At a glance
Cosmology and creationScripture and its sciences
Summary
"Kitab al-Azama" ("The Book of Greatness") by Abu al-Shaykh al-Isfahani is the source al-Suyuti relied on in al-Hay'a al-saniyya so heavily that he owes it almost every fragment. 1 Heinen says the book reflects its author's piety and his devotion to hadith and tafsir. 1
Its framework
Heinen holds that the book's cosmological material stood within a framework of reflection (tafakkur) on God's creation and His glorification, and that al-Suyuti, by omitting the theological matter and isolating the cosmology, gave it a more marked cosmological appearance. 2 In his academic view, taking the material out of that framework was a misuse of Kitab al-Azama. 2
Al-Suyuti's quotations
Al-Suyuti often pairs Abu al-Shaykh with Ibn Abi Hatim's Tafsir, as in the opening chapter on the Throne and the Footstool. 3
Connections
People and things also explored
al-Hay'a al-sunniyya (tradition-based cosmology)· The earth's rotation and the ship analogy in Islamic astronomy· Kitab ilm al-hay'a ala i'tiqad ahl al-sunna wa-l-jama'a dun al-falasifa (al-Hay'a al-islamiyya)· al-Hay'a al-saniyya fi al-hay'a al-sunniyya (The Radiant Cosmography)· Ibn al-Sunni's al-Tibb al-nabawi· Ibn Abi al-Dunya's Kitab al-Matar wa-l-ra'd wa-l-barq wa-l-rih· al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Risala fi ilm al-nujum· Al-Radd ala al-Jahmiyya (al-Darimi)
Sources
- Anton M. Heinen, Islamic Cosmology: A Study of as-Suyuti's al-Hay'a as-saniya fi l-hay'a as-sunniya (Beirut, 1982) , p. 48
- Anton M. Heinen, Islamic Cosmology: A Study of as-Suyuti's al-Hay'a as-saniya fi l-hay'a as-sunniya (Beirut, 1982) , p. 62
- Anton M. Heinen, Islamic Cosmology: A Study of as-Suyuti's al-Hay'a as-saniya fi l-hay'a as-sunniya (Beirut, 1982) , p. 140
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Kitab al-Azama of Abu al-Shaykh al-Isfahani”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/work/kitab-al-azama-abu-al-shaykh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.
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