Keys to the Arcana II

Shahrastani's esoteric commentary on the Qur'an II: A translation of the commentary on Surat al-Baqara, vv.1-123
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-19-794115-7
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 468 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Shahrastani (d. 548/1153) was best known as an authority in the Ash'ari school of Sunni orthodoxy and for his world survey of religious and philosophical doctrines. His later works bear out what some of his contemporaries had claimed, that he secretly inclined to 'the people of the mountain fortresses' or the Nizari Isma'ilis. The doctrines and interpretations of this movement of radical esotericists from the eastern part of the Muslim world in his period are seen in his systematic interpretation of the Qur'an.

This text, Keys to the Arcana, survives in a unique manuscript which has only recently come to scholarly attention. The comprehensive commentary, which he never completed, analyses each verse of the scripture from multiple angles (transmitted exegesis, lexicology, rationale of the verse-sequence, narratives, etc.), ending with the arcana (asrar). Mayer's translation is focused on this last rubric that runs through the commentary where our author interprets the verses within a framework of Isma'ili Neoplatonism, using ideas like the 'God beyond being', lettrism, angelology, the manifestation of transcendental realities in certain human individuals, and the immanence of the eschaton in human life. Mayer's translation is accompanied by an introduction in eight sections that constitutes a study in its own right.

The book is the second volume of a three-volume translation of the arcana sections of Shahrastani’s commentary.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Mayer, Toby

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Note on transliteration and abbreviations

- Translator’s Introduction

- Notes to the Translator’s Introduction

- The Translation

- Notes to the Translation

- Bibliography

- Index of Qur’anic citations

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Toby Mayer is a Senior Research Associate in Qur'anic Studies at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. After completing his undergraduate degree in Indian Studies at the University of Cambridge, he went on to study Medieval Arabic thought at the University of Oxford, where he wrote his doctoral thesis on the Book of Allusions (Isharat) by the Persian philosopher Ibn Sina.
Until 2003 Mayer was a lecturer in Islamic Studies at the SOAS, University of London, where he taught courses in Islamic philosophy and mysticism. He has also worked for Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation.
He has also published a critical edition and translation of Shahrastani’s Kitab al-Musara'a, entitled Struggling with the Philosopher (2001) in conjunction with Wilferd Madelung.