According to some Muslim theologians, God is not free to act; He is bound by human ethics. To be just, He must create an individual of perfect intellect and infallible morality. People are obligated to submit to this person; otherwise eternal damnation awaits them. While these claims may be interpreted as an affront to God’s power, an insult to human judgment and a justification for despotism, Shiʿi Muslims in the eleventh century eagerly adopted them in their attempts to forge a ‘rational’ religious discourse. They utilized everything from literary studies and political theory to natural philosophy and metaphysical speculation in support of this project. This book presents the contribution of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍān (d. 1044), the thinker most responsible for this irreversible change, which remains central to Imami Shiʿi sectarian identity and conception of history. His debates with Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Jabbār (d. 1024), al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 1022) and al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī (d. 1067) are the best expression of his intellectual project. The book analyses this project and establishes the dynamic context which prompted him to pour the old wine of Shiʿi doctrine into the new wineskin of systematic Muʿtazili theology.
This chapter presents an overview of Murtaḍā’s context and a detailed account of his life. It thus studies his career as student, teacher, politician and religious authority. As the head of the ʿAlids, he coordinated between Buyid power and Abbasid reign in the humanistic atmosphere of the renaissance of Islam. There follows a survey of his most important writings, intended to acquaint readers with each work’s general objectives and specific contribution. The last section of this chapter is dedicated to an exhaustive bibliography of Murtaḍā, addressing questions related to the authenticity of certain works. The chapter is divided into three sub-headings: The Man and His Time; Magna Opera; Bibliography
This chapter covers Murtaḍā’s changes to the doctrine of Imama, which proved to be permanent. Understood as an expression of divine assistance, the Imama is studied in its theoretical aspects: definition, justification, charismatic qualifications and relation to political philosophy. This establishes the theory’s two core principles: the necessity of the Imama and infallibility of the Imam. The discussion then turns to an examination of applications of the theory to particular Imams, introducing a sacred-historical outlook that starts with Muhammad’s designation of ʿAli as his successor. The last part treats two major challenges arising from inopportune historical developments, i.e. the Imami view of Muhammad’s companions and the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. The chapter is divided into three sub-headings: Theoretical Model; The Test of History; Inconvenient Outcomes.
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