette of repentance; the benefits of patience; the benefits of gratitude; the benefits of hope; the benefits of fear; the benefits of poverty; the benefits of asceticism; the benefits of reliance; the benefits of love; the benefits of longing; the benefits of intimacy; the benefits of contentment; the benefits of intention; the benefits of sincerity; the benefits of truthfulness; the benefits of watchfulness; the benefits of self-examination; the benefits of reflection; and the benefits of remembering death, resurrection, and rising.

He says: The conclusion of the treatise concerns the conditions and etiquette of the path, including the conditions of the shaykh; the conditions of the disciple; the etiquette of donning the patched cloak; the etiquette of the crown; and the etiquette of the prayer rug. End quote.

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We have not included what he mentioned in this conclusion in our book, because it is not itself a science. An independent chapter on the classification of the recorded sciences appeared earlier in the first section of our book. Among the finest classifications is the fifth classification, according to what the author of Miftaah al-Sa'aada mentioned. It is distinct from the sciences discussed here, and there is no objection to some repetition when the benefits and reminders are renewed.¹

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