Zaydī Imams As Restorers of Religion: Iḥyāʾ and Tajdīd in Zaydī Literature Author(S): Ella Landau-Tasseron Source: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol

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

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http://www.jstor.org ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION: IHYA' AND TAJDID IN ZAYDI LITERATURE* ELLA LANDAU-TASSERON, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

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 Yemenfrom 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-mubTnwa-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. 247 248 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 hadTthmentioned 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 ZaydTimams. 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 Caldra's kull mi'a, MS Leiden Or. 474, 1376), p. 3, where he refers to al-HadT as mujaddid. fols. 79b-80a. This Khuladsais 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 ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 249

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

The Disregardfor the Hundred- YearMotif

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 SunnTlists 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, TabyTnkadhib al-muftarl (Leiden, b. al-Hasan Ibn 'Asakir, TabyTnkadhib 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). 250 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

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 ZaydTimams, 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 mujaddiduincan 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'aand 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 Hajuri, Rawdat al-akhbdr wa-kunuz al-asrar wa- b. 'Ubaydallah al-cAbbasT,STrat al-hadd ild al-haqq nukat al-'athdr wa-mawd'iz al-akhbdr, MS Bib. yahyd b. al-husayn (Beirut, 1972), pp. 23, 27 ff.; al- Nat. Cod. Arab 5982, fols. 82b-83a (this manuscript Mansir bi-Allah CAbdallah b. Hamza, al-'lqd al- has previously been attributed to al-Lah.j and was thamTnfi tabyTn ahkdm al-a'imma al-hddTn, MS identified by W. Madelung as al-Hajuir's Rawda. Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fols. 15b, 82b, 139b-140a, 142a; See W. Madelung, "The Identity of Two Yemenite Humaydan b. al-Hasan b. al-Qasim, Kitab al-tasrTh Historical Manuscripts," JNES 32 [1973]: 175-80; bi-l-madhhab al-sahih, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, fol. and D. T. Gochenour, "A Revised Bibliography of 109a; R. Strothmann, "Die Literatur der Zaiditen," Medieval Yemeni History in Light of Recent Pub- Der Islam 1 (1910): 367; idem, Das Staatsrecht der lications and Discoveries," Der Islam 63 [1986]: Zaiditen (Strasbourg, 1912), pp. 43-45, 59; A. K. 311); Lambton, State and Government, p. 29. Stroth- Lambton, State and Government in Medieval Islam mann, "Die Literatur der Zaiditen," Der Islam 2 (Oxford, 1981), p. 30. On knowledge: Humaydan, (1911): 67; idem, Staatsrecht, pp. 68 ff., 104 (the last TasrTh,fols. 119a, 121b; al-Mansur bi-Allah CAbd- reference is to a passage quoted by Strothmann allah b. Hamza, Ajwibat masd'il tatadamman dhikr from al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq, in which both jihad and al-mutarrifiyya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 218a; knowledge are mentioned, among other things, as Humayd b. Ahmad al-MahallT, al-Hada'iq al- being required of the imam); C. Van Arendonk, wardiyya fT dhikr a'immat al-zaydiyya, MS Leiden Les Debuts de l'imamat zaidite au Yemen, trans. Or. 2626, fol. 4b; al-Hasan b. Badr al-Din al- J. Ryckmans (Leiden, 1960), p. 273; Madelung, Der Hadawi, Anwdr al-yaqTn, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3868, Imam al-Qdsim b. Ibrdhrm und die Glaubenlehre fols. 41a-b, 74b, 77b, 86b, 116a, 126a; Sirat al-hadi, der Zaiditen (Berlin, 1965), p. 144. p. 342; Abu Muhammad Yisuf b. Muhammad al- ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 251 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 11C. 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. 12Yahya b. al-Husayn, Ghdyat al-amadnf Takhbar 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- 10See my "Cyclical Reform," p. 82. Al-Farazdaq cessant wars in which al-Mansuir bi-Allah 'All was applies the same to the caliph YazTdII : Crone and involved, see ibid., pp. 538-73. Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 30, n. 25. The application 252 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 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 Evidencefor 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 ZaydTimams, 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. asanTdal-yahyawiyya (Beirut, 1982), p. 52. 14 Suyut.?,Tanbia, fol. 80b. 16 Al-Husayn b. Ahmad b. Ya'qub, Strat al- 15 Ahl baytTka-l-nujum kullama afala najm tala'a mansur bi-alldh, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3816, fol. la-b. najm: al-Hadawi, Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fols. 17 Humaydan (quoting al-Murtada li-DIn Allah 192b-193a; cf. 78a; Ibn al-Mu'ayyad, Rawda, fol. Muhammad b. Yahya), TasrTh,fol. 121b. 12a; Muhammad b. 'Abdallah b. al-Husayn al- 18Humaydan (quoting al-Mansur bi-Allah 'Abd- Mihrabi, al-Jawabdt al-hashimiyya f al-radd cald allah b. Hamza), Farq, fol. 50a. Of course there was ba'd al-shafi 'iyya, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, fol. 22a; a discrepancy between the ideal and reality; see, for Humaydan b. Yahya b. Humaydan, al-Farq bayna example, Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," p. 200. al-tashayyuc wa-l-i 'tizal, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3727, 19 Wa-li-l-'ilm hafaza f jamT' al-acsar md ikh- fol. 48a. Variations on the star theme: al-Hadawi, talafa yawn wa-nahar. Al-Mansuir bi-Allah CAbd- Anwar al-yaqTn (Brit. Lib.), fol. 66a; Sibt Ibn al- allah b. Hamza, al-Jawhara al-shaffafa rddiCatal- JawzT,Tadhkirat khawass al-umma bi-dhikr khasais tawwafa, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 236a, where al-a'imma, MS Leiden Or. 915, fol. 193b; al-HadT other expressions of the same idea also occur. ila al-Haqq, Durar al-ahadith al-nabawiyya bi-l- ZAYDT IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 253 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.21Zayd 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 ZaydTtradition. 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 Guidancefor 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, Mansur mentioned in the previous notes. Tritton 131b. does not give any detail on this book, and I was 21 Ibid., fol. 142a; al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-Jawhara, unable to trace it. fol. 270a; idem, Kitab al-shafi, MS Berlin Ahlw. 26 Madelung, Der Imam, p. 146. For a critique of 10281, fol. 2a. The same idea in another hadith: Madelung's view, see B. Abrahamov, "The Theologi- al-Hadawl, Anwar al-yaqin (Brit. Lib.), fol. 77a-b. cal Epistle of al-Kasim b. IbrahTm"(Ph.D. diss., Tel 22 Al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-CIqdal-thammn, fol. 56a. Aviv University, 1981) (in Hebrew), vol. 1, p. 126. Cf. Gochenour, "ZaydTIslam," pp. 46, 79: "Zaydis Al-Qasim's epistle in which he uses the doctrine of repudiated the idea of a hidden imam or one who fatra is Kitab al-radd 'ala al-rdfida. The epistle in was for the moment removed from material exis- which he bases himself on the continuity doctrine is tence," and they "put particular stress on the present Kitab tathbft al-imdma, both edited by Abrahamov, existence of the imam." Of course ghayba and fatra vol. 2, pp. 310-21 and 204-23 respectively. are different theological issues, but in the present 27 This holds true even though there were periods context it is the idea of the continuous guidance in which the ZaydTs had hardly any control in the which is stressed. Yemen, since, ideally, the Zaydi communities do not 23 Al-Mansur bi-Allah 'Abdallah b. Hamza, al- cease to constitute political entities even when (tem- Durra al-yatTma fi tabym ahkdm al-siba' wa-l- porarily) overcome by other powers. Thus it is ghanTma, MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 202a. possible for Zabara to say that the Zaydis "ruled the 24 Strothmann, Staatsrecht, pp. 91 ff.; and see Yemen for more than 1000 years." M. b. M. Zabara, Gochenour, "Zaydi Islam," pp. 181-82, 200, on the Yemen- Traditionalism versus Modernity (New Husayniyya or Qasimiyya. York, 1982), p. 5; and in the same vein, M. A. 25 A. S. Tritton, The Rise of the Imams of San'a' Madi, "Dawlat al-yaman al-zaydiyya, nash'atuha, (London, 1925), p. 128. This is not the same al- tatawwuruha, 'alaqatuha," al-Majalla al-ta'rrkhiyya 254 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 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 ZaydTconcept 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.28In 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- curse the Quraysh because their scholar will fill the worthy that the list of imams compiled by Zabara in world with knowledge" (la tasubbtu qurayshan fa- the Ithaf hardly allows for significant intervals be- inna 'alimahd yamla' al-ard 'ilman), Ibn Hajar al- tween one imam and the next, but these imams do CAsqalani,Tawdll al-ta'sis bi-maadlTibn idrts (Bulaq, not succeed one another as heads of one and the 1301), pp. 46-47; Taj al-Din al-SubkT, Tabaqat al- same community. Moreover, they often fight one shafi'iyya al-kubra (Cairo, n.d.), vol. 1, p. 104. Ibn another. See also n. 12 above, and Gochenour, CAsakir, Tabyrn (Leiden), p. 82. Al-Farazdaq refers "Zaydi Islam," pp. 169, 208. to the caliph Hisham by the same terms; Crone and 28 Madelung, "Mahdi," El2; Crone and Hinds, Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 37, and cf. ibid., p. 114 (on God's Caliph, pp. 36 ff., 75, 102-3, 113-14. the caliph 'Umar II). 29 See, for example, al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-'Iqd 31 Idhd qatala ahl misr amTrahumwa-zahara al- al-thamTn, fols. 55a, 58a, 59a-b. Cf. Strothmann, yamandf al-yamanfa-innahu yamla' al-ard 'adlan; Staatsrecht, pp. 46-48, on the Twelfth Imam, who STrat al-hddi, p. 29, and see the prophecies there will return for this purpose. and on pp. 25-26; al-Hadawi, Anwar 30 al-yaqfn (Brit. For example, STrat al-hadi, p. 330; al-Hadi, Lib.), fol. 149b. For a description of al-Hadi in Durar al-ahadTth, p. 192, n. 1; al-Mansir bi-Allah, messianic terms, see Van Arendonk, Les Debuts, al-'Iqd al-thamTn, fol. 53a. Cf. the version of the pp. 269-70, and cf. ibid., pp. 132-33, for another hadrth used to praise the tribe of Quraysh: "Do not prophecy in the apocalyptic style. ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 255

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.35The 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: IbrahTmb. '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'rTkhal-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. 256 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

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 4 Prophet died and nothing remained of Islam but the name .. 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)" (uhyTal-kitdb wa- uhyTsunna rufi.dat).48

40 Al-Hajiur, Rawdat al-akhbar, fols. 235b-237b. 44 Ibid., fol. 196b; cf. Muhammad b. Jarir al- Cf. a similar idea in the propaganda of Yazid III, Tabari, Ta'rfkh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, ed. M. de Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, p. 63. It should be Goeje (Leiden, 1879-1901), series no. 2, p. 240, noted that naturally every claimant to the throne where al-Husayn speaks about the killing of the appealed to the Qur'an and the Sunna, arguing Sunna; quoted by Crone and Hinds, God's Caliph, that their adversaries went astray, but not every p. 60, n.5. such claimant used the idea and terminology of 45 Muslim b. Muhammad al-Lahji, Kitab fihi restoration. shay min akhbar al-zaydiyya bi-l-yaman, MS Berlin 4' Ibid., fol. 77b; cf. 82b. Ahlw. 9664, fols. 39b-41a. 42 Al-HadT, Durar al-ahaddth, pp. 187-89; al- 46 Strat al-HadT, p. 313. Mansuirbi-Allah, al-'Iqd al-thamTn,fol. 56b. 47 Ibid., pp. 302-3. Read na'ashtu kitab allah, for 43 Sirat al-hadd as quoted by al-Hajuri, Rawdat the editor's ba'athtu kitab allah; see the manuscript al-akhbar, fol. 182b, similarly 188a, and see also of Sirat al-hadi, MS Leiden Or. 8943, fol. 66b. 187b. The Yemenis, however, had another purpose 48 Ibid. (Leiden), fol. 69b=MS Brit. Lib. Or. in mind: they invited al-Hadi as a mediator to settle 3901, fol. 128b. This particular verse is missing from their internal feuds impartially; see Gochenour, Zakkar's edition of STratal-hadT. "Zaydi Islam," p. 130. ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 257

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-HadTis 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 ZaydTidea 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."53This 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."54In 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 hadTthwhen 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 iihyd'

49 STrat al-hadi, p. 330. Cf. STrat al-mansur, play on words is not exclusively Zaydi. It is also fol. 14b: "Were it not for (al-Mansuir's)ancestor, the applied to the Shafi'T (Yemeni) scholar Yahya b. messenger of God, we would not have known about AbT al-Khayr; see 'Umar b. 'Al1 b. Samura al- the paying of zakdh nor prayer." Cf. Gochenour, Ja'di, Tabaqdt fuqahd' al-yaman (Cairo, 1957), "ZaydTIslam," pp. 83, 176, 207-8, on the ignorance p. 181. of the Yemenis in basic Islamic matters. According 53 STratal-hadd, p. 342. to Gochenour, it was in fact the Zaydis who seriously 54 SuyuitT,Tanbi'a, fol. 74b, and see my article introduced Islam into the Yemen; ibid., p. 35. "Cyclical Reform," n. 129. 50 STratal-hadi, p. 23. Cf. al-Hadawi, Anwdr al- 55 Al-HadawT, Anwdr al-yaq'n (Brit. Lib.), fol. yaqin (Brit. Lib.), fol. 112a, where IbrahTm,father 149b. He uses a similar expression when referring to of al-Qasim al-Rassi, is called muhyTal-sunan. the imam al-Hasan b. CAbdal-Rahman: "reviver of 51 STratal-hadi, p. 334. the dead sunan" (al-munshir mayyit al-sunan), ibid. 52 Al-HadT, Durar al-ahadTth, pp. 191-92; al- fol. 177b. Al-Mu'ayyad is credited with having MihrabT, Jawabat, fol. 24b; al-HadawT, Anwdr al- revived the religious duties (hayyat bihi al-fardaid); yaqrn (Brit. Lib.), fol. 150a; cf. 133a. The use of this ibid. fol. 178a. 258 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES sunan al-'adl);56 no reference is made to the mujaddid hadTthor 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.57The 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 hadTthwhich I have found in ZaydTliterature. 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 hadYthand 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. text deals with the Imamiyya, not the Zaydiyya. 57 Humayd b. Ahmad al-Mahalli, al-Hadd'iq al- 59 wa-qumfTal-khalqifa-ibcathhum bi-'adlin wardiyya ft dhikr a'immat al-zaydiyya, MS Brit. wa-jalli al-jahla 'anhum wa-l-zalama Lib. Or. 3786, fol. 140a. wa-jaddid dTnajaddika ba'da darsin 58 See, for example, ibid., fols. 208 ff. and in the wa-awrid man yundzi'uka al-himama. Leiden MS, fols. 40 ff; al-Sahib Ibn 'Abbad, Nusrat Sirat al-mansir, fol. 4a. On al-MansTurand his madhdhib al-zaydiyya (Baghdad, 1977), passim; al- reign, see Madelung, "Land Ownership and Land MihrabT,Jawabat, fols. 76a ff.; Humaydan, Tasr.h, Tax in Northern Yemen and Najran: 3rd-4th/9th- fols. 108b ff.; al-Hajuri, Rawdat al-akhbdr, fols. 10th Century," in T. Khalidi, ed., Land Tenure and 84a-85b; al-HadawT, Anwar al-yaqin (Brit. Lib.), Social Transformation in the Middle East (Beirut, fols. 84a-b, 149b; STrat al-mansur, fol. lla; Sirat 1984), pp. 189-207; Gochenour, "Zaydl Islam," al-hddi, pp. 23 and passim; al-HadT ila al-Haqq, pp. 168, 181, and passim. Majmui, MS Mun. Cod. Ar. 43, fol. 78a-b; Mu- 60 Al-Mansur bi-Allah CAbdallah b. Hamza, al- hammad b. cAll b. Yfnis al-Zuhayf, Ma'athir al- Risala al-haddiya,MS Brit. Lib. Or. 3976, fol. 164b: abrar ft tafsil mujmalat jawdhir al-akhbdr, MS wa-idha lam nujaddid ahkdm shar' muhammad salla Leiden Or. 6327, passim; al-Mansir bi-Allah, al- allah 'alayhi wa-sallama fa-man yujaddiduhu? On 'Iqd al-thamTn, fols. 2a, 46b, 68a, 80a, but cf. 77b, the Mutarrifiyya, see Gochenour, "Zaydl Islam," where two readings are possible: mujaddidan li-l- pp. 186-201. sharT'a or muhaddidan li-l-sharT'a; at any rate, the ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 259

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.63The 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 ta3rTkhal-yaman fT al-'asr al-isldmT p. 241. (Cairo, 1974), p. 226; GAL, 1st ed., vol. 2, p. 290; 260 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES 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 amTral-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 CAllb. 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.66This al-Hadi is not included in Zabara's list and is only one of three mujaddiduinin 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 hadTthis 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 hadTthin 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 kathTrmin 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-kabTrbi-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 ZAYDI IMAMS AS RESTORERS OF RELIGION 261

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 Zahrad4 (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. 262 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

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. TajdTdwas 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:75the 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 ZaydTtradition 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 hadTthwas 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.78The ShaficT scholar Ibn Hajar (d. 859/1449), who had a special interest in the subject of tajdTdand may have written a book about it, was well known in the Yemen.79The Zaydi who edited al-Sakhawi's book, Ibn al-Wazir, had at least one Shafic' teacher.80Although this is meager evidence, it may point to the possibility that the Zaydis actually adopted the mujaddid hadTthfrom 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 hadTthis 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 hadTthadapted 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, 77 1348), See pp. 258-59 above. p. 36; and see pp. 260-61 above. 78 Zabara, Ithaf, pp. 78-79. ZAYDI IMAMSAS RESTORERSOF RELIGION 263 with the result that the significance of mujaddid in ZaydT literature differs from its meaning in the Sunni tradition. Only the ZaydTmujaddid 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 ZaydTsadopted and adapted to their own ideas.