The Caliph and the Heretic Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts Editorial Board Sebastian Günther Wadad Kadi VOLUME 91 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/ihc The Caliph and the Heretic Ibn Sabaʾ and the Origins of Shīʿism By Sean W. Anthony LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover image: The Disputation of the Household of Prophet (ahl al-bayt) with the Christians of Najran. Source: al-Biruni’s Al-Ātāṟ al-bāqiya ʿan al-qurūn al-ḫāliya, f. 86 recto. Courtesy: Bibliothèque national de France. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anthony, Sean W. The caliph and the heretic : Ibn Sabaʾ and the origins of Shiʿism / by Sean W. Anthony. p. cm. — (Islamic history and civilization ; v. 91) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20930-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. ʿAbd Allah ibn Sabaʾ, 7th cent. 2. Shiʿah—History. 3. Muslim heretics. I. Title. BP80.A21975A85 2012 297.8’2092—dc23 2011035779 ISSN 0929-2403 ISBN 978 90 04 20930 5 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 21606 8 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. For Susu Sweets, Little Red Ray Ruka, Jay Jay the Jetplane, and most of all for Catherine the Great CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................ ix Abbreviations ..................................................................................... xi Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 1. Ibn Sabaʾ and the Sayfian Corpus .............................................. 9 2. Sayf ibn ʿUmar and the Sabaʾīya (I): The Caliphate of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān ...................................................................... 19 3. Sayf ibn ʿUmar and the Sabaʾīya (II): ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and the Battle of the Camel ................................................................ 105 Excursus: The Sayfian Corpus in the Riwāya of Nasṛ ibn Muzāḥim .................................................................................... 135 4. Ibn Sabaʾ and the Heresiographers ........................................... 139 5. The Execution of Ibn Sabaʾ ......................................................... 161 6. The Parousia ofʿ Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib ............................................ 195 Excursus 1: ʿAlī in the Clouds ............................................... 226 Excursus 2: The Letter ofʿ Alī Given to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb al-Hamdānī ................................................................... 231 7. The Sabaʾīya of the Umayyad Period ........................................ 241 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 313 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 319 Index .................................................................................................... 335 Qurʾānic References ........................................................................... 353 Biblical References ............................................................................. 354 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book represents a revised version of my 2009 University of Chi- cago dissertation. I must, of course, acknowledge those foundations and institutions that provided considerable financial support during the writing of this work: the Martin Marty Center at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and also the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. However, it is the faces of the scholars and colleagues who aided and encouraged me along the way that are dearest to me. Indeed, it was my great fortune to have labored on this project from the very outset under an amazing group of scholars who dedicated a truly humbling amount of their time and energies to the project’s refinement. Firstly, Professor Wadād al-Qāḍī’s indefatigable dedica- tion to the project accompanied and inspired me throughout, from its inception until its current form. In my mind and heart, she will always be without a peer as my advisor, editor, and (most of all) men- tor. A great deal of thanks is also due to Professor Fred Donner, who contributed a great deal to the project as one its principal readers and, in particular, as a fellow compatriot in fighting the good fight to decipher the less-than-ideal Arabic prose of Sayf ibn ʿUmar. I was also quite honored to benefit from the guidance, critiques, and formi- dable erudition of Professor Wilferd Madelung, who kindly offered his considerable insights as a reader on my dissertation committee while serving as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. Many others deserve many thanks as well, such as Professor Taheera Qutbuddin, who aided me in the project as it got off the ground, and Professor Patricia Crone, who was always generous with both her insights and work during our conversations and correspondences. Matthew Pierce aided me immensely to improve the final version of the book. A special note of thanks and appreciation must be offered to the 2007–2008 fellows at the Marty Martin Center, with whom I shared my work and who shared their work with me in fruitful and stimulating discussions. In this regard, I must express special appre- ciation for and gratitude to the seminar’s irreplaceable and brilliant master of ceremonies, Professor William Schweiker. A note of thanks must be directed to Professor Margaret Mitchell, who encouraged me for her seminar on early Christian history to write a study on Sayf x acknowledgements ibn ʿUmar’s curious account of the Paul the Apostle, an account that would inexorably lead me to down the path towards ʿAbdallāh ibn Sabaʾ. My wife Catherine has been a constant source of support through- out the creation of this book and sacrificed much to see that my labors came to fruition. Her love and the orneriness of our children—Sawim, Suraya, and Julius—kept me sane throughout the times of leanness and hardship and kept me focused throughout times of plenty. ABBREVIATIONS Abh. K.M. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes Aghānī3 Abū l-Faraj al-Isbahānī,̣ Kitāb al-Aghānī, 24 vols. Edited by Muḥammad Abū Faḍl Ibrāhīm, et al. Cairo, 1927. AIUON Annali dell’ Instituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli BGA Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orien- tale du Caire BrisMES British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies BTS Beiruter Texte und Studien Caetani, Annali Leone Caetani. Annali dell’Islam, 10 vols. Rome, 1926. Conc. Arent Jan Wensinck, et al. Concordances et indicies de la tradition musulmane, 7 vols. Leiden, 1933–69. CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium EAeth Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Edited by Siegbert Uhlig. Wiesbaden, 2003–. EI2 Encyclopædia of Islam, 2nd edition. Edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. von Donzol, and W. P. Heinrichs. Leiden, 1960–2002. EI3 Encyclopædia of Islam, 3rd edition. Edited by Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson. Leiden, 2007–. EIr Encyclopædia Iranica. Edited by Ehsan Yarshater. New York, 1983–. EQ Encyclopædia of the Qurʾān, 6 vols. Edited by Jane Damen McAuliffe, et al. Leiden, 2001–2006. GAL Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabische Littera- tur. Leiden, 1898–1949. GAP Grundriss des Arabischen Philologie, 3 vols. Edited by Wolfdietrich Fischer. Wiesbaden, 1982–1992. GAS Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schriftums. Leiden, 1963–2000. GMS E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series xii abbreviations Ibn Saʿd Ibn Saʿd. K. al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, 9 vols. Edited by Edward Sachua. Leiden, 1904–1921. 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