al-Shahrastānī and the Shīʿī Doctrine of Imāma

AGSHAHRASTH AND THE sEÜ'~DOCTRINE OF :1 AN ANALYSIS OF THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN HIS

AL-

WAAGA@ULAND ~ - Y A T A ~ . Q D & ~ ?' E M A L - a . .

%y: Siti Syamsiyatun

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of A r t s in Isiamic Studies

Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University Canada

June 1998

Author

: Siti Syamsiyatun

Tittle

:Al-Shahrasta

e hka: and the Sfi'i D o c t ~ of An Analysis of the Views Expressed in His al-1iMi'Ia.i wa &-Nad

and N

i d-I~d&fi 'IIm al-Kalm

Department

:Institute of Islamic Studies, McGiII University

Degree

: Master of Arts

This study seeks to anaiyze the views of al-Shahrastani (47911086 - 5484 153) on the issue of Shi7 imima as presented in his works aZ-Mil' wa al-Ni&î and NibZyat al-

Iqd& fi 'Ima/-Kalaataat In each of t hese he devotes several chapten to a discussion of the leadership of the Sh?? community since the days of 'Ali b. Ab? Tilib. The study shows that both books under discussion were designed by al-Shahrastàni to serve different purposes and were composed according to different methodologies. He takes cornpletely different approaches to his treatment of SE4 doctrine in al-Miial and the

Nihya. Acting as a "'historian of religion" in al-Milal, the author shows considerable objectivity and avoids passing judgement. He supports his account of Shi"ism with arguments acknowledged by the Shi% thernselves. This is because al-Shahrast-Zi intended al-Milal as a scientific and systematic account of religions. However, as a "theologian" he held certain of his own beliefs regarding several doctrinal problems, which he also wished to make it public. It was to serve this purpose that the Nihya was composed. Furtherrnore, in this work the author does not hesitate to attack

opinions different from his own, including the doctrine of i m h a

It is with profound himùlity and reverence that 1 wish to acknowledge the many people who have given generously of their t h e and wisdom to help me t o complete my course of study at McGiII University, and particularly the writing of this thesis-

First and foremost, 1 would like to express my sincerest and deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Prof. Eric L. Ormsby, one of the -most knowledgeable and sympathetic teachers I have known, for his continual guidance and invaluable help throughout the penod of the writing of this research, It was fiom Prof,Ormsby that 1 leamed about the development of Islamic thought and its richness. The encouragement and support he has given to me will always be remembered and appreciated.

1 would also Iike to extend my sincere thanks to Prof. Howard Federspiel, my

academic advisor, who guided me through the years of my studies at the Institute of

Islarnic Studies, McGill University. Prof. Federspiel has been a constant source of sound advice whenever 1encouotered various problems in my work. During my time at McGili University I have been fortunate to have been taught by

some of the most outstanding scholars in their respective fields. 1 am extremely grateful to Prof. Hermann Landolt who has introduced me to the bewitching world of Islamic mysticism and Shi'ism through his inspiring classes. From Prof. Issa J.

Boullata, an eminent scholar in Arabic iiterature, 1 leamed not only about classical

Qur'sc exegesis, but also the beauties of the Arabic language. Thanks are also due to Prof. Üner Turgay, the director of the Iartitute of Islamic Studies, for his concem

and moral support draing my stay. He aiso showed me new perspectives on the study of state and govemment in Islam.

My special gratitude goes to the McGili - Indonesia IAIN Development Project and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for the generous

scholarships awarded to me, which made it possible for me to pursue graduate research at the institute of Islamic Studies. M y appreciation also goes to the staff of The Islamic Studies Library for their invaluable help in providing the necessary

research materials. 1 am rnuch indebted and greatly thankfbl to my colleagues and fkiends, especially t o Steve Millier and Richard MacGregor, who have kindly given assistance in editing my thesis and making it more presentable. Finally, 1 wish to express my gratitude and sincere love to my parents, sisters and brothers, for their continuous moral and spiritual support. My dear husband,

Muhammad Arif Prajoko, and lovely son, Ibrahim Hanif, deserve my best love and deepest appreciation. The blessing of their love and affection, t heir count less sacrifices and their support enabled me to successfully complete my endeavor.

Montreal, May 1998

S.S.

TRANSLITERATION The Arabic transliteration used in this thesis is as foL10ws:

- u; 2

@

Short : , a;

m

i ,

œ

*

Diphtongs: u- ay; 9- a w a

ta7marbt3u

(2

Long : L â; 9 Ü; 3 7

) : a; in Mqu: at

Alifmaq@a

:cc a

TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE ABSTRACT

i ii

iii

v TRANSLITERATION

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

viii 1

CHAPTER ONE: HIS BACKGROUND, AL-SHAHRASTM: LIFE AND WORKS A. A Brief Sketch of al-Shahrastani's Background 1 .The 'Abbàsid Caliphate 2. The Development of Religious Thought B. Al-Shahrast-ii: His Life and Works 1. Ai-Shahrastatii's Life

7 7 7

2.The Works Attributed to ai-Shahrastki

12 25 25 34

CHAPTER TWO: AL-MZAL WA AL-WAL AND ~ ~ ~ H A T AYLA- I Q D ' F ? 'ILMAL-wZW: AN OVERVIEW

39

A. Purpose

B. Methodology

43 50

C. Content

62

CHAPTER THREE: AL-SHAHRASTM~MW OF THE SEUT IMXMA AS PRESENTED AND ~ - Y A T A L - I Q D , I N A L - . A L WA AL-FI ' I L M A L - M Â ~ ~ A. Al-Shahrastani's View of the Shi? Im*a his al-MIal wa al- N w

74

as Expressed in

B. Al-Shahrastimii Attitude on the Shi7 Imâma as Presented in the Nihifyat ai-Iqdk fi 'Ilm a l - K d k

75

96

CONCLUSION

105

BIBLIOGRAPHY

114

viii

The dispute over the religious legitimacy of the im-%n of the Muslim communïty after the death of the Rophet Muhammad is one of the rnost intense ever to have arisen in Islamic thought, and it has coloured and affiected the whote discourse of Islamic history.' The disagreement, in its later development, basically resdted in the

formation of two large sects with widely divergent views on the subject. One group maintained that after the Prophet's death, the leadership of the Muslims was established by agreement and election arnong the community. This group believed t hat , with the death of the Prophet, the two main functions of prophecy, namely, to deliver God's revealed sacred law, and to guide men towards submission to God, officially ended. The other group, by contrast, believed that the i m h a is a matter of divine designation by God through His Prophet. This sect also upheld the doctrine that although the revelation of God's law ended with the death of the Prophet, the funceion of guiding men, explaining the divine law and interpretation the revealed

Holy Qur'k had not ceased, but instead continued through the divinely designated imams, one after another. The fomer group is h o w n as the S u d s and the latter as the Shi'is. The history of the S E % is generally recounted in comection with its beliefs regarding the office of i m h a in the Muslim community. This sect is believed to

I

AbÜ al-Fath Mdyrnmad b. 'Abd al-Kafirn al-Shahrast&~.,al-Mial wa &Nihaal. ed.

M@ammad b. Fath Allah Bad*

(Cairo: Maktabat al-AnjlG al-Misriyya, 1956)' vol. 1,33.

have emerged in the years foiiowing the outbreak of civil war starting with the assassination of the third caliph, 'Uthman b. 'Affin. Accounts of the history and doctrines of the Shi% and their lata developrnent as found in S

d and Shi?

sources tend to difFer rather than agree- These dissunilarities can be traced to the desire of each side to justify its version ofeariy Islamic history. There were several attempts made by Muslim writers to report on and descnbe the various sects in Islam as weli as other religions in the early medieval period of Islamic history. Arnong the most popular medieval Muslim authors from the Shl'i

sphere to write on the subject of what may be refened to as the sciences of "comparative religion" and the "history of religions" are: AbÜ M&ammad al-uasan b. MÜsE al-Nawbakhti, who wrote a book on Sh14smentitled Ft'raq a l - ~ ' 7 ' a and ,~ Abu al-QSim Sa'd b. 'Abd AU& al-Ash'ai al-Qummi (d. 299/301 AH.), author of a

work entitled fit& Maqa!'t wa al-l3raq? From the side of the Sunxiis there are several authors who may be cited, among them Abu al-Hasan 'Ali b. Isma'il alAsh'aS (d. 324 AH.) with his very popular MaqiZà" aZ-IsZami~%wa 'khtilif al-

~ u ~ a 1 . n'Abd ; al-Qahir b. Tahir b. Mdpmmad al-Baghdidi (d: 429 A.H.), who wrote al-Fxq b a p d-firaq? Abu Mutpmrnad 'Ali b. +ad

--

b. Hazm (d. 456 A-H.)

-

Al-Nawbakhti, Rraq al-Shi'a @es Sectes Sbiita), translated with Introduction by Dr. Muhammad Javad Mashkour (Tehran, 1980). AL-Qd, Ki'& al-MaqàGt wa al-Firaq* ed. Dr. M-ammad (Teban: Mafba'at Uaydan', t 923).

JawZd MashkÜr

' Ai-Ash' a&

MaqaIa'f al-lsàiniw'n wa 'hriiif aI-Mu@Zn,ed. H. Rit ter (1st anbul : Macba'at al-Dawla, 1929). 5

Al-Baghdad', al-F'rq bayn d-Firaq* ed. MNammad Badr (Cairo: Matba'a t alMa'arif, ad.).

with his extensive book entitld al-Rsd 6 al-Milal wa al-awa' wa a l - ~ @ a land ,~ AbÜ al-Fath Mulpmmad b. 'Abd al-K&

a1-Shahrastk.G (ci 548 AH.), who wrote

al-Mfdwa al-N@d.

The first three S

d accoimts are, however, considered as apologetic and

somewhat biased, since they aii exhibit the same tendency of the authors to pass judgrnent on the beüefs held by people belonging to sects different from their own.

Al-Bahdâdi, in his al-Fwq bayn al-fïraq, for example, is determined right fiom the start to show the incorrectness and invalidity of the theological doctrines of ail

MusIim sects other than the AIY Scmoa wa al-J~lllfa'a@eople of the tradition and community) to which he belonged. Moreover, in descnbing the beliefs of the Jews and the Chrktians, Ibn Hazm is unable to restrain himself nom being judgmental. He therefore classifies the Mu'tazila, the Khawkij and the Shi'a as heterodox, in contrast to the sect of Alilal-Suc117a wa al-J'a'a which he regards as orth~dox.~ With regard to al-Shahrastani's &-Milalwa al-Nbd, on the other hand, several scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, nom the medieval period to the modem age, have praised its objectivity and scientific approach. Al-Subla, in hisabookrabaqit al-

Sb27 Yyya al-Kubra; ment ions adrniringly t hat al-Shahrast ani's al-Mi/al wa al-Nibal was the best book of his time giving an historical account of various sects within the

%n Hazm, al-Fisal fi al-Miral wa al-Ahwa' wa al-NbaJ e d M-ammad Nqr, 5 vols. (Beirut: DG al-El, 1985). 7

Ibràhim

A. Mukti Ali, Ilmu Perbandingan Agama (Yogyakarta: Yayasan Nida, 1970). 17;

Diane S t eigerwald. Essai sur Ia pensée phifosophique et théologique de al-Shahrasttani (m. 548/+153)(Ph. D. Dissertation Subrnitted to the Institute o f Islamic Studies, McGi11 University, Montreal, Canada, 1994). 63.

Muslim community and other religions, as w e ~ 8 Philip K. Hitti, having studied al-

Mid wa ai-Naalinsome depth, came to the conclusion that A-Shahrast-d was one of "the distinguished historians of religions,'* while Eric J. Sharpe aclmowledges that the book is the fîrst scientific account of the history of religion ever to have been written."

Based on these considerations, it is important to review al-Shahrast-d's account of SE%m in particular, by examining whether it is biased or objective, and hence

whether his description is presented in a manner with which Slii?s themselves could be satisfied. As indicated by the title of the thesis, the focus of the present study is to

trace al-Shahrastaiii's view conceming the doctrine of imama as held by the Shl?s. In order to be able to present a more comprehensive description of al-ShahrastS's

attitude toward the doctrine concemed, we wiIl also analyze, in addition to al-MXal

wa abNibal, another important work of his entitled Nihyat a l - I q d . fi ïh al-

Ka/&. This is because, in the latter work, the author devotes several chaptea to a discussion of the theological principles upon which the Shi7 doctrine of imama is based. Compared to al-Mi/al wa al-N@hal,the Nioya is less popular and has received Iess scholarly analysis. However, this does not mean that the latter work is qualitatively inferior to the former one. Ibrahim MadkÜr, in his book entitled fi

'

AbÜ Nwr 'Abd al-Wahhab b. Ta@ al-Din al-Subià, T a b w t a l - S ' i Z C i ~al-Kubra a (Cairo: Matba'at al-Husayniyat al-Migiyya, nd.), vo1.4,77.

Philip K Hitt i, H i s t o ~ of the Arsbs: h m Ediiesl Tims IO the Presnt (London: The Macmilla Press, 1974), 139. 10

Eric J. Sharpe, Comparatiw ReZigron: A History (New York: Chartes Scribner's

Sons, 1975), 11.

Fasafa al-lI*Wa

considers that al-Shabrasted's Ni&gyais among the best bookî

deaiing with issues that combine th-sbgy and philosophy.'

l

In aualyzing al-Shahrastani's view on the doctrine of &&na presented in his al-

MIal and NiZya, the thesis will employ a comparative method as well as a descriptive one. This comparative method will be employed to discover three aspects of the author's presentation of the Sfi'i doctrine of im-ma in both works. These three aspects are as follows:

1.

The scope of al-Shahrastalii's discussion of the SE1dogrna of i m h a

2.

The way or method al-Shahrastz presents his views on the rnatter concemed.

3.

The possible reasons beyond ai-Shahrastarii's choice regarding the scope and method of discussion on imàoia in both books al-MiWand Ni&fjya

Other selected works composed by Muslim scholars writing in the same field will be relied on to assist in clarifying the position of al-Shahrasta8i compared to his

colleagues on the notion of imàma held by the Shi%

For purposes of clarity, the two books under discussion need some cornparison for their own sake. This is important, since books are sometimes c~mposedto serve

different purposes or to convey different messages. Judging by the titles of the books, one al-Milalwa abNi&l and the other N'iayat al-Iqdifm, one might easily assume that the two discuss entirely difZerent topics. Therefore, it is important to analyze each book in greater depth, and in ternis of its own nature. For this purpose, the aspects aaalyzed and compared in this study are limited to tbree in number. These

''

Ibrahim Madkùr, fi al-Fafsah ai'-Isfiiini~a, Manha1 tva Tarbiquh (Cairo: Dàr alMa'ârif, 1976), 53.

are: fint, the objective of the book, Le., the pulpose behind them as stated by aiShahrastZ; second, the methodology employed in composing them; and thirâ, the

content of the books. The present study is arrangeci in the following manner. It is divided into three main

chaptea, apart fiom sections devoted to an introduction and a conclusion. Since understanding a writer's ideas requires a lmowledge not only of the person

her/himself; but also that person's background and historicai context, the thesis begins with a succinct description of ai-Shahrast-d's life and its political, social and

religious background. The same chapter will also contain a survey of the works attributed to him. The second chapter will focus on providing a brief cornparison of the two books, al-Miai wa

and the Nibyaat al-IqdanI fi Wm al-KaSn. k i

previously stated, the cornparison will focus on three aspects, narnely their purpose, their methodology and their content. The analysis of al-Shhrast2nÏ's views

conceming the Shi7 doctrine of i m b a will be delivered in the third chapter. In this chapter, we will analyze three aspects in each book as follows: firstly, the extent of his coverage of the doctrine of i m k a of the S c % ; secondly, we will look at how alShahrastS presents this coverage; and t hirdly, the possible reasons lying behind the

extent and presentation of this coverage. A summary of the findings fkom the present study will be presented in the conclusion-

Finally, wit h regard to the romanization of Arabic words in this thesis, the system of transliteration will be that of the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University.

Qur'inic verses cited in the present study, are nom the translation of Arthur J. Arbeny in his The Koran Intepretebl

CHAPTER ONE A G S ~ F A H R A S TEIIS ~ : BACKGROUND, LEE AND WORKS

1. The 'Abbasid Calehate The period Eom 314/925 to 656/1258, when Baghdad fell into the han& of the Mongol commander Hulagu Khan, was an era of political disintegration and marked the decline of the 'Abbasid caliphate. During this era the caliphs in the capital city of Baghdad started losing most of their power over the empire, and the Islamic empire

itself began to disintegrate into a collection of smaller states. Moreover, the caliph becarne a symbolic head of several dynasties and states, which were often not at peace with one another. Several different a&rs (governon) who were first given limited authority to control administrative and military affairs by the caliphs, became dominant and formed their own power bases. These amin ran the army, exercised their influence to the full and established their own lines of succession which the 'AbbZsid caliphs in Baghdad were not permitted to control. With the establishment

of their own dynasties, the a d a thus becarne de facto rulers of the regions, and the directoa of the administrative and military affairs of the 'Abbisid caliphate. The

Shànids mled in Khuràsk and Transoxania, the Harndànids govemed Mosul and

the Diy&, the Maghreb and Mqiyya feii under the control of the F-imid miers,

while Tabaristih and JI@& were dominated by the ~ a ~ l - m i d s . ' The ~ a ~ l - m i d expanded s~ their dominion over Western Iran and established strong dynasties, the most important of which was the Buwayhid dynasty.) By the year 334/945 -ad,

the youngest of the three Buwayhid brothers, entered Baghdad, the

capital and centre of the 'Abbasid caüphate, and met with no opposition. This new

era was inaugurated by a change of names; the caliph bestowed honorific titles on the

1

Albert Ho*nani, A UIsforyof the Arab PeopIes (Cambridge, Massachusetts: the B e l h a p Press of Harvard University Press, 1991). 38; Joel L. Kraemer, Xumanism in the Renm'ssance of IsIam- The Cultural Revlva.!d . g the Buyl'd Age (Leiden: E.J. BriI1, 1986). 3 1.

'

They were the original inhabitants of Daylim. a mountainous region bounded by Tabaristih to the east, JibGl to the south and Jilân t o the north-west and the Caspian Sea to the north-est. Islam was introduced to them by two Zay& Imirns, Hasan ibn Zayd and his brother Muipmrnad ibn Zayd, who was later succeeded by Hasan ibn 'ATi al-Utmh, in the latter balf of the third and the begiming of the fourth centwies of Hijra. They were the descendants of the brothen 'Ali. Hasan and Grnad, the sons of Abu ShujZ' Buwayh, who first gave semice to Makiin b. Kaki who was under the service to Hasan b. 'Aii al-Utrush- When a civil war broke out following the death of al-Utrush, and MikZn was defeated by Mardawij b. Ziy&, the distinguished commander of the Sârnkids of Khur5sk-1 and Transoxania, the Buwayhid brothets then joined the troops of Mardauiij. Later, the eldest son 'Ali was appointed as governor of Karaj in JibZl. Eventually he moved southwards and won over the province of Fars (in 322 A.H.). Hasan, the second Buwayhid brother, obtained possession of Rayy, &fahiin and Tabarïstin (344 A.H.). Ahmad, the youngest of the Buwayhid brothers, was even more successful and took advantage of the unstable situation existing in the 'Abbkid caliphate at tbat time. This situation started when Abü Bakr Maammad b. Ra'iq was catled to Baghdad with the permission of the caliph alRi$ in 324 AH.; and was given full power over the arrny and the revenues with a title of Am'i ai-Umar& the power and dignity of the caliphs decreased gradually. The office of the am?r al-umarà eventually beca source of interest and cornpetition and encouraged several amis. such as the Ban'dïs, the Hamdanids and Bajkam, to obtain it for tbemselves. In this confusing situation Aiynad b. Buwayh, who first served the Baiidis and controlled A h w e struck an alliance with the Hamdanids who held the offlce of amir al-umarii at that time. Because of the long cnsis, a m a d was invited to Baghdad by the governor of W2it to replace Abu Ja'far b. ShirzSd as a d r al-umarii. For more information see Amedroz and Margoliouth, The EcIese of the 'AbbaSid C ' h a t e , 4 vols (Oxford, 1921); Mafizullah Kabir, The Bmvayhid Dynasfy of Baghdad (334/946;2./7/.055)(Calcutta: Iran Society, 1964), 3-6.

three Buwayhid brothers: m a c l , 'Ali and m a n , who received the titles of Mu'ia al-Dawla, 'Imid ai-Dawla and Rukn ai-Dawla respectively. It also ushered in the era

of the emirate and the establishment of a dynasty that inherited this office. Interestingly, the 'Abbàsid calïphs were not d o w e d to interfixe whether in affairs of state or questions of succession with regard to these d i n g grand a&.' As a result, the 'Abbikid caliphs ceased to wield real power in the administrative,

financial, or military spheres, either in whole or in part. Furthemore, the office of the

caliphate fell completely under the domination of the ~ u w a i h i dernirate. In religious

matters, Mu'in al-Dawlah did not hesitate to use his authority to openly promote the celebration of specifically SG
b. Ab1 Tâlib by the

Prophet Mulpmmad as his sole successor. Moreover, the Buwayhids, as grand aniirs, did not hesitate to brutally depose any 'Abbisid caliph fiom the throne and replace him with a prince of their own preference, a power which they occasionally

Realiziag that the Shi% were a minority in the empire, the Buwayhids did not at any t ime plan the persecution of Sunxiis by SSh'iTis.Instead they endeavoured to set up

4

D. Sourdel, "IChaIifah," The Encyclupaedia ofIslam, new ed., vol. 4 94 1.

The 'Abbisid caliphs deposed by the Buwayhid grand amirs were al-Mustakfi bill&, al-M@lillah and a - i i l Of the five 'Abbisid caliphs govemed contemporaneously with the Buwayhids, only two of them were safe from k i n g deposed by the Buwayhids. They were al-Qadir billah, who died white he was still on the throne and who had his son, al-Qa'im, nominated as his successor. For more detailed information see Kabir, The Buwayhid, 186-200.

a quasi 'Abbkid-Shi? joint sovereignty, in which the Shi% were fiee h m the obügation to practice prudent dissimulation (taqima) and provideci with an officia1 organization. In addition, SP'I schools were created during this era, such as the House of Knowledge (DZral-'h in) 393/993! Although religious tolerance was offered by the ruhg dynasties and Ieading intellect uals under the Buwayhids, Baghdad was the site of fiequent social, religious

and ideological quarrels at the time. Indeed, the capital city was plagued with conflicts between several rival factions, S u d s vs SG'is; between rival quarters, e.g. the inhabitants of the Bàb a b B e and the Karkh quarter, the Daylami and the

Turkish elements in the Buwayhid annies; by the disagreements between the t heological schools, disputes bet ween the theologians and the philosophen, bet ween

jurists and sÜfis,

and debates between devotees of the ancient sciences and the Arab

sciences.7

In order to maintain what power they still had, the 'Abbisid caliphs needed a new, effective and loyal anny. This need was fulfilled through the purchase of slaves and by the recruitment of soldiers fiom the Turkish tribes across the fiontier in central

~ s i a . ' Many of them were supplied by the Ghamawid a m h in Khur&& who

d policies there. The arriva1 of the Seljuk Tinks in the caliphal

actively upheld S

annies, however, brought no improvement or recovery to the position of the 'Abbasid .

--

-

-

C.L. Cahen, "Buwayhidsor Buyids,**T k ficyclopaeedia of islam, new ed., vol. 1, 350. 7

Kabir, The Bmaybid 205; Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism, 26.

Arthur Goldschidt, Jr-, A Concise Histov of the Middle E s t (Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford: Westview Press, 199 1), 77.

ruiers. Rather, the Seljuk annies, mder the Ieadership of Tughril-Beg, took control of most eastem and central provinces and obtained the ailegiance of the majority of local Muslim ruiers mder their domination. By the year 449/1057, Tughril-Beg's name was mentioned in the official sermon (kbwba) in Baghdad, and at ceremonid audiences he was addressed by the caliph as 'King of the East and of the West'

(Malii d-Mâstin'q wa al-Maglui). Moreover, the Seljuk aoiirs enjoyed the more respectable title of " s d ~ a n "

Although the Seljuk sultins claimed to be the defenden of the sunna and the Sucaliphate, the tension between the caliphs and the ml!-m was hardly less than it had

previously been between the caliphs and the Buwayhid grand aniirs. For instance, the caliphs continued to uphold the Hanbafi doctrines, while the sultZns adopted those of

an 'Ash'd and Shafi? point of view. The Seljuks, fiathemore, took al1 necessary steps to curtail the activities of the SE%,

particularly the Ismàcili dZ7s

(missionaries), and promoted the interests of S

d the~lo~ians.'~ Additionally for

the purpose of strengthening and disseminating S d s m , one of the most remarkable

Seljuk prime ministen

0 N, @ h al-Mulk,

foimded a college (madrasa) in

Baghdad in 459/1065 as a leamîng and training centre for future S

d jinists. He

aiso built a similar one in the eastem province of Naishapür. The macirasa was named the Ni?-hiyya after him."

-

D.Sourdel, ''Khalif~"942. 'O

Ibid.

Duncan B. Macdonald. DeveIopment of M i m Theoh-gy, JmQprudence and Consrirufionai T'eozy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1926). 213; Gaston Wiet, II

Io such difficult circurnstances, the caliphs did not rehquish the hope of regaining their power. Thus, in about 460/1067-8, the caliph al-Qà'im successfully managed to take over some of the authority of the Seljuk sui$&, and dismissed the s-ân

waZr

Moreover, as the Seljuk sultanate was overthrown by various uprisings and began to ùisintegrate, the 'Abbkid cakph al-MuqtaG, and then followed by al-hlustarshid,

managed by 48511092 to make the* authority better respecteci and to raise their own a d e s . A very important tU1ZIlOg-point

in the relation between the 'Abbisid

caliphate and the Seljuk sulpmate occrined in 547/1152. In that year the caliph, assisted by an energetic wa&,

Ibn Hubayra, succeeded in discharging the

representative of the Seljuk sultan in Iraq, and in dismissing the Turkish and Iranian hegemonies. The caliph then replaced them with Annenian MamlÜks. It was into the

midst of this period of socio-political turmoil that al-Shahrastani was bom.

2. Development of Reügious Thought Surprisingly, the political disintegration of the 'Abbisid empire did not hamper the development of scientific, social, cultural and religious discourses within the Muslim community. The centres of leaming and culture that used to be concentrated in the caliphal court in Baghdad, during the Buwayhid emirate and the Seljuk sdfanate

became decentralized and spread to almost al1 provincial courts of local rulers. Thus,

the north-eastem and eastem provinces of the 'AbbZsid empire, and especially such

--

O

-

--

Baghdad, Metropolis of the Abbasid Calipbafe (Norman, Okiahoma: the University of Oklahoma Press, 197 l), 109.

cities as Bukhari, Balkh, Ti%, Naishapür, Hamadhan, I~fahân,Rayy and SErEz emerged as new centres of inteiiectual and cultural activitytyL2 Moreover, the tradition est ablished during the early years of the 'Abbkid caliphate

of awarduig govemmental posts to men of letters was maintained during the Buwayhid emirate. Doctors and scholars nom different religious backgrounds and fields of learning were encouraged and patronized by the state, and particularly SE5

inteifectuals. The latter, having gained license nom the Buwayhid a d r s to practice

their teachings openly, felt fiee to elaborate their doctrines in a peaceful and scholarly mamer." A noble academy of leaming, narned the House of Knowledge (D2k al- 'B), was also founded in 38 1/991 as the f m t Shi? Ieaming institution in

B aghdad-'4

At the time of 'Abbisid ascendancy, the Islamic empire had stretched fiom Transoxiana in central Asia to Spain, covering regions which had been the seat of many earlier civilizations such as the Greek, Chaldean, Persian and Chinese.

Consequently, Islam ofken came into contact with the cultures and sciences that had previously developed in those regions- The heritage tbat was to exert the most noticeable impact upon the nascent Islamic Weftaaschauungwas the Greek. Indeed,

l2

Kraemer, Xtaaanism, 53.

l 3 Among the most important Shi7 classical scholars to develop the doctrine of the Shi'a Irnàmiyya during the reign of the Buwayhid d r s were AbÛ Ja'far Mdpmmad b. Ya'qùb b. Ishaq al-Kulaynl (CL 329/941), AbÜ Ja'far M&amrnad b. 'Ali b. al4Jusayn b. BZbawayh al-Qwnmi (d. 38l/99 l), AbÜ JabfarMdpmmad b. al-Hasan al-TUri (d. 460/I076) and Shaykh al-Mufid (6413/1022). For more details see Etan Kohlberg, "From I m k i y y a to It hna '~shariyya,"in BSOAS 39 (1976): 52 1-534. 14

This superb college was, unfortunately, destroyed in 45 l/lOS9 by the troops of Tughril-Beg. D. Sourde!, "Dar al-'Ilm," in The Encyc/opaedra ofIsIam, new ed., vol. 2, 127.

not only did the Muslims delve h t o the Greek natural sciences, but more irnportantly, into the realm of philosophy. The extensive translations of the works of ancient Greek thidcers either h m Syriac or directly nom Greek itself by such Chnatian masters as Hunayn b. mâq, his son I s h h

3s~ b.

Yahyà and Thàbit b.

Qurrah during the golden era of the House of Wisdom (33ap al-~k.ma)yfoinided by

the caliph al-Ma'mün around 200/815, inspired Musüms to foster and cultivate their own culture and sciences. The influence of the Persian and Indian heritage on the

development of Islamic thought can also be traced clearly. The Muslims were ext ensively interested in st udying the Persian moral tradition and the metaphysics of Manichaeau dualism." With respect to the Indian philosophical literature, the interest of the Muslims in it was not as intense as in the positive and natural sciences, such as political institutions, astronomy and medicine.I6 The Muslims, basing

themselves on their own revealed principles combined with those of the newly founded sciences, developed a unique civilization and sciences according to Islamic values. In this section a bnef description of the development of religious thought,

particularly theology and philosophy, to which al-Shahrastani devoted himself, will be presented.

Theology, expressed by the Arabic terni k d ' (speech, logos), was arnong the later sciences to originate h m within Muslim society. It grew primafily as a result of two factors, namely, belief in divine revelation and the basic tenets of faith which

l5 Majid Fakhry, A Hiso~ofIsXmic Phifosop& 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), 35. l6

Ibid., 3 L-31.

people still could not corne to agreement in understanding, as well as certain political developments in early Islamic history.17 The M u s h scriptuce, the Qur'&

is

believed to provide the most comprehensive guidelines that believers will need for their well being in both this phenomenal world and in the Hereafter. To be sure, not itseifadrnits, d l of its verses are clear, as the Qia'h "It is He who sent down upon thee the Book, wherein are verses clear that are the Essence of the Book, and others ambiguous- As for those in whose hearts is sweming, they foUow the ambiguous part, desiring dissension, and desiring its interpretation; and none h o w s its interpretation, save only God. And those finnly rooted in knowledge Say, 'We believe in it; al1 is fiom our Lord'; yet none remernbers, but men possessed of mind~."'~

The interpretation of the ambiguous verses of the holy scnpture, certainly, often differed fiom one group of scholars to another, and nom one period to auother. When

Muslim thinkers held differing opinions conceming the detailed interpretat ion of verses, they often engaged in spinted, intellectual debates and relied upon evidence derived from the Prophetic tradition (ha&tl~)-).'~ Among the earliest hnidamental questions to be asked in Muslim history and to

cause disagreements over the interpretation of the Qur'iin were those concemed with

such articles of Islamic faith as the attributes of God and His unity (al-@% iva alraw.4,

the divine decree and justice (al-qa#'

wa al- 'ad4 in relation to the freedorn

'' Salvador Gomez Nogales, "Swïi Theology," in Refigion,Leamidg aild Science in the Abbasid Pen& ed. M.J.L. Young, J.D. Latham and R.B. Serjeant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1!NO), 3; Iguaz GoIdziher, 1DfIOducfionfo lsfamic Theofosy and Law, tram. Andras and Ruth Hamori (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 198 l), 67-71.

l9 Harry Austryn Wolfson, The Pliiosophy of the Kdam (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1976), 5.

of the will, revelation and reason (al-sam 'wa al- '8ql).and issues affécting authority, apostleship and the imZma, which caused long and bloody disputes over the leadership of the Muslim community? According to al-Shahrast ani, the question of the attributes and the mity of the Deity ( i i f i i ? wa aliawcd) introduced several theological dogmas formulated differently by such theological schools as the Mujassima, the Mu'tazila, and the Ash'ariyya As for the notions of divine decree and predestination ( a l - ~ a wa ~ ' alqadar), and the wiliïng of good and evil (alkZida bi

al-khap wa a/-shazq), there were various opinions held by the Jabariyya, the

Qadariyya and the Ash'arîyya. Similarly, the pmblems of Promise and Warning (al-

wa'd wa al-wa%$, which subsurned such questions as faith @-imair), repentance @tawba), and postponement (d-irj53 caused the formulation of dogmas by such

schools, as the Murjica, the Waldiyya, the Mu'tazila and the Ash'ariyya The fundamental articles of Islamic leadership (imàina), whether it is determined through revelation or reason, the conditions required for this leadership and other issues as

well, invited a plethora of opinions fiom the Shica, the Khawkij, the Mu'tazila and the ~sh'ariyya?' -

After the Muslïms came into contact with people of different faiths, particularly

the Christians and the Jews, they utilized theology to defend their faith nom the attacks made by adherents of these older religions, who were mon experienced in -

-

-

O' AI-Shahrastki. af-Mflal wa al-Nihaf, ed. Mutymmad b. Fath al-BadrZn (Cairo: Maktabat al-AnjlÜ al-Migiyya, 1956), vol. 1, 22; 'Abd al-Hadi al-Fadli, Khu@at 'Ilm a/K a k (Beirut: D Z al-Mu'arrikh al-'Arabi, 1993), 9-10.

''

Al-Shahrastinl, af-Mifa4 vol.1, 22. Some more recent Shi7 sources, however, reject such an opinion as proposed by al-ShahrastX A more detailed account on this issue will be provided in Chapter Three of the thesis.

handling the tools of Gmek logic? Hence theology for M u s b had its startingpoint in divine revelation, but was Iater clearly stimulated and infiuenced by other traditions and by rationaiism-

In its early development, theology was dominated by the Mu'tazila, a group of Muslim intellectuals who sought to defend human reason and fkedorn- They achieved their greatest victory when the Mu'tazila school was chosen by the 'AbbZsid caiiph ai-Ma'mh as the onicial theologicai sect of the caliphate. And

although this grotrp, which was first led by Wqii b. 'A@ (d. 131/748), soon split into many smaller groups each of which had a distinct and independent system of thought in its later history, they al1 still held the sarne five doctrines as principles.

These doctrines were the divine Unity (al-tawOl.), the divine justice (&*ad), the promise and admonition (a/-wa 'd wa

wa 74,the intermediate position between the

two stances on the issue of faith and lack of faith ( a l - r n d a b a p al-rnmYatayn), and enjoining of what is good and forbidding of what is evil (a/-amrbi al-ma6n3fwa

&&y

'an a l - m m k - , 23

-

The massive translation of ancient Greek philosophical works into Arabic during

the early part of the ninth century certainly had a great impact on the development of Islamic t heology. The philosophical views and methods of reasoning used in philosophy, such as the method of syllogisrn and a new application of the method of

"

Eric L. Ormsby, "Arabic Philosophy", in World PbiIosophy= A Text tdih Readings, ed. Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins (New York: McGrawHill, Inc, 1995), 120; Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science aad Cin'ization in I s I . (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1968), 305.

" L. Gardet, "'Ilm al-Kalim," Tbe Ecyclopd' off'sim,new ed-, vo1.3,1143.

a n a l ~ g y ? were ~ absorbed and applieâ by most Mu'taziE theologians for either developing or defending their denominations. The Mu'taPfi doctors were generally,

and in spite of a myriad of minor ciifferences amongst the-

divided into two

branches, those of B q r à and those of Baghdad. Among the leading Mu'taziii thinkers fiom Bqri, in addition to Wqil b. 'Aga' (d. 131/748), were 'Amr b. 'Ubaid ( d 144/

762), Abu Hudhayl al-'AUX (d 227/84 1). Ibratum al-Naz$im (d. 22 l/836), 'Amr b.

Ba@ a l - J i i i (d. 255/868), AbÜ 'fi al-lubbà'i (d.2001915) and his son AbÜ Hshim (d. 218/933). From the Baghdad branch one can name such leading Mu'tazifi doctors

as B i s k b. al-Mu'tamir (d. 210/825), Ab6 MÜsâ al-Mwdk (d. 226/841), Ja'far b.

Mubashshir (d 234/848) and Ja'far b. Harb (6236/850). Beginning in the years of the fourtwtenth century, the practice of theology came

under the plirview of the AshCaGs.The name of this group was derived fiom the nisba of its founder, Ab6 al-Hasan 'Ali b. Ismâcil al-Ash'afi (d. 324/935), who used to be an

active Mu'tazili under the guidance of the Mu'taziIi doctor AbÜ 'AG al-Jubbiil, before renouncing his former convictions and fomulating his new theological dogmas.

The Ash'afis assumed a middle position between the two extant extremes,

namely, the Predestinarïans (hbnjya), who rejected reason a priori, and the Mu'tazifis, who accepted it whoIeheartedIy. The Ash'aiis maintained that God is the sole Being and the sole Agent. He does not command an act because that act is rationally just and good; rather, it is His command, which makes it just and good, or

*' The theological method of analogy found in Muslim religious data, such as holy scripture and the Pmphetic tradition, was based upon mem likeness and similarîty between things, whereas the philosophical genre of analogy derived from philosophical data was based upon the equality of relations. Harry Austryn Wolson. The P'osophy of the Kalàin, 30.

unjust and evil. Moreover, with regard to the attributes of God, they favoured the phrase bi% ka~42,an expression taken h m the HanbaIis indicating that human beings must believe and accept d a c t ~ without e asking "how"? The &t major figure to systematicaily develop the A s h ' d doctrines on the nature and bounds of

rational knowledge in relation ta faith was AbÜ Bakr al-BâqillGii (d. 4O3f 1013). Abü

Ma'Zli al-Juwayni ( d 478/1089), popularly lmown as I m k al-Haramayn, was another Ash'afi theologian to contribute to the development of their concept and

argument in favour of a world created in time by an omnipotent IIeity? SElsm, by contrast, despite the fact that it had corne into being in the early centuries of Muslim history, had been overshadowed by the two previous theological schools. According to al-Shahrastiril, Shi'ism came into existence principally because of the question over the leadership of the Muslim cornmunity after the death of the Prophet. The S E % believe that leadership should have gone to a divinely appointed person, namely 'Ali b. Ab? TZlib; since the im-mate does not depend on

rational ability, but rather on revelation (sarn'). The disputes that arose within Shi'ism were hardly less intense than those in other theological schools. The question

of the transmission of the imimate fkom one Im-&II to another, nevertheless, gave rise to intense debate among the SE'%. The disputes over the mode of transmission and

the continuity'of the i m b a t e led to the formation of several factions within Shi'ism. Of these, the two largest factions an the 1smâ"iiyya and the Ithnii Vbhariyya." The Gardet, "'Ilm al-Kalk," 1 145. 26

Fakhry, A Uisto'y ofIslamic PhiIosopb~, 2 12. Further discussion on this issue will be handled in Chapter Three of t his thesis.

classicd development of theology in both SU? comrnmities grew rapidly and openly once the IsmiCiIis s u c d e d in establishing the FZgimid dynasty in mqiyya (297/90%567/ll7l). SE? power reached its peak when the Buwayhid amiis controlled the 'Abbasid caliphate (334/946-447/1055). Among the most renowoed scholars of the IsrnZcifi persuasion during this period were M@arnmad doNasafi (ci. 332/943), Abu HZtim al-Ri5 (d. 322/934), Abu m

d al-Kirmani (d. after 4 1 1/1021)

and a Fatirnid official, al-Qi@ ai-Nu6mZn(d 3631974). In the IthnZ 'A&&

sphere,

the early systematization of theological doctrines was, for the most part, advanced by

Abù Ja'far Muhammad b. YaCqÜbb. Ishàq al-Kulayn. (d. 329/941), M&ammad b.

'fib. al-Husayn b. Bâbawayh, known as al-Shaykh al-SadÜq (d. 381/991), Shaykh al-Ta'ifa M d p m a d b. &Hasan al-TUsi (d. 460/1076) and M-ammad

b.

M@arnmad ai-NuCrniinbetter , h o w n as Shaykh al-Mufd (d. 413/1022). The establishment of AshCaii theology as the official school of the 'Abbkid

caliphate, after the Buwayhid amin had favoured Shi%m for a considerable period of time, diminished the influence of philosophy and the rational systems of thought in Islam. Abü Hamid M&ammad al-Ghazali who w o t e the Tahifut a/-Faiisifi (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) is regarded by many as having been responsible for the decline of systematic philosophy (fdsafa) in Islamic thought fiom this point onward. Indeed, after him philosophy was neglected in the S

t hrived in the Shi? cornm~nit~.'~

d world, although it

The systematic pidosophical tradition in islam, whieh was begun in the ninth century by Abu YÜsuf Ya'qÜb b. Ishq alalKindi(6256/866), had inspïred the rise of Muslim thinken deeply devoted to philosophy such as Abu Bakr Muhammad b.

Zakdy5 al-RàP(d. 3 l3/9îS), Ab6 Nqr al-Firab? (d. 339/950), and Abü 'Ali Ibn Suis (d. 428/1037). Aithough some of these Muslim philosophers were regarded as

t heologians (mutakalllunuS),they were first and foremost concemed with Aristotelian philosophy, and only then with religion?

It can eveu be said that they were

interested in issues of faith only when the latter confücted with their philosophical speculations, and when it seemed necessary to hamonize philosophy with religion.'O

Al-ShahrastiG defmed phiIosophers as men of passions (abl a/-ahwC'),or in other words, as men who follow their own judgment which is based on their own mental ability and intellectual capacity. They are different fiom the theologians who concern t hernselves first with revelation and second with reason?

'

Although most philosophicai issues, such as the questions of being or existence (wujUd), essence (dhiQ,quiddit ies (mahiyit), intellect ('agi), sou1 (nds) and morals

(akhIZd which attracted the attention of Muslim schotars, were mentioned ambiguously in the Qur'k, the systematic and rational discussion of these issues nevertheless began only after the Muslims had corne into contact with the works of

the Greek philosophers. L ~ - ~ i nwas d ithe first Muslirn thinker to initiate the process of forrnulating technical philosophical tems in Arabic, and of attempting to reorient " Gardet,

"'Ilm al-Kaliixn," 1 148.

Ibid. "

R Amaldez, "FalZsifh" The Encycfopaedia offijarn, new ed.. vol. 2,767.

Greek philosophy in te=

of an Mamic perspective?2 Ai-Kin& wrote not only on

the subject of phiiosophy, but also on many different disciphes, such as music, astronomy, geometry, astrology, p~ychology,t heology, aad medicine. Ibn al-Nadim ascribed 242 works to him," o d y 40 of which are reported to survive todaf14

Following al-Kuidi was al-RZ, who went further than the former in recognizing the superiority of reason as a means to attain the mith. After establishg his

metaphysical system of the five c w t e r n d prïnciples, i.e., matter. space, time, the

.Sou1 and the Creator, which severely challenged the oahodox theological doctrines, al-Ra& declared openly his rejection of the concepts of revelation and prophecy. In his opinion, m d d , being bestowed the God-given light of Reason, does not need

such mediators as the prophets to reach God, the

ru th? Furthemore, he insisted

that prophecy and revealed religions brought nothing but "evil codes and laws," which caused bloodshed?

Al-Fikibi is regarded as the one to lay the comerstone of Penpatetic philosophy (mashshZ?)in the sphere of Muslim learning. He was an excellent commentator on the teachings of the two greatest ancient philosophea. Plato a n d ~ r i s t o t l e having ,

acquired vast knowledge of the Platonic and Aristotelian corpus. Many later

" Fakhry, A

Estory ofIsZantlC Philosop& 66.

''Ibn al-Nadim, KIta'b al-Fihn'st, (Cairo, nad). 371-379. 34

Onnsby, "Arabic Philosophy," 121.

35

Fakhry, A Xisto~ofIsIamic PliIosophy, ,0104- 105; Omisby. "Arabic Philosophy,*'

36

Ormsby, "Arabic Philosophy," 123

123

phiIosophers referred to the works of ai-Faràbi in order to understand the-concepts developed in the Peripatetic philosophicd tradition. ibn Srna hïmself, in his autobiography, admitted that it was thanks to al-Faràbi's book Oa the Puzpose of Metapbysisi, that he could k d y comprehend the pupose of the metaphysics of Aristotle. Ibn s r n i had particdar difficdty with the classification of the subject matter Aristotle put mder the heading of 'b~heology.'"7 Al-Farâbi's explmation on the subject made Ibn S'li aware that Aristotle's metaphysics are not identical with

that of Islamic theology, as was assumed by al-Kin& and other systematic . the~lo~ians.'~ The subject of metaphysics, in Aristotle's view, was to include the

study of "being-as-such,"

the "first philosophy,"

and ' ' ~ h e o l o ~ ~ . This ''~~

understanding paved the way and provided a theoretical b a i s for Ibn S n 5 to be more cntical of the Aristotelian tradition and to develop his own philosophical conceptions. Ibn Sini is celebrated by his supporters as the greatest exponent of Islamic philosophy. He exceeded a11 earlier Muslim philosophen, including his master, al-Farabi, not only in t e m s of literary production, but more importantly in

his manner of fiarning the philosophicai problems and his development of the use of t the discursive faculty and the syllogistic met hod of ~ r i s t ole.40

" Dimi tri Gutas, A wcema aad the An'stoteiian Tradition, htroduction to Readngs A wcema s' Pal'losopbiiaf Works(Leiden: E.J. Bnll, I988), 28,239-240. " Ibid.,

242-243.

39 Ibid.,

251-252.

"Nasr, Science uid Ciy17izationin Islam, 293.

Unfortmately, the school of Peripatetic phiiosophy and the works on rationakm produced by Muslim inteiiectuals were suddenly discontinued for decades following

al-Ghaza6's attack Experiencing an inteiiectual and spiritual crisis, ai-GhazaIi could not find any certainty in philosophical discourses of "the howledge in which the

object is known in a manner to be which is not open to doubt at

He found this

certainty, not through his own efforts but by divine grace, "a light which God infused into his heart, which indeed is the key ofmost spesies of howledge.'"

Several supporters of Penpatetic philosophy, other than the ones mentioned above, are wolthy of mention here- They include Ab6 B a b Muiymrnad b. Sàyigh, better known as Ibn B5.a (d. 53311 138), Abu Bakr b. Tufayl (d. 58 V1185) and ai-

Shahrastani, whom Guillaume considers the greatest Muslim philosopher before Abu - al-Walid Mdpmmad b. Alyad b. Rushd (659Y1198).

Two generations after Ibn

a new school in Islamic philosophy, i.e. the school

of Illumination, was brought into being by Shihiib al-Dk Yahyâ al-Suhrawardi "al-

Maqtül" (executed in 58711191) of Aleppo. Al-Suhrawad approached the entire philosophical problem of existence fkom a new perspective, which he delineated in his

al-Mashiif: al-MuqZwamZt, and &bmî al-lsilri a trilogy embodying the substance of his illuminationist t l ~ o u ~ h tThe ' ~ core of the whole illumhationist " AbÜ uiimid Maammad al-Ghaziii, a l - M W & min al-QaI.ZI(Beirut, 1959), 1 1. In addition t O philosophy, ai-Ghazali aiso investigated dialectic theology fkaf.), IsrnZciE teaching 'Gm)and sGfi mysticism in order to gain the certainty of knowledge- For further discussion see Eric L. Onnsby, Theodicy in Islamic Thougk: the Dispute over a/-GbazZ's *'BestofM1Possible WorI&"(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984). 28-30. Ai-GhaziIi, al-Muqi&, 12.

" " Fakhry, A History of lslamic Pbifosophy1 293-294; Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Post

Avicennan Islarnic Philosophy and the Study of Being." in Phiiosophies of Ekisfence.

philosophy is pnmarily concemed with the nature and difbion of Light. Al-

Suhrawardi regarded this light as the very substance of reality. His school had a great impact on the development of Islamic thought and gained much support nom Muslim scholars of later centuries, such as Sadr al-Dh a l - S W (d 1641). lmown as Mulia

Sadr& 'Abd al-RazZq La.l@ (d. 1662) and Mulla Mulpin al-Fayd al-KishZil (d. 1 680). Although al-Shahrastarii himself did not witness the later development of this

school, he was in fact iavolved in the initial discussion brought by Ibn Sina

B.AGSHAHRASTH: HIS LIFE AND WORKS 1. Al-Shahrast

S's Life.

The primary sources for al-Shahrmtaiii's biography are scanty and fiagmentary.

Little is k n o m about his life, particularly his private affairs, childhood and family.

The most important sources providing a sketch of al-Shahrastkii are the Kitab WafayZt &-A 'y%of Ibn Khallikin, the Kit& al-T&b2 of al-HZZ Abü Sa5d b. alSamc%&a contemporary of al-Shahrastàni, the Lisan al-Mizao of AbÜ Fadl Alpnad b. 'Ali b. Hajar al-'Asqal&l, the TaWI

flukamZYa l - I s i ~of al-Bayhaqi, another

contemporary of al-Shahrastarll, and the Tabaqàt a/-ShàWiyyaai-KubrZof Abu Nqr

'Abd al-WahhZb b. Taqi al-Din al-~ubla?

Ancienr and Medieval, ed. Parviz Morewedge (New York: Fordham University Press, 1982),

338. Car1 Brockelmann, Gescljichichte der d s c b e n Littemtur (Leiden: E.J. Bri II, 1943)vol.1, 550-551; A K. Kazi and J. G. Flynn, "lntroduction" to the Mwlim Serrs and

AI-Shahcastalu, a native of ShahrastSn, a town situated between Naishapür and Khawà&km, in the Persian province of KhwZs-ib., was bom and Iived in a region where many great scholars of the medieval period, both Musiim and non-Muslim, had flourished. The year of al-Shahrastarù's birth cannot be fmed precisely, for there is disagreement amongst the sources conceming this matter. Ibn Khallikih, in his

Kiràb Wafaya3 al-A 'yao gives the year of al-Shahrastàni's birth as 467/1074-5. He relied on the information given by AbÜ Sa'd 'Abd al-Kdm al-Sam'aoi, who said: "Ai-Shahrastani was bom in 467/1074-5 as 1 h d it written in my own rough note, but 1 forget when I wrote it?

Al-SubE in his ma@ al-Sbij7'ljs.a al-Kub6

informs us that Ibn al-Sarn'-%ii, a contemporary of al-Shahrast ani, said t hat when he met al-Shahrastani in Naishapür and asked about the year of his birth. al-Shahrastki replied that he had been bom in 479/1086-7? Carra De Vaw, in an article on al- Shahrastani', states that the year of al-Shahrastani's birth was 469/1076, in addition

to the two other possibilities of 467/ 1074-5 and 479/1086-7." However, al1 sources agree that al-Shahrastarii died in the month of ShacbGn 548/ November 1 153, in his

hometown, Shahrastin. AL-Shahrastki, who lived during an era which saw the political decline and disintegration of the 'Abbisid caliphate had, in fact, witnessed a -

-

DiwSionsJ The Section on Mmiim Se& in Ki'ta'b &-Milal wa ai-NihaI by M.ammad 6. 'Abd aMmTmaI-Sb&asf&7 (d 1153) (London:Kegan Paul International, l984), 1-2. " Ibn Khallikk, Etab Wafyit al-A'ysu traas. Bn. Mac Guckin De Slane (Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1842), vol. 2,675.

Ab6 Nag 'Abd al-Wahhàb b. Ta@ ai-Din al-Sublo, TabaqZt a/-ShiW&ya alKubrt(Cairo: Matba'at al-ijusayniyat al-Misriyya, nad-),vol. 4, 78; AbÜ Fadl Mmad b. 'Ali b. Hajar al-'Asqalkii, Lis& al-Mzad (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-A'lanu' li al-Ma!bÜb5t, n.d.), vol. 5,263.

large variety of some of the most important politicai, sociai, cultural and intellectual events of medieval Islamic historyFurthemore, the sources do not present any infornation about his family

background except that al-Shahrastàd was taught in his childhood by his own father before being sent to the mosque for

and to other masters living in the

surrounding towns, such as Khawinaripn,Jurjin, and Naisaphür. Most sources do not provide direct information on whether al-Shahrast-Zi was of Arab or Persian descexk4' Al-Shahrastàni wrote most of his works in Arabic, although he was fluent

in Persian and Greek, as stated by M@ammad b. Fath A l l a Bad&,

",

. . as for the

Languages acquired by al-Shahrastani, till these recent years we are only sure that he war well-versed in three languages, namely, Arabic, Persian and Greek (a/lughir ai-

e

Y&&~W.'"~This fact, however, does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that al-Shahrastki was of Arab origin, since at that time the Arabic language was the medium of communication throughout the Muslim temtories.

47

C m a De Vaux, "al-Shahrast=,"

in The Ehcydopaedia of lsim, 1st ed-, vol. 4,

263.

"

The mosques at that time were the normal sites of learning such strictly religious sciences as tradition (@adth)and jurisprudence (fiqh), whereas the discourse of scholastic theology dm al-kaliin), philology (IuHa) and letters (adab) were offered in the masters' pnvate residences or assernblies. A. Shalaby, History of Muiciim Education (Beirut, 1954), 29.

"

S uhayr Mukht Zr, the editor of al-Shahrastki's Kr'ta'b MpGa 'at BI-FaIlafi, mentions that al-Shahrastx was bom of Persian origin without providing the sources of such premise. See Suhayr MukhtG, "Introduction" to her edition of Ki'tab MLyika 'kt a/FalaSifa li hfi&mrnad b. 'Abdal-Kdm aï-Sbahr~i~taRi(Cairo, 1 W6), 1 1.

"

Maamrnad b. Fath Allob Badràn, "Introduction." to his editioa of KItib sAMiIai wa al-N.a/ li al-Imam al-Shahraictlani (Cairo: Maktabat al-AnjlÜ al-Misriyya, 1956). vol. 1, C

After several years of being taught in hîs hometown, ai-ShahrastiS went on to satisfy his thirst for knowledge in other cities. Indeed, at a very young age alShahrast-&i

travelled to Wawàrian, where he stayed for a while. There, he leamed

the traditions @a&'h), for the most part, fkom AbÜ al-Hasan

b. Aipnad al-

M a s 6 (d. 394/1100). Al-Shahrasta then set out for the city of Naishapür to pursue the science of scholastic theology

Cih

nom Abu al-Qiisim S u l a p i n ai-

A g - 6 (d 51U1118), whom he regarded with great respect. It was tiom the latter

that al-Shahrast-d, in addition to theology, l e k e d a large number of the traditions transmitted by "the people of the house" (abl al-bayt't) and their trusted fiiends

(a wliya').." Another of his most important mastea in Islamic t heology was Abü N q r al-~ushayii:~a leamed scholar not only in the field of Islamic theology but also in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), Qur'i'anic exegesis (fafsrf)and Prophetic tradition

(dadith). Abù Nwr al-Qushayii, having studied under his own father and Imam alHaramayn AbÜ Mac= al-Juwa*

with great attention, was an erudite ShZci

juristconsult. He pronounced his lectures on S h Z 7 fiqh in the Madrasa Nizkiyya founded by Nizam al-Mulk, and in the monastery of the chief of the süfis (shaykh ai-

sh*)

in Baghdad, in which bis father once acted as the chief master. Abü N e r al-

Qushayii's zealous att achment to the doctrines of al-AshW and aCShàn'i, however, Ied him into a public dispute with the &mbalis and Hanafis, which ended in a riot in the capitaI city of Baghdad. He was then sent by the order of the Seijuk w d ,Nit-=

" Ibid., "lntroduction,"12. " He was thc son of the great mystic AbÜ al-Qkim 'Abd al-Kafim b. Hawazîn b.

'Abd al-Malik b. Talha b. Mmarnmad al-Qushayii (3791986-465/1072), the author o f one of

ai-Mulk, to NaishapÜr where he resumed and continueci his lectures till he died in 514?1120.

H e was buried in the family buriai ground, calied the Qushayfi

&

Al-Shahrast-%ii received an excellent training in Islamic jurisprudence fiom another distinguished doctor of the ShafiPi school, -ad

al-Khawifî (d. 500/1102), in

Naishapk AIpnad al-KhawS was one of the most outstanding pupils of ImZm alearamayn Abu Ma'ali al-Juwajnïi, and was a felfow student of ImGn Abü Wami-d

Muhammad al-Ghazali. -ad

Khawz was later appointed a judge (qi&

of T Ü s

and its environs, and died there in SOOll106.~From these pieces of information one may venture to Say that al-Shahrastàd had studied the science of Islamic theology

and jurisprudence mder the guidance of some of the most leamed doctors of the A s h ' d and ShGfiTi school. Consequently, it is no surprise that Ibn Khallikk and al-

SubE believed that al-Shahrastaài had been affiliated with this school of thought."

However, according to Ibn al-Sam'-ii, a contemporary of al-Shahrastixil, in his al-

T-Xr , al-Shahastarii had adopted or at least been inclined to the teachings of the Ism2"t sect. Moreover, Ibn S a l a in his TabaqZty as reported by al-SubE, ais0 confmed the information given by Ibn al-~am'kii? Al-Khawarimii is reported to

the most important books in Islamic mysticism, al-Risidkt al-Qusttayr;rjra fi ' A h alTqawVUIF Ab6 ai-Qkim al-Qushayii loyally upheld the Ash'aii-Shafi? point of view.

" Ibn KhallikZn, Wafiyityvol. 2, 154-155. "Ibid-, vol. 1,79. " Cana De Vaux, "al-Shahrastani," 263. AI-SubE, waqài., vol. 5.77.

have said that, "al-Shahrasta could have been a S

d imàm if he had not

. " ~issue contamiuated his thinking with the innovative teachings of the ~ s m ~ " i s The of whether al-ShahrastX was actually afiliated to the ?srnipidi movement, however, can only be determined by a thorough examination of his religious and philosophicai thought, and this is beyond the concem of this thesis." After his stay in Naishapür, al-ShahfastS continued his travels to other cities in

Iran such as B e a q , Sijisth, JurjZn and Tirrnidh, either to satisfy his thirst for religious leaming or to share his imowledge with people coming to his assemblies. Al-Shahrast-5 was widely regarded as an outstanding theologian, a distinguished jurist,

59

and the principal historian of religions in medievai ~ s l a r nFurthemore, .~~ due

to his intellectual prowess al-Shahrastk. was referred to by such respected titles as

al-MPaI (the best):

' al-' . l ' a(the very Ieamed) 62andTaj al-MÎUa wa al-Dn (the

crown of the religion).63

Al-Subla, Tabac& vol. 5.78. 58

For a deeper discussion on this matter see Diane Steigerwarld, La pensée philosophique et t6éoZogrQue de S . ~ t(m.~548/1153) i (Sainte-Foy, Quebec: Presses de L'Université Laval, 1997).

''Ibn Khallikib, Wafdryt,vol. 2,675. Philip K Hitti, t I s t o y of the Arabs: F m E&liest ZYmes to the P . e s t (London: The Macmillan Press, 1974)- 139; Carra De Vaux, "AI-Shahrastkil," 263. 61

AI-SublÜ, Tabaqat, vol. 5.77.

" In

al-Dhahabi's Tadhkirat ai-fluffZF as cited by Suhayr MukhtZr, "htroduct ion,"

10.

" Suhayr Mulchtk, "Introduction," 10.

In the year 510/1116-7, when he was in his thïrties, al-Shahrastaiu went to the holy land of Mecca to perfonn the pilgrimage (&B) &er which he travelled to Baghdad.

There he was appointed as professor at the Niqâmiyya college. In Baghdad, alShahrastani was mceived and welcomed with a high degree of favour and respect by the Ieamed of the city aad soon people began flocking to his lectures which were

apparently both interesth g and clearly presented. Al-Bayhaqi illustrat es the audience of al-Shahrastini's scientific assemblies (h@&

a l - ' ~ ~ iasf )follows: "The

leamed people of Baghdad joined me to attend his (ai-Shahrast3)lect uses. To name but a few of them are al-Im-%n AbÜ MamjÜr, al-'IbSdi, -ad

Dk al-waC@.'*

al-Laythi, Shihiib al-

He used to address pious exhortations to his audience, since al-

Shahrastani knew by heart a great number of Prophetic traditions6'

a

The Niz-miyya college of Baghdad, which was founded by Nizàm al-Mulk in

45911065, played an important role in defending and reinstating S u d s m as the officia1 school of the 'Abbisid caliphate after it had been suppressed by the

Buwayhid amk,

who had promoted Shi'ism as the official school of the emirate. The

college provided a well-organized training program based on Sinni doctrines for future lawyen. Besides al-Shahrastarii among the most outstanding professors at the

N u k i y y a college were AbÜ varnid al-GhazaIi and 'Abd al-Qadir al-~ilirii.~~

" As quoted in Badrin, "Introduction," 5. -

65

Ibn Khallikàn, Wafayit, vol. 2,675.

66 Gaston Wiet, Bagode Me1rop0I.s of the Abbasid Cal@hate, 1 10; Duncan B Macdonald, Devefopment ofMùsfim Theology, 2 13.

Al-Shahrasta johed the N@amiyyacoliege only some twenty years after it had s a e r e d tembly in the violent disputes between the IjanbaIi-Kanafi faction and supporters of the Ash'aii-Shafi'i school. In 476/1085 and again a decade later in 486/1095, there had been bloody fights between these two factions in Baghdad and

the students of the college were involved in these quamls in support of the Ash'aiiShifi"iide. The disputes were a result of the disagreements which occurred between the 'Abbasid cdiphs who upheld the Hanbali-Hanafi doctrines on the one hanci, and

the Seljuk s @ h s who supported the Ash6a&ShZfî'i school, on the other.

Al-ShahrastS Iectured at in the Nizamiyya college for about three years before leaving for his home tom. This bnef period of teachïng at this prestigious centre of learning and training for Sunni Iawyers, nevertheless, invited speculations regarding the reason for its brevity. Ibn Hajar al-'Asqal&T, quoting information fiorn Ibn al-

-

Samc=, suggests that it was because al-Shahrastani was accused of being an

Ismâ'ifi, and because his ideas were aot in accordauce with the purpose and principles held by the ofEcials of the Ni=Zmiyya college. Ai-Shahrastki had fiequent contacts with and preferred to engage in discussions with IsmiCiIi dg% (missionarïes) on

matten of speculative theology and philosophy. Moreover, he seems to have been

more concerned with philosophical studies than with religious law6'

In many respects, the arguments given by Ibn aCSarnbkiare reasonable. Fiat, alShahrastatii was living dming an era in which Penpatetic philosophy was just coming under severe attack by the great mystic and theologian Abu Faxnid M@ammad al-

Ghazali (d. 505/1111) in his monumental work Tahafirt a l - F a l ' i '(The Incoherence

of the Philosophers). And, although rationalistic philodophy was still taught after al-

GhazaIi in the Islamic community, it was no longer a central and favoured aspect of the inteiiectual life of Muslim society. Second, the period baween 297/909 and

56W1171 wituessed the rise to political power of the IsmZPili movement, the founding of the FZtimid caliphate, and the establishment of extensive IsmZW

temtories in Ifinqiya, Egypt and Syria, beyond the control of the 'Abbisid nilers. The Fatirnid caliph, as I m k of the IsmàT%, was in this respect, the chief of the IsmZTi da 'wa organization, besides being regarded as the true, authontative int erpreter of

the Q u r ' i and the spring of al1 esotenc and exoteric Imowledge. At the time, the Ismà?li d'7s spread far beyond their main temtories, reinforcing their da'wa activity in the eastern provinces of the 'Abbasid caliphate, such as KhurSsEn, where al-

Shahrastki spent most of his life, and Transoxiana. Moreover, al-Hasan al-$abb& just succeeded establishing the Nizàn IsmZCiIi movement, separating himself nom the da'wa headquarters in Cairo and forming his new da'wa (al-da'wa al$a&daa) in these eastern lands. Hence it was very possible that al-Shahrastirii had fiequent contacts with the IsmZ'ili da'E organized by both Musta'li 1smZ"ifis in Cairo and N i z Z brnii'ilis in AlamÜt. Third, the founder of the Ni?-a

coltege, N i z k al-

Mulk, before being assassinated in 485/1092by the N i z Z Ism5Pifis, had instituted a policy which denounced and rejected the IsrnE5fi sect. This policy was maintained by

the later 'AbbZsid caliphs who went even fiiaher by encouraging Sumi theologians to produce works condemning the IsmE'ifi denomination."

" Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalaai,

The founding of the

Lis& al-Mzib,vol. 5.263.

" Farhad DaRary, The Isrnfifis, TheirirHisry and Doctrines (Cambridge:

coilege was itself aiwd at the dorcement and dissemination of the S

d creed

throughout the Islamic empire after Sbi'ism had gained so much ground uader the Buwayhid &.

Consequently, the official administrators of the college would have

been rather unhappy to h d that one of the professors at the coiiege, i.e. al-

Shahrastaiii, was actively involved in discussions on philosophicai issues held by the

2. The Works Attributed to &Shahrastani

Al-Shahrastani was one of the proliîïc writers of the medieval Islamic period. He st arted writuig as a young lad and his books range in subject matter fiom the history

of world religions to Islamic jurisprudence, theology, Qur'aoic exegesis, and philosophy. Al-Bayhaqi, who was a contemporary of al-Shahrastani, declared in his

book T . k bHukama ' al-Isfim,that he had seen more than twenty books, besides the work entit led Ma/'a/is Maktiba, that had been written by al-~hahrastalu!~

Mdpmmad b. Fath Ail& Badrân, one of the editors of al-Shahrastani's al-Mil' wa

al-Nibal, mentions in his introduction to the book that al-Shahrastani wrote as rnany as nineteen books?'

Cambridge University Press, 1990), 220. 69

Suhayr MukhtZr, "Introduction," 18.

'O They are 1 ) Kïtib al-Mifai wa ai-Niha4 2) Kitab Nihi'yat yatf-Iqd5n fi I ILm idKaI& 3) &A@ A al-UsS, 4 ) al-lishid i f i 'Aqa'id al- 'Ibilili 5 ) al-Juz' A/ladbi l i Yatajazza 6 ) Talkhi~ai-Aqsiin Ir' Ma&ahib al-AREU,7 ) Daqa'lq al-Awbaia, 8) Sh@ SGar YuSul)9 ) al-'L* wa alWhliai,10) Ghayat al-Marain fi 'Imsi-K.&&, 11) Qi&& Miki wa Khi&* 12)al-MaMa' wa &-Ma 'id 13) MizjZIis Maktu'bah9 14) M i y h 'at aiFal;IÏEz, 1 5 ) Mafitr'hhai-Asri? wa Masibib a i - A b r .fi Tafriral-Q1p.'fi916) al-MmàiSg ,va

Indeed, the exact number of ai-Shahrast-rù's written works cannot be detennined

with precision. The information concerning this matter is fkagmentary, and can ody be found in a few sources, either fiom al-Shahrastaiii's own staternents preserved in

his books or nom other authon. Car1 Brockeimann ascribed only four works

to

al-

S h a h r a s t ~namely, , 1) ai-Mid wa al-N@& 2) Nil>yat ai-Iqdàm 6 '& a l - K d ' 3) MLyik 'aî a/-FalaSifa and 4) Tzkb @ukamZ The fira three books have been edited and published7' Suhayr Mukhtk, who edited al-Shahrastani's Kits al-

M q k a 'at al-Fdl;EFifain Arabic, writes that as many as twenty-nine works have been attributed to al-Shahrast-d, among which some have been edited and published,

while others are still in the form of manuscripts, and some others are reported 10st.'~

There are seven books ascribed to al-Shahrastiini that have been edited and published, some of which have even been translated into many different languages,

namely: 1) Majlis fial-KW'q wa alalAmr,which was written in Persian and has been published by M-amrnad

Jalii Napull in Iran;" 2) ai-MiM wa af-Niha4 published in

many different editions and translated into several languages;" 3) Nihayat al-Iqd' fi

al-Ayât,17) Shubuhif A&@ifis wa ibn Sn.5 wa Naqduhg 18) NihZyât al-Awham, 19) T h T 'IfukamiZ See B a d e , '?nt roduction,", 8-9. " CarI Brockelmann,

Gescbichte der arabischen Litteratrrr; vol. 1, 55 1.

S uhayr Mukhtk, "Introduction," 19.

"

Ai-Shahrastàni, Ma/s fi al-J21ulq wa doAmr, ed. MuQammad Rida Jalàli Niilni (Tehran, l34Y 1964)

"

Ai-Shahrastan?. ai-Miid wa &-Nibal, ed M.amrnad Fath Allah Badràn (Cairo: Maktabat al-AnjlÜ al-Misriyya, 1956), 2 vols; ed. Maammad Sawd Kaylki (Cairo: Maktaba wa MatbabaMus!afZ al-Bàb? al-Jali wa Awladihi, 1961), 2 vols; Ma11su"at af-MiZai wa aI-Ni&d', ed. Ahmad Fu'ad al-AhwkT (Beirut: Mu'assasat KZir Ii al-Thaqiifa, 1981); Books of ReIipl'ons and PbiiosophicaZ Sects?trans. William Cureton (London, 1846), 2 vols; Religinspparrhe md PhiIophen-Scden, t rans. Dr. Theodor Haarbrllcker (1850); Taaqib al-

'hal-Kdk which has been edited and translated into Engiish by A b d Guillaume;7s 4) Ai-Shahrastarii's translation of al-E&an al+abb*s

Fus2 Arba'a 'an F i Z s ~ w ain his book ai-Ma&&

chapter on

a/-IsmàT@which al-Shahrastarii

included in his al-Md wa &-Ne& 5 ) Mas 'da fi Iibat al-Jawhar a l a l F ewhich Alned Guillaume had annexed to his edition of the book N'iûZyaat al-lqdh fi 'h al-

Kalam;6) Maf* ai-Asrai wa M MW*

H al-Abraiwhich is in Persian;" and 7) Ki'tib

'at al-FalaSifa,edited in Arabic by Suhayr MuWtàr.

Meanwhile the written works of al-Shahrastâuii that are still in manuscript form

aad have not yet been edited or published are: 1) Risda fil'ti~datal-Sbahrast*

Kal'B n flnz which is in the fonn of a letter which al-Shahrastikii had sent to alQâ$ 'Umar b. Sahl; 2) Ris& il' M&ammad al-%qz

i.e., the famous pbfb

(medicine doctor) for whom al-Shahrastki? discussed the issue of divine knowledge

(al- 'i/m

adilla wa ai-'ilal

3) Ris;ila ilZM@amuad SahI'7 These three epistles can be found

fi rq*amat Kitab &-Milal wa al-Nibal, trans. Afdal al-D?n Sadr Turka-i

@fahani (Tehran, 133511957); l a wq@ ai-Milal, Tajuma Kifâb al-MiiaI wa &-Niha1 fi alSbahrastid (Tehran: Shirkat-i h t Sahimi-i 'Âm, 1979); Mdim Sects and Divisions, trans. A.K. Kazi and J.G. Flynn (London: Kegan Paul International, 1984); Les dr'ssidences de I'rslam, trans. Jean-Claude Vadet (Pan's: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1984); Livre des religions et des sectes, trans. Daniel Gimaret and Guy Monnot (Peeters/UNESCO 1986- lW3), 2 VOIS" Al-Shahrastani, Mbiyat al-Iqd' fi 'Ilm al-Kallai, ed. and trans. Alfred Guillaume (London: Oxford University Press, 1934).

Al-S hahrastani. Mfifib &-As..& wa Miya'b74 al-A&r& ed. and introduction 'Abd al-Husayn Hi'iii (Tehran: Markaz-i Intish5r-i Naskh-i Khatti/ Majlis ShÜrii-i Islam, 1989). '15

77

Ai-Shahrast&il,Kitab a l - M e i k 'af al-Fallaii/a,ed. Suhayr Mukht i r (Cairo, 1976). By the t ime Suhayr Mukhtiir was editing al-Shahrastani's Kitab MqGa 'at af-F8tafisa1t here were only five written works attributed to al-Shahrastiini that had k e n published See Suhayr Mukhtir, "Iiitroductioo," 20-2 1.

io the lîbrary of Majlis ShG-i

M E in Tehran, Iraq " 4)

Qigat Sam&;

Y%&

'daytu'al-Salat wa al-Sal5q which is available in the Library of the University of ai-

Azhar, Cairo;" and 5 ) a/-iMao&j

wa h Y 5 t or ai-Mm&j 6 'Ahal-Ka/%, which

is a manuscript found in the Library of W& al-Din in Turkey.' Suhayr Mukhtàr incikates, however, that there are as many as seventeen written

works of al-Shahrastaiii that are reported to be lost. Information conceming their existence in the past cm oniy be traced fiom reports made by al-Shahrastaoi himself, or his contemporaries, or later historians and biographers, These seventeen Iost

books, according to Mukhtàr, are as f o l l o ~ s : ~ 1)' al-hh5d i .'AqZ'id al-ïbai which al-Shahrast~~ himself mentioned in his Etab Niheat al-Iqdain fi 'Ilm a l - ~ a â i n ; ~ ~ 2) AsrZr al-'Bada; 3) &Aq@ fi al-U$Û. from which al-Khawiùi~nlhad taken some

Reference in al-Shahrast X,M.a)a 'sr, ed. Suhayr Mukhtik, "Introduction," 19. See also JalZli Na'inï, "Introduction" to Tawgi &MW&, T q . m a mtib al-Mirai wa al-

N i a l li al-ShatrrastanI (ïehran: Shirkat-i Afist Sahàmi-i '&, 1979), 58. The writer has tried to find the number of the manuscripts fiom the catalogues issued by Iibrary, but could not find them. Suhayr Mukhtk, "Introduction," 19. NaTni reports that the manuscript is reported lost. See NaTini, "Introduction," 40. so Suhayr MukhtG, "Introduction," 20. Nam puts the manuscript in the list of the lost works at tributed t O al-Shahrastân'. Naini, ""Introduction,"40.

''

Suhayr MukhtZr, "~ntroduction," 21-22. Gimaret and Monnot provide a quite different list of the lost works ascribed to al-Shahrastarii. They do not mention two works, narnely, T2ZTk6 @ukan~a'and Nihâyaf 81-Awbaia al-&kama' af-II&?. See Gimaret and Monnot, ccIntroduction'*to L i m des religrons et des sectes (PeetersNNESCO, 1986l993),7-8. Meanwhile Na'ixii mentions there are as many as twelve works of al-Shahrastk? that are reported lost. These are: 1) Qi&at Sarn'dr'aZ YiiFu 'alaybr'al-SaliFi wa al-~afi&2 ) a ~ - ~ ~ a awa h i ai-Ayiar, j 3) AsrC 'Ib5da;4) ai+[& fi a/-@$ 5) Daqà'iq al-Awh5q 6 ) G.ùàyat ai-MarZm fi 'I/m B I - K d a , 7 ) al-lishâd ils 'Aqi'id al-'fiàii 8 ) Ma/!& fi Qissat Sam'diniMrrSc 9) Q i ~ aMG5 t wa K ï i i e 1 O ) TaIbis al-Aqsanl fi Madahib al-Aniintt 1 1) ai-'Uyib wa al-&& and 12) TiZWI WukmZ Nakn?,'Introduction," 34-35,40.

Badrin. "Introduction," 8.

4)

T

a fluk.am5; mentioned by Car1 Brockelmann on the basis of

Gjli Khalifa; 5) T a W 3 al-Aqsàh L.'M&üb a/-An&, which was attributed to al-

Shahrastirii by Ibn KhallikZu and Hadî KhaIif! 6) Daqa'iq dAwoain, fkom

information provideci by al-Khawarimii; according to al-Khawarimu's notes;

" 8)

a b al-MaMa' wa al-Ma'a'i$

7) W

Sbub~&ZtB q I w @?mcim)wa An'stU

(Ansotle) wa Ibo fia wa NaqQuz which a l 4hahrastagi hirnself mentionedf5 9 ) al-

Sbgm al-Irlahrjya; IO) dcU-

wa ai-Ana%, according to information coming nom

a l - ~ a ~ h a q i l 1 1Gh@at ) d - M e fi 'am al-Kd*

based on information Corn al-

Khaw%znG; 12) Qigsat M&Z wa ai-Kh'& , as stated by al-Bayhaqi; 13) M a j s fi

UN

&@&na;

14) MqZs fi H q ~ n w al-Taqaddumat; 2 15) M a j s fi Qis*

S a m n Z Mikg 16) Mmi&rZt ma 'a al-I~miXGjya;and 17 ) NihZyZt al-Awh;Un al@kama' a/-lla: which was mentioned by al-Shahrastkii himself in the last part of

his Etab Niheat al-Iqdk fi Bfm a/-~a/an7.*' Among the works ascribed to al-Shahrastibi that will form the primary sources for the discussion of the thesis are: 1) fit& al-Mila/ wa al-Nz'bd,edited by Muhammad b. Fath A i l a BadrZn, in two volumes ( Cairo: Maktabat al-AajlÜ al-Misriyya, 1956),

and 2) Kitâb NihZyat al-Iqdh fi Wm al-Kd*,

edited and translated by Aifked

GuiIlaume (London: Oxford University Press, 1934). Bad&, 'cIntroduction,"8. 8J

Ibid.

13'

Ibid.

86

Ibid.

Ibid.

Al-Shahrast-ii is perhaps b a t known primarily for his work entitled aAMIalwa al-~@al,I.' This book is regarded by several modem scholars as having been

among the

fmt and best in classical Arabic to deal with the science of comparative religion.

Thus, Philip K. Hitti, in his History o f the Arabs, refers to al-Shahrastaoi as "the distinguished historian of religion,''2 while Eric J. Sharpe acknowledges that al-

Shahrastifid's al-Milalis the first scientific account of the history of religion.'

Al-

Shahrastki had written a l - M Z d long before the study of the science of comparative religion began to be systematically pursued in Westem scholarship. Such claims,

however, cannot be completely accepted, since one encouuters many subjective and even biased opinions expressed in his H Z ' . If the book is evaluated within the context of its own time, then it can be regarded as one which gave impetus to a better scholarship, particularly in ternis of methodology; although not in the same sense as in historical modem Western scholarship on comparative religion.

The emergence of the science of religion in Western scholarship is definitely associated with the thesis proposed by a Geman scholar, Friedrich Max Miiller (1823-1 900). In a speech delivered to the prestigious Royal institute of London on

' Henceforth the shortened titte of al-MiIaIwill be used. Philip K. Hitt i, History ofthe Arabs: h m E&Ïisr Times to the Presen) (London: The Macmillan Press, 1974), 139.

February 19" 1870, Max MWer stnrk his leamed audience with his proposal that the scientific study of religion was the best approach to the study of religion. His lecture

was later published in 1873 as a series entitled htroduction to the Science of

ReIigrbd and becarne the leading book in the science of religion in the west? Max Müller proposed a new approach to the discipline which radically differed fiom that commonly used by most theologiaas of his time. Instead of proving a certain religion

to be true and ail others false, Max Miiller favored the scientific approach which is objective, systematic and univenal, and more appropnate to be applied. The theories developed through and resulting fkom such scientific study and research would, in his opinion, be more acceptable to s c h ~ l a r s h i ~ . ~

The book al-Ml&,however, remained unknown to Western scholarship for more than five centuries. It began to becorne more widely h o w n only after William

Cureton translated the book into English.' Since then &-Milalhas been, for a century,

an important source for the study of the history of religions. Students in European

3

Eric J. Sharpe, Comparative Religion: A Histo'y (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975), 11.

'F. Max Müller, htruci~tioooto the Science ofRei&Ïon, Four Lectures Deiivered a?

the R o y ~hstiçute f in February-May 1870 (Varianashi, India: Bharat a Manisha, 1972).

Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Phofme, 76e Nat- of Refigron (Flonda: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1987), 216; see &O Daniel L. Pals, "Introduction" to Seven Theon& ofRelig70n (New York,Oxford: Odord University Press, 1996), 3. Daniel L. Pals, "Introduction", 4. Max Müller, Introduction, 74.

' Al-Shahrastàn., ai-Miial wa sl-Nha4 <m. William Cureton in Bookr ofRel&ions and Phr'msophical Sem (London, 1846), 2 vols.

universities regarded it as an invaluable referkce, particularly for the study of the philosophy and religions of the Middle East? Al-Sh&rast-d ws, however, not the first Muslim to write in the field of the history of religions and their various schools of thought. Befon al-Mi., there had been several books in this field written by earlier Muslim scholars. At least four

categories of works were available in his day, each focusing on a dflerent aspect or stressing a dif3erent point. These categones are as fdlows: 2. Some scholars before al-Shahrast-d devoted their books to discussion of a

particula. Muslim sect and to the subdivisions existing within that sect. Two examples of this lgnd of book are: Firaq al-Shi6a,written by Ab6 M&ammad alHasan b. MÜsZ al-Nawbakùti, who lived in the third century after Hijra, and another work also entitled F i r q al-Sil"a, wrïtten by Abu al-Qisim Sa'd b. 'Abd

All& al-Ash'aii al-Qu&

(d 299 or 301/915).

2. Other scholars eniarged the discussion in their books to include al1 the Muslim sects that existed in their lifetimes. Abu al-Hasan 'Afi b. 1smi"i al-Ash'aii (d.

324/93 5) wit h his Maqajrit d-Isiaitu'jy31 wa 'MfiI'fa ~ - ~ ~ a iand f i nAbu , ~ MansÜr

'Abd al-Qahir b. Tahir b. Mt&ammad al-Tamimi al-BaghdX (d. 429/1037) with

his writ ten works entit led ai-Farq bayn al-Firagand alalMilai wa al-N&l, were

two early Muslim masters who wrote on the history of Muslim sects. 3. Other authors were even eager to include not only the history of al1 Muslim sects,

but also the history of other religions and the developrnent of the sects within

Alfred Guillaume (ed and tram.), ''Introductionn to The Smma Philosopbiae of al-ShahrastZ's Ki'tgb NihZyafa!-Iqdh A 'Ilm BI-KaIam(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1934), ix,

these religions. Besides al-Shahrast&ïi himscIf, wit h bis remarkable aFMIal, other examples abormd, such as AbÜ Mdgïmmad 'AIi b. -ad

b. Hazm (ci.

456/1064), the chief theoretician of the 2-hui school who wrote an extensive

book al-Fisd fi al-Mfal wa al-Ahw3 wa ai-Al$&

and Abu al-vasan 'AE al-

Husayn al-Mas'Üdi (d. 349956) who wrote KI& al-Maq&? 6 U@ al-D~y&%. 4. Several Muslim writen preferred t o compose accounts of religions other than Islam. Abu Rayhih Muhammad b. AIynad a l - B T d( d 440/1048) who wrote on the religions followed by most Indians of his time in his book entitled Kitâb a/Hindmay be counted arnong those scholars who showed an exclusive interest in

other religions and civilizations. Al-Shahrast-S's al-Milal has long been regarded not only as arnong the most important sources for the study the history of religion, but more specifîcally for the

study of Islamic theology rilm a/-kaliin) as wefl. It provides a vast account of different schools of thought wit h regard to Islamic the0logical problems.

in the field of Islamic t heology, al-Shahrastiril composed several works, among which the most important is Nihàyat aI-IqdiZz~fi 'ImalI~a1ainain9 h it, a l 8hahrastZni

exhibits his cornpetence in Islamic theology and philosophy by discussing ~.'~ approximately twenty-four controversid problems in speculative t h e ~ l o ~The

N w a is of a very different nature than al-MW apart fiom the fact that it only deaIs with questions of Islarnic theology discussed by some of the major Muslim

Henceforth the shonened title of Nihay~will be used. Al-Shahrastani. Eilihàjat al-lqdain B 'I'al-KaIBm, ed Alfred Guillaume (Oxford: Oxford University Prcss, 1934), 4. 'O

sects of his day. Aithough the

modem Egyptian scholar Ibdiirn Madkur considers

the N e a among the best books dealing with the combination of philosophy and theology," it is not given as much scholarly attention as al-1Mi'fa.l According t o Guillaume, the Nihzya was intended to become "a complementary sequel" to alShahrasti d ' s al-Mi'd since in it he fiequently refers to the latter.12

In order to draw out some more of the important features of both a/-Mfdand the

N

e we will offer here a brief cornparison between the two books. The attention

will, for the most part, be paid to three aspects, namely, purpose, methodology and content.

A. PURPOSE -

Learned men rarely produce scholarly work without some specific purpose. The objective of writing such works, however, is not always apparent. Some scholars state their intentions and express their thoughts and ideas explicitly; othen do not.

Al-Shahrastàni, for his part, chose to express his intentions clearly.in certain of his works, including al-Milal and the NibZyaa His openness in this matter, in fact.

provides great help to readers of the books, in at least three aspects. The fmt benefit is that his statement of purpose helps his readers to understand the direction in which

he wishes to take them. Second, it makes it easier t o appreciate the position taken by

" Ibr&?m Madkür, Fï al-Faisah al-hlim~jya,Minhaj ws Ta~bTqcrl,(Cairo: Dâr alMabarif,1976), 53.

'* Alfred GuiIIaume,"htroduct ion," ix.

al-Shahrast-ii with regard to the problems discussed in his book; and third, it assïsts his readers in comprehending the discussion of the prob1ems concemed.

In the introduction (muqaddima) to his alalMid, al-Shahrast-kii statu clearly that the book is designed to satisfL two main piirposes, which are: 1. To provide a compendium of

di the different religions, beliefs and philosophical

schools adhered to by people in his era."

2. To provide an admonition to those who can refkct and a meam of refiection for those who can draw a le~son.'~

In his own words, al-ShahrastS says: As God enabled me to learn the beliefs of mankind, those who belong to religions

and sects as well as those who belong to various philosophical thoughts and schools, to master their source-books and texts, t o understand th& popular and sophisticated views, 1 intend to collect this knowledge in a brief book for the stimulation of research and the guidance of the student seeking knowledge. My purpose is to show the thought of men of religion and the views of othea fiom Adam onwards, according to the clearest and most comprehensive plan, to confirm their sincere claim, to harmonize their dissonant views, and to bring together their divergence. l5

Given his declaration that tie has a clear intention to make his ai-MiZ'a means by which people c m draw lessons, it can be assumed that al-Shahrastarii was in fact

holding a set of views that he thought to be correct. As a scholarly writer, however, al-Shahrast-d tries to prevent himself fiom imposing his views and fiom calling

13

':

t~

rr

..

aradtu an ajma'a dba!ika

fi rnukbtqar Jarni' m i tadayyam bibi afrnutadafli& wa 'anf&alàhu al'unI~IUn. "Al-S hahrastarii, al-Mifal, vol. 1 1, 19.

. . - 'ibriitan Iimanistabsara,

wwa 'stibgaian Iimaa i'tabara." Al-Shahrastani, af-

Milah v01.1 1, 19.

'

Translation by Ism6'il ai-F&Üc& "Islam," in The Gkat Asian Ref&ions (London: Macmillan, 1969), 326; al-Shahrastiini, af-Milah vol. 1 1, 19,

people to follow h k n Lnstead he aiiows people to £ind out the truth by themselves

through st udying his af-Wal. With respect to the sources that al-Shahrastani had read and was familiar with,

there is little specific information to be found in his a/-MiÏal, except for several

names. The most fiequently cited names as sources for his discussion on the M u s l b sects are

al-ICa'bi,I6 Ibn ~iiwandi," and ai-Hasan b. M@ammad aI-~abb%lg'~ On

His fidl name was AbÜ al-Qàsim 'Abd Allah b. M&Ûd al-Ka'bi (d 3 19/9 13) as indicated by al-Murtada in his TabaqCt al-Muctap'IaAi-Ka'bi was a Mu'tazifi writer, whose Maqa(it had been a source for explainhg the sects of Mu'tazila. A.K. Kazi and J.G. Flynn, 'bIntroduction" to the translation of Mwiim Sets aod Diwsions, The Section on Musiin Secfs in KItZb Miid wa al-Nihd by M&adl~nad b. 'Abd al-KmTma i - S h W t h I ' (d l6

1153) (London: Kegan Paul International, 1984), 4.

"

He is Abu al-Husayn Alpanad b. Y a y a b. Mulpmmad b. Ishaq al-Râwandi, formerly an activist Mu'tazifi before he separated himself from the school to choose SE'ism, He died in 245/859, at about forty years of age. He came, some sources Say, fiom a Persian Jewish family, This information is doubtful since his grandfather's name is Muhammad- Ibn Riwandi is reported to have been a celebrated scholar in metaphysics, one of the most talented authors of his time and to have written about one hmdred and fourteen works. Among these are Kitab Fa-&bat aI-Mu'tazr7aa,dal-@and al-Z'ud He composed Fafibat al-1Muct.w'Ia primarily to refute a l - J w ' s Fafifat aI-4'Mu'tazl'Ia, aad to exhibit his opposition to his former denomination, the Mu'tazila Ibn Khallikân, Ki'tâb Wdayal afA 'yad, eed QsZn 'Abbas (Beirut: DG SZdir, 1977), vol. 1,9495; Abdul-Amir al-A'asam, Ibn ar-RSvand-3Kitab FagFhat al-Mu'tap'Ia: Analflicai Study of Ibn RZwmd's 1Cferbod rit his C ' c i s m of the Rational Fomdation o f Poiem'cs in Isfam (Beirut-Paris: Editions Oueidat , 1975-1977), 10-18.

'' Al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Sabb* was an important figure in the medieval IsrnZ7li moveient in the eastern provinces of the Islamic empire. Born in the 440d1050s into an IthnZ 'Ashaii Shi? family, later he converted to the Ism5'X sect and became the chief leader of the "new dabwa/preaching" (d-da'wa ai-jadda] of Persian Ism~cilism. Finding hirnself far away fkom the central headquarters of the IsmZ'Ti da'wa in Cairo, alHasan al-Sabb* tried to modify and enhance bis da'wa in the Iranian lands. Later, due to his disagreement with the appointment of al-Musta'li bi'llah (467/1074-495/1101) instead of A b Ü Marqür N i e the eldest son of the former late imam -aI-Mustansir, as the new Fatirnid caliph and IsmZ'iii imam, and the oppressive nile carried out by the Turkïsh Seijuks, alHasan al-Sabb* decided t o rise in revolt for the cause of imam Nizâr, openly declared his separation kom the Musta'lian IsmSifi da'wa centre in Cairo, and proclaimed his new version of the da'wa. In doing so, a l - m a n al-Sabb* got enormous support from the indigenous Persians and succeeded in controling the castle of AlamÜt fiom where he devehped his strategy for the da'wa and political revolt. A remarkable technique introduced by al-Hasan al-Sabb* to reach his military and political objectives was that of

matters of philosophical thought, ai-Shahrastalù, for the most part, refers to Ibn Si& one of the greatest medieval Muslim philosophers. His lack of acknowledged sources,

nevertheless, invites some suspicion and distrust to a certain extent. A clear example

of this apprehension can be found in the statement made by Ja'far al-Subhaiuj a contemporary Muslim scholar who has an interest in studying the variety and development of the sects within Islam. AL-SubhS, in his Bu&& &Milal wa alNaal, suspects that al-ShahrastS might have received the information conceming the doctrines held by the Shi% from some unreliable sources, or even from those who were

the enemies of the ~ ~ ' i sThe . ' ~reason for this suspicion is that al-Shahrastalii

ascribes the notions of transmigration of the s o d (tanaSukb), incarnation @dur)and

ant hropomorphism (tdbih) to the SG%?* whereas according to al-S ubhàni, the Im-ms of the Shi% and their tnisted disciples had never held and espoused such beliefs.'' Regarding the second point of his prograrns, it is clear that al-Shabrast ani tries to be objective. He intended his book on religions to serve as a source of information

assassination, which was carried out by the fidaw's, the young devotees who wholehearteàly offered themselves to accornplish these suicidai missions. After successfiIly establishing the Persian N i z z IsmZTis, al-Hasan al-Sabb. died in 51811 124 and was buried near the

fortress of Aiamüt. Farhad Dattary, ' m a n - i Sabb* and the Ongin of the N i 5 IsmZ'iIi Movement ," in Me&evaf Is&Yfi History and Thougbt, ed Farhad Daflary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 18 1-204; Farhad Daftary, The IsmZ?7s: Tbeir Histov and D0ckt~e.S(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 324-434. It is from the writings of a t m a n al-Sabb* that al-Shahrastani gathered most information on the 1smà"is. Al-S hahrasthi, 111-1MIfabvol. 1 1, 175ff. l9 Ja' far al-Subhaai, Beùrh al-Mid wa al-Nihl; Dihika Maudu"ima Muqàhna fi afMadhahib al-IsIiGnijya(Qum: Lajnat IdZrat PL-ljawza al-'nmiyya, 1410 AH-), vo1.l 1.9.

Al-Shahrast5, al-Mifa4 vol. 1 ,155. 2'

Ja' far al-Subhki, ScJlGfhal-Milah vol. 1, 8-9.

nom which people might draw facts without king exhorteci to foUow any partictiiar line of thought but allowed instead to form their own judgment.

Such an effort at objectivity, which is comidered requisite in modern scholarship. is rarely fomd in the works of other early M u s h authors. Two centuries before him, Abu al-E&san 'ffi b. 1srnZ"i al-Ash'aii had written on the Muslim sects in his

Ma@iZt al-IsIitmip'n wa'~ti~afal-~'affi.~ In this book, al-Ash'afi tries to set the record straight on Muslim sects, since there existed confusing information concerning this matter, as he states in his introduction. This is because the avaiIable

sources on that subject at the time were unreliable? From this statement one may

assume that al-Ash'afi saw his book as the final word on the Muslim sects, AlBaghdZdi, on the other hand, provides no clear statement about his intention in writing his own al-MM wa al-N&d.

''However, its readers can easily recognize the

implied purpose of the book, which is to p a s judgement on the sects existing within the Muslim community during al-Baghdisi's time. A clearly judgmental attitude of

al-Baghdàdi can be seen also in his other book, Kitab ai-Farq bayn al-Firaq. In his introduction to the latter, the author says that through the book he intends to exhibit to its readers an analysis of the sects existing within the Muslim community and to show which sects are misled and which are on the right track of Islamic teaching. Of course, al-Baghdàdi would never pass his judgment without any reason upon which

The thesis refers to the text as edited by Hellmut Ritter (Istanbul:Matba'at alDawla, 1929),2 vols.

Ai-Ash'an', MaqiIZt IsI.1m3wa 'htiilf al-Miqaffin,eeb Hellmut Ritter (Istanbul: Mafbasat al-Dawla, 1929), vol. 1, 1.

his criteria is based. In both al-MW wa a&-Nwanda l - i q bayn al-Fimq, he relies on traditions of the divisions arnong the Musüms. AU the traditions gathered by alBaghdad, although expressed in various ternis and t m m i t t e d fiom different i s s i indicate that the M u s b would be divided into seventy-three groups, each of them would be in Hel1 (Xdhhà fi al-*) other than l&'a,

except one. Therefore, he tries to disprove sects

which he believes is the correct one?

Aithough al-Shahrast-d trîed to avoid rendering a judgment in his a/-Mal? he did not adopt the same attitude when he wrote the Nibaya. Here without hesitation al-

Shahrast-ii declares his views concerning certain main theological problems.

Sometimes he goes even finther by branding other opinions as misleading.

In the introduction to his Nies, aaCShahrast%ïi says that every rational inquiry . is will amive at a certain level which reason ('aq/) cannot penetrate any f ~ h e r This the lirnit of the realm of philosophy or human reasoning that al-Shahrastz had

narned as sickat al-m~latahi?~ or &5yar a/-qrtSw~z7 The N i a was in fact written with an intention to explain the main problems in Islamic speculative theology in which reason could go no further? In other words, as ~ u i l l a k eputs it, al" 'Abd al-Qàhir al-Baghdâdi, &ta6 al-F~rgbayn ai-Firaq? ed Muhammad Badr (Cairo: Ma!babat al-Ma'arif, n.d.), 2-3. 25 Several examples of the traditions of "Ittirâq al-Uizzma" can be found in M&ammad b. Tsii b. SÜra al-Tirmidiii, Sman ?ird&i wa huwa /ami' al-Sa@.@,ed. 'Abd al-R-in M@ammad 'Uthmiin (Beirut: DZr al-Filcr, 1983) vol. 4, 134-135. The traditions have been transmitted through different isnâds and from different authorities. See also alBaghdàdi, fit& al-Farq b a p al-Fimq, 4- 11;and al-S hahrasthi,af-Milai, vol. 1,21 .

He refers to the Qur'anic tem in sürat al-Najm (53: 14). TI

Al-Shahrast aa?, Nihaya, 3.

Shahrast-d's piirpose in writing the Nibiïya was Yo indicate the farthest point reached by the philosophical thinkers ofhis day and to show how far their tenets are

reasonable and reconcilable with orthodoxy, and in what respects they are wrong or defe~tive."~' In contrast to his attitude in al-Ml' l. the Niby* al-Shahrastani

declares openly the beliefk he holds in matters of theology. Aithough no explicit statement exists to the effect that al-Shahrastaiu composed the NiZya as a complementary sequel to his al-Milal, Guillaume, who had edited the former work,

concludes that this was al-Shahrastihi's intention? Of course, like al-Mial,the Nibya was not the first book to deal with the subject of theology. Many books in the same field had been composed by al-Shahrastarll's

predecessors coming fiom different schools of thought. From the Ash'afi school, one

written by the founder of the school, al-hsâ~~~ and al-~anrhid," both written by an important AshW theologian, AbÜ Bakr Mdymmad b. amayyib al-BZqillàlii (d.

29

Guillaume, "Introduction," ix. Ibid.

31

Al-Ash'afi, al-fbàùa 'an Usa al-DiyS~a,tram. and introduction by Walter C. Klein (New Haven, Connecticut: American Oriental Society, 1940, reprinted by Kraus Reprint Corporation, New York, 1967).

'* A l - M d , Ki'tab a l - L w :tram. Richard J. McCarthy, S. J. (Beirut : Imprimerie Catholique, 1953). " Al-Bàqillarii, al-&@ fmif Yqib I'tiqadutru wa /i * Y ai-JhI &il4 ed. Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthafi (Cairo: Maktab Nashr al-Thaqifa al-Islâmiyya, 1369/1950). 34

AI-BZqilIS, al-Tamb3d A al-Radd % f ial-Mmida ,va al-Mit Vrifa wa ai-Rifig'a rva al-Khawkj wa ai-Mugtap'Ia, ed- Richard J. McCarthy, S.J. (Beirut: al-Maktaba alSharqiyya, 1957).

403/1013), the hhi#of I m k al-Haramayn Ab6 MaCalial-Juwaylii (478/1085), and

a/-IqtNd
which particular categories and questions of metaphysics are treated?

Determining the exact methodology used by most authors of early and medieval

Islarnic scholarship is not always an easy task. It is even more difficult when the work under discussion is seen and measured in the Iight of modem scholarship. In order to

provide a fair evaluation, ou. analysis of the methodology employed .by al-

Shahrast-ii in his al-M'Id and the Nibya will be based on the scholarly standard of his tirne- However, this does not mean that links to modem scholarship will be Ieft unexplored.

In general, modem scholars in the science of the history of religions tend to consider medieval studies done on the subject of religion to be subjective and full of biased opinions. This is because the study of religion in the Middle Ages was usually

only oriented towards theological and philosophical problems, as Kit agawa states:

" Al-Juwayai, al-lisbiii i f i Qaww' &-Adilla fi fi2 al-PfiqZci, ed. Mukpmmad Ykuf Miki and 'Ali 'Abd aI-Mun'im 'Abd al-Hanu'd (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khh.., 1950).

'

Al-GhaZaIi. ai-1qtig:sàa fi al-l'rigi e d M&mÜd Tawfiq (Cairo: Maktabat alHusayn al-Tijsyya, n-d,). C. Anawati, "Philosophy, Theology. and Mysticism" in The Legscy of Islam,ed. Joseph Schacht with CE. Bosworth (Oxford: the Clarendon Press, 1974). 364. " Georges

During the Middle Ages, three monotheistic religions -Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - existeci side by side in the Mediterranean area. The relationshïp ammg them was amazingly amiable in certain anas, and Christians, Jews, and Muslims had ample opportunities to "compare" their religions with others and ask senous questions. Indeed, some of them did ask fimdamental questions, but their questions and answers were deah with theologicaüy and philosophically, not "s~ientifically'~ in the sense of ReIr'gronw'ss~c.&. This scientific temper in the study of religions develo ed o d y at the dawn of the modem penod, namely during the Enlightenment.

3r

Another similar judgment of the nature o f the medieval approach to the a u d y of religions is given by Charles R Long. He is of the opinion that the science of the history of religions is a child of the Enlightenment. Long says, for example: This is to recognize that the history of religions had its begimings in a period in which the Western World was seeking some rational, instead of reiigious undent anding, of t he history of man's religious life. The history of religions during the Enli tenment was for the most part rationalistically and moralistically oriented.

!iP

Contrary to the general views of modem historians of religions, Alynad Khafifa

his d-Miiai had tried t o view cornes to the conclusion that a l - s h a h r a ~ t ~ through , the st udy of religion as essentially a problem of howledge and its investigation." This is obvious in that al-Shahrastani makes an effort to provide five introductions in

which he explains several important points related to the rnethod&o= he uses. The

most remarkable contribution of ai-Shahrastàlii in te-

of the met hodologicai aspect

38

Joseph M. Kitagawa, T h e History o f Religions in America," in The History of Religions: k y s in Methodofogy, eed- M. Eliade and J.M. Kitagawa (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, s ' impression, ~ 1970). 16. 39

Charles H. Long's remarks appear in footnote to Ismail R Al-Firüqï, "Historyof Religions: Its Nature and Significance for Christian Education and the Muslim-Christian Dialogue," in ~ u m e n ,vol. XXII, Fasc. 1 (January 1965), 65, as cited by M-ad Khalifah Hasan Qmad Khafifah, "Medieval Jewish-Muslim Contribution to the Academic Study of Religion: A Study in the Methodology of Saadia al-FayyÜmi and M@amniad alShahrastani (A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board, 1976), 13. JO

Ahmad Khafifh, "Medieval Jewish-Muslim Contribution", 364.

is his careful elaboration of the meaning of religion, and his systematic way of classifjhg the religious data under discusioe Al-Shahrast-%ii was himself dissatisfied with most of the schemes of classifying the people of the world applied by earlier scholars writing on the subject of religions and sects. It is clear fiom his text that al-Shahrast-&ïi considered the matter of

classification an important aspect in the science of the history of religions. The way in which a scholar classifies the peoples of the world will influence the structure and the content of his discussion. Ai-ShahrastZ observes that most books on religions

and sects that he had read lacked this systematic classification, and therefore, were

far fiom having any precision and clarïty. Such books were neither clear in

distinguishing between a religion, a sect or a school of philosophy, nor consistent in defming these three categones.

Before developing his own classification, al-Shahrastani descnbes several different ways of classirng the peoples of the world used by the scholars of his age. In his first introduction, al-Shahrast-ii observes there are at least four approaches comonly employed by medieval men of letten. First, as he points out, some scholars classified mankind in accordance with the seven ccregions"of the earth. The natures and characteristics of the inhabitants of each region were descnbed on the basis of their ciifferences in colour and languages? The second classification used by earlier scholars was a division based on four zona1 regions, namely the West, the East, the North and the South. For each region they would ascribe particular natures

" Al-Shahrast

S, al-MIa4 vol. 1, 19. 52

and laws or ways of Me!'

Another popdar classincation, as allhahrastâxii states,

was that by associating the peoples of the world according to four major nations

&bar al-mm),i.e. the Arabs, the 'Ajam (Persiat~s'~),the Romans ( ~ r e e k s and ~) the ~ndians!'

Those who used such a classification usually tended to see them as

essentially forming two larger groups. The Arabs were commonly placed alongside the Indians because of their closeness in spirituality and outlook By contrat, the Romans were groupeci together with the Persians, since they too resembled one a n ~ t h e rThe . ~ ~fourth classification, adopted by al-Shahrastani in his al-Milal, is that

which classifies the peoples of the world according to their beliefs, whether religious

or philosophical. in this matter, al-Shahrastiki clearly states, "Others divide mankind according to their ideas or opinions (%Z) and beliefs or doctrines (ma&&ib), and this is our intention in the composition of this book.''" Al-Shahrastki in his ai-MI& however, does not name the scholars who applied the aforementioned modes of classification. Nevertheless, in modem scholarship on

the science of the history of religions such classifications are also commonly used.

Fred Louis Parrïsh in his work ent it led The CZassification of Relgions, Its Relation

to the Histoy of ReIigroas, provides a Iist of the methods of classification, some of

''Ai-Shahrastani, a/-Milad vol. 1, 19. " A.K.

Kazi and J.G. Flynn, Muslm Sec& mdfifsion, 9.

.a Ibid.

"Ai-Shahrastani, al-MM vol. l,20. 36

Ibid,

" Al-Shahrastâni, al-Milah vol. 1 1,20.

which are simüar to the ones cited by al-Shahrast-ii. -ad

Khalif'ah suutmarizes.

with precision what Parrïsh wcote as foUows:

Language: The critexion of language was adopted by Max Müller. In his Introduction tu the Science of ReIr'p'on, he stated: "The only scientific and truly genetic classification of religions is the same as classifications of language." Accordingly, MWer distinguished three groups of religions: IndoEuropean, Semitic, and Turanian.

Race; Ethnology: This was adopted by Whitney, who distinguished between "race religion" (a reIigion of the group) and "religions of individual founders." J.G. Clarke also distinguished between: 1- One race or "ethnie religions": Brahmanism, Buddhism, Religion of Egypt, Greece . . 2- 'Transcending one race," or "Catholic religions": Judaism, Mohammedanism (Local form), Christianity (universal focm). Chantapie de la Saussaye emphasized the "ethnographical and historical cohesion of the peoples of the earth." His classification included religion of primitive or nature people, of Chinese, of Japanese, of the Egyptians, of the Semitic people. . . . D.J.H. Ward followed Max Müller's linguistic classification interpreted by Ward as reflecting racial relationship. Ward's classification focused on ethnological relationship and historical connections. Thus we have the Oceanic religions, the Afncan, the American, the Mongolian and the Medit erranean races.

-

Geography: R.E. Hume classified religions according to regions of origin. Accordingly, we have religions originating in South Asia, in East Asia, . . ., in West Asia Oscar Peschel, Ellswonh Huntington, Vidal de la Blanche classified religions on the basis of clirnate conditions and physical environments.

Language-Race-Geography: Conrad van Orelli arranged religions into seven groups: Turanian group - Harnitic family - Semitic family -- Indo European family - M c a n group Amencan group Oceanic group. .

-

-

Culture: F.B. Jevons divided religions into "customaty" religions and "positive" religions. Accordingly we have: Religious of "savage" culture - of "primitive" culture- of "advanced" culture - religion "CO-extensive wirh life." Maurice Vernes distinguished two classifications: 'civilized' and 'uncivilized' religions giving importance to "the demand of geography and the developments of history." G.F. Moore also distinguished between "civilized" and "uncivilized" as represent ing two stages of cult ure? adopting a classification on the basis of the beliefs and ideas of men, alShahrastiZ deliberately includes schools of philosophical thought and ideas held by the peoples of the world in his discussion on religions in his d-Mm He fully

recognizes that it is not only religions which constitute ideas, beiiefs and doctrines by which human beings try to control their livcs, but also philosophy. Fuithemore, ai-

Shahrastaoi distinguishes between men who follow the teachings of genuine religions, and those who follow pseudo-religions, philosophical ideas and other creeds. He ascribes the Magians, the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims to the first group, namely those following religions.49To the second group al-Shahrifstarii assigns

the philosophers (alFal'ifafa).the matmalistr (al-daiin'iiya),the Sabians (al.aai'a), the worshippers of stars and idols ('abadat d-KatvZkfb wa al-Awtbàh) and the

Brahmans (al-~arabima)?~ In the area of philosophical and religious beliefk, al-Shahrastani makes a

distinction as well as illustrating a relationship between the two by positing a developmental process in their evolution. According to al-ShahrastZÙi, philosophical thought is iderior to revelation since it occupies a lower stage than revelation. However, in ternis of the evolution of thought, they share the same beginning. AlShahrast-Zi saw this evohtion as consist ing of 1. the Sophist (al-SrdLiflS'iiyya) rejection of both the sensorial and the rat ional; 2. the Nat uralists (al-TaWiyya). acceptance of the sensorial and rejection of the

rat ional; 3. the Materialists (al-Falacifa al-Dahn'ya) acceptance of both the sensorial and the rational, rejection of regulation and laws;

"@ad

-

-

-

Khalifah, "Medieval Jewish-Muslim Contribution," 283-285.

49

Al-Shahrastki, al-Mifal,vol. l,20. -

50

Ibid, 20 and 42.

4. the Sabians (alSa;bi'a> acceptance of the sensorial and the rational, acceptance ofregulations and laws; rejection of sharl'a (as a body of law) and submission; 5. the Magians, the Jews and the Christians (a/-Mi&, aial-YalZi$ d-Neaia2

acceptance of the sensorial and the rational, acceptance ofregulations and laws, acceptance of a body of laws and a kind of submission, rejection of the shafi'a of the prophet M&nmma& 6. the Muslims (alMwIun&j acceptance of al1 the above mentioned.*'

In the second introduction al-Shahrastaai elaborates on the mode of classification of the Muslim sects- He fin& dl the rnethads of classifications used by his

predecessors writing in the same field to have been unsystematic and confùsing. Indeed, he says, "1 have not found a.ny two writers able to agree on one system by

which the Muslim sects may be cla~sified.'"~Because of such methodological inadequacy in making divisions, al-Shahrasta8i chooses to develop his own method of classimg the Muslim sects. in dealing with this subject, al-Shahrastini holds the view that sects consist of doctrines and founders. Instead of describing al1 the different doctrines of the sects, al-Shahrasts restncts himself to selecting four major principles (&FUI

al-&bai) as categories in accordance with which he

detemines the major sects o f the ~uslirns? These fundamental categones of differentiation are:

"

1. the question of the unity of God and its relation to the issues of divine attributes

(al-sifit wa &-ta wbidI), Ai-Shahrastàiu', al-Mila4 vol. 2,4-5. "Md. v01.1, 21.

'' Ibid., 2 1. " Ibid., 22.

2. the notion of divine dm-

and justice (al-qadkr wa al-%&)

;

3. the questions concemed with promise and waming (al-wa'd wa d-wa CdJ 4. the problems related to revelation and reason, apostleship and tm&a (alsian' wa

According to al-Shahrastalii there are two common procedures used by scholars in writing on the sects." The first method is to consider the doctrinal questions as the headings of the structures, The second m e t h d is to use the names of the founders of the sects as the headings under which the doctrinal questions are described Because of its scientific accuracy, al-Shahrastàrll decides to adopt the latter method? At the end of this second introduction, in addition to explainhg this methodological aspect, al-Shahrastani States that he has the fidl intention to write an objective and unbiased

report on the Muslim sects. He declares himself ready to avoid being prejudicial and judgrnental about the sects he is discussing."

Al-Shahrastani clearly says:

1 made myself a rule, that 1 will describe the doctrine of each sect in accordance with the rnanner 1 found it in their books without any favouritism to them on my part, and without any bias against them This will be done without any attempt to distinguish what is sound in it fiom what is compt, or to distinguish the truthful in it fiom the false. However, the flashes of truth and the odor 'of falsehood will become manifest to the intelligent min& in the realms of rat ional proofs?

-

-

''Al-Shahrastki, al-MIilr, vol. 1, 23. %

Ibid., 2 1.

57

Ibid., 23. The translation is by a l - F E @ . "lslam," 326; al-Shahrastàni. a l - M f vol. ~ 1.23.

This idea was quite new for his tirne. While most Muslim writers of the Medieval

period often showed a subjective, judgmentai and apologetic attitude in theù works on religions and sects, al-Shahrasttd promotes a new way of Mewing the subject, ~ a m e l ywith objectivity. From a methodological point of view, by his carehil choice of the mode of classification, al-Shahrastàii? made his dM'Ial more scholarly reliabIe than other

books dealiog with the same subject. Ibn Kazm's al-Figd B al-Milal wa al-Abwa' wa al-NiBal, for instance, has no such clear classification and arrangement. The author follows an unclear order in explainhg religions, sects or ideas. It seems that ibn

Hazm adopted what al-Shahrasta lists fint among the methods of classifying the Muslim sects, that is, to consider doctrinal questions as the defining criterion. In addition, Ibn Hazm does not hesitate to pass judgment, by ascribing inadequacy and

incorrectness to religions or ideas different fkom his own. However, Ibn Hazm is always careful not to mis-judge religions and sects, and carefully elaborates and tries to understand the counter-arguments provided by those parties he is attacking." The

approach he uses in his Esal can bc dwcribed as a "trw-false approach.'bO Such strong true-false and apologetic tendencies can also be found in the work of al-

Baghdasi entitled al-Farq b a p al-Fi-

He makes a division of the Muslim sects on

the basis of the popular tradition that the Muslirn community is divided into seventy-

" Israel Friedlaender, "ïhe Heterodoxies of the Shiites in the Presentation of Ibn

Hazm,Journal of the Amencm Onentai Sociefx ed E. Washbum Hopkins and Charles C. Torrey, vol. 28 (New Haven, Connecticut: ï h e Amencan Oriental Society, 1907), 15.

"

Djam 'annuri, "Al-Syahrastk i dan Kitabnya a/-MW wa s/-N@a4/," (MA. fhesis Submitted to the State Institute of Islamic Studies(IAïN) Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 1986). 85.

three sects, only one of which, will be saved Throughout his discussion, therefore, he

tries to show the incomctness of the teachings of sects other than that of the A H alSrmoa wa ai-Iama"a 'Abd al-Qahir al-BaghdZdi closes his book with an explmation of the virtue and comctness of the teachîngs of the A M a l - S m 4 by virtue of which this sect earns the right to sdvationb'

In determining the number of the Mustim sects, al-Shahrast-iï, like other medieval

Muslim scholars of this science, refers to the tradition which says that the Magians were divided into seventy sects, the Jews into seventy-one, the Christians into

seventy-two, and the Muslims into seventy-three sects6' He accepts as well the authenticity of the Prophetic tradition that says, "My community will be divided into

seventy-three sects, but only one of these will be safe (al-nàjiya), the othen will Al-Shahrastani shows here no critical approach, but instead accepts the

perish?'

report and bases his numbering of the Muslim sects on it. Qwting another tradition,

al-Shahrastani asserts that salvation will belong to those who follow the sunna and

61

Al-Baghdadi, Kir;& al-Farq baya al-Fiiq, 299-354. AL-Tirnidhi reports two traditions on the authority o f Ab? Hurayra and 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr, respectively, in which the Prophet is reported to have said: 1 ) '%mab d l ~ a " l iftaraqat 'aZ'i&fZ wa sa&Tna fi., i ~ ummati a sataîhfqu 'ala'thnataayn wa sa&%a fiqa, ku/Irr%râ fi a h a i ilIa w w d a wa hiya al-jama'a;" 2) ". . . wa i m a b w wIsra'U safaftanqu 'alà'hnataan> wa sabCna mdla, wa taffanqum a t : 'al; thalatb wa sab '3% mZa, MI ubm fi ai-niù-il"; milla w@da, -la mg m a yZrasü( Alla? qàïa: ma'ani 'akyh wa &ibZ "Ai-Ti rmidhi, Smau, vol. 4, 134- 13 5. " Al-Shahrastani, al-Milal, vo1.l , 20. For al-Shahrastàni's source see al-Tirmicihi, Sunan, vol. 4, 134. On the authority of Ab? Hurayra, al-Tirnidhi &tes that the Prophet is reported to have said: ''taffn'qu al-y&* 'di wa &'Zn firqa, wa d-nq&a 'afF 'rluarap wa sab I wa f a t h i p u ummari 'ditharaTh [vasa&PR firqa See footnotes alTirmicihi above.

ma.

Al-Shahmit=, al-MifaI,vol.1, 21. For more detail see al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, vo1.4, 134- 135-

the congregation, that is, who follow what was practiced by the Prophet and his

cornpanions? The tradition of the Prophet on the seventy-th-

sects must be

reviewed in at l e s t four aspects:65 The authenticity of the chah of the transmitters fisni%@ of the tradition, This authenticity must be reviewed by detennining whether the tradition was t ransmitted by a chab of genuine transmitters."

The correctness of the content or message of the tradition. The content of the tradition is still questionable since there are several other versions of this tradition dealing with the same matter? The reference to salvation. The discussion on which sect or sects will be admitted eit her to Heaven or to Hel1 needs clarification, since several different traditions -

exist .68

-

The information relating to the number of the sects. In addition to the fact that there are differences between the traditions, the question of whether the number must be understood in a mathematical or in an allegorical way m u t be taken into

@

Al-Shahrasthi, al-MI& vol. 1,2 1.

" labfar al-S ubhki,

B@Üfh&-Milal, vol-1.2 1.

Al-Baghdàdi acknowledges that there are several different chain of transmittea ( a s Z d kathira) related to this tradition. Al-BaghdZdi, KI& ai-Farq baya al-Firaq, 5. 66

67

Imàm al-Tinnidh?, for instance reports several different formulation of the tradition (mata) transmitted t hrough different isnids. See al-Tinnidtii, Sunan, vol. 4, 134135.

'

For SunZ traditions, consuit al-Tirnidhi, Smau, vol. 4, 134-135. For Shi? sources, for instance, the writer of the book RawdZt al-Jma reports that the Prophet is believed to have said that the sabation belongs to "the Prophet and his Shiba" (Anif wa ShPatO, al-Subhin?, B@ufh al-MiId, vol. 1,26.

~onsideration.6~ If the number rewealed by the tradition must be understood in a mathemat ical sense, t h m is stüi a question regarding exactly when the number of Muslim sects wiU reach the number of seventy-three. While al-Shahrastàni, in t erms of methodology, contributes considerably t O the

he does not, scientific development of religious history in his a / - M I ' in his N ~ Z y a although he does review theological questions in the Light of rational philosophy in the latter work In writing the Nibaya, al-Shahrast-d clearly foliowed the common method employed by other medieval writers in theology, namely, that of dialectic (al-

mujadaala). hstead of providing an objective descnpt ion of the scholastic, philosophical and theological problems discussed by most Muslirn theologians, alShahrast%i gives an analysis that pmvokes subjectivity. He does not hesitate to refite several theological views that are different h m his own. Some chapter headings in the Nia*

explicitly show this tendency; for instance, chapter four,

which is eutit led "The Refbt ation of Ant hropomorphism" (E

al-~ashbih)?*and

chapter fîve, "The Refitation of Those Who Deny the Divine ~ttributes"flIbraZ

Madhhab al- Ta:ri7 wa Bay& Ww& ai-7a :~I'I)-'' In the Nikija ai-dhahrastani arranges the chapters on the basis of the pnority of the problems being addressed The most fundamental pnnciples of Islamic theology occupy the first chapters of the Naàya. He places the discussion on the creation of

69

Djam'annuri, "al-Syahrastân?," 87.

'O

A l 4hahrast%, Nihea, 103.

7'

Ibid., 123.

the world in the first chapter, since the conclusion drawn h m it will a&ct the entire later doctrinal discussion in Islamic theology. After desimathg a certain topic of

discussion as the heading, in several chapters, ai-ShahrastM f h t explains some popular views on the matter, before going on to refute a number of these opinions and

show the soimdoess of the ones he holds. In other chapters, al-Shahrastaai often directly describes his criticism of the opinions held by members of sects to which he

did not belong. Methodologically speaking, alShahrastaiii contributes Iitt Ie to the scientific study of religion in his Nihàya, except for the fact that basing himself on philosophical logic he supplies arguments in rehdation of the contrasting views held by some Muslim sects.

C. C O N T E N T That al-ShahrastX earmarked his books alWd and Nihya for different purposes was pointed out earlier. The contents of al-Milal is more variegated than the

latter. The Nibaya deals specifically with several important Islamic theologicai problems that were not thoroughly analyzed or evaluated by him in his &MiId. Hence, in the Nïhiiya one often fin& the genuine opinions of al-Shahrast-&C in regard to some questions of speculative t heology. In &-MM al-Shahrastàai provides five introductory statements before putt ing forth the discussion on religions and sects, philosophical ideas and other creeds. These five introductions are not only very important, but helpful as well for his readea since they reveal the methodological and systematic basis employed by al-

ShahrastEi in writing the book A summary of these five introductions is given below. The first introduction is aimed at giving an explanation of the method by which al-

ShahrastZ divides the peoples of the world His classification is based on religions adhered to by rnankind and their philosophical ideas. Thus, al-Shahrastani views the peoples of the world in the light of these two categones: people of genuine religion

(ahl al-diyaIràt wa al-m'Ial) and people following their own passions and judgments (ahl al-ahw5' wa al-&z).* In the second introduction, al-Shahrastâ~iiproposes a new, more specific method to determine the sects, particularly within the Muslim community. He develops his classification by setting four fundamental theoiogical questions as the categories of differentiatiod3 In order to organize the Muslim sects in a precise order, he decides to use the names of the sect founders as headings. In

this section, al-Shahrastaài also declares his intention to be objective and unbiased in writing about dl religions and sects." The third introduction is devoted to explainhg how the first doubt arose in the

world and how it came to affect Iater doubts, which cause Muslims to be separated

one f?om another. According to al-Shahrastarii, in general, these doubts are manifested in two forms. The fvst doubt appears in the form of exaggeration

(gbuluw), Le., by applyiog either the law

of God to human beings, or the law

of created beings to the Creator. The second doubt is caused by default ( t a q a , 72

Ai-Shahrast ZrU, al-Milaiwa a/-Nibah vol.l,20.

73

See footnote 50 above.

73

Al-S hahrast hi,ai-Mifa4vol. 1.23-

'fi

namely being neglectful in one's description of G d ' s attributes. Eaçh of these manifestations of doubt is a result of an extremely shortsighted point of view in

dealing with the hdamental p ~ c i p l e sof Islamic theology. In his view, moving away fkom the rniddle is itself blarnew~rth~?~

The fourth introduction attempts to describe al-Shahrastani's ideas on the enors that arose in the early years of the Muslim community. He considers that the Grst

error of the M u s W o c c d in the üfetïme of the prophet Muijammad This was caused by the "hypocrites" (al-mzmaqk) who outwardly manifested thernselves as

Muslims while at the sarne time conceaüng their unbelief. Their hypocrisy can be detected by their constant cnticism of everything the Prophet decided to do or not to do.76 Furthemiore, al-Shahrast-d describes ten other disput es t hat arose arnong the

Muslims during the time of the prophet's final illness, and between his death and the reign of

b. Ab1 ~alib."In his opinion, the dispute over the im&a was the fifth,"

and was the most disastrous one arnong other~.'~ In this matter, ai-Shahrastàai's view

75

Al-Shahrast&i, al-Milal, vol. I,27.

76

Ibid.

n Ibid., 29-3378

The first dispute occurred when the Prophet in his sickness asked some companions to bring him a sheet of paper and an inkpot by which the Prophet will wrïte his last wiI1. However, this request was not fulfilled by the order of 'Umar b. al-Khar$ib. The second dispute is about the Prophet's order to continue the expedition to the North led by U s k a . Seeing the Prophet was seriouîly sick, some companions decided to delay joining the expedition. The third one happened when the news about the Prophet's death reached 'Umar b. al-Kha!tib and he refùsed to accept the fact. And the fourth dispute is over the question on where the corpse of the Prophet would be burieci- However, these first four disputes did not initiate the emergence of sects in Muslim community. Al-Shahrastki, &MM, vol.1, 29-30.

is dinerent nom that of ai-Ash'd. The latter considers that the question over the

imaiaa was the first dispute to occur after the death of the prophet." In the fifth introduction, al-Shahrastalii explains his reason for writing the book alMilal wa al-Nid on the basis of "mathematical" @'-bisib) anangement. In his

opinion, such a structure provides precision and acciiracy? What al-Shahrastàni means by a mathematical method is probably similar to the scientific method of

modem schoiars in the history of religions, one which claims a basis in iogic and clarity of rea~onin~!~ Ai-Shahrastàrii promotes a new methodology in both the study and the writing of texts on religions and sects, doing so by using logic and the

mathematical tools that he was farniliar with, which he hoped would result in objectivity and certainty. On this matter, he says: "Since 1 am a jurist (faqib)and a

a

theologian (mutakalIim), someone would assume that 1 am a stranger to the insights of the methods and laws in the science of mathematics ('(lm d+isa?), and that my pen is alien to its concepts and ~andmarks."*~

These five introductory staternents, in fact, successfully serve the purpose of the author, which was t o inform his readea of some basic methodological approaches and

modes of classification used, which was quite new in al-Shabrastalii's time. After accomplishing these tasks, he proceeds to give a description of the religions and sects 79

Al-Shahrastz, aZ-MiZii4 vol.l,30.

80

Al-Ash'aii, Ma@& al-hr/mip%, vol. l,2.

81

Al-Shahrastki, al-Milal, vol. 1,38-39. Ahmad Khafifah, "MedievalJewish-Muslim Contribution," 266.

" Al-Shahrast 5,al-Milai', vol. 1.39.

adhered to by the peoples of the world, as well as presenting some of the most

influentid phiiosophical views. In his treatment of the people adking to revealed religions and sects, alShahrasta arranges his presentation as follows: 1. TheMustims

2. The Peoples of the Book, i.e. the Jews and the Christians 3. The Peoples wîth something comparable to a Book, Le. the Magians and the

Manichaeans. Al-Shahrastani places the Muslims in the first position before the Jews and the Christ ians, who, however, existed historically before the Muslims, since he regards them as closer to penection. Islam, according to ai-Shahrastiril, is more perfect than the other two religions, since he asserts that "to MG5 (Moses) was bestowed revelation and to

'ISZ (Jesus) the deeper understanding of revelation, but to

Mukpnmad was given both revelation and deeper understanding according to the creed of the father of universal monotheistic religions. ~brahirn."~ From these pieces

of information it is clear that al-Shahrastiril does not arrange his account of the world religions known to him on the basis of an histoncal-chronological manner. Instead he treats "those meriting to be treated fmt and places at the end those meriting to be placed there."'* Cont inuing his description of other religions, al-Shahrast àcii consistently applies

the method of classification he developed for determining the Muslim sects. He

" Al-Shahrastalii, a/-Misa/. vol. 1.45. " Ibid., 42.

chooses several of the most important theological problems h m each religion under discussion as categories for classifying those sects. In the case of the Muslims, for instance, al-Shahrastàrii selects four disputed theological points86 From t hese categories, he cornes to determine five major sects within the Muslim commmity worthy of mention, namely, the Mu'tazüa, the Jabriyya, the Siftiyya, the Khawkij,

and the SE%; the remaining chapter of this thesis wili in fact be focused on his survey of this group.

In his account on Judaism and its major sects, al-Sh&astani decides to employ such theological issues as the concept of law, the concept of abrogation, anthropomorphism, fieewill, predestination, resurrection and the idea of the Messiah as the categories of differentiation8' AL-S harast h i believes, in accordance with the

tradition cited earlier, that the Jews are divided into seventy-one sects. In his alM m however, he chooses to descnbe several of the most famous sects instead of

exploring al1 seventy-one? The most important sects in this religion, in his view, are: 1) the 'In-dyya, followers of ï n k b. D Z W U ~2); the ~ ~ %awiyya, the followea of Ab? ?sa Ishaq b. Ya4qÜb al-&fahà~i;~~ 3) the MuqZrïba and the YÜdh'i.niyya,

-

g6

-

--

See footnote 50 above.

" Ai-Shahrastihi, ai-MIIa~vol.1, 193. Ibid., 195. ss Ibid, 196.

Ibid.

-

-

-

foliowers of ~ ü d h ' a n ; ~and ' 4) the S

m the inhabitants of the motmtains at Bayt

al-~u~addas?~ In determining the sects among the Christians, al-ShabrastX se1ects the

theological question concerning the nature of Christ, bis birth, resurrection and ascension, the Trinity and the Logos, as the categories of dinerentiatioo?' Here, al-

Shahrast-d again has no intention of describing al1 the sects which arose within the Christian faith, as indicated by his statement, "And the Chnstians later dnri-ded into

seventy-two sects, the greatest among them behg three sects, narnely the Malkaniyya, the Naçturiyya, and the Ya'qÛbiyya?4

In order to descnbe the religions of the Magians and the Dualists (Manichaeans), al-Shahrastk; decides to focus on two fundamental prob!ems, "Asto the problerns of the Magians, they al1 revolve around two principles. One of them is the constitution

of light into darkness. The second is the purification of light nom the elements of d a r h e ~ s . ' ~The * Magiaas also disagree over the notion of the etemity of both

powen, light and darlmess. Original Magians, as al-Shahrastani points out, believe

that it is only the substance of light that is without a beginning ('a&@), .

whereas the

-

substance of darkness is newly created (m~@ktha)?~ From these two disagreements -

'' Al-Shahrastarii, al-MI.,vol. 1, 197. " Ibid.,

199.

93

Ibid, 20 1-202.

9J

Ibid., 202.

95

Ibid., 2 12.

%

Ibid.

stem a number of sects of the Magians, the most important of which are t h e in number: 1) The Kiyümarthiyya, followm of ICiy~marth;" 2) the Zurwaniyya, followers of Zurwin (Persian -~urvk)?* and 3) The Zardashtiyya, followers of Zardasht b.

rashab ab?^

The Manichaeans hold a different beiief regarding the idea of light and darkness

fiom the Magians. The Manichaeans believe in the etemity of both light and darimess. They, however, admit that there are some differences in their particuiar

essence and nature. 'O0 Furthermore, al-Shahrastaiu considen that Manichaeism is "a mixture of the Magian beliefs and the religion of ~ h r i s t i a n i t ~ . "T~o~ analyze ' the sects of the Manichaeans, he applies the same categories as he does to the Magians, namely, the mingling of light with darkness and the purification of light fiom

darhess. From this, al-Shahrastaai cornes to mention several sects, among which the most popular are: 1) the Man- awiyya, foilowen of Mâxii b. ~ i t k ; " ' 2) the

97

98

Al-Shahrastikii, abMIIaA vol, 1,213.

Ibib, 214. Ibid, 2 16. Ibid., 224.

lm

'O'

Ibid.

'OZ

Ibid-, 224.

Mazdakiyya, followers of ~ a z d a ~ ; "3) ' Daysiniyya, foLLowers of ~ a ~ s k4); the ' ~ ~ a ~ a y ù'OSnand i ~5 ) the Kaynawiyya, the Siyamiyya and the ~ a n à s u k h i y y a ' ~ ~

The description of the geniiine religions is then followed by al-Shahrast-GZ's accomt on pseudo-reügions and philosophical ideas. He divides them into four major groups: the

s~bians,'O7

the p ~ o s o ~ h e r the s , ~followers ~~ of pre-Islamic Arabic

philosophical v i e w ~ , and ' ~ ~the adherents of Indian religions and philosophy."O With regard to the content of the Nagy4 it c m be said that the book is a

continuation of the general development of dogmatic theology in Islam, particularly that of the Ash'afi school. Ab6 ai-Hasan al-Ash'aii, its founder, is celebrated by the school's members for his defense of oahodox traditionalism. While professing the teachings of h Z m -ad

b. Hanbal, he disputed the doctrines developed by the

Muctazifi systematic theologians who based themselves on rationalism. and did so by using their own dialectic as a weapon. Ai-Ash'aii also perfected his arguments

'O3

Al-S hahrastaPi, al-MiiaI,vol. 1,229.

Ibid., 230. 'O5

Ibid, 232.

106

Ibid., 233.

lm

Al-Shahrastaai, al-Mjfd,vol 2 , 6 5 9 .

'O8

Ibid., 62-24 1.

'O9

Ibid, 242-257.

"O

Ibid., 258-272.

against the Mu'tazih with other tools, such as philology and grammar, as well as rational argumentation

''

Later on, however, due to the fact that the challenge fiom philosophers and rationalists was greater and their arguments became more systematic, Ash'afi theologians found it aecessary to reformulate and restate the Islamic d o p a developed by the founder of the school. Their theological doctrines had to be developed in a more systematic and logical way. Al-Shahrastk'i was among the principal theologians to adopt such a methods in stating Islamic d ~ ~ r n aThis ' ' ~ step was followed by later Ash'axï theologians, among whom Fakhr al-D'ui al-Ri5 (d. 606/1209) is regarded by some scholars as the greatest and most successful in

reformulating the new systematic t h e ~ l o ~ y . ' ' ~ The content of the Na5ya is a combination o f theology and philosophy. In most chaptea, al-Shahrastatii attacks not only the views of theologians of different

schools, but the arguments of the philosophers as well. He divides the discussion on speculative theology in his NihZya into twenty-four ~ h a ~ t e r s . The " ~ first two -

'

-

-

-

" An example of his use o f gramrnar is when he discusses anthropomorphisrn and says that God himself says that He revealed the Qur'in in clear Arabic. It follows that the Qur'k can only be understood in the light of correct Arabic usage. However, when had any

Arab ever used the word 'hand* to mean 'benevolence*, and so on?. What Arab has ever employed al1 those tricks of language that rationalist interpreters want to read into the clear text in order to despoil the idea of God of al1 content?. I e a z Goldziher, li3froduction fo Islamic TbeoZogyand Law,tram. Andras and Ruth Hamori (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 198L), 105.

"'Anawati, "Philosophy, ïheology and Myst icism," 364. Md; Fazlrn Rahman. Adlam, 2nded. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 96.

"" In his English version, Alfied Guillaume arranges thc content of the Nihaya in t wen t y

chapters. Alfred Guillaueme, The Summa Philosopbiae of al-SbahrastZn< vii-viii.

chapters are devoted to a iengthy discussion on the problem of whether the world was created or has existed fkom eternity.l's MShahrastX himself believed that the world has a beginning.''6 Next, he discusses the notion of Divine Unity (iI-tawhI'iflHe begins this chapter by stating his position, saying, 'Cod the creator is one in His

Essence (&à?)

without division, and one in His Attributes @ifif) without a simile,

@azn

and one in His Deeds (afaI) without as~ociates.""~In the fourth and the fiîth chapters al-Shahrastani explains his refutation agaiost the ideas of those who believe

in anthropornorphism (tashbio), and those who deny the Divine Attributes of God (ta :tTo, respectively. In rejecting the teaching .of authropomorphism, al-Shahrast àni

bases himself on a Qur'bic passage saying "Like Him there is naught; He is the Ail-

hearing, the 41-~eeing."''~He continues his assertion by saying:

God is like nothing fiom the created beings, and nothing fkom the creatum is Like God. He is neither substance Cawh~), nor body UiSm),nor accident ('arQI. He does not occupy place (makâiz), time and is not receptive of accidents (Ia qabil fi al-a 'ri& or the subject of temporal events (fâm&al fi al-haw~dith).~ l9

The next few chapters contain al-Shahrastani's fwther arguments affiming the Divine Attributes of God and the etemity of these Attributes. In setting these down,

al-ShahrastZri" puts emphasis on several of God's Attributes, such as Knowing

"'Al-Shahrastiitii, MhiFy%5-89. '16

Ibid., 5.

'" Ibid., 90. '18

SÜrat al-ShkZ (42:) 1).

'

Al-S hahrast &il,Nihya, 103.

l9

ra~m),'*Speaking ~ (m&ak&],

to which he devotes thme ~ h a p t e r s , 'Hearing ~~

(sami') and Seeing @a$r), which occupy two other chapters.'" After afnrming the existence of the Divine Attributes, al-Shahrastani explah his belief that nothing was incubent upon mankind before the coming of the sacred Law from God (Marx and that reason rnakes nothing incumbent on ~ o d . In ' ~this chapter, he refutes the Dualists, Brahmans, Kharijk, and the Mu'taziIis, who hold the view that although the sacred law gives information about what is honoraable and base, it does not establish it as such. It is reason which perceives good or bad actions irnmediately and by means

of discursive r e a ~ o n i q . "in ~ the following chapters, al-Shahrastiril continues his refit ation of the assertion that there is any idea of pinpose or cause (YIIa) in the Acts of God, of utility {saï$) in God's Acts and that God is compelled to do what is

optimal (&l#14).'~

The last few chapters are used by aldhahrastiirii to explain his

views and arguments conceming the tmth of prophecy, and especially the proof of the prophetic mission of Mdpmmad. In these last chapters he also discusses several important principles related to the doctrine of im&a

-

-

-

'" Al-Shahrastarii, Nibaya,2 15-237. "' Ibid., 267-340. '" Ibid., 341-369. Ibid,, 370-397. '21

lbid., 37 1.

'" Md., 397-416.

CHAPTER THREE & S K A H R A S T ~ ' S VIEW OF THE AND

In both of his works, al-Mal and the N i -

al-Shahrast5 devotes particular

attention to SE7sm- Since he considers that the distinct character of the Sl5.i movement lies on the foundation of i m b a (reügiously legitimate leadership) &er the death of the prophet ~ ~ a r n m a d al-Shahrastani ,' focuses his discussion on sevcral theological problems related to the SE? belief in this institution. in this section we will analyze al-Shahrastiii's account of Shi'ism, laying particular emphasis on the notion of imâma, as it is described in abMiid and the Nihiya. Because these two books differ in such major aspects as objective, methodology and

scope, this thesis assumes that a cornparison of al-Shahrastani's accounts of SE%m in the two wiIl reveal some dissimilarities. For this reason, it is important to analyze

al-Shahrastani's views concerning this matter. In our analysis of these texts, we will emphasize the foliowing three aspects: 1. The scope of al-Shahrastàru's discussion on Shi'ism. 2. The way al-S hahrast alii presents the discussion. 3. The possible reasons why al-Shahrastki chose to present his account of Shi'ism in

certain ways.

'

Abu al-Fath M@ammad b. 'Abd ai-KGm al-Shahrastalu, al-MI&wa alalNa&ed Mulpmmad b. Fath Allah Bachiin (Cairo: Maktabat Anjlü al-Migriyya, 1956), vol.l,33.

The k t sub-section will concentrate on analyzing and answering these questions on

the basis of the record preserved in al-Shahtastanl's & M a l . Gnalysis of his Naàya will occupy the following sub-section.

A. A G S H A H R A S T ~ SVIEWS OF THE sE@Î IM&M AS EXPRESSED IN HIS

Al-ShahrastEril hirnself states that abMila/ was written in order to provide a compendium of the world's religions and the philosophical schools drawing on the information available in their own texts? With regard to his discussion of Shi'ism, this he places in the section dealing with Muslim sects. Besides the SEqs, al-

Shahrastàni also descnbes the Mu'tazüa, the Jabriyya, the Sifatiyya, the Khawsj, and the Murji'a in this section.

Al-Shahrastanl begins his discussion of Shi'ism by ascnbing to the sect several major principles believed to be held by dl SG'is, no matter what subdivision of the

movement is being considered. The SE%, in al-Shahrastani's view, are the followers of 'Ali b. Ab? T a i b and believe that d e r the death of the Prophet the legitimate

i m h a , i.e. the religious and temporal-political leadership, belonged only to 'Ali. This im-ma was established through the divine designation and testament (nqs wa

wa&ya) of God through the Prophet Muhammad, either in an explicit @iipao) or an implicit manner (kliawaa)?

This initial defînition is quite similar to the one

given by al-Ash'G. The latter says that the reason this group was named the Shl'a was "because they followed

'Ali and regarded him as more excellent than the rest of

the cornpanions of the prophet.'* The S G l s hold in common a firm belief that i m h a is not a civil matter, nor would God and His Prophet Leave it up to mankind to decide.

It is a fundamental element (ruho) of religion upon which the survival of the truth of the Islamic faith depends. Due to the importance of the im-ma it was impossible for

the Prophet to ignore it, or to leave it to the will of the common ~uslims.'

Furthemore, with regard to the inheritance of the i m k a after the death of 'Ali, dl S E % maintain that it must remain in the line o f ' ATr's descendants. There could only be two possible instances in which the imka

could go outside of ' A E ' s direct

descendants. The fmt possibility would be that the people m u t have done injustice

@&lm) to 'Ale or to his descendants in their ignorance of his designation and bis legacy to the imams from the household of the Prophet. This would involve deliberately choosing a person other than 'AIi or one of his descendants out of personal interests and not for the sake of the true religion. The second possibility would be that the rightful i m h fiom the holy household might choose to practice prudent dissimulation (taqi'jya) in order to avoid being killed by the unjust,

illegitimate rulers who hold power.6 This prudent dissimulation was, for example, practiced by 'AIi, 'Abbas, 'Ammk, MiqdZd and Abu Dharr during the reign of the

Abu al-Hasan 'AE b. IsmZ"! al-Ash'a6, Kitab Ma@& al-Lslami~Iàwa9kbri1ZalM ~ a f f i ne ,d H. Ritter ( Istanbul: Matba'at al-Dawla, 1929), vol.1 1,s.

Ibid

caliphs Abu Bakr and ' u m d Lastly, the SE%, regardless of the sub-sect to which they belong, share a common beiief in the necessity that the imam be infdiible, i.e. immune fkom grave and minor sins (ma3th). It is only God who knows the state of uifallibility ('isma) of mankind, and hence it is the authonty of God to designate the inf'allible i m h . The Shicis, for this reason, disregard any imim who is not immune in this respect.* These claims are developed thoroughly on the b a i s of Qur'ànic texts,

and traditions of the Prophet, which the SSPs believe to have been revealed in regard to the designation of ' a ' s im-ma Al-Shahrastarii is in fact careful to augment his account with several examples of

evidence upon which the S W k ' claims are based. The S I % believe that the Prophet had appointed 'Ali as his sole successor on several occasions by allusion and on others by open declaration. As fat as the Prophet's allusions were concerned, alShahrastalu reports that on one occasion the Prophet sent AbÜ Bakr to recite siirat al-

Barà'a (al-Tawba), chapter 9 of the Qur'Zn, to the people while gathered in an assembly. The Prophet, however, afterwards chose to send 'Ali to perform this duty

instead and as an emissary of the Prophet. The Prophet took this decision f i e r he was inspired by the angel JibrZll (Gabriel) who appeared to him and said, "0,

M*ammad,

no one can deliver the message to the people on your behalf except

-

'

AbÜ Bakr Muhammad b. al-Tayyib b. al-BàqiUaEi, al-Tdd fi-&-Radd 'al&& Mi@Îda al-MuSag?iIa wa al-RaQa wa al-KBawkJ wa al-MuTapla, ed M b Ü d M.amrnad al-KhMayii and M ~ a m m a d'Abd al-Hadi Abü Rayda (Cairo: DZr ai-Fikr al'Arabi, 1947), 168.

'Ai-Shahrastan., al-MI& vol. 1, 13 1.

'~lil.'" This event, in the eyes of the SLiiTs, indicated the Prophet's preference for

over Abu Bakr- It is true that at other times the Prophet appointed other companions over Abu Bakr and 'Umar as heads of delegations; for instance. the Prophet once appointed 'Amr b. al-'&

over these two disthguished figures to iead

one delegation, and U s h a b. Zayd in another. However, the Prophet never appointed anyone over

AI^.'^ According to the Shi%, the words of the Prophet when

he

referring to the qualities of character of various companions were also an implicit

declaration of 'Ali's imima The Prophet is reported to have said: "'In the matter of religious obiigation Zayd is excellent, in the recitation of the Qur'in Ubay is excellent, in the knowledge of what is lawful ( ? 5 ~ ~and ) unlawful (IarZrnn)Mu'& is excellent, and the best jtidge among you is 'Alil; 'Ali excels as a judge.""

It so

happens that the core meaning of im-ma is that the im-kn is the chief judge in every possible case. This is because judgment is something requiring a vast range of knowledge, whereas not every kind of knowledge demands the qualities of a judge. With regard to the Prophet's more open declarations, al-Shahrast-&

narrates the

following. At the beginning of Islam, the Prophet called his tribal family together. When the Prophet asked their support for his Islamic mission by saying. 'Who will swear allegiance to me at the price of his property?" several people attending the meeting did so. He next asked, "Who will swear allegiance to me with his life's breath? The one who does so shall be my legatee (wa@ and take over this charge 9

'O

Al-Shahrastani, af-Mil& vol. 1, 144.

Ibid.

" Ibid., 145.

afier me." None of them responded to his request until fmally 'Alistretched forth his

hand to the Prophet and swore allegiance t o him with his life's breath.12 Other ostensibly authentic and unambiguous prwfs claimed by the SIG% not mentioned in al-Shahrast ani's present at ion are the traditions of the Prophet, which are popularly known as basth &saLika and hadtb al-tbaqdap- In these traditions, the Prophet is reported by 'Abd Al121 b. 'Abbis as having said: "My household is like the ark of Noah, whoever embarks upon it wil1 be saved, and whoever tums away fiom it WU be

drowned."" Zayd b. Arqb, for his part, recounted that the Prophet also said: It seems that God has calied me unto Kimself and 1 like to obey His call. But I

leave two g&at and very precious things arnong you, the Book of Allah and the members of rny household (ahl baflg. Be careful as to how you behave toward them, for these two things will never be separated fiom each other until they encounter me in Heaven (Kawthar).l4

For the SE% this was a clear, open appointment with no cause for doubt. Further evidence mentioned by al-Shahrastaiii is an incident that occurred when the Prophet had accomplished his mission and the Muslim community was established. While the Prophet and the cornpanions who joined him in the farewell pilgrimage

(w al-

wada') were on their way back to their own villages, a Qur'anic verse was revealed to the Prophet. The verse says: "O Messenger! Proclaim the message which has been

sent to you nom your Lord. Ifyou do not, you wiii not have delivered His message.

l2

Al-Shahrast5, al-MIfal, vol. 1, 144.

Ayatullàh Kashif al-GhifZ', &l SWa wa U@& (Beirut: DZr al-Adw2, 1990), 90. Mdpmmad Husayn TabEfabi?, '?the I m h and Imamate" in S1Fu"ism: Docfn'nes, Thougbfs, and Spin?ualify1 eed Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi and Seyyed Vaii Reza Nasr (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988), 160. l3

See also ' A i i h a Sayyid

l4

Tabàtabà?, "the I m k and Imamate," 161.

God will protect you fiom men.''L5 Responding to the revelation he received, the Prophet then asked al1 of his cornpanions to stop at an oasis named Ghadk Khum, for he wauted to deliver an important message. The land between the trees was cleared

and the Prophet, whîle sitting on the saddle of his camel, proclaimed: Of whornsoever 1 am the master (mawla;), "Ali is the master. May God befkiend those who befriend him, and be an enemy to those who are enemies to him; may he assist those who assist him, and forsake those who forsake him. May the tmth be wi th him wherever be goes. So I have delivered the message.16 A great Shi7 scholar of the twentieth centuiy, 'Ail-ma Sayyid Mdgmmad Husayn Tabâtaba'i: in discussing the Prophet's message at Ghadii Khum, says that the

Qur'inic verse from sûrat al-Ma'ida (5:3),17 which states the perfection of Islam, was revealed to the Prophet immediately after his very open declaration on behaif of ' f f i ,

and at the same place, Ghadir Khum. According t o Tabaxabiil, the perfection of Islam was only achieved once the Prophet had designated

as the i m b of the

Muslim community aAer him. Th= there would be an imâm to keep the religion of

1s

Skat al-Ma' ida (5:67).

l6 Al-Shahrastani, al-M'Id,vol.1, 145. The traditions rnentioned by al-Shahrastani are, in fact, also found in the most respected books of traditions in the Sumi sphere, such as the S& of Muslim b. al-Haüij, the S m of M*ammad b. %à ai-Tirmidhi. Moojan Momen, An Woduction fo SbiY &Zan; The HIstory and Doctrures of Twelver ShiYsm (Oxford: George Ronald Publisher, 1985), 11, 147. In the Mirsnadof -ad b. Hanbal, the author collects some eight traditions related b. M@mmad b. Hanbal, al-Mmna4 ed. Aipnad to the affair of Ghadir Khum. See -ad M*ammad Shakir (Cairo: Dâr al-Ma'kif, 1949), vol. 1 and 2, hadith number 241,270,9502,96 l,964,13 10;

Qur'iin says: " . . . Today the mbelievers have despaired of your religion; therefore fear them not, but fear you me. Tday I have perfected your religion for you, and 1 have completed My blessing upon you, and 1have approved Islam for your nligion . . .. " The

? ,

God from being destroyed. The verse thus guarantees the safety of Islam through the

medium of the im-ams.l8 This very famous tradition of Ghadir Khum, whîch is regarded by StuCis as an

explicit designation of 'MI as the Prophet's successor, is rejected by Surds. AlBZqillani, for instance, in his work ent itled al-lamhfd, says that the word mawfZused by the Prophet in the tradition does not necessarily mean "an i m b whom everyone

must obey."19 The tenn mawl5 was employed by the Arabs to indicate severai meanings, for instance, a helper (da&),

the son of an uncle (Ioo d'am), place and

dwe!ling (almakàh wa aiqar;U), a neighbour (d-jai),a son or brother-in-law (al-gihr) and an oath @bu?)." The ShT'is, moreover, although holding these common beliefs, disagrced over the question of how the imiüna is handed down from one im-ibn to the next. Such disagreement surfaces when an imaiii passes away, and the occasion arises when

Shi% must decide whether the i m k a is transmitted to next im-kn or not- Another question revolves around to which person within the previous h h ' s

family this

18

' A l l h a Sayyid M@arnmad Husayn .bâtabi'i, "the I m h and Imamate," 162. A similar opinion can be found also in al-NuSm& b. Mdyimmad al-Tamimi,Da 'a'& ai-LdZm, trans. Asaf k A Fyzee (Bombay: Nachiketa Publications, 1974), 18-19; Alb'ir Nqii Nadir, Madkhal ilZ al-Firaq al-IsIEzuJIva ai-Siyaj;i~awu ai-KaihJIYa (Beinit: Dir al-Mashriq, 1989), 19.

Ibid-, 169- 17 1. A quite similar explmation on the meanings of mawf'is found in Muhammad Murtadà al-Husayn? al-Zabidi's Ta/ al-'Ar& min Jawabir al-Qu&, ed. 'Afi Shayfi (Beirut: Dik al-Fikr, 1994), 21 1-212. Here, the author explains that the term mawlCis used also to indicate several different meanings, such as, malik; @ib, al-/&, al-sh&k; almua 'lm, al-m@b, etc.

a

imima is transfened?' The disputes over the rnethod and continuity of transmission

of im-ma fiom one imàm to the next hally led to the formation of subdivisions within the SE? community- Each of these subdivisions later on developed further its

own distinct doctrines on the basis of those shared beliefs. Acwrding to al-

Shahrast-d, the SE% were primarily divided into five major sub-sects, namely the Kaysaniyya, the Zaydiyya, the Imkniyya, the GhulZt (extrernists) and the

~srn~"iiiyya~~ This scheme, as drawn by al-Shahrastani, in fact, resembles only partially other

accounts given by earlier Muslim scholan writing on the SE%. Ai-Ash'aii in his Maqa/i. al-IsI&ni-,

for instance, ascribes three major sub-sects t o the SE%,

namely the Ghaliya, the Rafida and the ~ a ~ d ini al-Asha'fi's ~ ~ a ~ view, ~ the Kaysaniyya belonged to the

da," as

did the Ismiiciliyya and the ~aràmifa.*

Furthemore, Ibn H m in his al-Fjgd B al-MIal wa al-AhwZ' wa &Niai divide SG7sm into two large groups, the Zaydiyya and the Imamiyya, the latter which he sometimes designates as the ~ a w a f i d ? 'Abd al-Qahu al-Baghdâdi, in his al-Farq baya al-Firaq, does not even refer to the supporters of

irnàma as Shi%, as other

authors do, but rather names them the Rifkja. He divides the RZfida into four sub-

' Al-Shahrasthi, al-MIal, vol.1,

131.

22

Ibid.

23

Ai-Ash'aii, Ma@& al-kILimiyyui, vol.1 ,S.

24

Ibid., 18.

ZS

Ibid., 26.

26

Israel Friedlaender, 'The Heterodoxies of the Shi'ites in the Presentation of Ibn

&zm," JAOS (1907) 28: 22.

sects as foliows: the Zaydiyya, the Imàmiyya, the Kaysaniyya and the ~hulât." ALBaghdâdi's designation of the Shi% as the Raf.a does not seem entirely appropnate, since the term Rafioa indicates the rejection (.d)by SE% of the legitimacy of the

caliphates of AbÜ Bakr and 'Umar, whereas the Zaydiyya, in fact, acknowledged them

as legit imat e. Further in his discussion. moreover, al-Baghdad ventures the

opinion that the GhulZt fell outside the boundaries of the Muslim community. This was because the GhulZt held a belief ascnbing divine lordship to 'Ali

and other

imams, thus associating them with the ~ i v i n i t ~ ?The IsmZlliyya. which al-

Shahrast-d considered an independent s-ub-sect. in al-Baghdiii's view belonged in the sphere of the ~ r n a m i ~ ~These a ? ~ differences were partly caused by the lack of a

shared method of classification employed by those Muslirn authors, as was pointed out in the previous chapter.

In al-ShabrastX's account, each of these different sub-sects of the Shi% formed, as time went on, its own peculiar charactenstics. Some of them went further than

others in showiog their preference for 'Ali and his descendants, yet there were still other sub-sects who advanced different daims. In order to show their preference for 'Ali, the Im-amiyya further developed their doctrine to the point of declaring such Ieading cornpanions as AbÜ Bakr, ,'Umar and 'Uthmào as unbelievers, or at least of

n 'Abd al-Qahir b. Tahir al-Baghdadi, Kitab al-Farq baya al-Firaq,ed. Mdymmad Badr (Cairo: MaLba'at &Ma '&if, 191O), 15.

Ibid., 214.

" Ibid., 38.

accusing them of k i n g unjust and hostile to the Prophet's family?O This report is confirmed in the works of modem SK'i Muslim scholars. Mdpmmad Husayn

M ~ a f f a r ,for exarnple, States that generally the Shi% do not acknowledge the

'

leadership of the fint three caliphs as religiously legitimate? Furthemore, they seriously cnticize the f i t caiiph, Abü Bakr, for two reasons: fmt, for his collusion in convening the assembly at the Saqifa Ba6 Sa'ida, in which he was finaliy appointed the first leader of the Muslim community after the Prophet; and second, for his

refusal to deliver the land situated at Fadak to FatMa as her rightfid inheritance fiom her father, the late ~ r & h e t ? ~ It cornes as some surprise that al-Shahrast-ii includes these disputed events in his ai-Mid. Nevertheless, in al-Shahrast arii's view, the involvement of AbÜ Bakr in the

assembly of the Barii Sicida was the f d h dispute to occur within the Muslim commuaity. 'Ali, at that time, was busily occupied in carrying out the preparations for the burial of the Prophet and had no time to engage in politicai debate? The question of the Fadak land claim was the sixth dispute. la al-Shahrastani's account, Abu Bakr's refusa1 to deliver the land to Fitirna was based on the tradition of the

Prophet which says: 'We Prophets do not bequeath an inheritance; what we leave behind is for c h a ~ i t ~ . ' " ~ 30

Al-Shahrasth?, &-Mila/, vol-1, 145.

31

Muhammad Husayn Mqaffar, Tz' ASWa (Qum: Maktabat BqIrat?, n-d.), 14.

32

Hamid Enayat, "Shi'ism and Sunnism," 7 1

33

Al-Shahrastalu, alalMial, vol.l,30-3 1.

"

"ria&u ma ' S r al-aabiya' f i nStb, mif tarakai $adagatan. See wmad b. )Ianbal, al-Musnad: vol. 1, hadith aumber 139 1; ai-Shahrastatii, al-Mid, vol. 1,3 1. "

'Umar was also blamed by the Sh'iqs for his conduct in fiont of the Prophet when the latter was sick and nearing death. On the Thunday before he died, the Prophet,

who was seriously ill, asked the cornpanions who were present to bring him paper and

an inkpot with which he could write down his last will. At this very important moment, however, 'Umar prevented the cornpanions fiom complying with the Prophet's Iast request, for he saw that the latter had reached a critical stage in his

ilhess. According to the Shi%, the Prophet wodd have convcyed his dcsirc to designate 'Mi as his sole successor in writing. 'Umar was also guilty of introducing innovations in legal and ntual matters. For example, 'Umar banned the practice of ternporary marriage (mut 'a), and appointed a commission consisting of six people to decide his successor after his death. ALthough 'Aii was included in the council, its composition was obviously weighted in favour of 'UthmGn, who was in the end appointed the third caliph?

According to al-Shahrastani, the problem over the

question of a commission of consultation (s6Ga3 instituted by 'Umar was the ninth dispute, with different opinions expressed regarding this mat ter?6 As for 'Uthrnin, the Shi% coasidered his nepotism to be his gravest weakness.

The oppressive attitude he displayed toward the supporters of 'Ali, which included

a distinguished SE'i, into exile, was condemned by the sending Abu Dharr al-Ghifd, SE%. Furthermore, they also questioned his record as a prominent cornpanion of the

" Enayat, "Shi'ism and Sunnisrn," 72. The members of the couucil appointed by 'Umar were 'Ali b Ab1 Talib, Sa'd b. Ab1 WaqqZs, 'Uthmin b. 'Mas, Taiha b. 'Abd AU&, 'Abd al-R-ân b. 'Awf and Zubayr b. 'AwwZm. Quoted from TanWj by Ja' far alSubhini, B@Ütb 6 al-Mifai wa al-Nibal (Qum: Lajna Idirat al-yawzat al-'Iimiyya, 1989). vol. 1,289.

al-^^

Prophet on account of his absence fiom the Prophet's most important campaigns at Badr and mud, and fiorn the fateful ceremony known in history as Say'at aia11PI'4w& in which the companions reaamied their allegiance to the ~ r o ~ h e t ?In' response to

these accusations, al-Shahrastiirjii tries to justify 'Uthmk's leadership ability as follows:

The preaching of Islam was well managed in his tirne, many conquests (f~@ were made and the treasury (bayf al-mal) was adequately maintained, He treated the people well and proved hirnself generous. However, his relatives among the descendants of Umayya promoted the destruction of order, . . . they behaved and acted unjustly and crueliy, and 'Uthman reaped their evils, and was the victim of their misbehaviour. In his reign many disputes arose, and he was blamed for many incidents which should be laid to the account of the ~ m a y y a d s ? ~ Ai-Shahrast-&ii furthemore tums to Qur'in for confirmation that God approved the actions of these faithful companions. For example, one verse fiom the Qur'in states, "God was well pleased with the believers when they were swearing fealty to thee

under the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, so He sent down the Shechina (sakrii3a) upon them, and rewarded them with a nigh victory

...

3939

This verse is

regarded by ai-Shahrast-d as indicating God's approval. Some other verses in sikat ai-Tawba show how God praised the Emigrants muE Er^^) and the Helpea (Artsi$

and promised them Heaven and victory: And the outstrippers, the first of the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who foiiowed them in good-doing, God will be well pleased with them and they are

36 Ai-Shahrastani,

ai-MtIai, vol.l.32.

" Enayat, "Shi%m and

Sunnism," 71-73.

3aAl-~hahrasthi, al-Mi'idvol. l,32. 39

S k a t al-Fath (48: 18).

well-pleased with Him; and He has prepared for them gardens undemeath which riven flow, therein to dwell forever and ever; that is the rnighty triumph? h o t h e r verse f?om the same süra reveals the same idea of God's satisfaction with the companions: 'Cod turned with favour to the Prophet and to the Emigrants and the Helpers, who followed him in the hour of difficuity

..

In addition to these

Qur'anic verses, the Prophet himself was reported to have said, in reference to the great standing of the companions, "Ten of my companions are in Paradise: Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, 'Ali, Taba, Zubayr, Sa'd b. Ab6 Waqqis, Sacid b. Zayd, 'Abd ai-

Ralpnin b. 'Awf and Abu 'Ubayda b. al-~arr*.'~ When dealing with this

controversy al-ShahrastZ does not avoid expressing his opinion of the beliefs held by the Im-dShi%. In his al-MiIlal, he declares his view: It is a matter of wonder to me, how the adherents of a religion c m allow themselvrs to disparage the companions of the Prophet, and axribe unbelief to them while it is clear that they have good esteem and honor in the Eyes of God and the prophet?

In contrast, however, the generally hostile position taken by Imaimisregardhg the "rightly-guided" caliphs, as al-ShahrastiüC points out, I m h Ja'far al-Siidiq took a rather more favourable view of these leading companions of the prophet? We are told in fact that on his father's side, al-Sidiq belonged to thc fainily of thc Proplict. while on his mother's side he was descended fiom AbÜ Bakr. Al-Shahrastani docs

" Sk a t al-Tawba(9:100). 41

S Ürat al-Tawba(9:1 17).

"Al-Shahrasta,a " Ibid. 44

Ibid., 147.

M I ' vol. L, 146.

not, however, make it clear whether he attributes al-S-dq's dissociating himseif fiom the accusations against these caliphs by reason of his kinship to Ab6 Bakr7 or for

reasons of d o c t ~ and e justice. It would appear to be more likely that he saw this attitude as hâvuig been the result of wise and mature reflection, given his depiction of the imàm as very leamed in religious teachings as one who had chosen to renounce worldly life and earthly pleasures. la'far al-Sâdiq is also reported by al-Shahrastani to have rejected certain beliefs in metempsychosis (tan&&,),

incarnation

& (L@,)

anthropomorphism (tasFo%), nse (qÏyh), change in God's mind @ad'%occultation (ghayba) and ret urn after death (raj'a)? This report of widiq's rejection of the last

three of the above-mentioned doctrines is contradicted by other scholars, however, including many tnisted Shi5sources. Several of the latter, such as M@ammad b.

Ya'qüb b. Ishâq al-Kulayd's (d. 329/941) work al-Usu(mio al-Ka%yM ~ a r n m a db.

Ibrihim b. Ja'far al-Nu'm-d's (d. 360/970-71) Ki'fib d-Ghyba, M&ammad b. 'A.ll

b. al-Husayn b. Babawayh's (d. 381/991-92) Kama/al-l)tu wa Tm&n al-Ni'ma and M$ammad b. &Hasan al-TÜsh (d. 46011076) fit& al-Ghayba, present severai reports that al-Sàdiq did speak positively about the occultation of the irnim, his retum and his rise to assume just d e . Al-Kulayd mentions a tradition on the authonty of al-SZdiq, "For the QZ'im there are two forms of occultation (gbyba) in

one of them he will be present during the pilgrimage ceremony @a&?. He will see the

"Al-S hahrast 3, al-Mila/, vol. 1.

147.

88

people but they will not see him?

Another tradition fiom al-Siidiq, reported by al-

Mufaddal b. 'Umar, who tells of how the former described the manner of the rise (#y&)

of the i m h :

1see him who has entered the city of Mecca wearing the apparel of the Prophet and

a yellow turban on his head. He has put on the patched sandals of the Prophet and the latter's stick is in his hands, with which he is directing some goats before him. In this manner he will enter the Ka'ba, without anyone recognizing him. He will appear as a young man!'

The Zay& SIS%, foliowers of Im-mZayd b. 'Alib. al-Husayn b. 'AIi b. Ab7 Tiilib, likewise held a different view fiom that of the Imanii Shi% concerning the senior companions. We are told by ai-Shahrastani that Zayd himself acknowledged the legitimacy of the fmt two caliphs, AbÜ Bakr and 'Umar, and this for several reasons. He also believed in the possibility of a man who is less excellent (al-mafd5') serving

as irn-&n of the Muslim community under certain cùcumstances, even though a man of greater excellence (al-afdd)may be available. Al-Shahrastikïï illustrates this belief by quoting Zayd's statement as follows:

'Aii b. Abu T&b was the most excellent of the Prophet's companions, but the caliphate was entrusted to AbÜ Bakr partly because Muslims saw this as desirable and partly because of religious considerations. There was for example, the need of extinguishiog the fues of civil war and of setting at rest the hearts of the people. The experience of the battles which had taken place at the time of the Prophet was still kesh in their mincis; and the sword of 'Ali, commander of the faithful, was still moist with the blood of the Qurayslii Arabs and other tribes. Moreover, there was lingering vindictiveness in the hearts of the Arabs and a desire for vengeance. The people's hearts, therefore, were not fully disposed towards and they were not d6 Mdpmmad b. Ya'qüb b. I.àq al-Kulayd, &U@ mù, al-KBG ed al-Shaykh Mulpmmad Akhhdi (Tehran: Mu'assasat Dk al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, 1374 AH-), vol.1, 175. " Muhammad Bàqir Majlisi, Ba&al-Anwai (Beirut: Mu'assasat al-Wafaa', 1983), vol. 2, 972. For further discussion of the idea and the nature of the irnâm's concealment consult Jassini M. Hussain, The Occultation ofthe TweMh liaiÜn, A Histon'cal Background (London: The M~hammadiTrust, 1982); for analysis of the messianic concept of the h a m l SE%, see Abdul Aziz AbduiHussein Sachedina, IsIitrmc Mwi'ism, the ldea of the Maadi in TwelverSbiYsm (Albany: State University of New York Press, 198 1).

ready to give whole-hearted submissioa Accordïngly, it was advised that the man assuming the i m b a should be someone known to the people to be gentle, kind, mature of age, an early adherent of I s l k and close to the ~ r o ~ h e t ! ~ In principle, the Zaydis believed that the i m k a had to belong to the descendants

of 'Ali and Fitirna The cases of the caliphate of the hKo senior companions, Abü Bakr and 'Umar, in their view, were exceptional circumstances. Nor did they differentiate whether the imam should be a descendant of al--an

or al-Husayn. As

long as he is well educated, learned, pious, brave and generous, and openiy declares

his irnba, the imam is legitimate, regardless of the Line nom which he descends? This diEers fiom the beliefs of the Imàmis who only acknowledge the possibility of the imama being exercised by the descendants of al-Husayn. Zayd's belief that an

imàm must declare his i m h a and nse up in revolt (kb~tr~33 was, furthemore, rejected by his brother Mdpmmad al-Biqir, because this opinion would invaiidate the imZma

of their father, the i m k 'Ali Zayn aL6~bifui.Ai-BZqir's statement is recordeci by al-Shahrastki?:

'&ch,

Yt

would follow from your views that your father 'Ali Zayn al-

was not an imam, for he did not at any time rise

any sign of doing

~ 0 . ' 'At ~ ~fmt

in revoit, nor did he show

glance, one fin& that the Zay& and Imaniis

basically differ corn each other ia three areas; firstly, on the status of the senior

companions of the Prophet; secondly, on the line of transmission of the imàma; and thirdly, on the actual qualifications of an imam.

Al-Shahrast id,&MI& vol. 1, 138.

Al-Shahrastàrii, al-Mild, vol. 1, 137.

Ibid., 139.

The Imamis, in contrast to the Zaydis, asserted the basic necusity that the imâma remain amongst the descendant of al-Husayn. They disagreed, however, over the

transmission of the i m k a fiom the I m k k'far al-Sadip. The question was to which of his sons was the i m h a actually transmitted. since al-SZdiq had five, or as some Say,

six sons: IsmZcil, Mt&amrnad, Ishiq, 'Abd Allah, and MÜsk Some of the sons

had died before their father's own death, leaving no offspring, but others had left

male descendants. The I t h G 'Ashaiis (Twelvers), the Iargest faction in SMCisrn today, believe that the i m k a after Ja'far al-Siidiq was handed down to his son,

Müsi, with a clear designation, whereas the 1smi"is believe that it was transmitted to Ismâcil. According ta the Ism%"is' understanding, al-Sàdiq had entrusted the im-ma t O Ismi'il, his eldest son. In addition to al-Siidiq's designation of Ismi'if, his intention waç further reinforced by the fact that

the former did not take aaother wife during his

marriage to Ismi?lYsmother. In this regard, al-SZdiq followed the examples of the Prophet in his marriage to Khadija, and of 'AZi in his marriage to ~5(.ima"This indicated the special s t a t u of Isrn5?1 and his mother, just as 'Alil's high regard for

Fatima distinguished the two sons he had by her, &Hasan and al-Husayn, in relation to the im-ma. The Isrnàcilis themselva, however, are not in agreement as to whether Ismâ'il died during the lifetime of his father, or after the latter's death. Most of them believe that IsrnZ?l died before his father, but this does not mean that the latter's designation of his eldest son became invaiïd. The im-ma was, in fact, handed down to Ismâcil's son, M@ammad, instead, since the designation of an imam cannot be Al-Shahrasti.d, al-Mal,vol. 1,170- 171. 91

repudiated.'2 In al-Ash‘ afi's MaqâEt a l - I s i a n 1 i ~the Ism2%yya are reported as denying that Ismii"t7s death occurred before that of his father- They insisted that

IsmZ"i could not have died until he had the opportunity to govern in justice, since his father, Ja'far al-SEdiq, had declared that his son would be the legatee

(WH and

un-m after l~irn?~ Those to whom al-Shahrastarii refers to as IsmZ'ilis, al-Ash6aii designates as the Qaramita However, there is a difference between their respective reports. In the latter's work, Ja'far al-Sàdiq is reported to have passed on the i m h a

directly to the son of his eldest son, i.e. Muiyunmad b. Ismill b. Ja'fac

"

According -to the IsmZ'iIis, the imàms always corne in a series of seven, while the

chiefs (nuqaba') are always in a series of twelve. Following Isrnâcil, the cycle of seven im-ms was completed by Mtdymmad b. 1smi"i. M e r the im-ma of the latter, the penod of the concealed ruling im-iris ( d a k

( i c w a )movement began."

a al-mast1En'nn)and the rnissionary

It is this i m k , M-amrnad

b. IsmZ'il, that Ism5lIis

believe they will one day acknowledge as the Mahdi (the one who is guided by

GO^)?

''Al-S hahrastarii,

al-M'al,vol. 1, 171.

In al-Ash'afi's words, ". . . and Ja'far designated the i m h a to the son of his son (wa nassa /a 'far 'dii m k a t ibn ibnitu' Muhammad 6. Ismi70. Al-Ash'd, M e & vol.1, 26.

Al-Ash'afi, Maqa/alc, vol. 1,26.

The title of the Mahdi for the M h is found in traditions traced back to the SE7 i m h , such as M-ammad

al-Biqir and Ja'far ai-Sidiq. The fonner is reported to

have said:

When al-QZ'im fiom the family of the Prophet rises he will distribute equally among the people and will wtablish justice among his subjects. Thus those who obey him will obey God and those who de@ him will de@ God; but he wiii be calied &Mahdi, the one who wilL guide, since he will guide to the secret matters and will bring out the Torah and other books - ..57 When asked whether the title of the Qa'im and the Mahdi refer to the same person. al-Sidiq is reported to have replied, on the authority of AbÜ Ba$i "Yes, he will be

named the Mahdi because he will guide peopIe to the secret things; and he will be named the Qa'im because he will rise after death- He will rise for an important t a ~ k . ' "The ~ IsmZlIis believed that it was Mdprnmad b. Isma'il who was designated as both the Qa'im and the Mahdi. These two traditions are, however, understood by the IthnZ ' A s h d s to refer to the awaited i m b , the twelfth, who is presently in

As to the S E ? sub-sect of Kaysin, aCShahrastalii describes their beüef in the

i m b a of Muhammad b. aMJanafiyya and in the doctrine that, for them, religion consists of obedience to man as being their peculiarity.'g The Kaysanis, however, were not in agreement on whether M-ammad b. al-Uanafiyya became an imam after the death of his father. 'Ali b. Ab1 Talib, or after the death of his two half brothers, Muipmmad b. IbrâErn b. Ja'far al-Nu'rniïi, fit& al-Giayba (Tabriz: Maktabat al-Sibiii, 1963). 124.

Maarnrnad b. al-Ejasan al-TUsi, Ki'tàb a/-Gbayba (Najaf: Maktabat al-Skiiq, 1965), 282.

" A l 4 hahrastaiu', al-MI& vol. 1. 131.

al-Hasan and a l - ~ u s a ~ Some n . ~ of the Kaysànis weot further, stating that they could abandon of the religious regdations ( s M 6 a ) , such as prayer, fasting, giving alms and pilgrimage once they obeyed an imam, while others were converted to belief in

met empsychosis (tanaSuka], incarnation (-di?)and retum aiter death (mj'a ba 'd aiA sub-sect of the Kaysànis believed that their i m h Muhammad b. al-

Hanfiyya had not died, but was in concealment on the mount of Radwii and that he

would return to this world to establish a just d e as the

ahd di!'

The notion of the retum of an im-Zm fkom death in the messianic context, a notion

developed by the Kaysànis, was the f î t manifestation of the SE? doctrine of the occultation of an imam (dayba) and retum

m'a).This doctrine of occultation can

be found later in almost every sub-sect of the Shi'is, although they differ over which im-m has gone into concealment at the time. In explaining the doctrine held by the

Kaysaiiis, al-Shahrastarit again cannot be completely objective since he commeats as follows:

Some Kaysanis did not go beyond a particular person in their ailegiance, believing that he (MuQammad b. Wanafiyya) would not die, and indeed, it was impossible for him to die till he retumed fiom occultation. Others, however, transferred the im-ma to another man. Some others, although they were not the descendants of 'Ali, asswned the imàma Al1 are, indeed, confused and divided among themselves. If one believes that religion consists in obedience to a man, and they do not find one, it means that person has no religion. May God rotect us fiom this confusion and bewildement. O God, guide us in the right path.!i

Al-Shahrastaei, &MiIlal, vol. 1, 132. " Ibid. 62

Ibid., 134.

" Ibid.,

132.

The last part of his comment shows that al-Shabrastatii considered certain beliefs held by the KaysXs to be misleadhg and that they should be rejected. Al-ShahrastX designates as extremist SE% (GMiyaa) those who bestowed a divine quality upon the i m h and exempted them fiom the limitations of k i n g

human. These extremists, in his view, either likened an i m h to Gad, just like the Christians who liken 'isà (Jesus) to God, or Iikened God to man, just as the Jews

.

dida Generaliy the innovations of the Ghaliya introduced as theological principles may be sumrnarized under four haedings: anthropomorphism (rab&%),change of mind in God because of the intervention of new circumstances @ad'%" the retof an i m h fiom his concealment m'a)

and metempsychosis (tma~uka,).~ These

innovative beliefs were renounced by imb

Ja'far b. Muhammad al-Sàdiq, as

reported by al-Shahrastani. Several sub-sects, however, are found to have held the

beliefs of bada' and raj'a, although to different degrees.

M e r describing the fundamental doctrines of these five sub-sects of the SE'%, alShahrastZGI goes on in his al-MI'to describe the divisions t bat existed within each of them. According to al-Shahrastiicii's classification, the Kayskiyya was comprised of four smaller divisions,6' the Zaydiyya three."

the Imimiyya seven)

and the

" Ai-Shahrast arii, ai-Milal,vol. 1,155. "

The notion of bada' is usually used by the Shi% to explain the differing of eveats or designations from the ones that were previously anticipated to happen by the i m b . In the IthnZ 'Asha5 sub-sect, for instance, bada' is used to explain the delay of the return of the Mahdi that have been predicted at a certain time, and the change in the decision to designate an i m k because of a new consideration. Sachedina, IsfmcMesiarusm, 152- 157,

" Al-Shahrastatii, a/-MiIa,vol. 1,155. " These four divisions are the Mukhtikiyya, the Hkhimiyya, the Bayeniyya and the Rizamiyya. Ai-Shahrastarii, al-Mid, v01.1, 13 1-137.

Ghâliyya elevedOAs for the Ismiilliyya, al-Shahrast56 does not mention any subdivision; however, he says that sometimes in ditrerent regions the Ismaciliyya bore differ names, such as the Bâiiniyya, the Qarhita, the Mazdakiyya, the Ta'IUniyya and the ~ u ~ d In a general, " when compared to other scholars' accounts of Shi%m,

what al-ShahrastaiÜ reports in his al-Mld is more comprehensive, in the sense that he supplies his account with the arguments and evidence advanced by the SE%

B. AL-SHAHRASTM'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE ~EifiDOCTRINE OF IM&iA AS PRESENTED IN THE

A~TYATAL-IQDAMFT

c

~

In his NiljZya, al-ShahrastS does not elaborate in detail upon the beliefs held by each of the divisions of the SE%, but rather he discusses the theological basis upon which the S E " i o c t ~ e of imama was developed. While discussing the beliefs of the

SE%, al-Shahrast-d presents various arguments featuring different points of view

'They are the Iarudiyya, the Sulaymihiyya, and the Silihiyya and the Bitriyya. AlShahrastani, al-Mfd, vol. 1, 137-143. These seven divisions are The Wâqifa of the Bàqiriyya and the Ja'fariyya, the NZwGsiyya, the AQahiyya, the Shumaytiyya, the Wiqifa of the IsmZTliyya, the ~ & a w i y - - a Mufadeiyya and the Ithai 'Ashariyya. Al-Shahrasta, a/-M'Id,vol. 1,144-144. 'O They are as follows: the Saba'iyya, the Kamiliyya, the 'Albi'iyya, the Mugbiriyya, the MeÜciyya, the Kayyaliyya, the Khaltibiyya, the Hishamiyya, the Nu'maniyya, the YÛausi~a,and the Neayriyya and the Ishàqiyya Al-Shahrastarii, d4Wfd wa al-Nibal, vol. i, 154- 16%

" Ibid.,

172.

~

and in a dialectical manner. In most cases, he also offers his own opinion on the problems at hand. Al-Shahrastaoi states that according to the SE%, i m k a is necessary and binding in religion. This necessity is based on both logical ('aqlao) and legai reasons (skrao). The need for i m h a is, in fact, as they believe, simiiar to "the intrinsic

necessity of the prophetic office that is logically ('aqfan) and dogmatically (sam'ao) ~ e ~ i t i r n a t eLike . " ~ the Mu'taziIis, the SE% say that a rationai view of divine grace

O.(

makes it clear that prophecy and i m k a are genuine necessitie~.~~ In theological

debates, the idea of divine grace (rut0 is always associated with the idea of "imposing upon a penon the task of doing sornethiag" @Hf)). The SE% believe

that God must act for a wise purpose ( h i h a ) , and in the best manner profit of His creatures (fi%

for the

naf% since He is exalted above personai gain.74 An

early Mu'tazifi scholar, 'AbbZd b. Sulaymiin (d. c. 250/864) clearly states the view of the school concerning this notion as follows: It is not possible ( f i y g k )that God forgo anything which He cm do by way of benefit in order to do some other benefit . . . If He had something more s a l u t q (a&i@) and more excellent (daal than ) what He has done for people, if He were to prevent them nom having it, He would be rniserly ( b a W f i I ) and unjust (zaIim) to them?

-

-

''Al-ShahrastX, NaZ'yaf al-lqdaia fi 'Ilm al-Kàflam,ed. f i e d Guillaume (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1934), 484.

''Ibid., 400-405. Cited in Eric L. Omsby, Theudicy in Isfat~licThought. The Dispute Over a/GbazZ's 'B& ofAll Possibfe Worlds"(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 8. For a further condensed discussion on the idea of the optimum ( a l M d M d by Mu'tazilis consult the same book, 217-225. 7s

In this sense, God very wisely decided to bestow t a f o n human beings, so as to enable them to attain great and ever-Ming benefit (a/-fhawib abda'w. The foundation of t M f l i e s in God's divine grace, which is embodied in prophethood and imàma which provide guidance to mankind? People need a leader to help them maint ain religion, law, and orderly life, a leader on whom al1 could count. Mankind's intrinsic character makes it imperative that a helper, a reminder should be provided to them, one whose presence makes it easier for them to perform their obligatory tasks

(takZ0-Again, to support this argument, the S K l s draw an analogy with the fact that a prophet is required in order to set up a sacred and etemal law. Accordingly, the preservation of the revealed Law by the office of i m h a is just as important as the office of prophethood which fvst promulgated it?' Their arguments for dogmatic necessity are based on a number of a group of Qur'anic verses. The fmt of these says, "O believers, obey God, and obey the Messenger, and those in authority arnong yo~."78From this verse it is evident that beside the Prophet, there is an imâm to be obeyed. If there were no imam, an authority whom the believers m u t necessarily obey, God would never have revealed such a command to mankind. The second verse reads, "O believers, fear God, and be with the truthful one~.'"~ If there were no tnithful person in this world, how could it be incumbent upon human beings to be with him? The verse, therefore, signifies that

76

Al-S hahrastZn1, Nibaya, 4 12.

" Ibid., 484. Sirat al-Nisa' (4:62). 79

SÜrat al-Tawba (9: 120).

there exists a truthful person whom people are called to be with and obey. Since the peoples of the world are obliged to trust and obey him, this truthful person must be righteous at ail times and immune fiom both minor and grave sins (ma 3Urn9" For the SE%, it is inconceivable that instructions on such matters as prayer, fasting, giving alms and performing pilgrimage shouid be reveaied in the sacred texts and traditions of the Prophet, but that nothing should be said about the MZma The notion of i m h a constitutes a basic tenet by which ail d e s for huma.w e k e will be maint ained and protected fîom destru~tion.~' The assertion of the SEcis and the Mu'tazilis that God must have a wise purpose in His creation, and do what is best for the benefit of human beings, which leadç to

the necessity of the institutions of prophethood and im-ma, is rejected by the

Ashba6s. They believe instead that God is absolutely independent and selfs ~ f f i c i e n tSa'd . ~ ~ al-Dh al-TaftZzani, for instance, States that "if the best for man had been obligatory upon God, He would iiot have created the infildel, the pauper, and the person tormented in this world and the next, and especialiy (not) those beset with illness, pains, trials, and disaster.'"

The Ash'ds do not deny that God's acts

embrace good, utility and benefit for mankind, and accept the idea that God did not create the universe only in order to destroy it. What they assert is that al1 these advantages and benefits which falI to human beings are not the purposes, and cannot ao Al-Shahrastani, Nibijva, 484485.

'' Ibid, 485.

" Ibid., 399. Al-Taftkani, Sb&

Maq&id, as quoted in Ormsby,

7"eOdjcy in Id-ë

Thought.,

be elernents that induce God to certain actions. God does not need a motivator to act In a particular way al-Shahrastiüii himself, commenthg on the Mu'taziE's belief

regarding the purpose of God's acts and creation, states: "In reality these people are anthropomorphists so far as God's actions are c o n ~ e m e d "This ~ ~ is because, in alShabrastiirii's view, the Mu'tazifis conceived of God's actions from a human angle/ perspective. A wise man, in the MuCtaz5fi's opinion will do something for a wise purpose and for the benefit of both or either himself a d o r othea. God, the source of wisdom, certainly would not act for nothing.

Al-Shahrast-Ki explains that the belief in the necessity of the office of i m h a at ail times is, in general, u ~ d i s ~ u t e What d . ~ ~people do not agree upon is, fîrst of dl, the question of whether this office is determined through consensus of the comrnunity, or by divine designation. The second disagreement arises as a consequence of the first. On the one hand, if the imam is divinely designated by holy scripture and the utterances of the Prophet, people still differ over whether the imam is appointed by namelperson (bi 'aynihi) or by qualifying characteristics (bi &ikn Sifati)?7The SE%, as mentioned above, are inclineci to believe in one or the other of these two options. The Im-dS E % believe that the Prophet's designation of 'Ali was clearly -

-

-

220.

Al-Shahrasta, Nihaya, 400. 85

Ibid., 406. Ibid., 480.

''Ibid. LOO

by name and that this should be the case in dl future instances, while the Zaydi Shllis regard it as depending on the qualifications of a potential i m k . If the i m h should be elected by the general consent (Jfrn3). on the other hand, there is also

disagreement as to whether this general consent means everyone's assent, or o d y that of competent people sitting in an assembly? A division of the KhawZrij, the NajdZt, held a view that departed fkom these already dissenting opinions. They said that the office of imima is not an essential

necessity for men, either logically or legally. Whether an i m h is needed or not completely depends on the manner in which men and society as a whole behave, and not on logical or doctrinal grounds. If every man, they argue. behaved justly and

performed his duties according to the sacred law (shar?. there would be no need for an irn-m or any authority whatsoever to obey. Everyone would be as good as the next

person, and would share in religion, in knowledge and in exercising mental judgment fijtfiZ
either the presence or the absence of an im-m.

Furthemore, the NajdZts insisted that if obedience to one person as imam were obligatory, then this command would have to be defulltely set out either in sacred scnpture or in the Prophet's words, or even in the bais of a decision of the leamed

men exercising private judgement (mujabidIl0). As for the k t source, most people

have found no name designated, while so far, history shows that it is impossible for

al1 parties to choose the same person as imam? The Sunxiis do not agree with the belief of the S E % any more than they do with that of the Najdiit of the Khawirij. According to al-Shahrastani, the S u d i s Say that, first of dl, human beings can only know what is incurnbent upon them through the reveafed law @i al-sam 3 and that the consensus of the community (IimZ)reveals the obligation. The view of the Ash'aC school is well simimarized by a great S E I theologian Ibn Muphhar al-Ejiffi (d. 726/1326) as follows: (The Ash'arites) hold that good and evil are made known only by the divine law: whatever the law commands is good and whatever it forbids is evil. If not for the law, there would be no good and no evil. If God had commanded what He has forbidden, the evil would be tumed into the good? The S u d s refute the NajdGt's opinion that general agreement

is

inconceivable and impossible in reality, by posing the following question: If two,

three, or four people can corne to an agreement, why should it be impossible for more people, and by extension everybody, to agree on something? General consent is, therefore, a logical possibility. Moreover, the consensus of the community, as exemplified by the agreement of the Prophet's cornpanions on certain matters, was a reflection of the hidden message of the sacred text (nag Ma@?2 With regard to the possibility of a community existing without an imam, the S u d s Say that it is

m a m What happens in real Me, logically possible that a perfect man would need no i however, is that men will only behave properly according to the Law and justice when

they are subject to fear (taMiwZ9and severity (t~h&d).And it is only the h n k who t emfies the wicked and evil-doen with the 6sword.'93

The S d s basically agree that God has commanded believers to obey their ruiers

and to follow truthful people. The point over which they disagree with the SP7s is whether such a d e r or tnithfbl person has been designated by name by the Prophet or is designated by the general agreement of the commmity. The Sunius consider that it

is inconceivable that, if there were a definite designation of an imam by the Prophet,

most cornpanions would just remain silent on that matter in the event of a dispute

conceming the subject?* Moreover, given that the S E % called people to pay attention to the tradition q u a l m g 'Ali's character, why shouid they ignore the traditions that favour and shower praise on Ab6 Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthmân and other

c~m~anions?'~

This point is

aiso brought out

in a lengthy discussion by an earlier Ash'aii

theologian, al-Bâqill-d, in his work ent it Ied %Tdd

fi &-Ra& 'al'a l - M q d a a/-

M u 4 ~ r i l awa al-Riü!%Qa wa aM3awinI wa al-MuCtazl'IaaAl-BâqillX begios his

discussion on the doctrine of i m h a by elaborating upon the meaning of habar (received information); he regards this term as including Wabiiucoming from the Prophet, Le., the Prophetic tradition. Accorduig to al-Biqillini, there are three kinds of Hiaba. The fint is the habar for which affiinnation is obügatory both

"Al-Shahrastki, Nibaya, 488. Ibid., 490. PJ

Ibid.

95

Ibid., 494.

Uit ellect ually and dogmatically, such as kbabar reporting events which we know to

have happened The second is the khabarthat cannot possibly be true, such as the one reporting events which we know could not have happened. And third, there is the k o a k about what may logically exist or not exist, or the one reporting events that

may or may not have happened. Included in this kind is the tradition of the Prophet conceming the one who is to hold the office of im&a after hunw

Al-Bàqiil-d fmher insists that the traditions regarding the designation of 'Ali as the imam d e r the death of the Prophet are not mutawàtli," and hence are unreliable

as a sole reference. Since the text about this i m b a is unreliable, the decision should be based on the grounds of election and choice of the people (ikbt~yàijinsteadg8 Subsequently, al-Biqillarii implied that im-ma is not a fundamental principle of

religion, i.e., which relies on a revelational basis. In accordance with this opinion, alShahrastaoi says: "The i m h a does not belong to the dogmat ic principles of religion

(usül al-i'tiqidd) which are specified defmitely by the sacred text, but it is the necessity of political and social order that demands it.'*

" Al-Biqilliini, al-Tamhi4 160-162. For the traditions of Gha
"

The mutawàfirtradition is a tradition of the Pmphet that is transmitted by a large number of people who are just, leamed and of good-memory, in each stage of the transmission. Al-BaqillZ, a l - T ' 4 162-164. " Ibid, 164. For more discussion on the i m k a from the S d theologians' point of view consuit AbÜ Hamid Mdymmad b. Mdpimrnad al-Ghaziifi, al-Iqti@d fi al-I'tiqa(d (Cairo: Makt abat al-Husayn al-Tijariyya, n.&); Abu al-Hasan 'f f i b. Isrniill al-Ash'aii, Kttib al-Lums ', tram. Richard J. McCarthy, S.J. (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1953.

" Al-Shahrastani, Ntbàja,478.

In generai, a l - S h h t a i i ' s account of the claims of the Shi'is, the Sunius, and other sects concerning the i m b a is much shorter than that of al-Biiqiliirti. This is because al-Shahrast-d does not in his NiaZya discuss this theologicd problem nom bot h rat ional and doctrinal perspectives, as al-Biiqillani does. Nor did al-Shahrastani ever intend to do so in the fmt place: 1do not charge myself in this book (1ViliFyaa)to reveal al1 what was discussed in the science of theology. 1 limit myself with the task of discussing the difficulties related with inteliectual matters, explaining the furthest point the theologians can reach, not with matters dependent on tradition (almmqur).l.l"

At fmt glance, one fin& that al-Shahrastani, in both al-MM and the Nioya, considers SEcism to be a sect within the Muslim community that emerged after the death of the Prophet, particularly when the question over the Muslim leadership became a public issue. In neither account is there even a single statement indicating that he believed Sh:cism

to have existed during the lifetime of the Prophet as is

claimed by the SE'%.

Several SE? sources assert that Slïi'ism existed fiom the beginning of Islam itselc i.e. during the Prophet's lifetime. The terni Slii'a was on different occasions used by the Prophet to refer to the fiiends and devotees of himself and of 'Ali, his son-in-Law.

Among the traditions of the Prophet that are said to confrrm this claim, Ibn vajar in his &SawZ'iq al-MIam'faquotes one on the authority of al-TabarZrG, in which the Prophet is reported to have said: "O 'Ali, you and your SE'a (devotees) will soon meet Allih in such circurnstances that you al1 will be pleased with fIim and He will

be pleased with you; and your enemia will meet Allah in such a bad manner."'O'The distinguished Sh?? theotogian, Shaykh al-Mufid also cites a tradition on the authority of 'AIi in which he said: 1 explained to the Messenger of God about the people's envy of me, and he responded: 'O 'Ali, the fmt four to enter the Heaven are myself, you, al-Hasan and al-Husayn. Our progeny will corne behind us, and out beloved ones will be behind our progeny. To om right and leR will be our ~ h l ' a " ~ ~

Certain Qur'Gnic verses, according to the Shi%, also indicate the existence of

SHcism at the time of the Prophetic mission of Mdpmmad. The seventh verse of the sürat al-Bayyina (98:7) which contains the idea of the best created being (khayr al-

banwa) 'Yenly, those who believe, and do righteous deeds, those are the best creatures" is believed to have been revealed in connection to 'Ali and his Shl'a, as reported by J5bir. He said that while he and sotne companions were at an assembly with the Prophet, 'Ali came to join them. Seeing the latter arrive, the Prophet said:

"He ('AG) and his Shi'a will be succasful on the Day of Resurrection." And it was at that tirne that the verse of 'the best created being' was revealed, said ~iibir.''' Another evidence is that some prominent companions were called Shi'at 'Ali during the Prophet's lifetime for their obedience to the Prophet for showing great love and devotion to 'Ali. Arnong them were Salmin al-Firisi, Abu Dharr al-Ghifaii, 'Ammk

---

'O'

Muhammad Husayn al-Mqaffa6. T

' al-Shi'a (Qum: Maktabat Ba$rati,

1942), 4-5. See also Ayatullih Kâshif al-GhifE', A@ Shi% wa &Ü/uhu (Beirut: Dar al'Adwâ', I990), 120, SalmZn GhaffBfi, OngintlIIslam (Samarra, 1976), 10-1 1.

Muhammad b. MNammad al-Nu'mZn al-Mutid, Kirab afflisb5$ t tans. 1.K.AHoward (London: Balagha Books in conjunction with The Muhammadi Trust, 1981). 26; alMtqaffaii, TZn'WI al-SWa, 5-6.

b. Yasar, Miqdd and 'Abd AU& b. '~bbàs.'" Abu Sa'id al-Khudn mported that most of the cornpanions ignored the request made by the Prophet to give theù

devotion, friendship and authority to 'Ali. H e said: T h e Prophet asked the people to accomplish five things, and they did well four of them and left one." When he was

asked what the four things were, he replied: 'They are prayer (al@&

giving alms

(dzakal,, ffasing (d=sawm) during the month of Ramadiin and pilgrimage to Mecca

(alha~3."As for the request ignored by the people he said: 'Giving devotion, authority (walZya) to 'Ali.

. ..this one is obligatory Like the othea. *r 105

Since there may be found a number of traditions mentioning the term Shl'a

reported by different transmitters, one cannot simply ignore the claim of the S E % that Shllsm did begin in the lifetime of the Prophet. The evidence given by the

SE% suggests that it was the Prophet himself who promoted the term SE'a to indicate the devotees of 'Ali. What rnight be open to question is, however, whether the term SE'a used by the Prophet denotes the same meanhg as the terni SG%m does in its later development.

CONCLUSION

Like any other important figure in intellectual history, al-Shahrastaill cannot be understood apart fiom the socio-political and religio-cultural circurnstances of his time and place. As we saw in the fmt chapter, al-Shahrast-d lived in a 'unique' era in Musiim history. It was a period that witnessed brutal political conflict and heated debate over social and religious issues. Yet it was also a time wlien intellectual and

cultural movements flourished. This situation was, indeed, paradoxical; uistead of destroying intellectual and cultural life, the polit ical disintegration of the Muslim world stimulated its rapid and widespread growth. The centres of leaming and cultural activity that had been concentrated in the capital city of Baghdad, became

decentralized and dispersed to almost al1 the courts of local rulers. By the time al-Shahrastarii was bom, the development of religious thought,

especially in relation to theology and philosophy, had reached a stage in which scientific precision as applied in mathematics, astronomy, medicine and other natural sciences began to influence the realm of religious discourse. in other words, religious discourse became subject to the critical perspective of this scientific spirit. AiShahrastiG was one such scholar who took a critical approach to the study of the

development of religious sciences, particuiariy in the field of the so-cded "comparative religion." He found himseif dissatisfied with the methods of explaining the phenornena of the various religions of the world employed by his colleagues.

These methods. in al-Shahrastaiii's opinion, were, in fact, far from clear and precise;

they could even be said to confuse the issue since none of them explained their methodology in classiS.ing the sects of various world religions. He observai that no two scholars were able to agree on a method of classification of the sects emerging within the Muslim community. His observation in this matter was, indeed, correct. It is evident that most Ieading Muslim scholars who composed works on the world's religions and sects, such as al-Ash'afi with his al-MaqiZt al-IsfanUjiYta,ai-Baghdidi wit h his al-Fmq bayn &FUaq, and Ibn Hazm wit h his monument al ai-Fi~aZd&1M;rlal wa a l - h w a ' wa aialNa&, offer no clear definitions of what they designate as

religions or sects, nor agy explmations of the method of their classification. As a result, the categorization, the classification, and the structure of the presentation of the sects of the Muslim community in particular, varied fiom one scholar to the other. It is largely in light of these methodological considerations that the importance

of al-S hahrastkii's ai-M?"dwa al-Nibalpresents itself. Al-Shahrastàrii proposes a new method of classiQing the Muslim sects that is different fiom the ones employed by his predecessors, and by which he may also delineate the sects of world religions other than Islam. What he did was to select of the most important theological issues from each of these religions and use them as a means for differentiation in order to defuie the sects with precision. Al-Shahrastani,

in fact, explains what he meam by a sect, since he considers that not every group holding a differing opinion on a certain theological problem can be said to be a sect. In determinhg the sects of the Muslh community, al-Shahrasatani Limits himself

to selecting four major principles (&QUI

al-kibik al-arba'a) as the categories for

analysis: 1) the question of the unity of God and its relation to the issue of divine

att nbutes (al-gifit w a &-ta w@dd). 2) the idea of divine decree and justice (algddar wa

al- 'am 3) problems concemed with Promise and Warning (al-wa 'd wa al-wa 5idJ and 4) questions related to revelation and reason (alsam' w a &-'a#

which produce

apost leship and i m h a Basing himself on t hese categories, al-S hahrast iiii cornes to determine five major sects within the Muslim community, namely the Mu'tazila, the Jabriyya, the Sifatiyya, the Khawirij and the SGba

In his al-Milal, aL-Shahrastani cleariy shows a diffierent attitude nom the one he exhibits in his Nihâya when dealing with these five Muslim sects, in general. and wit II the SlG'a, in part icular. In tlic formcr work, al-S lialirastàni dclibcntcly avoiJs being subjective or passing judgment on the sects under discussion, even tliough he fails to do so on several occasions. In fact, in one of his five introductory statements to his a/-MI&, al-Shahrastani declares that he will be objective in presenting his account of the religions and the sects, by bashg himseif on their own sources and texts. In the Nibay no such intention is stated. He does not avoid subjective statements and fkequently disagrees with the opinions held by people of dif5erent sects. Moreover, in some places, he even attacks other sects for holding beliefs different fiom his own. This may be explained by the fact that al-Shahrastbi explicitly designates the two books to serve different purposes and composes thern on the basis of different methodologies. &-Milal is designed to provide a compendium of ail the different religions, beliefs,

and philosophicai schools adhered to by people in his era, and to serve as a stimulus

for further research and study by students interested in this subject. Meanwhile, the Nihiya was intended by al-Shahrastarii as a platform for his own beliefs regarding the

position of reason in relation to Islamic theologicai dogma According to him, rationai inquiry always has a certain point beyond which reason ('aql) cannot penetrate any fbrther. This explains why in some places in the Nihâya al-Shahrast-d rejects tenets built on the basis of rationalism. A clear example may be seen in his chapten dealing with the notion of divine justice as held by the MubtaPIis and the

SE%, the latter of whom used this notion to argue the necessity of the divinely appointed i m k after the death of the Prophet.

In al-MI& however, al-Shahrastarii's discussion of the SK% covers a much wider scope than it does io the Nibya As we have seen on the course of this thesis, alShahrastêni provides in al-Mi'a histoncal s w e y of the development of the SE? sectarianism as well as of their cardinal beliefs concerning the notion of i m b a In his view, the Shi% are the followers and supporters of the imâma of

'ML b. Ab?

Talib. They believe that the legitimate i m h a , providing spiritual, religious and

temporal-political authority aRcr tlic Prophct, bclongcd only to 'Ali througli divinc designation and testament. Foliowing the death of the fint Sliici imam and Iiis successors, there arose disagreements over the method of transmission of this imkna, and its continuation fiom one im-m to another. These two problems resulted in the

formation of certain sub-sects within Sliicism, the most important of which AlShahrastàrii identines as being five in number, namely the Kaysaniyya, the Zaydiyya, the Imamiyya, the GhulZt and the IsmEPiliyya Furthemore, he describes ail significant divisions as stemming fiom each of these five sub-sects, and organizes them according to the founders of each.

In the Nagy4 such a detailed accouat of Shi'ism is not to be found. In this work, ai-Shahrastani chooses only on discwing the theological arguments upon which the doctrine of im-ma is developed. He declares moreover that his intention in the

MhZja is to discuss the difficulties found in Islamic theology in relation to intellectual and logical matters. He i s concemed to explain the limits that theologians can reach, rather than to analyze matters that rely for their legitimacy on traditions

and texts.

While explainhg in the NihZya the theological arguments through which the Shi7 doctrine of the i m h a is based, al-ShahrastiS supplies his discussion with other

sects' beliefs regarding this doctrine, as well as with his owii opinions. This is

because al-ShahrastS, like other earlier Muslim theologians, applies a dialectical method in presenting the discussion. Such a dialectic approach is hardiy to be found in his al-MId Scientifically speaking, the methodology he employed in composing

the Ni'iya, unlike that of &MI', did not present anything new for the advancement

of Islarnic theology. Ai-Shahrastarii, in discussing the matter of im-ma, openly declares his disagreement with the SliiCi position. According to the latter, im-ama is logically and dogmatically a iegitimate necessity, and even an obligation for God. Since the S E % believe that God m u t have a wise purpose behind His creation, one which is for the benefit of His creatures, and must act within thc bounds of justice,

God is thus obliged to bestow divine grace (kt0 upon human beings. This grace provides guidance to them, ailowing the completion of their religious duties flakEQ, ail of which is made possible by the offices of prophethood and im-ma. However, al-

Shahrast-kïi himself feels that the necessity of the imama does not rely for its basis

on theological dogma, but rather on the rational necessity of socio-polit ical order. For him, God is not obliged to do anything or to act in any certain mamer for the benefit

of human beings. Based on what we have seen in his works al-MIal and N w a one has to say that al-Shahrast-d's description of SG%m was successful. As a "historiad' of religions

in al-Mid, he is, first of ail, well prepared to supply his accounts with information taken nom the sources aclaiowledged as reliable by each of the religions and sects he dealt with. As a result, his account is far more reliable than those of other scholars, since he presents arguments and evidence taken fiom the Shi% themselves.

Secondly, he takes it upon himseif the obligation to act justly with respect to each religion and sect, and avoids passing judgment on them. Although in general al-

Shahrastaru is able to maintain his objectivity, nevertheless, in some places he does

pass judgment. Thirdly, he promotes a new approach and methodology in classiQing the sects, which c m be applied not only to the Muslim sects but also to al1 world religions. However, when writing as a "theologian" in his NihZya, ai-Shahrastani shows a cornpletely different attitude. He does not hesitate to register his own beliefs

or to pass judgement on opinions different fkom his own. He skillfidly argues, for instance, that the Sbi'i assertions concerning the legitimacy of i m b a , from both inteilect ual and dogmatic perspectives, are logically inconceivable.

A.

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