AMBIGUITY, HERMENEUTICS, AND THE FORMATION OF SHI‘I IDENTITY IN AL-SHARIF AL-RADI’S (D.1015CE) QUR’AN COMMENTARY Tehseen Thaver A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies Chapel Hill 2013 Approved by: Carl Ernst Anna Bigelow Juliane Hammer Omid Safi Randall Styers © 2013 Tehseen Thaver ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Tehseen Thaver: Ambiguity, Hermeneutics, and the Formation of Shi‘i Identity in al-Sharif al-Radi’s (d.1015CE) Qur’an Commentary (Under the direction of Carl W. Ernst) This dissertation addresses the question of how the relationship between language and revelation was articulated and contested in the Muslim intellectual tradition during its formative years. The specific context in which I explore this question is that of tenth century Baghdad, a moment when the authority of knowledge traditions rooted in logic and indebted to Greek philosophy were aggressively challenged by scholars who valorized the Qur’an and Prophetic tradition as the overarching sources for norms in Islam. These debates over the relative merits of “logic” and “language” as primary foundations of knowledge were intimately tied to a much larger hermeneutical and indeed theological problem and question: how should one understand the relationship between human language, which is culturally and temporally specific, and divine revelation, which is transcendent, universal, and applicable across time and space? This is the central question that informs the conceptual landscape of this dissertation. Specifically, I analyze the Arabic Qur’an commentary of a prominent Shi‘i theologian, poet, and historian of 10th century Baghdad, al-Sharif al-Radi (d.1015CE). His commentary, titled Hermeneutical Realities in [Uncovering] the Ambiguity of Revelation (Haqa’iq al-Ta’wil fi Mutashabihat al-Tanzil), takes a distinctly literary approach to the Qur’an. In this work, al-Radi identified the Qur’an’s “ambiguous verses” iii as those verses deemed to contain theological, linguistic, and other difficulties that require the extensive exertion of hermeneutical energies. I examine how al-Radi negotiates the interplay between literary exegesis and sectarian theology and pay particular attention to the function that religious identity played in his interpretive framework during a strikingly cosmopolitan period under the Buyid dynasty (955-1055CE), when religious thinkers, litterateurs, and rulers alike participated to create a rich and lively milieu of intellectual exchange. I argue that far from adopting rigid methods that conform to fixed sectarian templates, al-Radi strategically mobilized the literary trope of Qur’anic ambiguity for remarkably varied hermeneutical and political projects. Conceptually, I argue for a more carefully historicized approach to the study of Qur’anic exegesis that strives to understand the malleable ways in which individual Muslim thinkers have engaged the questions of language, authority, and interpretation at specific historical conjunctures. iv In memory of: Nani, who in her typically urgent voice had once advised: “whatever you do, never be greedy about knowledge!” And Ustadh Yahya, who taught me the mubtada and khabar. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Too many thanks are due. First, to my dissertation committee - my first and “smallest” audience: to my advisor Carl Ernst, whose patience, gentle guidance, and astute perspective on navigating the vast ocean that is the field of Islamic Studies has been, to say the very least, invaluable. Discussions with him have always led to a renewed energy for all that is yet to be unearthed, translated, problematized, and theorized. It is to him that I owe a combination of immense humility and endless enthusiasm for the subject; to Omid Safi, for his uncanny ability to bring, all at once, beauty, humor, and intellect to every conversation, and for his unshakeable confidence in each of my undertakings, no matter in what premature form they were first conceived; to Anna Bigelow, for an unfailing generosity with her time, dedicated to helping me develop and formulate the conceptual stakes of this project through her meticulous comments at each stage of the writing process; to Juliane Hammer, for her perceptive and preemptive questions that forced me to carefully consider the nuances of this work in its present and future form; and to Randall Styers, for his acute aesthetic sense and probing questions that nudged me to make this project relevant to a broader audience. Beyond my committee, I have been fortunate enough to have many other doors generously opened, all thanks to a shared concern and respect for the subject at hand. My sincere thanks are due to all the teachers with whom I have had the privilege of “wrestling with texts” (most successfully, on long summer afternoons in the month of vi Ramadan). Here I should especially thank Ebrahim Moosa and Ghasem Kakaei for sparing many hours of their time in navigating al-Radi’s texts with me during a crucial time in my research. Many thanks also to Muhammad Habib, Mohsin Kadivar, and Muhammad Taqi. From all of them, I have taken the valuable lesson of patience, and method, in slowly unraveling the puzzle of the unfamiliar idea, term, or reference, and the benefit of keeping yourself open to whichever route down which it may lead. Abdulaziz Sachedina introduced me to the study of Islam and Religion and nurtured my interest in the subject; he will always be my first mentor in this field. Robert Rozehnal made my transition from UNC to Lehigh smooth and enjoyable as I was putting the final touches to this dissertation; I am most thankful for his mentorship. Nasrollah Pourjavady was extremely generous with introducing me to his network of students and scholars in Iran. Fereshteh Kazempour in Tehran was an impeccable host and ferocious interlocutor. I also owe many thanks to Peter Ochs and Chuck Matthews for my early training at UVA. In Karachi, Abbas Hussain has been a source of much support and was extremely generous in sharing his library. And still more thanks, to my colleagues and friends, through the many winding semesters of school that made graduate life not only possible but most memorable: to SherAli for just the right dose of perspective, to Shannon and Stephanie for lots of listening, sharing and pie-ing; to Emma and Iqbal for their exemplary hospitality which included the sanctuary of the sugarberry mansion; to Jenna for being a terrific teammate; to Omid, Cemil, and Juliane for giving the Islamic studies cohort a sense of community; to Rose for being my co-traveller; to Myra and Hope for ensuring that journeying through UNC’s system came with no turbulence or delays; and to all the students and faculty of vii UNC and UVA’s Religious Studies departments, for sharing precious resources and conversations. Research for this project was made possible through the generous support of the Graduate School at UNC’s off-campus dissertation research fellowship, the Florence Bullock summer research fellowship, the Medieval and Early Modern Studies dissertation writing fellowship, the Religious Studies department’s Perry research fellowship, and the Center for Global Initiatives pre-dissertation proposal research fellowship. I would also like to thank the library staff at UNC, the University of Toronto, the Library of Congress, and Shiraz University for their assistance during my research at these sites. Finally, I am indebted to the many members of my family, both immediate and extended, who stood by me as I wandered away from the alam al-dunya, the cherished and familiar career in business, to the alam al-ghayb, or the realm of the unknown that is the study of religion. Perhaps too many from among my parents, sisters, nieces and nephews have shared the burden and weight of my deadlines and the obscure obstacles that come with different stages of research. I am most thankful, first and foremost, to my parents, for their wholehearted support, as I not only fled from the nest, but also from a precious family business; to Zainab Khala, who has been a teacher and inspiration during the strangest of times; to my siblings, for setting the bar high on what is possible; to all the Muhammads for being a constant source of moral support and humor; to Mrs. Rizvi for her encouragement at a pivotal time; and to all my cousins, friends, aunts and uncles, who believed in the importance of my work. All the errors and oversights in this dissertation are solely my own. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES..………………………………………………………………….....xii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION Preliminary Questions ………………………………………………………..1 Thinking the Question of Imami Exegesis………………………………….....2 Conceptual and Historiographical Intervention: Reframing Religious Identity………………………………………………………………………...3 Qur’an Exegesis and the Problem of Sectarian Identity………………………9 Chapter Outline………………………………………………………………15 II. COMPETING MEMORIES OF AL-RADI Family and Political Background…………………………………………….17 Al-Radi as a Sayyid Poet Scholar……………………………………………24 The Textual Field: al-Radi’s Qur’an Commentary (the Haqa’iq) …………..33 III. BUYID BAGHDAD AND AL-RADI’S HERMENEUTICAL IDENTITY Intellectual Genealogies……………………………………………………...38 Grand Narrative of the Buyid “Golden Age” ……………………………….40 Twelver Shi‘i Scholars during the Buyid period…………………………….43 Political Fragmentation and Narratives of Sunni/Shi‘i Strife………………..49 Intellectual and Cultural Life Under the Buyids