ʿĀ’ishah bint Yūsuf al-Bāʿūniyyah was a Sufi master and poet. She is one of few medieval female Islamic mystics to have recorded their own views in writing, and she "probably composed more works in Arabic than any other woman prior to the twentieth century". 'In her the literary talents and Ṣūfi tendencies of her family reached full fruition'. She was born and died in Damascus.
Life
Her father Yūsuf was a qadi in Safed, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Damascus, and a member of the prominent al-Bāʻūnī family, noted through the fifteenth century for its scholars, poets and jurists. Like her brothers ‘Ā’ishah was taught primarily by her father, along with other family members, studying the Quran, hadith, jurisprudence, and poetry, and by her own claim, by the age of eight, ‘Ā’ishah was a hafix. Meanwhile, her principal Sufi masters were Jamāl al-Dīn Ismā‘īl al-Ḥawwārī and his successor Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyá al-Urmawī, whom she held in high regard. Probably in 1475, ‘Ā’ishah undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca. She was married to Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Ibn Naqīb al-Ashrāf, from the prominent ‘Alid family of Damascus, also noted for their scholarship; by ‘Ā’ishah's reckoning, Aḥmad was descended from Muḥammad's daughter Faṭimah and her husband ‘Alī, via their son al-Ḥusayn. ‘Ā’ishah and Aḥmad had two known children, a son, ‘Abd al-Wahhāb, and a daughter, Barakah.
In 919/1513, ‘Ā’ishah and her son moved from Damascus to Cairo, returning to Damascus in 923/1517. ‘Ā’ishah's goal may have been to secure the career of her son. On the way, their caravan was raided by bandits near Bilbeis, who stole their possessions, including ‘Ā’ishah's writings. It appears that in Cairo, she and her son were hosted by Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Ajā, who was personal secretary and foreign minister to the Mamluk sultanal-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri. Ibn Ajā helped ‘Abd al-Wahhāb find work in the chancery and helped ‘Ā’ishah enter into Cairo's intellectual circles; ‘Ā’ishah went on to write him 'several glowing panegyrics'. In Cairo, ‘Ā’ishah studied law and was granted license to lecture in law and to issue fatwas ; "she gained wide recognition as a jurist". ‘Ā’ishah left Cairo in 922/1516, with her son and Ibn Ajā, and alongside al-Badr al-Suyūfī, al-Shams al-Safīrī, and several other noted scholars, was granted an audience with Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri in Aleppo shortly before his defeat at the Battle of Marj Dabiq: 'an extraordinary event befitting her exceptional life'. ʻĀ’ishah then returned to Damascus, where she died in 923/1517. ʻĀ’ishah "inherited an independence of mind and outlook which is seen in her companionship with her men contemporaries on equal terms". Thus she was a close friend of Abu 'l-Thanā' Maḥmūd b. Ajā, who was the final ṣāḥib dawāwīn al-inshāʼ of the Mamluk era, and corresponded, in verse, with the Egyptian scholar ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-‘Abbāsī. 'It is quite apparent from biographies of ‘Ā’ishah and from her own comments in her writings that she was highly regarded as a pious woman and Sufi master.'
According to Th. Emil Homerin, the chronology of ʿĀ’ishah's work is not yet known, and indeed the majority has been lost, but ʿĀ’ishah's known original works are:
Dīwān al-Bā‘ūniyyah
Durar al-ghā’iṣ fī baḥr al-Mu‘jizāt wa ’l-kha-ṣā’iṣ
al-Fatḥ al-ḥaqqī min fayḥ al-talaqqī
al-Fatḥ al-mubīn fī madḥ al-amīn
al-Fatḥ al-qarīb fī mi‘rāq al-ḥabīb
Fayḍ al-faḍl wa-jam‘ al-shaml
Fayḍ al-wafā fī asmā’ al-muṣṭafā
al-Ishārāt al-khafiyyah fī ’l-Manāzi al-‘aliyyah
Madad al-wadūd fī mawlid al-maḥmūd
al-Malāmiḥ al-sharīfah min al-āthār al-laṭīfah
al-Mawrid al-ahnā fī ’l-mawlid al-asnā
al-Munktakhab fī uṣūl al-rutab
al-Qawl al-ṣaḥīḥ fī takhmīs Burdat al-madīḥ
Ṣilāt al-salām fī faḍl al-ṣalāh wa ’l-salām
Tashrīf al-fikr fī naẓm fawā’id al-dhikr
al-Zubdah fī takhmīs al-Burdah
In addition to these, ʿĀ’ishah adapted a range of other texts. Homerin has also published some of the only translations of ʿĀ’ishah's work into English:
Th. Emil Homerin, 'Living Love: The Mystical Writings of ʿĀ’ishah al-Bāʿūniyyah ', Mamluk Studies Review, 7, 211-34
''al-Fatḥ al-mubīn fī madḥ al-amīn''
ʿĀ’ishah's best known work is her al-Fatḥ al-mubīn fī madḥ al-amīn, a 130-verse Badī‘iyya in praise of the Prophet. Making reference to nearly fifty earlier poets, the work emphasises the breadth of ʿĀ’ishah's learning. This text 'no doubt' inspired ‘Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī'sNasamāt al-Azhār; both writers accompanied their respective badī‘iyyas with a commentary.
''Fayḍ al-faḍl wa-jam‘ al-shaml''
Fayḍ al-faḍl wa-jam‘ al-shaml is a collection of over 300 long poems in which ʿĀ’ishah 'described mystical states and praised variously the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of her order 'Abd al-Qadir Jilani, and her own Sufi shaykhs. She used technical Sufi terminology and typical Sufi poetic motifs such as wine and love in her poems'. They seem to date from throughout ʿĀ’ishah's life up to her move to Cairo, and show her command of almost all Arabic poetic forms of the time.
Editions
al-Mawrid al-ahnā fī ’l-mawlid al-asnā and al-Fatḥ al-mubīn fī madḥ al-amīn, in ‘Ā’ishah al-Bā‘ūniyyah al-Dimashqiyyah, ed. by F. al-‘Alawī
DīwānFayḍ al-faḍl wa-jamʻ al-shaml, ed. by Mahdī Asʻad ʻArār.
