Bengal-born logician who wrote Miʿrāj al-fuhūm, one of the earliest commentaries on Sullam al-ʿulūm, at the age of eighteen, and died young.
Life
Nearly all that is known about him comes from a short entry in ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Ḥasanī’s Nuzhat al-khawāṭir, which names him ‘al-Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Jawnpūrī’, son of an unnamed father, son of Muḥammad Ṣādiq b. Abī al-Baqāʾ al-Ḥusaynī al-Wāsiṭī, ‘the author of Miʿrāj al-fuhūm’. He was born and grew up in Dhaka and studied there as far as the town allowed, then travelled to Delhi and studied with its teachers. He taught and wrote several books on logic, the best known of which is Miʿrāj al-fuhūm, a commentary on Muḥibb Allāh al-Bihārī’s Sullam al-ʿulūm, which Nuzhat says he wrote in his eighteenth year. He died young and was buried in Dhaka.
Asad Q. Ahmed, as summarised in ‘The commentaries on Sullam al-ʿulūm’, places the commentary after 1121/1709, which makes it one of the first generation of commentaries written within a few years of al-Bihārī’s death. The TDV article on al-Bihārī lists it among the commentaries on the Sullam. It has not been printed; the catalogue records a manuscript in the Raza Library at Rampur.
Uncertain or disputed
- His father’s name is missing in the Nuzhat text consulted (‘Muḥammad ʿAlī b. …’).
- The nisba al-Mubārakī is not in the Nuzhat entry; the TDV calls him ‘Muhammed Ali el-Mübârekî el-Kanpûrî’, perhaps a misreading of al-Jawnpūrī.
- His dates of birth and death are unknown; ‘died in his youth’ is all Nuzhat says.
Works
- Miʿrāj al-fuhūm sharḥ Sullam al-ʿulūm مِعْرَاجُ الفُهُومِ — op Sullam al-ʿulūmWritten at eighteen (Nuzhat), after 1121/1709 (Ahmed). Manuscript: Rampur, Raza Library MS 3401/8196M (Sullam catalogue).commentaar
Reception
One of the early commentaries that show how quickly the Sullam became a of commentary; see ‘The commentaries on Sullam al-ʿulūm’.
Sources (2)