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cover next page > title : The Divine Guide in Early ShiÃ¬sm : The Sources of Esotericism in Islam author : Moezzi, Mohammad Ali Amir. publisher : State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin : 0791421228 print isbn13 : 9780791421222 ebook isbn13 : 9780585069722 language : English subject Imamate, ShiÃ h--Doctrines--History. publication date : 1994 lcc : BP194.M6413 1994eb ddc : 297/.24 subject : Imamate, ShiÃ h--Doctrines--History. cover next page > < previous page page_ii next page > Page ii The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism The Sources of Esotericism in Islam by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi translated by David Streight STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS < previous page page_ii next page > < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv This work was originally published in French as Le Guide Divin Dans Le Shi'isme * Originel by Éditions Verdier. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1994 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Production by Christine Lynch Marketing by Nancy Farrell Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali. [Guide divin dans le shi'isme originel. English] The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism*: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam / by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi : translated by David Streight. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-2121-X (acid-free): $54.50.ISBN 0-7914-2122-8 (pb : acid-free): $17.95 1. Imamate. 2. Shi'ah*DoctrinesHistory. I. Title. BP194.M6413 1994 297'.24dc20 93-42680 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 < previous page page_iv next page > < previous page page_v next page > Page v The author offers his heartfelt thanks to Professor Etan Kohlberg for his pertinent and valuable comments in the preparation of the English version of this work. Professor Kohlberg's careful reading of the French text, his erudition, and his encouragement have been of great assistance in bringing the present version up to date. < previous page page_v next page > < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Contents Abbreviations x Preface 1 Chapter I. Introduction: Return to the Earliest Sources 5 6 Hiero-Intelligence and Reason 13 Esotericism and Rationalization 19 The Sources 22 The Nature and Authority of Imamite Traditions Chapter II. The Pre-Existence of the Imam 29 29 The Worlds before the World. The Guide-Light 38 Adamic Humanity. The "Voyage" of the Light 44 Excursus: "Vision with the Heart" 56 Conception and Birth Chapter III. The Existence of the Imam 61 61 Comments on the "Political" Life of the Imams 69 The Sacred Science 79 Notes on the "Integral Qur'an *" 91 The Sacred Power Chapter IV. The Super-Existence of the Imam 99 99 Imamite Points of View on the Ancientness of the Information 108 The Imam and His Occultation: Esoteric Aspects 115 The Return and the Rising: Esoteric Aspects Conclusions 125 < previous page page_vii next page > < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii Appendix: 133 Some Implications of the Occultation: Individual Religion and Collective Religion Notes 141 Bibliography 239 General Index 263 < previous page page_viii next page > < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix To my father Mostafa, who so loved the imams In memoriam < previous page page_ix next page > < previous page page_x next page > Page x Abbreviations AIUON = Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, Naples b. = ibn BSOAS = Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London EI1, EI2 = Encyclopédie de l'Islam, first edition, second edition EPHE = Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes GAL = Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur (Brockelmann) IC = Islamic Culture, Heyderabad IOS = Israel Oriental Studies, Tel Aviv JA = Journal Asiatique, Paris JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven JSAI = Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, Jerusalem Md= Muhammad MUSJ = Mélanges de l' Université St Joseph, Beirut MW = The Muslim World, Hartford REI = Revue des Etudes Islamiques, Paris RHR = Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, Paris RSO = Rivista degli Studi Orientali, Rome SI = Studia Islamica, Paris ZA = Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie und Vorasiatische Archäologie, Berlin ZDMG = Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morganländischen Gesellschaft, Leipzig-Wiesbaden < previous page page_x next page > < previous page page_1 next page > Page 1 Preface Between I. Goldziher's studies (Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte der Shi'a * und der sunnitischen Polemik, Vienna, 1874) and H. Halm's work (Die Schia, Darmstadt, 1988), more than a century was dedicated to scholarly study of Shî'ism* in general and of Imamism in particular. A number of Islamic scholars and orientalists have been interested in this most important "branch" of Islam, and the number of articles, works and monographs dedicated to the subject is impressive. Nevertheless, when it comes to early Imamism, that is, the doctrine supposedly professed by the historical imams of Shî'ism, later called Twelver Shî'ism, we must surprisingly admit that we still have no clear idea that has been corroborated by a coherent body of historical data. There is still no systematic, exhaustive study of this formative and early phase of the doctrine. What most characterizes studies dedicated to Imamism is the constant confusion between the teachings of the imams reported by the oldest compilations of Imamite traditions and the ideas professed by later Imamite thinkers and scholars, not to mention the sudden historical and doctrinal evolution that Imamism has known since the occultation of the twelfth imam. We will certainly return to this confusion, which makes a clear understanding of early Imamism so difficult, as well as to the important evolution that Imamism has undergone. The image, or rather the images, of Imamism reflected through these studies, once they are juxtaposed with the oldest texts, appear fragmentary, confused, even contradictory: ideological coherence and doctrinal logic are completely lacking. On closer examination, it appears impossible to have a global, synthetic understanding of the doctrine, an understanding indispensable for an analytic study of precise and fundamental details of early Imamism. Is it a revolutionary political-religious movement? Is it a mystical anthropomorphist doctrine? Is it a precocious political philosophy at the heart of Islam? Could it be a rationalizing theology of the Mu'tazilite* kind, magnified by the irrational cult of the imams? Were the imams jurist theologians respectful of the sunna and respected by the entire Community? Were they frustrated men of ambition who developed messianic speculations? Were they enthusuastic enlightened < previous page page_1 next page > < previous page page_2 next page > Page 2 individuals who justified their contradictions with the help of a body of incoherent and heretical ideas? Were they mystical philosophers who received their missions from the universe of archetypes? The reason for such disparate images is at the same time both complex and simple. It is complex because the early corpus of the imams constitutes a colossal survey of works in which cohesive logic and the normal order of discourse are often lacking. Some of this lack may have been voluntary, because of reasons inherent in a number of traditions which characterize themselves as esoteric. Restoring the doctrine to what was probably its original coherence entails a systematic examination of all available parts of this corpus. This has never been done, and such a lacuna has led to a simple problem that, despite its being apparent, has curiously escaped specialists in the field: we do not yet know the Weltanschauung of early Imamism. We know nothing, or next to nothing, about the vision that the imams had (and that they imparted to others) of the world, man, and history. In other words, Imamite cosmology, anthropology, and soteriology in their early phase have remained insufficiently studied and explored areas. Since we do not understand, or even know, what the "world vision" of the imams was, both general descriptions of it and analysis of its specific traits remain incomplete and fragmentary, if not also unintelligible. Given this, we might divide the works dedicated to Imamism into four broad groups. Through this division, we are attempting only to underscore the insufficiency of these works to clarify a coherent historical and global vision of early Imamism: 1. Studies that are too "synthetic," since they are too general. These are general works about Shî'ism * or Imamism. Because of their naturemost of them including fourteen centuries of historythese studies present one and the same doctrine regardless the time or the place. Doctrinal evolution, clashes of ideas, or semantic changes in technical terminology are often disregarded, to the benefit of that current that did not become dominant until after the occultation, and to the disadvantage of knowledge of the original teaching that became a minority view. Other works, besides their general nature, are marred by hurried overviews and hasty editing, primarily due to interest which arose from the Iranian revolution and recent events in Lebanon. 2. Studies that are too "analytic." These are works dedicated to precise points or particular aspects of Imamism. As a result of not being sufficiently precise about the "sense" of the early doctrine (that is, its direction, its purpose, as much as its deep meaning), these specific aspects are often considered outside the bounds of their global ideological context. This methodological shortcoming, combined with the confusion referred to above between the teachings of the imams < previous page page_2 next page > < previous page page_3 next page > Page 3 and the teachings of the theologians, ends up in extrapolations and contradictions. An analysis driven by parts of doctrine without taking into consideration the doctrine in its totality at a given point in time can result only in theses founded on part of the whole.

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