USULI SHI‘ISM: THE EMERGENCE OF AN ISLAMIC REFORM MOVEMENT IN EARLY MODERN IRAQ AND IRAN by Zackery M. Heern A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Utah August 2011 Copyright © Zackery M. Heern 2011 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Zackery M. Heern has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Peter von Sivers , Chair 6/28/11 Date Approved Peter Sluglett , Member 7/15/11 Date Approved Bernard Weiss , Member 6/28/11 Date Approved Robert Gleave , Member 6/28/11 Date Approved Michel Mazzaoui , Member 7/12/11 Date Approved Shireen Mahdavi , Member Date Approved and by James R. Lehning , Chair of the Department of History and by Charles A. Wight, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT Broadly speaking, this is a study in early modern socio-intellectual history. It seeks to trace the inception and development of one of the most powerful Islamic movements of the modern period: Usuli Shi‘ism. I also hope to contribute to a better understanding of the ideology and practice of the Usuli branch of Shi‘i Islam. My underlying argument suggests that the recent ascendancy of Shi‘i Islam is the culmination of a process incepted by Vahid Bihbihani (1706-1792) and his disciples, who revived a rationalist school of Islamic thought in the eighteenth century, which has become known as Usulism. Largely as a result of the Usuli reformation, the Shi‘i clerical establishment has gained unprecedented social, political, and economic power, especially in Iran, where high-ranking clerics (ayatollahs) have established a theocratic government since 1979. I argue that the Usuli revival and reform of Shi‘ism was part of a larger eighteenth century Islamic reformation that resulted from the decentralization and collapse of the early modern Islamic empires (i.e., Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal). Taking this process of political decentralization into account, most historians have argued that the early modern Middle East is best viewed as a period of decline. Rejecting the decline thesis as Orientalist, recent scholars have argued that an Islamic Enlightenment was taking place during this watershed period. Seeking to contribute to this debate, I employ a comparative approach to suggest that Sunni, Sufi, and Shi‘i Muslim scholars revived and reformed their traditions in direct response to the political destabilization of the Islamic world and directly contributed to the establishment of new kingdoms in Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Iran respectively. I also argue that early modern reform movements, including Usulism, Wahhabism, and neo-Sufism, eventually evolved into organizations associated with Islamism or political Islam. This study, then, can be viewed as a case study in the field of modern Islamic movements. My findings are largely based on the writings of the leaders of the Usuli movement, which are primarily written in Arabic and are mostly works in the field of Islamic law. Additionally, I have studied the Arabic and Persian biographical (tabaqat) literature written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which extols the founders of the Usuli movement. iv For Mona and Liya my love and my world “If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.” - Aristotle TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................x I INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 Historiography of Shi‘ism ............................................................................................ 7 Historiography of Early Modern Islam......................................................................... 9 Summary of Chapters ................................................................................................. 12 Political Landscape of the Early Modern Islamic World ........................................... 14 Islamic Movements and the Decline-Enlightenment Debate ..................................... 21 II VAHID BIHBIHANI: AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ISLAMIC REFORMER .....25 Transformations in Shi‘ism during the Safavid Period .............................................. 25 Rationalists and Traditionists...................................................................................... 30 Post-Safavid Interregnum and Shi‘ism....................................................................... 32 Vahid Bihbihani and the Usuli Shi‘i Revival ............................................................. 35 A Biography of Vahid Bihbihani................................................................................ 37 Vahid Bihbihani’s Career in Bihbihan........................................................................ 41 Vahid Bihbihani’s Move Back to Karbala.................................................................. 44 Real and Imagined Importance of Vahid Bihbihani ................................................... 55 Why Usulism Prevailed .............................................................................................. 61 III VAHID BIHBIHANI’S DISCIPLES IN IRAQ AND IRAN......................................63 Introduction................................................................................................................. 63 Leadership of Vahid Bihbihani’s Students in Iraq...................................................... 65 Bahr al-‘Ulum........................................................................................................... 65 Kashif al-Ghita’ ........................................................................................................ 68 Mirza Muhammad Mihdi Shahristani....................................................................... 72 Sayyid ‘Ali Tabataba’i (Sahib al-Riyadh) ................................................................ 74 Leadership of Bihbihani’s Students in Iran ................................................................ 77 Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qummi (Sahib al-Qawanin).................................................... 77 Mulla Ahmad Naraqi ................................................................................................ 79 Muhammad Ibrahim Kalbasi .................................................................................... 80 Aqa Sayyid Muhammad Baqir Shafti Isfahani......................................................... 81 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 85 IV THREE SOURCES OF SHI‘I KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITY.........................88 Introduction................................................................................................................. 88 Periodization of Shi‘i Thought ................................................................................... 90 Collection of Hadith and Kashf from the Imams:....................................................... 92 c. 700-1000 ................................................................................................................. 92 Establishment of a Rationalist School: c. 1000-1200................................................. 98 Mysticism and New Ijtihad: c. 1200-1600................................................................ 101 Usuli Revival and Shaykhis: 1800-present............................................................... 111 Recent Resurgence of Kashf..................................................................................... 119 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 120 V VAHID BIHBIHANI’S THEORETICAL APPROACH TO ISLAMIC LAW ........123 Introduction............................................................................................................... 123 Bihbihani’s Conception of Legalistic Knowledge (‘ilm).......................................... 125 Four or Five Sources of Usuli Shi‘i fiqh?................................................................. 130 The Qur’an (First Textual Source).......................................................................... 131 Traditions (hadith, Second Textual Source)........................................................... 133 Consensus (ijma‘) ................................................................................................... 137 Reason (‘aql)........................................................................................................... 140 Transference (ta‘diyya) vs. Analogy (qiyas) .......................................................... 143 Authority of Mujtahids ............................................................................................. 154 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 157 viii VI EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ISLAMIC REFORMATION.......................................159 Introduction............................................................................................................... 159 Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and the Wahhabi Movement................................................... 163 Ibn Idris and