Tawhid al-Mufaddal

Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal
توحيد المفضل
Authorunknown (pseudepigraphic)
Attributed to   al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi (d. before 799)
Ja'far al-Sadiq (c. 700–765)
TraditionEarly Shi'ism
Dating9th century
LanguageArabic
Alternate titleKitāb fī badʾ al-khalq wa-l-ḥathth ʿalā al-iʿtibār
SubjectTeleological proof of the existence of God
Influenced by
Related texts
Preserved inTwelver Shi'ism (al-Majlisi)

The Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal (توحيد المفضل, 'Declaration by al-Mufaddal of the Oneness of God'), also known as the Kitāb fī badʾ al-khalq wa-l-ḥathth ʿalā al-iʿtibār ('Book on the Beginning of Creation and the Incitement to Contemplation'),[1] is a ninth-century treatise concerned with proving the existence of God, attributed to the early Shi'i Muslim leader al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi (died before 799). The work presents itself as a dialogue between al-Mufaddal and the Shi'i Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (c. 700–765), who is the main speaker.[2]

Like most other works attributed to al-Mufaddal, the Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal was in fact written by a later, anonymous author who took advantage of al-Mufaddal's status as one of the closest confidants of Ja'far al-Sadiq in order to ascribe their own ideas to the illustrious Imam.[3] However, it differs from other treatises attributed to al-Mufaddal by the absence of any content that is specifically Shi'i in nature, a trait it shares with only one other Mufaddal work—also dealing with a rational proof for the existence of God—the Kitāb al-Ihlīlaja ('Book of the Myrobalan Fruit'). Though both preserved by the 17th-century Shi'i scholar Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi (died 1699), the only thing that connects the Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal and the Kitāb al-Ihlīlaja to Shi'ism more generally is their ascription to Ja'far al-Sadiq and al-Mufaddal. Rather than by Shi'i doctrine, their content appears to be influenced by Mu'tazilism, a rationalistic school of Islamic speculative theology (kalām).[2]

The Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal is a revised version of a work falsely attributed to the famous Mu'tazili litterateur al-Jahiz (died 868) under the title Kitāb al-Dalāʾil wa-l-iʿtibār ʿalā al-khalq wa-l-tadbīr ('Book of Proofs and Contemplation on Creation and Administration').[4] Both the Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal and pseudo-Jahiz's Kitāb al-Dalāʾil likely go back on an earlier ninth-century text,[5] which has sometimes been identified as the Kitāb al-Fikr wa-l-iʿtibār ('Book of Thought and Contemplation') written by the ninth-century Nestorian Christian Jibril ibn Nuh ibn Abi Nuh al-Nasrani al-Anbari.[6]

The teleological argument for the existence of God used in the Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal is inspired by Syriac Christian literature (especially commentaries on the Hexameron), and ultimately goes back on Hellenistic models such as the pseudo-Aristotelian De mundo ('On the Universe', third/second century BCE) and Stoic theology as recorded in Cicero's (106–43 BCE) De natura deorum.[7]

  1. ^ The Tawḥīd al-Mufaḍḍal is probably identical with the Kitāb fī badʾ al-khalq wa-l-ḥathth ʿalā al-iʿtibār mentioned by the Twelver Shi'i bibliographer al-Najashi (c. 982–1058); see Chokr 1993, deuxième partie, chapitre I, 3 Deux ouvrages attribués à Ǧa‘far al-Ṣādiq, 10; Modaressi 2003, p. 334. According to Chokr 1993, the true title as given in the work itself is Kitāb al-Adilla ʿalā al-khalq wa-l-tadbīr wa-l-radd ʿalā al-qāʾilīn bi-l-ihmāl wa-munkirī al-ʿamd. Arabic text in al-Majlisi 1983, vol. 3, pp. 57–151.
  2. ^ a b Asatryan 2000–2012.
  3. ^ Asatryan 2017, p. 59.
  4. ^ Asatryan 2000–2012, referring to Chokr 1993, pp. 85–87, 100–102.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chokr-12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jibril-ibn-Nuh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Daiber 2014, pp. 171–178; Chokr 1993, deuxième partie, chapitre I, 3 Deux ouvrages attribués à Ǧa‘far al-Ṣādiq, 10–17.