Abu’l-Ma’ali Muhammad ibn Ubaydullah’s “Bayan al-Adyan”: A Source Analysis in Eastern Comparative Religion

This article is devoted to the analysis of Bayan al-Adyan, the first comparative study of religions written in the Persian language by the 11th-century scholar Abul-Ma’ali Muhammad ibn Ubaydullah Husayni Alawi, who lived in Khorasan. Although information about the author’s life is limited in the sources, the content of the work and certain data presented in it indicate that the scholar was close to the Ghaznavid court, held a high position in society, and possessed a profound rationalist mode of thought. The article examines the author’s impartial exposition of various religions and sects, and in particular his methodology for classifying Islamic currents on the basis of the hadith of the «73 sects (firqas).» Drawing on the juridical (fiqh) and doctrinal indications contained in the work, the article substantiates Abu al-Ma’ali’s own affiliation with the Sunni-Hanafi tradition. The article also sets out in detail the historical circumstances connected with the fate of the work’s manuscript copies, in particular the first critical edition prepared by the renowned Iranian historian Abbas Iqbal Ashtiyani, and the subsequent discovery of a complete copy of the work by Muhammad Taqi Danesh-Pazhuh. The work «Bayan al-Adyan» consists of five chapters in total and reflects not only religious teachings but also the geographical and anthropological conceptions of the eleventh-century Muslim world. Of particular note are the author’s observations concerning the conceptions of the deity held by various peoples, including the pre-Islamic Turks and the Indians. As one of the most beautiful and rare specimens of the Persian language, the work has left an indelible mark on the tradition of the history of Islamic schools of thought (maqalat). Among the sources of «Bayan al-Adyan» are cited the works of such thinkers as Abu Zayd al-Maqdisi, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Muhammad ibn Harun al-Warraq, and Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Amiri al-Nishapuri. In conclusion, the study reveals the structure of the work, consisting of five chapters, as well as the significance of the information it contains on pre-Islamic religions (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity) and on the false prophets who came forward with unscientific claims.