The Transformation of Radjʿa Doctrine of Shiʿa: A Case Study on the Nusayrīs, the Druzes and the Bābī-Bahāīs

Abstract

As one of the main tenets of mainstream Shiʿa, the radjʿa doctrine is potentially open to radical interpretations. In the background of this belief, the concept of ghayba (occultation) with the special meaning attributed to it has vital importance. According to the Imāmiyya or Twelve Imams (Ithnā ʿAshʿariyya) Shiʿism, which has survived to date within Shiʿism and constitutes the vast majority of them, the twelfth imam, Muhammad b. al-Hasan went into major occultation in 941. According to this doctrine, it is believed that one day the hidden imam will return and rule over the whole world, which is filled with injustice. In fact, examples of the belief in radjʿa can be traced back to earlier periods. In the early history of Islam, some extreme sects (ghulāt) emerged by claiming the immortality of important figures such as, ʿAlī b. Abī Tālib (d. 40/661) and his son Husayn (d. 61/680). The 10th century also became the scene of such claims among Shiʿa such as the return of the hidden imam, Muhammad b. al-Hasan who is believed to be in occultation and will one day reappear to guide all humanity. This study examines three sub-sects of Shiʿīsm, namely the Nusayrīs, the Druzes and the Bābī-Bahāīs that all interpret the doctrine of radjʿa from a gnostic point of view. The first two emerged in the tenth century simultaneously, while the Bābī-Bahāīs in the nineteenth. It is worth to note here that the concept of bāb has played the mediating role in the approach to the radjʿa doctrine. Ibn al-Nusayr, the founder of the Nusayrī sect, put forward a ground breaking approach to the doctrine by declaring himself as the gateway to the eleventh and twelfth imam. In addition, the belief in the incarnation of God’s soul into the body of ʿAli, and later on its transfer to bodies of the imams until it reached the twelfth imam, spread. The Druzes focused directly on the divinity of al-Hakīm bi-Amrillah rather than on the concept of bāb. The Bābīs and Bahāʾīs, on the other hand, interpreted the doctrine of radjʿa on the basis of the concept of bāb and the claim of messiahship, and a new religion. Especially, the Nusayrīs and the Druzes interpreted radjʿa phenomenon and transformed it into hulūl (incarnation) and tanāsukh (metempsychosis). The Bābī-Bahāī community, however, transformed the doctrine of radjʿa into the doctrine of prophethood by refusing the termination of the prophethood with the prophet Muhammad. Thus, they claim to be a new religion that abolishes the rules of previous religions. The purpose of this study is to analyse the way in which the selected sub-sects of Shiʿa have approached the doctrine of radjʿa and the extent of their interpretation of this phenomenon.