Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs
I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies

Among the various Muslim communities that were articulating their doctrinal positions in the early Islamic centuries, one in particular was known derisively as the Ghulat ('extremists'). This was owing to their specific interpretation of Islam, which included an 'extreme' devotion to the Shi'i Imams and the family of the Prophet, and controversial religious ideas, such as the transmigration of souls into other human or sub-human forms. Widely active in Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Ghulat developed a complex worldview and produced a rich religious literature. Until now, understanding of this community has mainly relied on sources produced outside of the group, which are inaccurate or polemical in nature. This book looks at newly recovered primary texts in order to study the Ghulat first hand. Mushegh Asatryan examines the development of the Ghulat writings, situating the community within a broader historical context and offering a comprehensive survey of their distinctive cosmology.
Through his detailed analysis, the book offers insight into the formation of one of the earliest religious traditions in Islamic history as well as the nature of the community in which texts were produced and circulated.

1125527478
Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs
I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies

Among the various Muslim communities that were articulating their doctrinal positions in the early Islamic centuries, one in particular was known derisively as the Ghulat ('extremists'). This was owing to their specific interpretation of Islam, which included an 'extreme' devotion to the Shi'i Imams and the family of the Prophet, and controversial religious ideas, such as the transmigration of souls into other human or sub-human forms. Widely active in Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Ghulat developed a complex worldview and produced a rich religious literature. Until now, understanding of this community has mainly relied on sources produced outside of the group, which are inaccurate or polemical in nature. This book looks at newly recovered primary texts in order to study the Ghulat first hand. Mushegh Asatryan examines the development of the Ghulat writings, situating the community within a broader historical context and offering a comprehensive survey of their distinctive cosmology.
Through his detailed analysis, the book offers insight into the formation of one of the earliest religious traditions in Islamic history as well as the nature of the community in which texts were produced and circulated.

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Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs

Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs

by Mushegh Asatryan
Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs

Controversies in Formative Shi'i Islam: The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs

by Mushegh Asatryan

Hardcover

$55.00 
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Overview

I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies

Among the various Muslim communities that were articulating their doctrinal positions in the early Islamic centuries, one in particular was known derisively as the Ghulat ('extremists'). This was owing to their specific interpretation of Islam, which included an 'extreme' devotion to the Shi'i Imams and the family of the Prophet, and controversial religious ideas, such as the transmigration of souls into other human or sub-human forms. Widely active in Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Ghulat developed a complex worldview and produced a rich religious literature. Until now, understanding of this community has mainly relied on sources produced outside of the group, which are inaccurate or polemical in nature. This book looks at newly recovered primary texts in order to study the Ghulat first hand. Mushegh Asatryan examines the development of the Ghulat writings, situating the community within a broader historical context and offering a comprehensive survey of their distinctive cosmology.
Through his detailed analysis, the book offers insight into the formation of one of the earliest religious traditions in Islamic history as well as the nature of the community in which texts were produced and circulated.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781784538958
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 01/30/2017
Series: Shi'i Heritage Series
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mushegh Asatryan is Assistant Professor of Muslim Cultures at the University of Calgary. He received his PhD from Yale and has published on various aspects of Islamic history and on the history of early Shi'ism. His recent publications include 'An Early Shi'i Cosmology: Kitab al-ashbah wa l-azilla and its milieu' and 'Bankers and Politics: The Network of Shi'i Moneychangers in Eighth-Ninth Century Kufa and their Role in the Shi'i Community'. Previously he was a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies and he has taught at Yale, Trinity College and Fairfield University.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations xi

List of Figures xiii

Note on Transliteration and Usage xv

Acknowledgements xvii

Introduction 1

1 Kitab al-haft wa'l-azilla: a Textual Analysis 13

The Ghulat Corpus 13

Kitab al-haft wa'l-azilla: an Introduction 17

A Note on the Editions 18

Layer 1 Chapters 1-8 19

Layer 2 Chapters 25, 33-35 and 37 22

Layer 3 Chapters 42-45 and 47 23

Layer 4 Chapters 53-57 26

Layer 5 Chapters 23, 38-41, the 'Narrative Layer' 27

Layer 6 Chapters 10-11, 12-15 and 16 34

Layer 7 Chapters 60 and 61 37

Layer 8 Chapter 59, Quotation from Kitab al-kashf? 38

Layer 9 Chapters 62-64, Quotation from Kitab al-kursi 39

Layer 10 Chapters 65 and 66, Kitab al-ashbah wa'l-azilla 40

Layer 11 Chapter 67 41

2 The Early Ghulat and their Textual Milieu 43

Mufaddal al-Ju'fi and Literary Activity among the Early Ghulat 43

Mufaddal b. 'Umar al-Ju'fi and the Kufan Ghulat 46

Mufaddal and the Imams 55

Other Ghulat Authors and the Earliest Layers of Kitab al-haft 61

The 'azilla Group' 64

Common Features 65

The Authorship and Dating of the 'azilla Group' 72

3 Polemics and Authority in the 3rd/9th Century 79

Inter-communal Polemics in the 3rd/9th Century 84

Kitab al-haft and Ghulat Literature in the 3rd/9th Century 88

Texts of the 'azilla Group' 90

Kitab al-tawhid and Letter Symbolism 92

The Metaphorical Interpretation of Religious Duties and Kitab al-ashkhas 93

Ishaq al-Ahmar al-Nakha'i and his Writings 96

The Ghulat during the Minor Occultation 98

Delegation or Divinisation? 98

The Crisis of Authority and the Role of the Gates 111

Ghulat Literature in the 3rd/9th Century: a Broader Picture 116

4 Ghulat Literature among the Nusayris in Syria 123

The Ghulat between Iraq and Syria 124

Kitab al-haft wa'l-azilla and Ghulat Literature in Syria 132

5 Constructing a Universe 137

Creation, the Fall and the Fate of Human Beings 138

Kitab al-sirat 139

Kitab al-haft and Kitab al-ashbah 139

Kitab al-azilla 143

The Cham of Being 145

Transmigration and the Dark World of Matter 149

Divine Man and Man of God 154

Antinomianism and the Esoteric Meaning of Religions Duties 157

6 Constructing a Community 163

'Thou shalt not Claim Hashimite Kinship!': the Ghulat and the 'Abbasids 166

Purity of Birth, Social Boundaries and the "World of Mixing' 170

Appendix: Ghulat Works Surviving in Fragments 179

Bibliography 183

Index 196

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