Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʿĀmilī's draft letter to his teacher: The culture of scholarly correspondence and the Islamic republic of letters in the sixteenth century

Abstract

AbstractThis study focuses on a draft letter by Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʿĀmilī (d. 984/1576) for his teacher Zayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (d. 965/1558); both were prominent Twelver Shiite jurists from the region of Jabal ʿĀmil in what is now Lebanon. Yūsuf Ṭabājah, who first published the text, argued that Ḥusayn wrote the letter while he was in Iraq c. 957/1550 and that it describes Zayn al-Dīn's legal work al-Rawḍah al-bahiyyah. It is argued here that the book in question is more likely Zayn al-Dīn's work Tamhīd al-qawāʿid, on legal and grammatical maxims, and that the letter dates to c. 958/1551. The text provides insight into the relationship between Ḥusayn and Zayn al-Dīn and the culture of scholarly correspondence.