zaydī imams as restorers of religion: iḥyāʾ and tajdīd in zaydī...

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Zaydī Imams as Restorers of Religion: Iḥyāʾ and Tajdīd in Zaydī LiteratureAuthor(s): Ella Landau-TasseronSource: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 49, No. 3, (Jul., 1990), pp. 247-263Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/546245Accessed: 13/08/2008 15:12

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ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION: IHYA' AND TAJDID IN ZAYDI LITERATURE*

ELLA LANDA U-TASSERON, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

I

THE modern Yemeni historian Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Yahya Zabara (d. 1380/1960) wrote a short history of the Zaydi imams, beginning with Zayd b. 'All and ending with his own contemporary al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah, who was recognized as imam in 1322/1904. The book consists of a poem (urjiza) and a commentary upon it and is entitled A Gift Presented to the Rightly Guided: Concerning the Imams- Restorers and the Rulers of the Yemen from among the Descendants of the Prophet, Adherents of the Qur'dn (Ithdf al-muhtadrn bi-dhikr al-a'imma al-mujaddid'n wa- man qdma li-l-yaman al-maymun min qurand' al-kitdb al-mubTn wa-abn3' sayyid al- anbiyd' wa-l-mursalTn [San'a', 1343]). The term "restorers," mujaddidTn, which appears in the title, recalls the hadith "God will send to this community at the turn of each century someone (or 'people') who will restore the religion" (inna allah yab'ath li-hddhihi al-umma cald ra's kull mi'a sana man yujaddid lahd amr dTniha). I have dealt with this hadTth extensively in a separate article, but the main points are summarized below for the purpose of the present article.1

The earliest occurrence of this hadith is in the third century in the Sunan of Abu Da'ud. Several medieval authors quote it from Abu Dauid, invariably attaching to it lists of people designated as mujaddidun. Whatever the original meaning was, at some point tajdid came to be explained as, or identified with, ihyda al-sunna. This in turn may mean the revival of past forgotten practices and ideas of the Prophet or the defending of the orthodoxy from unwelcome innovations. Generally speaking, however, it was not the concept of revival-restoration which interested medieval writers, in that they were not concerned about devising a mechanism which would make revival possible; nor did they formulate criteria for the identification and designation of mujaddiduin, except the general stipulations that they should be great scholars and/or champions of the Sunna against bidca. Medieval authors were interested in the identity of those designated as mujaddidiin, often enhancing the prestige of a scholar (or scholars) whom they favored. They usually abided by the criterion supplied by the

* I gratefully acknowledge the support of the J. J. Witkam, and his assistants J. Linssen and the Lady Davis Fellowship Trust, and thank the Curator late W. van Wiggen. I also wish to thank my of Oriental Collections at the University of Leiden, colleagues E. Kohlberg and F. Donner for their

valuable comments on drafts of this paper. Thanks are also due to P. von Sivers and the scholars whom he consulted. Some of their many comments were

[JNES 49 no. 3 (1990)] useful. ? 1990 by The University of Chicago. I See my article "The Cyclical Reform: A Study All rights reserved, of the mujaddid hadTth," Studia Islamica 70 (1989): 0022-2968/90/4903-0002$1.00. 79-117.

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JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

hadTth itself, i.e., the time limitation. Thus the mujaddidun are, as a rule, scholars of the religious sciences who happened to die shortly after the turn of a given century. Usually, several restorers are mentioned for each century, which is probably the result of harmonizing and standardizing various previous lists. An examination of the lists shows that, starting with al-Shafi'c (d. 204/819) and until the sixth century A.H., the Sunni mujaddidun were jurists and theologians who strove to make the Prophetic tradition (hadLth) predominate over personal judgment (ra'y) and who defended Orthodoxy, even while it was still in the process of crystallizing, against groups which they considered non-orthodox. In other words, the Sunni mujaddidun of the third to the sixth centuries were scholars who were engaged in polemics against non-Sunni Muslims. All of these majaddidun were active in the eastern centers of learning, in Iraq and Iran. Between the seventh and the tenth centuries A.H. we find a number of restorers in Cairo. Unlike their eastern predecessors, these mujaddidun were not famous for their polemical activity in particular but acquired their title because of their remarkable knowledge and scholarly activity.

Most of the mujaddidun mentioned in the standard lists are ShaficTs, as are the transmitters of the mujaddid hadTth mentioned above. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the use of the title mujaddid was not confined to the Shafi'C madhhab. Ibn al- Athir and Ibn Kathir state that every school applied the title to its own masters. The list compiled by Ibn al-Athir, however, is not merely a collection of the names of such masters because it is very systematic. Rather, it appears that Ibn al-Athir himself, acting against the fanaticism of any particular school or faction, compiled a comprehensive list which includes scholars from many schools, places, and religious sciences, as well as caliphs and even Imami ShCl's.2

Ibn al-Athir's list is comprehensive, but it does not include Zaydi imams; yet, as mentioned above, the Yemeni historian Zabara applies the title mujaddid systemati- cally to ZaydT imams. This paper is the result of an attempt to investigate the use and significance of this title in ZaydT tradition as compared with its SunnT counterpart. Such an investigation may provide a new view concerning the nature of ZaydT leadership, as well as insight into the Zaydi use of a Sunni hadTth.

It should first be noted that Zabara singles out as mujaddidun twenty-three of the one hundred and twenty imams he mentions. These are distributed more or less evenly over the thirteen centuries of Islamic history, thus forming a complete Zaydi list of restorers independent of the Sunni one. As we shall see below, this is not the only Zaydi list, and it is noticeable that Zabara himself is inconsistent in at least one case, that of al-HadT ila al-Haqq (d. 290/903), whom he sometimes calls mujaddid yet whom he does not include in his list.3 Zabara's application of the title calls for several

2 Jalal al-DTn al-Suyutl, al- Tanbi'a bi-man yabca- idem, al-Inba' Can dawlat bilqrs wa-saba' (Cairo, thuhu allah Cald ra's kull mi'a, MS Leiden Or. 474, 1376), p. 3, where he refers to al-HadT as mujaddid. fols. 79b-80a. This Khuladsa is taken from a work entitled Urjiuzat

3 The list is in M. b. M. Zabara al-Hasani, Ithaf al-a'imma. It may well be that the latter is identical al-muhtadTn bi-dhikr al-a'imma al-mujaddidTn wa- with the Ithaf (which is also an urjuza), as the man qdma bi-l-yaman al-maymun min quranda al- refrain is identical. I was unable to check it because kitdb al-mubTn wa-abnd' sayyid al-anbiy&' wa-l- I could not find the Urjuizat al-a'imma, and the mursalin (San'a', 1343), pp. 4-6; cf. idem, Abnda biography of al-HadT which is the Khulasa is miss- al-yaman wa-nubald'ihi bi-l-islam (Cairo, n.d.), ing in the printed edition of the Ithaf. As for al- p. 39; idem, Khulasat srrat al-hddT, appended to Hadd himself, he was not unanimously recognized

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ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION

comments, which are listed in what follows under four headings. These comments indicate the differences between the Zaydi and SunnY restorers.

The Disregardfor the Hundred- Year Motif

According to the mujaddid hadTth, a restorer is due every hundred years at the turn of each century. Accordingly, it was stipulated for the Sunni mujaddidun that they be dead shortly after the turn of the century, and only rarely was this rule broken. Zabara, on the other hand, disregards this rule. In the introduction to his Ithdf, he quotes the mujaddid hadTth verbatim and appends to it commentary from his predecessors which stresses and explains the hundred-year motif; he also assigns his mujaddidun to their respective centuries. Yet the long list which he adduces immedi- ately afterwards includes many imams whose death dates do not coincide with the turn of the century. Had he considered dates of major events in their lives instead of their deaths, one would have expected an explanation, as given by the Sunnis when they designated as mujaddid al-Ash'ari, who died in 323/934 (too late for the "turn of the century").4 Even so, there are imams who do not fit in the hundred-year motif in any way. This may indicate that the ZaydT way of designating mujaddidun was less mechanical than the Sunni one because they disregarded the hundred-year rule, which after all, is gratuitous: people qualified to bear the title mujaddid might be active, or die, at any time during the century.

The Regal Aspect of the Title

The Sunny restorers are almost always scholars (supposedly the finest ones of their time) with the following exceptions: (1) 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'AzTz. It was, however, not his caliphal status which earned him the title but his (alleged?) activities in the field of hadTth.5 (2) The fifth mujaddid in the standard SunnT lists is al-Ghazali, but in the list recorded by Ibn 'Asakir (on the authority of a Damascene muft), the caliph al- Mustarshid bi-Allah is substituted for al-Ghazali. Ibn 'Asakir himself raises objections to this substitution on the ground that al-Ghazali is more deserving of the title, since he was such an outstanding religious scholar.6 (3) In the comprehensive list of mujaddidin compiled by Ibn al-Athir, a caliph is included for each century, alongside jurists, Qur'an readers, muhaddithun, etc.

Unlike the Sunni list, Zabara's list of Zaydi restorers consists mainly of political leaders who were proclaimed heads of the community, i.e., imams. This is not to say that they were not scholars as well; on the contrary, they were supposed to be the finest scholars, since the Zaydi head of the community is invariably an imam of the

as mujaddid. See Muhammad b. 'Abdallah Ibn al- (Damascus, 1347), p. 56. Mu'ayyad (Abiu Ulama), Rawdat al-albab wa- 5 See my article "Cyclical Reform," pp. 112-13. tuhfat al-ahbab, MS Berlin Ahlw. 9402, fol. 12b. See also P. Crone and M. Hinds, God's Caliph:

4 The SunnTs explain that al-Ash'arT converted Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam from Mu'tazilism to Sunnism at the turn of the (Cambridge, 1986), p. 80. century, in the year A.H. 300. See, for example, 'Ali 6 Ibn 'Asakir, TabyTn kadhib al-muftarl (Leiden, b. al-Hasan Ibn 'Asakir, TabyTn kadhib al-muftarT 1878), p. 83. The Damascene mufti is Abu al-Hasan fTma nusiba ila al-imam abT al-hasan al-ash'arr al-Sulam (d. 533/1139).

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family of the Prophet and, as such, should constitute the highest religious authority and the source of knowledge (macdan al-'ilm). He stands at the top of the hierarchy of excellence and is greatly admired and held in the highest esteem. It does not therefore seem conceivable that the title "restorer of religion" should apply to anyone but an imam. On the other hand, when applied to the ZaydT imams, the title mujaddid must denote more than mere recognition of scholarly excellence; that in fact it does, will, I hope, be shown below. It is also clear why the Sunni list of mujaddiduin can vary and include caliphs alongside scholars, whereas the Zaydi list does not. In Sunni Islam, the caliphs share with the scholars the task of defending the true faith. By analogy, they may also share with the scholars the task of restoring and reviving the faith. In fact, caliphs and scholars strive for the same end through different means-the caliphs using power (enforcing the sharC'a and performing jihad) and the scholars disseminating knowledge. For the Zaydis, the bearer of these responsibilities is the imam, who uses both methods, being himself the embodiment of power and knowledge alike; hence, there is no place for mujaddidun beside the imam. Thus there is in the Zaydi use of the title mujaddid a regal aspect which is almost entirely lacking in the Sunni notion of tajdTd.

Types of Mujaddidiun

Zabara makes a distinction between three types of mujaddiduin: (1) mujaddid bi- sayfihi, the imams who restore religion by waging war on those who distort it; (2) mujaddid bi-cilmihi, the imams who perform the same task by disseminating knowledge; and (3) mujaddid bi-sayfihi wa-'ilmihi, the imams who use both methods. Most of the mujaddidun belong to the third type and are both leaders of jihad and authors of religious books, as indeed they should be according to the idea of the ZaydT imam described above. Jihad against whoever opposes his legitimate rule is incumbent upon the imam, and knowledge is both a prerogative inherent in his office and a means of legitimizing his claim to this office.7 There were imams, however, who did not meet

7 On jihad, see, for example, 'All b. Muhammad b. 'Ubaydallah al-cAbbasT, STrat al-hadd ild al-haqq yahyd b. al-husayn (Beirut, 1972), pp. 23, 27 ff.; al- Mansir bi-Allah CAbdallah b. Hamza, al-'lqd al- thamTn fi tabyTn ahkdm al-a'imma al-hddTn, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fols. 15b, 82b, 139b-140a, 142a; Humaydan b. al-Hasan b. al-Qasim, Kitab al-tasrTh bi-l-madhhab al-sahih, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, fol. 109a; R. Strothmann, "Die Literatur der Zaiditen," Der Islam 1 (1910): 367; idem, Das Staatsrecht der Zaiditen (Strasbourg, 1912), pp. 43-45, 59; A. K. Lambton, State and Government in Medieval Islam (Oxford, 1981), p. 30. On knowledge: Humaydan, TasrTh, fols. 119a, 121b; al-Mansur bi-Allah CAbd- allah b. Hamza, Ajwibat masd'il tatadamman dhikr al-mutarrifiyya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 218a; Humayd b. Ahmad al-MahallT, al-Hada'iq al- wardiyya fT dhikr a'immat al-zaydiyya, MS Leiden Or. 2626, fol. 4b; al-Hasan b. Badr al-Din al- Hadawi, Anwdr al-yaqTn, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3868, fols. 41a-b, 74b, 77b, 86b, 116a, 126a; Sirat al-hadi, p. 342; Abu Muhammad Yisuf b. Muhammad al-

Hajuri, Rawdat al-akhbdr wa-kunuz al-asrar wa- nukat al-'athdr wa-mawd'iz al-akhbdr, MS Bib. Nat. Cod. Arab 5982, fols. 82b-83a (this manuscript has previously been attributed to al-Lah.j and was identified by W. Madelung as al-Hajuir's Rawda. See W. Madelung, "The Identity of Two Yemenite Historical Manuscripts," JNES 32 [1973]: 175-80; and D. T. Gochenour, "A Revised Bibliography of Medieval Yemeni History in Light of Recent Pub- lications and Discoveries," Der Islam 63 [1986]: 311); Lambton, State and Government, p. 29. Stroth- mann, "Die Literatur der Zaiditen," Der Islam 2 (1911): 67; idem, Staatsrecht, pp. 68 ff., 104 (the last reference is to a passage quoted by Strothmann from al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq, in which both jihad and knowledge are mentioned, among other things, as being required of the imam); C. Van Arendonk, Les Debuts de l'imamat zaidite au Yemen, trans. J. Ryckmans (Leiden, 1960), p. 273; Madelung, Der Imam al-Qdsim b. Ibrdhrm und die Glaubenlehre der Zaiditen (Berlin, 1965), p. 144.

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all the requirements yet who were recognized as legitimate. Thus the political failure of al-Qasim b. IbrahTm (d. 246/860) did not prevent him from being recognized as one of the most important imams because of his pivotal role in systematizing Zaydi theology. The ZaydTs learned to make concessions to reality, first of all, for example, by ignoring success and failure. The legitimacy of the imams does not depend on their actual victory but on their attempts to achieve it. Secondly, as pointed out by R. Strothmann, the Zaydis resorted to a distinction between two types of imams, both legitimate, imams of war and imams of learning.8 Apparently, this was done precisely because many imams did not live up to the ideal with both the sword and the pen. Zabara copied this distinction between types of imams and applied it to the mujaddidun. There is, of course, no such distinction as regards the Sunni restorers, nor is there any other attempt at dividing them into types.

Zabara makes an effort to distribute evenly his twenty-three restorers in terms of both geography and typology. In most cases, he mentions contemporaneous mujaddidin in the Yemeni and Caspian ZaydT states, and when designating a "restorer-by- the-sword," he attaches to him as a counterpart a "restorer-by-knowledge." One example of the former is Muhammad b. Ibrahim, who led a ShT'c revolt in Kufa in 199/815. His counterpart ("restorer-by-knowledge") is his brother, the above- mentioned al-Qasim b. IbrahTm, who in fact was the first to systematize Zaydi theology and jurisprudence.9 The importance of al-Qasim is reflected in the application to him of the saying of the Prophet "if there was to be a prophet after me it would have been he." (This hadTth was also applied to great figures such as cUmar b. al- Khattab, Ibn Hanbal, and al-GhazalT.)'1 Another mujaddid bi-sayfihi is al-Mansuir bi-Allah cAl b. Salah al-Din (d. 840/1436), and his counterpart is Ahmad b. Yahya b. al-Murtada (also d. 840/1436). The latter was a prolific writer of paramount importance who wrote fundamental works in the fields of theology and fiqh." The former, al-Mansur bi-Allah, was continuously engaged in war, thus conforming to the ideal of jihdd. That his enemies were often Zaydis themselves whose only fault was that they did not recognize his rule does not make al-Mansiir's wars less holy as far as he was concerned. Yet placing him and Ibn al-Murtada as complementary mujaddidun seems somewhat absurd because the mujaddid is supposed to fight the enemies of religion, and these two fought one another over power and rule. In 794/1392, the mujaddid bi-sayfihi al-Mansuir bi-Allah 'Al1 took prisoner the mujaddid bi-'ilmihi Ahmad b. Yahya b. al-Murtada..2 To sum up, the ZaydTs drew the distinction between types of imams in order to solve two concrete problems: the existence of imams who were lacking in one of the two qualifying aspects (military ability and knowledge) and the

8 Strothmann, Staatsrecht, pp. 71, 90, 98; idem, to al-Qasim is in al-HadawT, Anwdr al-yaqfn (Brit. "Zaydiyya," EI1. Strothmann does not treat sepa- Lib.), fol. 139b. rately the third type which combines both. See also 11 C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Madelung, Der Imam, pp. 141 ff., and D. T. Literatur, Supplement (GAL S) (Leiden, 1937-42), Gochenour, "The Penetration of ZaydT Islam into vol. 2, pp. 244-45; Strothmann, "Literatur," Der Early Medieval Yemen" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard Uni- Islam 1 (1910): 362, 371. versity, 1984), chap. 5 n. 214. 12 Yahya b. al-Husayn, Ghdyat al-amadnf T akhbar

9 Strothmann, "Literatur," Der Islam 2 (1911): al-qutr al-yamanT (Cairo, 1388/1968), vol. 2, pp. 49-60; Madelung, Der Imam. 538-40, 544-46, 547. For a description of the in-

10 See my "Cyclical Reform," p. 82. Al-Farazdaq cessant wars in which al-Mansuir bi-Allah 'All was applies the same to the caliph YazTd II : Crone and involved, see ibid., pp. 538-73. Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 30, n. 25. The application

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simultaneous existence of two imams or more.13 Since the mujaddidun are always imams, this typological distinction automatically applies to them. However, while solving the above-mentioned problems, this distinction creates a new problem because it brings out the unfortunate reality of discord and war among members of the venerated House of the Prophet.

Lack of Evidence for Earlier Occurrences of the Title

Zabara composed his urjuza on the basis of material found in the history books of his predecessors. His commentary on the urjuiza necessarily draws upon the same sources for the simple reason that he did not invent the history which he wrote. He cites several sources, usually ascribing to each of them the specific material which he drew from it. Not once does he ascribe to an earlier source the designation of an imam as a mujaddid. But, as we shall see, Zabara was no innovator in this matter. Some of the notions associated with the mujaddid have deep roots in the Zaydi tradition, and the term mujaddid itself was eventually applied to ZaydT imams, although sparingly. The relation between these notions, the title mujaddid, and the mujaddid hadith will be examined in the following pages.

On the surface, it appears that the idea of restoration is incompatible with Zaydi doctrines because it presupposes a period of deterioration. Restoration is needed at the end of each century because, as Suyuti puts it, by that time the scholars of the century have died, the ways of the Prophet have been forgotten and innovations introduced.14 Theoretically, such a state of deterioration cannot occur according to the Zaydis because of the principle of the continuity of guidance. One frequently finds in Zaydi literature the following hadtth: "the people of my House are like the stars, whenever one of them sets another one rises," that is, by God's decree there is always an imam of the ahl al-bayt to guide the community.15 The idea of continuity assumes other forms as well: the chain of prophets culminated in Muhammad, then God gave his Prophet the progeny of his daughter and his cousin to be the people's guide after him.16 The people cannot at any time be without a ruler who rules according to God's book;'7 at all times, there must be among the ahl al-bayt people qualified to be imams;18 "knowledge always has guardians, as long as the nights follow the days";'9

13 See n. 8 above. 14 Suyut.?, Tanbia, fol. 80b. 15 Ahl baytT ka-l-nujum kullama afala najm tala'a

najm: al-Hadawi, Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fols. 192b-193a; cf. 78a; Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. 12a; Muhammad b. 'Abdallah b. al-Husayn al- Mihrabi, al-Jawabdt al-hashimiyya f al-radd cald ba'd al-shafi 'iyya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, fol. 22a; Humaydan b. Yahya b. Humaydan, al-Farq bayna al-tashayyuc wa-l-i 'tizal, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, fol. 48a. Variations on the star theme: al-Hadawi, Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fol. 66a; Sibt Ibn al- JawzT, Tadhkirat khawass al-umma bi-dhikr khasais al-a'imma, MS Leiden Or. 915, fol. 193b; al-HadT ila al-Haqq, Durar al-ahadith al-nabawiyya bi-l-

asanTd al-yahyawiyya (Beirut, 1982), p. 52. 16 Al-Husayn b. Ahmad b. Ya'qub, Strat al-

mansur bi-alldh, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3816, fol. la-b. 17 Humaydan (quoting al-Murtada li-DIn Allah

Muhammad b. Yahya), TasrTh, fol. 121b. 18 Humaydan (quoting al-Mansur bi-Allah 'Abd-

allah b. Hamza), Farq, fol. 50a. Of course there was a discrepancy between the ideal and reality; see, for example, Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," p. 200.

19 Wa-li-l-'ilm hafaza f jamT' al-acsar md ikh- talafa yawn wa-nahar. Al-Mansuir bi-Allah CAbd- allah b. Hamza, al-Jawhara al-shaffafa rddiCat al- tawwafa, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 236a, where other expressions of the same idea also occur.

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there is no way by which the sharT'a can be changed or falsified says al-Mansur bi- Allah because the whole community knows it and will not permit it.20 Nevertheless, the same author quotes a hadTth concerning innovations: it says that for every innovation introduced in Islam there is assigned someone of the ahl al-bayt to rectify its damages and show the people the truth.21 Zayd b. 'All is quoted as saying that God sends to every generation someone from the ahl al-bayt as "Proof of the Truth" (hujja).22 All these expressions of the idea of continuity mean the same thing: there is always just rule by rightly-guided imams from among the ahl al-bayt; hence, there is no place forfatra, an "interval"; no deterioration may occur, and there is no need for tajdTd, "restoration." Nevertheless, the ideas of fatra, deterioration, and tajdTd do figure in ZaydT tradition.

At the beginning of the seventh/thirteenth century, al-Mansur bi-Allah states that Zaydis, Imamis, Mu'tazills, and most Sunnis all share the doctrine of continuity.23 But the founder of Zaydi theology, al-Qasim b. Ibrahim, considered the Imamis com- parable with the Brahmin atheists because of this very doctrine. Basing his ideas on al-Qasim, Strothmann assumed that the Zaydis as a rule maintained the fatra doctrine, which is opposed to the idea of continuity.24 A confirmation of Strothmann's assumption seems to be found in the fact that al-Mansuir bi-Allah al-Qasim b. Muhammad (d. 1029/1620) wrote a book entitled Guidance for the Servants of God in the Absence of a Director.25 W. Madelung, however, has pointed out that al-Qasim b. Ibrahim was inconsistent regarding thefatra doctrine; he used it to refute the Imami doctrine of wasiyya (a form of the continuity idea). Yet, on the other hand, al-Qasim also argued that an imam was always necessary on the grounds that Allah cannot leave the people without guidance.26 It seems to me that although there is evidence in Zaydi literature of both fatra and continuity doctrines, the latter is the more typically ZaydT. This also makes sense historically, given the uninterrupted political existence of ZaydTs in the Yemen.27 But the doctrine of fatra serves ZaydT purposes, too. In

20 Idem, al-'Iqd al-thamin, fols. 80a, 128b-129a, 131b.

21 Ibid., fol. 142a; al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-Jawhara, fol. 270a; idem, Kitab al-shafi, MS Berlin Ahlw. 10281, fol. 2a. The same idea in another hadith: al-Hadawl, Anwar al-yaqin (Brit. Lib.), fol. 77a-b.

22 Al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-CIqd al-thammn, fol. 56a. Cf. Gochenour, "ZaydT Islam," pp. 46, 79: "Zaydis repudiated the idea of a hidden imam or one who was for the moment removed from material existence," and they "put particular stress on the present existence of the imam." Of course ghayba and fatra are different theological issues, but in the present context it is the idea of the continuous guidance which is stressed.

23 Al-Mansur bi-Allah 'Abdallah b. Hamza, al- Durra al-yatTma fi tabym ahkdm al-siba' wa-l- ghanTma, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 202a.

24 Strothmann, Staatsrecht, pp. 91 ff.; and see Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," pp. 181-82, 200, on the Husayniyya or Qasimiyya.

25 A. S. Tritton, The Rise of the Imams of San'a' (London, 1925), p. 128. This is not the same al-

Mansur mentioned in the previous notes. Tritton does not give any detail on this book, and I was unable to trace it.

26 Madelung, Der Imam, p. 146. For a critique of Madelung's view, see B. Abrahamov, "The Theologi- cal Epistle of al-Kasim b. IbrahTm" (Ph.D. diss., Tel Aviv University, 1981) (in Hebrew), vol. 1, p. 126. Al-Qasim's epistle in which he uses the doctrine of fatra is Kitab al-radd 'ala al-rdfida. The epistle in which he bases himself on the continuity doctrine is Kitab tathbft al-imdma, both edited by Abrahamov, vol. 2, pp. 310-21 and 204-23 respectively.

27 This holds true even though there were periods in which the ZaydTs had hardly any control in the Yemen, since, ideally, the Zaydi communities do not cease to constitute political entities even when (tem- porarily) overcome by other powers. Thus it is possible for Zabara to say that the Zaydis "ruled the Yemen for more than 1000 years." M. b. M. Zabara, Yemen- Traditionalism versus Modernity (New York, 1982), p. 5; and in the same vein, M. A. Madi, "Dawlat al-yaman al-zaydiyya, nash'atuha, tatawwuruha, 'alaqatuha," al-Majalla al-ta'rrkhiyya

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addition to refuting the Imami wasiyya-doctrine, it also provides the background for the appearance of prophets and helps to bridge the gap between the real and the ideal, i.e., between the fact that morals and religion are always in an undesirable state and the notion that God constantly provides guidance. The idea offatra reconciles these two facts by showing that the periods during which ignorance prevails and deterioration occurs are regularly halted by God's successive agents: prophets, imams, mujaddidun. Of course, the contradiction may be resolved without the device of thefatra, by the argument that guidance is always present, but that people sin and fail to follow it. At any rate, it appears that the contradictory ideas of continuity and deterioration coexist in Zaydi thought, both being organic elements of it. The ZaydT concept of the ahl al-bayt, their status, and their qualities, coupled with the fact that ahl al-bayt is a genealogical entity, entails the idea of continuity. On the other hand, the concept of deterioration fits into Zaydi thought not only because of its connection with the doctrine offatra, but also because of the similarity between the figures of the imam and the ultimate Mahdi. As a result of this similarity, the period of the "Portents of the Hour" (ashrat al-sa'a), which precedes the appearance of the Mahdi, was transferred and became a period of deterioration which precedes the advent of an imam or a mujaddid.

The similarity between the head of the community and the eschatological Mahdi cuts across sectarian lines and is common to all groups of SunnTs and Shicis. It is expressed in various forms, first and foremost by the application of the title Mahdi to caliphs and imams.28 In addition, the imams and the Mahdi are sometimes referred to by the same terms. For instance, according to the messianic ideal put in the form of a hadTth, the Mahdi "will fill the world with justice as it is filled with evil/injustice."29 The same words are applied to many Zaydi imams either as prophecies of their advent or as epithets.30 The advent of the imam al-HadT ila al-Haqq is prophesied in hadTths phrased in an eschatological style and using apocalyptic terms, as, for example, "when the Egyptians have killed their governor and the Yemeni will arise, he will fill the earth with justice .. .. 31

al-misriyya 1-3 (1950): 15, 33-34. It is also note- worthy that the list of imams compiled by Zabara in the Ithaf hardly allows for significant intervals between one imam and the next, but these imams do not succeed one another as heads of one and the same community. Moreover, they often fight one another. See also n. 12 above, and Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," pp. 169, 208.

28 Madelung, "Mahdi," El2; Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, pp. 36 ff., 75, 102-3, 113-14.

29 See, for example, al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-'Iqd al-thamTn, fols. 55a, 58a, 59a-b. Cf. Strothmann, Staatsrecht, pp. 46-48, on the Twelfth Imam, who will return for this purpose.

30 For example, STrat al-hadi, p. 330; al-Hadi, Durar al-ahadTth, p. 192, n. 1; al-Mansir bi-Allah, al-'Iqd al-thamTn, fol. 53a. Cf. the version of the hadrth used to praise the tribe of Quraysh: "Do not

curse the Quraysh because their scholar will fill the world with knowledge" (la tasubbtu qurayshan fa- inna 'alimahd yamla' al-ard 'ilman), Ibn Hajar al- CAsqalani, Tawdll al-ta'sis bi-maadlT ibn idrts (Bulaq, 1301), pp. 46-47; Taj al-Din al-SubkT, Tabaqat al- shafi'iyya al-kubra (Cairo, n.d.), vol. 1, p. 104. Ibn CAsakir, Tabyrn (Leiden), p. 82. Al-Farazdaq refers to the caliph Hisham by the same terms; Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 37, and cf. ibid., p. 114 (on the caliph 'Umar II).

31 Idhd qatala ahl misr amTrahum wa-zahara al- yamand f al-yamanfa-innahu yamla' al-ard 'adlan; STrat al-hddi, p. 29, and see the prophecies there and on pp. 25-26; al-Hadawi, Anwar al-yaqfn (Brit. Lib.), fol. 149b. For a description of al-Hadi in messianic terms, see Van Arendonk, Les Debuts, pp. 269-70, and cf. ibid., pp. 132-33, for another prophecy in the apocalyptic style.

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Terms are transferable not only from the Mahdi to the imam but also vice versa. Just as caliphs and imams are referred to as mahdis, so the Mahdi is called khalifat allah32 (the ZaydTs, however, do not use the term).33 One of the tasks of the Zaydi imam is "to enjoin good and prohibit evil" (al-amr bi-l-ma'rif wa-l-nahy Can al- munkar).34 Conversely, the application of this precept is a token by which the ZaydT imams are recognized.35 The Qur'anic verse upon which this precept is based is even used to try to prove that the ZaydT doctrine of the Imamate is the only right one.36 Evidently, al-amr bi-l-ma'rif belongs in the affairs of this world; yet it also finds its place in eschatology. In a passage describing the Mahdi, we find that the time preceding his coming will be characterized by annihilation of the ways of the Prophet, introduction of innovations, and neglect to enjoin good and prohibit evil; Allah will then send the Mahdi to remedy the situation.37 Thus the injunction of al-amr bi-l- mac'rf is transferred from the imam to the Mahdi. Interestingly, it is precisely this injunction which is used in an attempt at differentiating between the Mahdi and the imam: IbrahTm b. 'Abdallah was asked whether his brother, al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, had been the Mahdi. He replied that the Mahdi was a Divine Promise which was never specified by name or time; even if al-Nafs al-Zakiyya was not the Mahdi, he nevertheless fulfilled the task assigned to him by God, which was to enjoin good and prohibit evil.38 Such attempts, however, are overshadowed by the tendency of the figures of the Mahdi and the imam to intermingle. A passage may even be ambiguous, leaving it to the reader to decide whether the Mahdi or an imam is meant. A prophecy ascribed to CAli describes a future time in which innovations will multiply and the ways of the Prophet be wiped out, so that the world will be filled with injustice; God will then remedy the situation by sending a man of the ahl al-bayt to fill the world with justice.39 Since both the imam and the Mahdi are members of the ahl al-bayt, the prophecy may in a similar manner refer to the advent of any given imam and the ultimate Mahdi. From the last passages it is evident that the parallelism between the imam and the Mahdi extends to the period preceding the advent of either. The deterioration theme is a pale reflection of the horrendous "Portents of the Hour" (ashrat al-saa), just as the imam reflects the Mahdi. Connected in this way with the concept of Mahdi/imam, the deterioration theme thus belongs to Zaydi thought, even though it clashes with the basic doctrine of continuity.

In addition to being a reflection of an apocalyptic idea, the deterioration theme may be seen on a pragmatic level as a tool used in propaganda. A deteriorated state of affairs justifies the rise of an imam and his claim to establish and lead a new order.

32 Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 16. Debuts, pp. 51, 56, n. 1, 135, 137, 164, 288; Stroth- 33 Ibid., p. 18, n. 63. mann, Staatsrecht, pp. 42-43, 105. 34 Sirat al-hadT, pp. 28, 298, and passim; al-HadT 35 Al-Hadi, Durar al-ahadTth, p. 48 (quoted also

ila al-Haqq, Usul al-dTn, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3798, by Strothmann, Staatsrecht, and by Crone and fols. 68a-69b; al-Hajirl, Rawdat al-akhbar, fols. Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 98, n. 12). 182b, 188a, 196b; al-Mansir bi-Allah, al-'Iqd al- 36 Al-HadawI, Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fol. thamTn, fols. 47a, 68a, 80a, 140a; idem, al-Durra al- 102a-b. The verse is sura 3:104. yatTma, fols. 170b, 180a; idem, Ajwibat masa'il, fol. 37 Al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-'lqd al-thamTn, fol. 60b. 280a; al-HadawT, Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fols. 38 Van Arendonk, Les Debuts, p. 56, n. 1, quoting 74b, 150a, 176a; al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq Yahya b. al- al-Mahall's al-.Had'iq al-wardiyya. Husayn, al-Ifdda f ta'rTkh al-a'imma al-sada, MS 39 Al-Hadaw1, Anwdr al-yaqTn, MS Leiden, Or. Leiden Or. 2616, fols. 49b, 45b; Van Arendonk, Les 14.266, fol. 63b.

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This is clearly illustrated by the imam al-Mu'ayyad bi-Allah (end of the fourth century, eastern Zaydi state). In a propaganda speech, he describes the cycles of evil and redemption through Islamic history from al-Husayn b. 'All down to his own period: time and again evil prevailed and the righteous (i.e., Zaydl) imams rose against it, each in his turn. Al-Mu'ayyad presents himself as the new link in that chain and urges his listeners to support him in order to overcome the current evil.40 The same idea figures in the words attributed to Zayd b. 'All: "... it is a long time since the Prophet died and nothing remained of Islam but the name .. 4 The implication is that the time has come to restore things to the way they were at the time of the Prophet. The idea of restoration or revival in fact depends on the theme of deterioration, without which it has no raison d'etre.

In the context of propaganda and the advent of new imams, the idea of restoration is sometimes not only implied but explicitly stated. The founder of the Zaydi state in the Yemen, al-Hadi ila al-Haqq (d. 298/911), describes his own time as evil to such a degree as to necessitate the appearance of the Mahdi.42 The parallel between the Mahdi and the imam stands out here very clearly because al-Hadi's actions reveal that he put himself in the place of the Mahdi. In response to an appeal from the Yemenis, he left his dwelling place in the Hijaz and entered the Yemen in order to "revive the religion of God and the Sunna of the Prophet and to fight the enemies of God .. ."43 Al-HadT's son, al-Murtada, faced the same situation as his father. People came to him and beseeched him to become their leader and accept the oath of allegiance in order to establish a rule according to the Qur'an and the Sunna and to "revive the religious precepts which the sinners have killed."44 Since al-Murtada refused to take this task upon himself, the situation worsened until his brother al-Nasir accepted the bay'a. In a panegyric composed by one of his followers, al-Nasir is described as the one who strengthened Islam after it had become weak.45

Al-Hadi ila al-Haqq describes himself, and the ahl al-bayt in general, as restorers of the Qur'an and the Sunna which had been abandoned by the community. He uses the strongest possible expression, such as "Islam was dead and revived through the ahl al-bayt" (bihim nu'isha al-islam ba'da mawtihi),46 or "I revived the book of God after it had perished" (na'ashtu kitdb allah ba'da haldkihi),47 or "I revive the Book and the Sunna which have been rejected (by others)" (uhyT al-kitdb wa- uhyT sunna rufi.dat).48

40 Al-Hajiur, Rawdat al-akhbar, fols. 235b-237b. Cf. a similar idea in the propaganda of Yazid III, Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 63. It should be noted that naturally every claimant to the throne appealed to the Qur'an and the Sunna, arguing that their adversaries went astray, but not every such claimant used the idea and terminology of restoration.

4' Ibid., fol. 77b; cf. 82b. 42 Al-HadT, Durar al-ahaddth, pp. 187-89; al-

Mansuir bi-Allah, al-'Iqd al-thamTn, fol. 56b. 43 Sirat al-hadd as quoted by al-Hajuri, Rawdat

al-akhbar, fol. 182b, similarly 188a, and see also 187b. The Yemenis, however, had another purpose in mind: they invited al-Hadi as a mediator to settle their internal feuds impartially; see Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," p. 130.

44 Ibid., fol. 196b; cf. Muhammad b. Jarir al- Tabari, Ta'rfkh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, ed. M. de Goeje (Leiden, 1879-1901), series no. 2, p. 240, where al-Husayn speaks about the killing of the Sunna; quoted by Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 60, n.5.

45 Muslim b. Muhammad al-Lahji, Kitab fihi shay min akhbar al-zaydiyya bi-l-yaman, MS Berlin Ahlw. 9664, fols. 39b-41a.

46 Strat al-HadT, p. 313. 47 Ibid., pp. 302-3. Read na'ashtu kitab allah, for

the editor's ba'athtu kitab allah; see the manuscript of Sirat al-hadi, MS Leiden Or. 8943, fol. 66b.

48 Ibid. (Leiden), fol. 69b=MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3901, fol. 128b. This particular verse is missing from Zakkar's edition of STrat al-hadT.

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More specific is the verse attributed to a descendant of al-Hadi: "'they' did not perform religious duties, even the hajj, fasting, and zakah, until the imams of the ahl al-bayt led them back to the right path" (in other words, restored religion for them).49 In the same vein, al-HadT is called muhyi al-fardaid, "restorer of the religious duties."50 Al-HadT's biographer (who was also one of his companions) wrote the following verse playing on al-HadT's first name, Yahya: "Yahya who revived (ahya) the true religion for his community after the infidels had done away with it; they rejected the Book and changed its precepts, but God Almighty has given him (i.e., Yahya) to us."5' This play on words occurs later in the form of a hadTth. It is reported that the Prophet said "a descendant of mine will rise in that area-and he pointed to the Yemen-his name will be Yahya who guides (al-hddT), and God will revive religion through him."52

The above examples show that the idea of revival/restoration is already present in Sirat al-hddi, which is quite an early example of ZaydT literature. The parallelism between the ZaydT idea and the mujaddid hadith is obvious: both presuppose a period of deterioration (in religious terms) after which God sends someone to restore the religion. Perhaps the most obvious parallel is the one obtaining between a marginal version of the mujaddid hadith and a verse written by al-Hadi's biographer. The verse is "by him God elucidated (abana) the religion after it had become obscure, and through him God will illuminate darkness."53 This verse corresponds to the following version of the mujaddid hadith: "God will mercifully send to His community, at the turn of every century, a man from the ahl al-bayt, who will elucidate (yabayyin) their religion for them."54 In view of this parallelism, one would expect to find the mujaddid hadTth in early Zaydi literature. But there is not even one reference to it in Sirat al-Hadi, nor is the root j-d-d used to denote the idea of restoration. The locutions used for this purpose are ahyd, nacasha, azhara ba'da al-khumil. The same applies to works later than the Sirat al-Hddi. More often than not they do not quote the mujaddid hadTth when they bring up the notion of restoration. For instance, al-Hasan b. Badr al-DTn (d. 670/1272) writes about al-Hadi that he "propagated the religion after the darkness of atheism had prevailed" (nashara al-milla ba'da zuhir zulmat al-ilhdd).55 In the introduction to his compilation, al-Ifada, al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq (d. 424/1033) records the features characteristic of all Zaydi imams. Among other things, they are described as striving to revive the ways of justice (al-ijtihdd f i ihyd'

49 STrat al-hadi, p. 330. Cf. STrat al-mansur, fol. 14b: "Were it not for (al-Mansuir's) ancestor, the messenger of God, we would not have known about the paying of zakdh nor prayer." Cf. Gochenour, "ZaydT Islam," pp. 83, 176, 207-8, on the ignorance of the Yemenis in basic Islamic matters. According to Gochenour, it was in fact the Zaydis who seriously introduced Islam into the Yemen; ibid., p. 35.

50 STrat al-hadi, p. 23. Cf. al-Hadawi, Anwdr al- yaqin (Brit. Lib.), fol. 112a, where IbrahTm, father of al-Qasim al-Rassi, is called muhyT al-sunan.

51 STrat al-hadi, p. 334. 52 Al-HadT, Durar al-ahadTth, pp. 191-92; al-

MihrabT, Jawabat, fol. 24b; al-HadawT, Anwdr al- yaqrn (Brit. Lib.), fol. 150a; cf. 133a. The use of this

play on words is not exclusively Zaydi. It is also applied to the Shafi'T (Yemeni) scholar Yahya b. AbT al-Khayr; see 'Umar b. 'Al1 b. Samura al- Ja'di, Tabaqdt fuqahd' al-yaman (Cairo, 1957), p. 181.

53 STrat al-hadd, p. 342. 54 SuyuitT, Tanbi'a, fol. 74b, and see my article

"Cyclical Reform," n. 129. 55 Al-HadawT, Anwdr al-yaq'n (Brit. Lib.), fol.

149b. He uses a similar expression when referring to the imam al-Hasan b. CAbd al-Rahman: "reviver of the dead sunan" (al-munshir mayyit al-sunan), ibid. fol. 177b. Al-Mu'ayyad is credited with having revived the religious duties (hayyat bihi al-fardaid); ibid. fol. 178a.

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sunan al-'adl);56 no reference is made to the mujaddid hadTth or to the root j-d-d. In al-.Hada'iq al-wardiyya, compiled by al-Mahalli (d. 652/1254), we find the imam al- Mutawakkil Ahmad b. Sulayman (d. 566/1171) referred to as the one who revived (ahyayta) the religion of Muhammad.57 The idea of revival/restoration is thus amply attested to but not the terms tajdTd and mujaddid. Sometimes both the mujaddid hadith and the idea of restoration are altogether missing in places where one would expect them to occur. Such places are standard descriptions of the qualities, qualifica- tions, and tasks of the imams; clusters of hadlths adduced to legitimize the rule of the ahl al-bayt; or individual biographies of Zaydi imams.58

In what follows, I have recorded the references to the root j-d-d (translated as "restore") and to the mujaddid hadTth which I have found in ZaydT literature. Perhaps after examining additional material from the vast store of Zaydi literature, many more references can be added, but the fact remains that the mujaddid hadYth and the root j-d-d do not occur in many places where they would have been most appropriate.

The root j-d-d is applied to the imam al-Mansur bi-Allah al-Qasim b. 'AlI (d. 393/1003). The context is bellicose: preparing to take action against dissidents, al-Mansir called up certain tribes for military service. Concerning this matter, one of his followers composed a poem in which he described the eager response of the tribes and encouraged the imam to proceed with his plans. Among other things, he addressed al-Mansur with the following words: "rise and lead the people, and send them with justice; remove ignorance and darkness from them. Restore the religion of your ancestor after it has disappeared, and inflict death upon your opponents."59

About two hundred years later, the imam al-Mansuir bi-Allah 'Abdallah b. Hamza (d. 614/1217) fought ruthlessly against the Mutarrifiyya, a group which had broken away from the Zaydiyya. In a treatise intended to justify his harsh treatment of them, al-Mansir applies to himself the root j-d-d: "if we do not restore the precepts of Muhammad's law, who will?" he says.60 It is noticeable that the context is again bellicose.

Al-Mansur did not use the root j-d-d off-handedly, for he was acquainted with the mujaddid hadTth. In another treatise, he wrote the following passage: "'All said: 'Oh

56 Al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq, Ifdda, fol. 2b. 57 Humayd b. Ahmad al-Mahalli, al-Hadd'iq al-

wardiyya ft dhikr a'immat al-zaydiyya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3786, fol. 140a.

58 See, for example, ibid., fols. 208 ff. and in the Leiden MS, fols. 40 ff; al-Sahib Ibn 'Abbad, Nusrat madhdhib al-zaydiyya (Baghdad, 1977), passim; al- MihrabT, Jawabat, fols. 76a ff.; Humaydan, Tasr.h, fols. 108b ff.; al-Hajuri, Rawdat al-akhbdr, fols. 84a-85b; al-HadawT, Anwar al-yaqin (Brit. Lib.), fols. 84a-b, 149b; STrat al-mansur, fol. lla; Sirat al-hddi, pp. 23 and passim; al-HadT ila al-Haqq, Majmui, MS Mun. Cod. Ar. 43, fol. 78a-b; Mu- hammad b. cAll b. Yfnis al-Zuhayf, Ma'athir al- abrar ft tafsil mujmalat jawdhir al-akhbdr, MS Leiden Or. 6327, passim; al-Mansir bi-Allah, al- 'Iqd al-thamTn, fols. 2a, 46b, 68a, 80a, but cf. 77b, where two readings are possible: mujaddidan li-l- sharT'a or muhaddidan li-l-sharT'a; at any rate, the

text deals with the Imamiyya, not the Zaydiyya. 59 wa-qumfTal-khalqifa-ibcathhum bi-'adlin

wa-jalli al-jahla 'anhum wa-l-zalama wa-jaddid dTnajaddika ba'da darsin

wa-awrid man yundzi'uka al-himama. Sirat al-mansir, fol. 4a. On al-MansTur and his reign, see Madelung, "Land Ownership and Land Tax in Northern Yemen and Najran: 3rd-4th/9th- 10th Century," in T. Khalidi, ed., Land Tenure and Social Transformation in the Middle East (Beirut, 1984), pp. 189-207; Gochenour, "Zaydl Islam," pp. 168, 181, and passim.

60 Al-Mansur bi-Allah CAbdallah b. Hamza, al- Risala al-haddiya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 164b: wa-idha lam nujaddid ahkdm shar' muhammad salla allah 'alayhi wa-sallama fa-man yujaddiduhu? On the Mutarrifiyya, see Gochenour, "Zaydl Islam," pp. 186-201.

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God, do not let the world be devoid of a proof. . .' (i.e., an imam who is a divine

proof of the truth), and there is a tradition ... that at the turn of each century there will be a proof. . , and there is a tradition on the authority of Abu Hurayra who

quoted the Prophet saying that God will send to this community at the turn of each

century someone/people who will restore religion. And it was proven by the ijma' of the scholars that the tax (sadaqa) on grain, dates, and raisins must be handed to the imam...."61 Many sayings expressing the idea of continuity may be quoted from al-Mansur bi-Allah, but in this passage he brings together the two opposing ideas of continuity and periodicity. The first is expressed by the sentence "Oh God, do not let the world be devoid of a proof." The second figures in the form of the mujaddid hadTth "... at the turn of each century ...." By ignoring the theme of deterioration, which is usually connected with the idea of periodicity, al-Mansur bi-Allah succeeds in making periodicity appear as continuity. This is most clearly expressed in the sentence "at the turn of each century there will be a proof." This sentence is a combination in which the idea of continuity (i.e., that there is proof at all times) appears in the form of the periodic law (i.e., the mujaddid hadith from which was borrowed the timing "at the turn of each century"). By the end of the passage ("the sadaqa . . . must be handed to the imam"), it becomes evident that al-Mansuir's aim was to provide legitimation for his own rule. For this purpose, he reconciled the two ends (of continuity and periodicity) implying that he was both the proof and the promised restorer of religion.

The use of the mujaddid hadTth for legitimation is already attested in the fifth century, but the evidence is secondary. In Raw.dat al-albdb, written in the eleventh/ seventeenth century, Ibn al-Mu'ayyad writes that the jurist 'Abdallah al-Khayyatl al-Shafi'l cited the mujaddid had-th as evidence of the legitimacy of the imam al- Mu'ayyad bi-Allah Ahmad b. al-Husayn (d. 411/1020). I was unable to trace Ibn al-Mu'ayyad's source for this information.62

Ibn al-Mu'ayyad deals with the mujaddid hadith in some detail, and a few of the sources upon which he drew follow.

1. Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Daylami (d. 711/1311) is the first source. Since the time gap between al-Daylami and Ibn al-Mu'ayyad is more than three centuries, it is evident that the latter used a written source; he does not, however, mention which one. He simply quotes on the authority of al-Daylami the following passage, which originally was most probably preceded by the mujaddid hadTth: "we looked into the matter in order to find out who fits this description at the turn of each century, and we thought that at the first were Zayd b. 'Ali and his brother al-Baqir, at the second Muhammad and al-Qasim sons of IbrahTm . . . ," etc. Al-Daylami's list reaches as far as the seventh century A.H. It is then brought up to the eleventh century, apparently by Ibn al-Mu'ayyad himself, who includes his own contemporary the imam al- Mutawakkil as the restorer at the turn of the millennium.63 The break in the list (at the

61 Al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-Durra al-yatTma, fol. Zabara, Ithdf, pp. 77-78. 203a-b. 63 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. 12b. On al-

62 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. 12b. On Ibn al- DaylamT, see 'U. R. Kahhala, Mu'jam al-mu'allifTn Mu'ayyad, also known as Abui CUlama, see A. F. (Damascus, 1376-81), vol. 9, p. 190; GAL S, vol. 2, Sayyid, Masddir ta3rTkh al-yaman fT al-'asr al-isldmT p. 241. (Cairo, 1974), p. 226; GAL, 1st ed., vol. 2, p. 290;

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eighth century) tallies with the death date of al-Daylami, which may indicate that the list is genuine in that its first part goes back to al-Daylami and its second was compiled by Ibn al-Mu'ayyad. It may further be noted that the list is not identical with Zabara's and that Zabara did not quote the above-mentioned passage, although he quoted other passages from al-Daylam.64

2. The second source used by Ibn al-Mu'ayyad is Shams al-Din Ahmad b. Da'ud b. Yahya b. al-Husayn (d. after 795/1393) on the authority of the amTr al-Hasan b. Badr al-Dmn (d. 670/1272). This is evidently a very deficient isnid consisting as it does of only two parts. Judging from the time gap, Ibn al-Mu'ayyad must have drawn upon a written source which is unmentioned. The quoted passage consists of the mujaddid hadith and a list of Zaydi mujaddiduin. It does not seem likely that Ibn al-Mu'ayyad compiled the list himself and attached the isnad to it, first because of the very deficiency of the latter and secondly because the break in the list again tallies with the death dates of the transmitters Ahmad b. Da'id and al-Hasan b. Badr al-Din. The passage is as follows: "Shams al-Din Ahmad b. Da'id b. Yahya b. al-Husayn said: the amTr al-Hasan b. Badr al-DTn said: we were told that the Prophet said: 'God will send to this community at the turn of each century someone/people to restore the religion'. Shams al-DTn said: the amir al-Hasan said: 'we looked into the matter, who from among the ahl al-bayt was qualified ... '." A list of mujaddidfin up to the turn of the sixth (into the seventh) century follows, continued by Shams al-Din up to the eighth, for which he designates the imam al-Hadi CAll b. al-Mu'ayyad.65 That Shams al-Din was indeed a follower of al-Hadi 'Al1 b. al-Mu'ayyad in 794/1392 or 796/1394 is confirmed by a historical source which is completely independent of the material with which we are dealing here.66 This al-Hadi is not included in Zabara's list and is only one of three mujaddiduin in the list of al-Daylaml-Ibn al-Mu'ayyad mentioned above. Since al-Hadi's advent was connected with military struggle against other imams, his designation as mujaddid by one of his followers may be regarded as part of his legitimation.

3. The third source used by Ibn al-Mu'ayyad for the mujaddid hadTth is a book by his older contemporary Ibn al-Wazir (d. 985/1577), who edited al-Sakhawi's book The Good Intentions: Concerning Popular Traditions (al-Maqdsid al-hasana f al-hadTth al-da'ir cald al-alsina). Al-Sakhawl, a Shafi'l Cairene scholar of the ninth/fifteenth century, included the mujaddid hadTth in his book with a list of sources, a list of Sunni mujaddidun, and a few comments. The passage appears abridged in Ibn al-Wazlr's edition, which is quoted by Ibn al-Mu'ayyad.67

64 For example, Ithaf, p. 20. al-hasana f baydn kathTr min al-ahidTth al-mush- 65 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. 12a-b. On al- tahara cald al-alsina (Beirut, 1979), pp. 121-22. Ibn

Hasan b. Badr al-Din, see A. M. al-Hibshl, Mural- al-Wazir's book is not recorded in bio-bibliographi- lafdt hukkam al-yaman, ed. E. Niew6hner-Eberhard cal works. It exists, however, in the western library (Wiesbaden, 1979), pp. 52-53; GAL S, vol. 1, p. 703, at the great mosque of SanC''; see Fihris makhtutdt 12c; Zabara, Ithdf, p. 61. al-maktaba al-gharbiyya bi-l-jmi' al-kabTr bi-san'a',

66 Yahya b. al-Husayn, Ghdyat al-amdn?, vol. 2, i'ddd ahmad 'isdwT wa-muhammad sa'Td al-malih p. 546. (Sanca', 1978), p. 61. On Ibn al-Wazir, see GAL S,

67 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. 12a-b; Muham- vol. 2, p. 558; Sayyid, Masddir, p. 212. mad b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhaw1, al-Maqdsid

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Ibn al-Mu'ayyad not only dwelled upon the mujaddid hadTth in his Rawdat al- albdb, but also wrote a special work about the Zaydi restorers entitled The Ambergris- perfumed Breeze: Concerning the Restorers, Descendants of the Best of the Creation (i.e., the Prophet) (al-Nafjha al-'anbariyya ft al-mujaddidTn min abnd' khayr al-

bariyya). This work is mentioned in the bibliography of al-HibshT's Mu'allafdt hukkam al-yaman.68 Al-Hibshi relates that a manuscript of it was in the possession of the muftf of San'a'in 1979 or somewhat earlier. Unfortunately, I could not trace this book in bio-bibliographical works. Ayman Fu'ad Sayyid cites a book by an anony- mous writer with a very similar title, al-Nafha (or al- Tuhfa) al-'anbariyya f ma'rifat al-a'imma min al-'itra al-nabawiyya. But this is an account of the wars between the Zaydis and the Turks during the years 1029-39/1620-30.69 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad's Nafha, even though it belongs to precisely the same period, is a different sort of work. It is a poem which enumerates the mujaddidun at the turn of the centuries to which a commentary was added: this description of the Nafhia is recorded by Isma'il b. Muhammad (d. 1079/1668) in his biography of Ibn al-Mu'ayyad.70 Ibn al-Mu'ayyad may thus have been the forerunner of Zabara, who used exactly the same pattern in his Ithdf. Oddly enough, Zabara does not quote Ibn al-Mu'ayyad at all.71 Another strange feature is the fact that the above-mentioned Ismc'il b. Muhammad, compiler of the anthology Simt al-la'al (which contains 'Alid poetry and biographies of the poets) knew the Nafhla and quoted from it. Yet he applies the title mujaddid to only two imams.72 This may indicate that the use of the title (and of the hadTth) was not current even at such a late date (eleventh/seventeenth century), in spite of the fact that the idea of revival/restoration is present in Zaydi literature since the earliest times. On the other hand, it may be that the imams designated as mujaddidun in the Nafha (the identity of whom I do not know) simply did not write poetry or were not included in the Simt al-la'al for some reason or other.

In the Sunni tradition, the concept of revival/restoration (ihyd') and the mujaddid hadith grew separately from each other. According to Goldziher, the ihyd' al-sunna originally meant "the resuscitation of an antiquated custom that had disappeared because of altered circumstances" ("custom" referring, of course, to customs of the Prophet and the Companions). It started among the scholars (fuqahd') and the piously minded with the purpose of imitating the Prophet and the Companions as closely as possible. The practice of ihyd' al-sunna was adopted by, or attributed to, "rulers whose piety it was desired to acclaim."73 The mujaddid hadrth, on the other hand, probably developed early in the third century in connection with the Shafici school, as I have argued elsewhere.74 The term mujaddid used in the hadTth was, perhaps even intentionally, ambiguous, denoting as it does both the concepts of

68 See n. 65 above. 72 Simt al-la'al, fols. 8a, 128b. The imams are al- 69 Sayyid, Masadir, p. 335; and see Majallat al- Hadd ila al-Haqq and al-Mansur bi-Allah al-Qasim

Zahrad 4 (1347): 97. b. Muhammad. 70 IsmacTl b. Muhammad b. al-Hasan, Simt al- 73 I. Goldziher, Muslim Studies, trans. C. R.

la'dlfi shi'r al-'al, MS Leiden Or. 2612, fol. 148a. Barber and S. M. Stern (London, 1971), pp. 32-33, A quotation from the Nafha, ibid., fol. 38b. 73. It is not clear at what period Goldziher places

71 Zabara refers only once to a work entitled the origin of this phenomenon. It could be at any nafahat al-'anbar in Ithaf, p. 87; but the material time between the first and third centuries. quoted concerns a person who died in 1130/1718; 74 See p. 247 and n. 1 above. Ibn al-Mu'ayyad died in 1030/1621.

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novelty and restoration. At a later stage, an unambiguous meaning was established for the hadTth by appending to it the concept of ihyad as a gloss. TajdTd was to be understood always as restoration, never as innovation. In Zaydi tradition, the process seems to have been reversed. It was not the concept of ihyad which was appended to the hadith, but the hadTth which was, at a later stage, adopted as the formal expression of the already firmly rooted concept of ihyd'. The early presence of this concept among the Sunn fuqaha' can be explained in accordance with Goldziher's views as stemming simply from the veneration of the Prophet. Another explanation can be offered in view of the findings of Crone and Hinds:75 the concept of ihya' may be regarded as part of the scholars' struggle to assert their role as carriers of the Prophetic sunna, as against the caliphs' claim to religious authority. The early presence of the idea of ihya' among the Zaydis is also to be explained in terms of a struggle, although one of a different nature. Of necessity, an opposition's claim to replace an existing order is based on the premise that the latter is evil, in Islamic terms, that it deviates from the right path. The opposition purports to correct the deviation, and ihya' in ZaydT tradition thus took on a meaning different from a mere imitation of the Prophet or a struggle for religious leadership. It became a political slogan used time and again by new imams. The mujaddid hadTth was later introduced to reinforce the claim to legitimation already established by the slogan of ihya'.76

To sum up, how and when the mujaddid hadTth entered Zaydi literature I do not know. The earliest attestation I have found dates from the turn of the fourth (into the fifth) century, when thefaqlh cAbdallah al-Khayyati al-ShaficT applied it to the imam al-Mu'ayyad bi-Allah, thereby proving the legitimacy of his rule.77 I could not find any information about this faqTh except that he was a ShaficT, as indicated by his nisba. This may mean that the mujaddid hadTth came to the Zaydis from Shafici circles. There are other details which point to a ShaficT connection. A Shafi'i jurist was the first to make public the miracles (karamat) worked by the imam al-Qasim b. Muhammad b. 'Ali (d. 1029/1620), who was designated as mujaddid.78 The ShaficT scholar Ibn Hajar (d. 859/1449), who had a special interest in the subject of tajdTd and may have written a book about it, was well known in the Yemen.79 The Zaydi who edited al-Sakhawi's book, Ibn al-Wazir, had at least one Shafic' teacher.80 Although this is meager evidence, it may point to the possibility that the Zaydis actually adopted the mujaddid hadTth from the Shaficis among whom it was popular. It is perhaps this very provenance of the hadfth which accounts for its rare occurrence in ZaydT literature. But in spite of this, the mujaddid hadTth is not an intrusive element alien to Zaydi ideas, nor was the modern historian Zabara the first to introduce it in ZaydT literature. The Zaydis who used this hadTth adapted it to their own purposes, however,

75 See Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph. 79 It is not certain whether the book was ever 76 Cf. Y. Frenkel, "Tajdtd and islah as a Political written. Ibn Hajar, however, declared his intention

Program: The Rise of the SaCdid Dynasty in Mo- to write it. See my article "Cyclical Reform," n. 60. rocco in the Early 16th Century," Hamizrah He- On Ibn Hajar's connection with the Yemen, see hadash: Special Issue on Renewal (tajdTd) and Strothmann, "Literatur," p. 71. Reform (islah) 31 (1986). See also n. 40 above. 80 Zabara, Mulhaq al-badr al-talic (Cairo, 1348), 77 See pp. 258-59 above. p. 36; and see pp. 260-61 above.

78 Zabara, Ithaf, pp. 78-79.

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ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 263

with the result that the significance of mujaddid in ZaydT literature differs from its meaning in the Sunni tradition. Only the ZaydT mujaddid bi-'ilmihi may be considered as a parallel to the Sunni restorer, both using and disseminating knowledge in order to defend and consolidate their creed. Most of the ZaydT restorers, however, do not belong to this type. As heads of their communities and leading their people to war, they constitute a militant type of mujaddidun which does not exist in the Sunni tradition. The mujaddid had-th is thus an illustration of a Sunni hadtth which the ZaydTs adopted and adapted to their own ideas.

zaydī imams as restorers of religion: iḥyāʾ and tajdīd in zaydī...

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