Seeing the Proof The Question of Contacting the Hidden Imam in Early Twelver Shīʿī Islam Omid Ghaemmaghami A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Omid Ghaemmaghami 2013 Abstract Seeing the Proof: The Question of Contacting the Hidden Imam in Early Twelver Shīʿī Islam Omid Ghaemmaghami Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto The history of what has come to be known as Twelver Shīʿī Islam since the late 3rd/9th century is a history of attempts to deal with the abrupt loss of the Imam. According to the Imāmī/Twelver Shīʿa, the final Imam, known most famously as the Qāʾim and Mahdī, did not die like the Prophet Muḥammad and the previous eleven Imams but rather concealed himself (commonly referred to as the Imam’s ghayba or occultation) and continues to be physically alive on earth while waiting for the appointed time of his (re)appearance. A letter said to have been dictated by the Imam in the year 329/941 on the eve of what has come to be known as the period of the Greater Occultation declared anyone who claims to see him before his return a “lying impostor.” Based on a critical study of this letter and the earliest extant Shīʿī sources concerning the occultation and in particular the question of seeing and contacting the Hidden Imam, this dissertation will show that in the early years of the Greater Occultation, Shīʿī authorities maintained that seeing the Imam was no longer possible. This position, however, proved untenable to maintain before historical exigencies and the incessant longing for direct contact with the Imam. Almost a century after the start of the Greater Occultation, prominent scholars began to concede the possibility that some Shīʿa can see the Hidden Imam, thus foreshadowing a radical shift. A century later, accounts began to appear detailing encounters between the Imam and the most privileged of his votaries in a wakeful state. In the earliest accounts, the Imam is most often presented as a healer and miracle-worker. It is much later, after the Imam’s final letter had been negotiated, that the stories of encounters with him began to grow in number and become more embellished. While the Imam continues working miracles, in some of these later accounts, he also answers vexing legal or theological questions to prominent Shīʿī ulama, in essence providing the same direct knowledge to his de facto surrogates that is believed to have been suspended when the Greater Occultation began. ii For Mámán Ján, Bábá Ján, Elham and Mina - with Love iii ای �غ ��� �� ﻖ ز �وا� بﯿﺎ�ﻮز ﮐﺎن �ﻮ�� ﻪ را ﺟﺎن �ﺪ و آواز نﯿﺎ ﻃ� ا� ﻦ �� ﯿﺎن � �ﺶ � ﯽ��ﺮان�ﺪ ﮐﺎ�ا � ��ﺮ �ﺪ �� ﺮی ﺑﺎز نﯿﺎ� �ﻌﺪی It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. Henry David Thoreau On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux Antoine de Saint-Exupéry iv Contents Acknowledgments vii A Note on Transliteration and Style ix General Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Unknown, the Unseen, and the Unrecognized 34 1.1. The hadith compilations of al-Barqī and al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī 1.2. The exegetical corpus: The tafāsīr of al-ʿAskarī, al-Sayyārī, al-Fūrat, al-Qummī, al-ʿAyyāshī 1.3. Excursus: al-Baṭāʾinī and the Wāqifiyya 1.4. The hadith compilation of al-Kulaynī 1.5. The Hidden Imam: not seen and not recognized 1.5.1. The Hidden Imam: not seen and not recognized - on pilgrimage 1.6. The Hidden Imam: seen but not recognized Chapter 2: Hidden from All and yet Seen by Some? The Case of 3 Shīʿī Hadiths 78 2.1. Hadith 1: “the 30 are never lonely” 2.2. Hadith 2: “no one will know his location except the elite of his mawālī” 2.3. Hadith 3: “except the mawlā who is in charge of his affairs” 2.4. al-Mawlā / al-Mawālī 2.5. Conclusion Chapter 3: “A Lying Impostor” 130 3.1. The Kitāb al-ghayba of the Scribe 3.2. The veracious teacher 3.3. The final missive of the Hidden Imam 3.3.1. The final representative of the Hidden Imam 3.4. “A lying impostor” 3.5. The instructive teacher 3.6. The banner of guidance and his students 3.6.1. Al-Karājukī v 3.6.2. Al-Ḥalabī 3.6.3. Al-Ṭūsī 3.7. Conclusion Chapter 4: From the Youth and the Stone to the Opening of the Floodgates 201 4.1. The mysterious youth 4.2. The miracle worker 4.3. The oceans of light and the opening of the floodgates 4.4. Conclusion 4.5. Addendum General Conclusion 256 Appendix: A descriptive catalogue of key collections of stories of encounters with the Hidden Imam 264 Bibliography 281 vi Acknowledgements With great humility, I offer my deepest respect, profound gratitude and endless appreciation to Professor Todd Lawson: teacher, Doktorvater, mawlā, pīr, friend. I have incurred an irredeemable debt for having had Professor Lawson as a graduate advisor and dissertation supervisor. At every stage, he selflessly and gallantly went far above and beyond the call of duty in carrying the heavy burden of having me as his student. His nonpareil erudition and deep insights into every aspect of early Islamic thought and history in general and Shīʿī messianism in particular are reflected in every syllable of every word of this dissertation. It was Professor Lawson who advised me to focus my study of the Hidden Imam on the classical period and his intuition about inter-Shīʿī developments in the first century of the Greater Occultation forms the kernel of my thesis. He painstakingly read numerous drafts of this work in their various stages of completion and saved me from falling into many a chasm. Each and every conversation I have had the privilege of having had with him has served to educate, invigorate, inspirit and inspire me. What I will miss more than anything else from my years as a graduate student is having an excuse to knock on his office door (and later his virtual door on Skype) and pose question after question about the semantic field of walāya, the poetry of Blake, and everything in between. My dearest friend, Dr. Mina Yazdani, has been an irreplaceable source of support throughout my graduate career. At each impasse, she was an ocean of encouragement and a mountain of strength and has taught me more than she will ever know about life, spirit, and friendship. Ever ready to place her important work aside at a moment’s notice to listen to my ramblings, her encyclopedic knowledge is comparable only to the generosity with which she shares it. I am deeply grateful to her for having read drafts of my chapters, pointing out errors and omissions. The many meals we shared together, the many hours of laughter and few moments of tears form many of the fondest memories of my time as a graduate student. It is a privilege to record my thanks to the other intellectual giants who served as members of my dissertation committee: Professor Sebastian Günther (Göttingen University), Professor Walid Saleh (University of Toronto), and Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi (University of Toronto). Each shared unique insights into aspects of this work from their respective fields of expertise. I also wish to express my appreciation to Professor Shafique Virani (University of Toronto) who graciously accepted to serve as the internal reader and offered many useful comments, and to Professor Shahzad Bashir (Stanford University) for vii serving as my external examiner. The constructive questions and suggestions in his astute assessment were extremely valuable and will play a seminal role in preparing this dissertation for publication. I owe a great debt of gratitude as well to the graduate staff at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, especially to the indefatigable Ms. Anna Sousa whose radiant countenance was a welcomed source of cheer each time I set foot in the department. She was an invaluable source of assistance throughout my graduate studies and without her aid, the defense of this dissertation would never have so seamlessly come to pass. The faith of my beloved parents, Behrooz and Roohangiz Ghaemmaghami, and my dear sister Elham, in me never once wavered. Their innumerable sacrifices enabled me to devote time, space and attention to my work. This dissertation would have never seen the light of day without their belief in me, which has always far exceeded my own belief in myself. It is with pleasure that I also record my thanks to the following teachers, friends and colleagues, each of whom has played a part in the gestation of this dissertation: Nasrin Askari, Navid Azizi, Shahla Bolbolan, Susan Collins, my dear friend Issam Eido, Ahmet Karamustafa, Mithaq Kazimi, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Ammar Khashan, Stephen Lambden, Barbara Lawson, Edmund Lee, Franklin Lewis, Mike Matta, John Medina, Arta Momtazi, Guy Mount, Brent Poirier, Nancy Rank-Medina, Moojan Momen, Shane O’Bryan, Stephen Phelps, my dear brother-in-law Paulo Ribeiro de Lemos, Mohammed Rustom, Navid Serrano, Neda Shahidyazdani, Nadim Sobhani, Sina Taheri, Ahmad Taha, Mahdi Tourage, Erik Unterschuetz, Jamel Velji, and Nabil Wilf. Samandary Hindawi offered me a place to live when I moved to Cairo, kindly permitted me to use the quiet confines of his apartment in al-Manyal where this thesis was completed, and has been like a brother from a different mother. Needless to say, everything of value in the pages that follow should be credited first and foremost to Professor Lawson and to the names that follow; all errors and shortcomings are mine alone.