Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi'ite Islam: Abu Ja'far ibn Qiba al-Raziand His Contribution to Imamite Shi'ite Thought by Hossein ModarressiReview by: Ismail K. PoonawalaJournal of Law and Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1/2 (2000 - 2001), pp. 455-458Published by: Journal of Law and Religion, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1051546 .

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CRISIS AND CONSOLIDATION IN THE FORMATIVE PERIOD OF SHI'ITE ISLAM:

ABU JA 'FAR IBN QIBA AL-RAZI AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO IMAMITE SHI'ITE

THOUGHT. By Hossein Modarressi. Princeton: Darwin Press, Inc. 1993.

Pp. viii, 280. Price not available. ISBN: 0-878-50095-2.

In 260/874 Hasan al-'Askari, the eleventh Imam of the proto- Imami/Twelver Shi'a, died without apparently leaving any successor. This created a major doctrinal crisis in the community as all the previous Imams had designated their successors before they died. The unusual situation, therefore, engendered internal dissension within the community. 'Uthman b. Sa'id al-'Amri and his associates succeeded in preventing this confused state of affairs from deteriorating further by advocating the doctrine of occultation (al-ghayba) of the Imam, viz., that the newly born child Imam, son of al-'Askari, had gone into hiding due to adverse political conditions and that he would emerge as soon as circumstances would allow him to do so.

Al-'Amri had served as a financial agent first to the tenth Imam, and then as the chief financial aide to the eleventh Imam. Hence, he used to receive from the community the religious dues paid to the Imam. Moreover, he was the main channel through which the community kept contact with the last two Imams as they were under house arrest by the 'Abbasids and were forbidden to receive visitors. Consequently when the eleventh Imam died al-'Amri was in control of the office of the imamate and remained at the head of its administration. He continued to receive funds on behalf of the Hidden Imam by claiming that he was the intermediary between the latter and his followers. On his death, al- 'Amri's son succeeded in the office of his father. The latter died in 305/917 and was followed by two others in that office. The last deputy died in 329/941 without naming his successor. Thenceforth the community lost all contact with the Hidden Imam. For this reason the following period is known as the Major Occultation (al-ghayba al- kubra), while the interval of contact with the Hidden Imam through his deputies is known as the Minor Occultation (al-ghayba al-sughra).

The history of Imami Shi'ism following the death of the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, in 148/765 until the death of the al-'Askari and the subsequent period of the Minor Occultation, referred to by Modarressi as the formative period, has received very little critical attention in modem scholarship. Material on this period is extremely

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JOURNAL OF LAW & RELIGION

scanty and is scattered in sources that are not easily accessible. Moreover, in dealing with this period one is confronted with the problem of the historicity of the sources. Modarressi's work is, therefore, a major contribution in filling a longstanding gap in the study of this critical phase of the development of Imami Shi'ism. The author has succeeded in sifting through a variety of early sources and separating contradictory traditions with skill and sound judgment.

The book under review is divided into two parts: Imami Shi'ism in the late third/ninth century; and the role played by Ibn Qiba, a prominent theologian who lived during that period, in the formulation of the doctrine and consolidation of the Imami position. The first part is subdivided into three chapters. The first chapter sketches the beginning of Shi'ism from the time of the Prophet until the death of the eleventh Imam. Modarressi describes the birth of Shi'ism as an attitude of affection for the family of the Prophet during the latter's lifetime. Following the Prophet's death that affection changed into a political tendency among some Companions upholding the priority of the Prophet's family, represented at the time by 'Ali, to succeed the Prophet as head of the Muslim community. The supporters of 'Ali, who expanded greatly in number during his caliphate, were marked by their fervent religiosity. By the time of the fifth Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Shi'ism had become a distinct legal school. Under the guidance of the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, the Shi'a, who had began to take definite positions on various issues then debated among the Muslims, had grown into a distinct legal and theological school. Modarressi's inference that Shi'ism began as a political movement and gradually transformed into a legal and theological school is highly questionable. His assumption that the history of Shi'ism can be neatly divided into such distinct and successive phases is debatable as the distinction between religion and politics is hard to maintain in the early history of Islam.

The second chapter delineates various contending and often contradictory tendencies that prevailed simultaneously among the Shi'a concerning the person of the Imam and the scope of his knowledge. Opinions concerning those issues vacillated widely from one extreme to another. The author has culled the data from a wide variety of sources and his reading of the material is sophisticated and informed. The meanings of technical terms, the subtle differences between certain groups, such as Ghulat (the extremists who deified the Imams), Mufawwida (those who believed that God had delegated authority to the Imams), Tayyara (overflyers, like the ghulat), Ahl al-irtifa' (those who elevated the Imams to supernatural beings), Muqassira (those who fell

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BOOK REVIEW

short of recognizing the true nature of the Imams) and the Murji'at al- Shi'a (a Shi'i Murjite) are adequately explained.

The Mufawwida, more sophisticated than the earlier Ghulat, maintained that the Prophet and the Imams were the first and only beings to be directly created by God from a substance different from that of the rest of humanity. They further believed that God delegated to them authority to fulfill the functions that God himself was supposed to do. The Imams, therefore, can make laws and abrogate them. Mufaddal b. 'Umar al-Ju'fi (d. before 179/795) was the first spokesman for this school of thought; however by the middle of the third/ninth century this group had established themselves within the mainstream Imamis.

The Mufawwida were opposed by those who insisted that the Imams were simply virtuous learned persons and that obedience to them was required as they were the true interpreters of the Qur'an and heirs to the Prophetic knowledge. Their opponents called them Muqassira and accused them of having Sunni inclinations. It is worth noting that the Imami 'ulama' and hadith transmitters in Qum, which had replaced Kufa as the main center of Imami learning, belonged to this group.

The history of the Imami thought during this period is very much a history of conflict and reconciliation between those two uncompromising trends. Modarressi's findings reveal that the rank and file Imami 'ulama' and hadith transmitters maintained a moderate position. They believed that the Imams were endowed with a divine blessing that had been bestowed on the family of the Prophet. They further maintained that the Imams had a thorough knowledge of the shari'a (Islamic canon law) and the correct interpretation of the Qur'an. It should be noted that the Imams are generally reported in the Imami hadith as condemning the extremists and denouncing the attribution of supernatural powers to themselves.

The third chapter scrutinizes the crisis of succession following the death of Ja'far al-Sadiq and later division of the community into small splinter groups after the death of the al-'Askari. Here Modarressi has introduced some new material and clarified several thorny issues. It seems that at the beginning the Imamis did not foresee the prolonged absence of the Hidden Imam. However, when that Imam failed to appear over a long time they began to equate the vanished Imam with the Mahdi. Modarressi contends that the concept of Qa 'im, viz., that the Imam who had gone into concealment would emerge to establish the rule of truth, was known to the Imamis, but the Mahdi concept was imported. He further contends that it was not until after 295/908, that the Imamis began to realize that the situation was more unusual than

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they had originally thought and that possibly there would not be a manifest Imam for the foreseeable future. Hence, the question of the number of the Imams came under serious consideration. Consequently, the traditions in circulation about the number of the Imams being twelve were appropriated.

The second part introduces three polemical treatises of Ibn Qiba preserved in Ibn Babawayh's (d. 381/991) Kamal al-Din with English translation. Ibn Qiba, a Mu'tazili convert to Shi'ism, was active in sectarian debates with other groups defending the Imami doctrine of the Hidden Imam. The first treatise, composed before 285/898, is a debate with his former Mu'tazili colleague who questioned the very existence of the Hidden Imam. The second tract was written to refute the treatise of Abu '1-Hasan 'Ali al-Bashshar, a supporter of the imamate of Ja'far b. 'Ali, the younger son of the tenth Imam. Al-Bashshar argues that the claim of the associates of the eleventh Imam that the latter had a son is without any foundation. The third tract is a refutation of a Zaydi work called Kitab al-Ishhad written around that time. The Zaydi author attacks the Imami doctrine on three points: (i) that they have restricted the imamate without reason to certain descendants of Husayn; (ii) that they hold the imamate should be established through designation from one Imam to the next, while they always disagree as to who was actually designated; (iii) that they recognize as Imams some members of the Prophet's family who never rose against injustice and never tried to establish the rule of justice and truth, whereas the Zaydis acknowledge only the imamate of those who call for the establishment of a just government and rise against the tyrants. Ibn Qiba's arguments are interesting, but space does not permit me to elaborate further.

The three tracts reproduced here are from the recent edition of Kamal al-Din with corrections on the basis of some additional manuscripts of that work. Unfortunately, neither the variant readings nor the emendations are given; hence one cannot judge the merit of this edition. The English translation is clear and accurate. A list of technical terms used in the text would have enhanced the value of the book. It is an important contribution based on Modarressi's profound knowledge of the subject and the information is culled from a wide variety of sources. The book should be warmly welcomed by the students of Islam in general and the students of Shi'a Islam in particular.

Reviewed by Ismail K. Poonawala t

t University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

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