Muḥammad Šīrīn Maġribī (d. 810/1408) as a Key Agent in the Transmission of Akbarī Silsilas

Abstract

This article aims at reassessing the historical and intellectual standing of Muḥammad Šīrīn Maġribī (d. 810/1408) by demonstrating the key role he played in the transmission of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 638/1240) chains of spiritual descent. This is, at the same time, an original contribution to the study of Akbarī silsilas. A re-reading of familiar sources, together with a range of previously unknown or unexplored documents, leads to a reassessment of established scholarship on Šīrīn Maġribī which has hitherto seen him primarily as a Sufi poet. The present study provides an enhanced portrait of this figure, shedding light on his intense intellectual activity over and above poetry, and on the significant role he played in contemporary Sufi networks far beyond Tabriz and the Persianate World. In this new light, Maġribī emerges as an eminent and influential agent of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s legacy through the transmission of Akbarī silsilas, the teaching of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s works, and the writing of influential texts that contributed to the diffusion of Akbarī doctrines. This article aims at reassessing the historical and intellectual standing of Muḥammad Šīrīn Maġribī (d. 810/1408) by demonstrating the key role he played in the transmission of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 638/1240) chains of spiritual descent. This is, at the same time, an original contribution to the study of Akbarī silsilas. A re-reading of familiar sources, together with a range of previously unknown or unexplored documents, leads to a reassessment of established scholarship on Šīrīn Maġribī which has hitherto seen him primarily as a Sufi poet. The present study provides an enhanced portrait of this figure, shedding light on his intense intellectual activity over and above poetry, and on the significant role he played in contemporary Sufi networks far beyond Tabriz and the Persianate World. In this new light, Maġribī emerges as an eminent and influential agent of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s legacy through the transmission of Akbarī silsilas, the teaching of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s works, and the writing of influential texts that contributed to the diffusion of Akbarī doctrines.