The Renaissance of Shiʿi Islam: Facets of Thought and Practice

Description

The renaissance of Shi’i Islam began in the 9th/15th century when the Ismailis experienced the Anjudan revival and Twelver Shi’i traditions were also renewed. This renaissance gained further strength when the Safavids succeeded in establishing a state in the early decades of the 10th/16th century, making Ithna’ashari Shi’i Islam their official religion. The chapters in this open access book represent the most recent scholarship on the intellectual and spiritual life of the age and discuss what prepared the ground for its appearance as well as its achievements. Although the political and artistic developments of the Safavid era of the 10th-12th/16th-18th centuries have been extensively studied, the complexities of the different groups, movements and strands of thought in the renaissance of Shi’i Islam still remain largely unexplored. The major themes that characterised the Shi’i renaissance are explored, including: popular reactions to messianic movements; the development of legal theories and concepts; the investigation of theological and philosophical problems, above all by the ‘School of Isfahan’; Shi’i-Sufi interactions and intra-Shi’i relations; the collection of Shi’i hadith and its application in Shi’i exegesis; and the interplay between political considerations and religious beliefs. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The Institute of Ismaili Studies. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page The Institute of Ismaili Studies Shiʿi Heritage Series Dedication Contents Contributors Abbreviations Preface 1 The Shiʿi Milieu of Post-Mongol Persia Farhad Daftary PART ONE ISMAILISM IN THE CONTEXT OF SHIʿI-SUFI COALESCENCE 2 A Reconsideration of Post-Alamūt Nizārī Ismaili Literature in Iran: Prose and Poetry S. J. Badakhchani The scope and extent of Persian Nizārī Ismaili literature Content, Reflection of Faith and Religious Identity 3 The Scent of the Scarlet Pimpernels: Ismaili Leaders of the 11th/17th Century* Shafique N. Virani A. Introduction: The Scarlet Pimpernel and the Ismaili Dāʿīs B. Manuscripts and Studies C. Di Dam Dam Dam: Prosody in Khālū Maḥmūd’s Composition D. Ghulām-i Shāh-i mardān-am34 E. A Servant of ʿAlī, King of Men, am I F. Prayers of Proximity in Ismaili and Sister Communities G. Whose Uncle Was He? H. Afterword 4 Ismaili Doctrines in a Late Safavid Work: Quotations from the Risālat al-Jāmiʿa in Quṭb al-Dīn Ashkivarī’s Maḥbūb al-Qulūb Daniel De Smet Ashkivarī and the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ Ashkivarī and the Risālat al-Jāmiʿa Conclusion PART TWO SHIʿI MESSIANISM AND THE SYMBOLISM OF LETTERS 5 The Resurrection of Shah Ismāʿīl in Alevi-Bektashi Literature Amelia Gallagher Introduction: Shah Ismāʿīl and the Renaissance of Shiʿi Islam Shah Ismāʿīl’s Poetry: The Question of a Messiah Shah Ismāʿīl’s Resurrection in ‘Broader Esoteric’ Shiʿi Islam Düvaz Imam Conclusion 6 Ḥurūfism after Faḍl Allāh’s Execution: Revisiting Ṣaḥīfat al-Istikhlāṣ Fatih Usluer Introduction The Qara-Qoyunlu Conclusion 7 Nuqṭavīs, Safavids and Shiʿism in the 9th–11th/15th–17th Centuries Orkhan Mir-Kasimov Twelver Shiʿi scholars, esoteric Shiʿism, mystico-messianic Shiʿi/Sufi trends and Safavid Shiʿism Safavi-Nuqṭavī relationships in historical sources: does the historical narrative make sense? Nuqṭavī doctrinal positions: what the Nuqṭavīs had to offer to Shah ʿAbbās? Conclusion: Shah Akbar and the scenario of Nuqṭavī political success PART THREE ḤADĪTH AND FIQH 8 Majlisī the Second, Ambiguous Architect of the Shiʿi Revival in Safavid Iran Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi The Uṣūlī trend: Positions and activities 9 The Akhbārī Movement and Literary Production in Safavid Iran Devin J. Stewart The Akhbārī Movement The Akhbārī Movement and Safavid Literary Production Conclusion 10 Postclassical Legal Commentaries: The Elaboration of Tradition in the Twelver Shiʿism of Safavid Times1 Robert Gleave Islamic Postclassicism Postclassical Ithnā ʿasharī Shiʿi Legal Scholarship Fiqh texts, Commentaries and Supercommentaries An Example: Sexual Intercourse and the End of Menstruation Post-menstruation sexual contact before full ritual washing (ghusl) Concluding Remarks APPENDIX: Explanation of al-Ardabīlī’s Commentary on Irshād 11 A View from the Periphery: The Ijāza as Polemic in Early 10th/16th-Century Twelver Shiʿism Andrew J. Newman The Extant Literature on Twelver Ijāzāt Summary and Conclusions PART FOUR PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY 12 Mīr Dāmād’s ‘Wisdom of the Right Side’ (al-ḥikma al-yamāniyya) Janis Esots Metaphysics I: Making the Quiddities Metaphysics II: Perpetuity and Perpetual Inception Conclusion 13 Some Aspects of the Reception of Suhrawardī’s Philosophy by Mullā Ṣadrā Christian Jambet A New Interpretation of the Human Caliphate of God Mullā Ṣadrā’s Critical Approach to Ishrāqī Ontology The Conflict of Philosophy with Religious Dogma about the Eternity of the World A New Definition of the Human Soul Conclusion 14 A Symphonia of Shiʿism, Philosophy and Sufism from the Late Safavid Period: Quṭb al-Dīn Ashkivarī’s Epistle on the Imaginal World (written in 1077/1667) Mathieu Terrier Ashkivarī’s Project, Style and Sources The Imaginal World: A Syncretic Concept Subaltern Theories and Themes of Convergence Conclusion 15 Shah Ṭahmāsp’s View of Nature, as Reflected in his Shāhnāma1 Sheila R. Canby Selected Bibliography Index Plates