Shi'i Doctrine, Mu'tazili Theology: Al-Sharif Al-Murtada and Imami Discourse

255 Pages·2017·2.313 MB·English

by  Hussein Ali Abdulsater

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Examines the critical turn that shaped Imami Shiʿism in h
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the tenth and eleventh centuries D
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God is not free to act; He is bound by human ethics. To be just, He must create tr
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an individual of perfect intellect and infallible morality. People are obligated to n
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submit to this person; otherwise eternal damnation awaits them. ,
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While these claims may be interpreted as an affront to God’s power, an insult ʿt
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to human judgement and a justification for despotism, Shiʿi Muslims in the z
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eleventh century eagerly espoused them in their attempts to forge a ‘rational’ i
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religious discourse. They utilised everything from literary studies and political h
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theory to natural philosophy and metaphysical speculation in support of this o
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project. This book presents the contribution of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍa (d. 1044) o
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Muʿtazili Theology
of Baghdad, the thinker most responsible for this irreversible change, which y
remains central to Imami identity. It analyses his intellectual 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. al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā and Imami Discourse
Key Features
• Comprehensive coverage of al-Murtaḍā’s enormous oeuvre (running to
several thousand pages) and diversity (spanning most contemporary
fields of knowledge)
• A meticulous engagement with long and dense theoretical texts that are
either in manuscript form or poorly edited
• A systematic presentation that equips readers with a general, but also
analytically profound, understanding of Shiʿi theology in its main phases H
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s
s
• Studies a crucial if unaccountably neglected author whose views are still a e
in
major influence for Shiʿi Muslims A
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A
Hussein Ali Abdulsater is Assistant Professor of Arabic Culture and Islamic Studies in the b
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Department of Classics, University of Notre Dame. u
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Cover image: W.579, Prayer, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Caliph, ca 600–661, Arabic (1534 CE, Astarābād (Iran)). Courtesy of the Walters Art r
Museum’s Works of Art and made available through the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported licence
Cover design: www.hayesdesign.co.uk
ISBN 978-1-4744-0440-2
Hussein Ali Abdulsater
edinburghuniversitypress.com
SHIʿI doctrine,
muʿtazili theology
To my parents
Shiʿi doctrine,
muʿtazili theology
AL-SHAR¯IF AL-MURTAD¯A AND
˙
IMAMI DISCOURSE
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HUSSEIN ALI ABDULSATER
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© Hussein Ali Abdulsater, 2017
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The right of Hussein Ali Abdulsater to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights
Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
The ambivalent relation between Imami Shiʿism and Muʿtazilism 2
Analysing the ambivalent relation 3
Three masters on Imamism and Muʿtazilism 6
The present study 7
1 Life and Works 16
Historical setting 16
Biography 18
Oeuvre 22
Magna opera 23
Sources and classification 28
Murtaḍā’s bibliography 28
2 God and the World 52
Epistemological sketch: knowledge, investigation, reason and proofs 53
Ontological sketch: entities, attributes and causality 60
Theological sketch: God’s existence, attributes and the theory of states 66
Conclusion 79
3 Moral Theory and Divine Justice 87
Moral theory 88
Desert 97
God as moral agent 98
Consequences as deserved treatments 104
vi ] Shiʿi Doctrine, Muʿtazili Theology
Rational and revelational morality 116
Conclusion 119
4 Humans and the Origins of Religious Experience 128
The human being 129
Creation and moral obligation 135
Conclusion 143
5 The Imama and the Need for Moral Leadership 151
Theoretical model 154
The test of history 160
Inconvenient outcomes 167
Conclusion 172
6 Prophethood and the Value of Divine Guidance 182
Theoretical model 183
Historical disclosure 189
Inconvenient outcomes 199
Conclusion 203
Conclusion 211
Theology, doctrine and influence 213
Divine assistance as a theology of history 215
Bibliography 222
Index 242
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deep gratitude to many people whose help has been essen-
tial in writing this book. First and foremost, I am indebted to my advisors: Gerhard
Böwering for his great support and informative comments, and Hossein Modarressi
for his precious advice and meticulous feedback. Their criticism, counsel, patience
and encouragement were all indispensable in finishing the doctoral dissertation and,
later, in applying the changes that made the present book a totally different work.
Since my undergraduate years Maher Jarrar has been an exceptional mentor.
Likewise, I could not be more indebted to Vahid Behmardi for his outstanding guid-
ance and support. I am also grateful to Dimitri Gutas for his illuminating seminars, to
Tarif Khalidi for his insightful remarks on history and literature, to Ebrahim Moosa
for his enriching view of Islamic ethics, and to Nader El-Bizri, who made me more
aware of the contemporary relevance of many kalām debates.
The support of many friends made this work possible through their valuable sug-
gestions at various stages of work. I have benefited greatly from Matthew Melvin-
Koushki’s (occult) feedback, Mushegh Asatryan’s knowledge of Shiʿi extremism,
Mahmud Younes’ philosophical view of kalām, Tarek Idris’ stringent theological
arguments and Toufic Salloum’s remarkable outside perspective. I would also like
to thank my many teachers and friends in traditional circles of learning for their
instructive comments, often in the context of heated conversations and sometimes
amidst accusations of Occidentosis. Because of our differences, my father’s critique
has always been most educating, as has his personal library. I am also grateful to the
anonymous readers chosen by Edinburgh University Press for their suggestions, and
to Nicola Ramsey and Ellie Bush for their support during the publication process.
The writing of this book, in its various stages, would not have been possible without
Nermine el-Horr.
Finally, I credit these esteemed individuals with the merits of the book. Any
shortcoming is solely my responsibility.
[ vii ]

INTRODUCTION
نْ مَو مهب نيصّ تخملا مهِباحصأو اهيلئاق هِاوفأ نم ذَخؤُت نأ بُ جي بَ هاذملا نَّ إ رمْلأا ُةلمْجُ و
يف كلذ ىلإ عْ جرُي نْ إ هنإف ؛موصخلا ىواعد ىلإ اهيف عجرُي لاو مهنع ةِ ياكحلا يف نٌ ومأم وه
1.ةلاقم دِانتسا لاو بٍ هذم يف ةٍ ياكحب قْ ثن ملو بُ طْ خلا لَّ جَ و قُ رْ خلا عَ سَّتا بِ هذملا
ىضترملا فيرشلا
It is perhaps paradoxical, following this epigraph by the Imami Shiʿi al-Sharīf
al-Murtaḍā (d. 1044), to invoke the tangential comments on Imami Shiʿism made by
al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 869), the great littérateur and also a sui generis Muʿtazili theologian.2
Revelling as usual in scathing sarcasm, he remarked that the Rāfiḍis had been nar-
rowing down the line of legitimate claimants to the Imama. This would eventually
lead them to argue that an incumbent Imam must live forever; for if the Imam lacked
issue and died or was killed by want of prudence, the consistency of their theory
would be undermined. The attack was a hypothetical scenario that Jāḥiẓ proposed to
cruelly mock a childless ʿAbbāsid bureaucrat whose bad fortune had made him the
object of Abū ʿUthmān’s merciless satire.3 In response, the bureaucrat argued that
Jāḥiẓ’s incredible gift for spreading pure falsehood must also indicate his absolute
inability to tell the truth; but these protests were in vain.4
His penchant for excessive polemics and hyperbole aside, Jāḥiẓ’s comments
reflect the harshness of the Imamis’ opponents in judging their beliefs in a reduction-
ist manner and caricaturing their standpoint. This was still material for complaint
even two centuries later, as echoed in the words of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā quoted at
the beginning. Jāḥiẓ’s elliptical remarks, however, are illuminating for what they
reveal: first, familiarity with the conditions under which the Imams were living;
second, awareness of developments in the Imami position over time; third, knowl-
edge of Imami investment in developing a coherent theory of the Imama; and fourth,
appreciation of the sensitivity of history for Imami beliefs, on which Jāḥiẓ based both
his negative judgement on their reasoning and his expectation of future refinements
[ 1 ]