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Badāʾ , literally, “emergence, appearance,” refers in theology to the advent of a divine decree that changes a previous divine decree in response to new circumstances. Hence, the term is sometimes translated as “versatility or mutability of God.” The concept is found mainly in Shīʿī theology, among the “extremist” Badāʾiyya, about whom we know nothing except for allusions by heresiographers, but especially the “moderate” Twelver Imāmīs (van Ess, Frühe, 64, Arabic text, 75; van Ess, TG, index). The idea seems to have originated with the Kaysānīs (one of the oldest Shīʿī…

Heresy is dissent from commonly accepted doctrine with a tendency towards sectarianism. Heresy, of course, only has meaning in light of orthodoxy, the elaboration of which in Islam seems to have begun as a traditionalist reaction to the politico-theological policies of the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn (r. 198-218/813-33; Lewis, Observations, 43-4; Makdisi, Ibn ʿAqīl, 26-7). Although the Qurʾān is the foundational text of Islam, it is difficult to locate a strict concept of heresy within it. Nevertheless, as Muḥammad is not understood to deliver a new message,…

Shiʿite doctrine is usually considered to be based on five principles. However, to articulate matters of faith in such a manner seems reductionist and late. SHIʿITE DOCTRINE. Shiʿite doctrine is usually considered to be based on five principles. The first three, called “the principles of religion” ( oṣul al-din; a somewhat ambiguous ascription which may also mean “theology”; Gimaret EI ²), are fully shared with Sunnism: belief in the unity of God ( tawḥid); in the mission of the prophets and especially that of the last among them Moḥammad ( nobowwa); belief in the existence of reward…

b. ʿALī b. Šahrāšūb b. Abī Naṣr b. Abi’l-Jayš (b. Sārī, Māzandarān; d. Aleppo, 2 September 1192), the most illustrious Imami scholar of the 12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 53-54 EBN ŠAHRĀŠŪB, ABŪ JAʿFAR (or Abū ʿAbd-Allāh) ZAYN-AL-DĪN (or ʿEzz-al-Dīn, Rašīd-al-Dīn) MOḤAMMAD b. ʿALī b. Šahrāšūb b. Abī Naṣr b. Abi’l-Jayš (b. Sārī, Māzandarān; d. Aleppo, 22 Šaʿbān 588/2 September 1192), the most illustrious Imami scholar of the 12th century. He was also called, though rarely, Ebn Kīā…

(lit.: “return”), theological term that has had many meanings according to the context in which it was professed. RAJʿA (lit.: “return”). Abuʾl-Ḥasan Ašʿari (q.v., d. 935) introduces this concept in his work Maqālāt al-eslāmiyin as a belief held by a large majority of the “Rāfeża”—which in this context means Imami Shiʿites (Ašʿari, p. 46; on the term in general see Kohlberg, “Rāfiḍa”). In his Ketāb al-enteṣār, the Muʿtazilite Ḵayyāṭ (d. between /902 and 912) also attributes this doctrine to the Rāfeża, all the while adding that the latter conceal it from non- Shiʿites (Ḵayy…

(lit. “Lady of the Land,” i.e., of Persia), said to be the daughter of Yazdegerd III (r. 632-51), the last Sasanian king. ŠAHRBĀNU (lit. “Lady of the Land,” i.e., of Persia), said to be the daughter of Yazdgerd III (r. 632-51), the last Sasanian king. According to the beliefs of the Shiʿites, in particular the Twelvers or Imamis, but also of a substantial number of Sunnis, she became the principal wife of the third Imam, Ḥosayn b. ʿAli, and the mother of the fourth Imam, ʿAli b. Ḥosayn b. ʿAli Zayn al-ʿĀbedin (q.v.).…

an extremist Shiʿite sect named after Abu’l-Ḵaṭṭāb al-Asadi (killed ca. 755) who for some time was an authorized representative of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (d. ca. 765) in Kufa. A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 2, pp. 127-129 ḴAṬṬĀBIYA (Khattabiyya), an extremist Shiʿite sect named after Abu’l-Ḵaṭṭāb al-Asadi (killed ca. 755 CE), who for some time was an authorized representative ( dāʿi) of Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (d. ca. 765) in Kufa. Our knowledge of the Ḵaṭṭābiya comes primarily from two well-known theologians, who show little agreement: …

[English edition] تحيل كلمة بَداء، ومعناها اللّغويّ هو «الانبثاق، الظّهور» في علوم الدّين على نزول حكم إلهيّ يغيّر حكما إلهيّا سابقاً استجابة لظروف جديدة. ولذلك يترجم هذا المصطلح إلى الإنجليزيّة أحياناً بما يفيد «التبدّل أو التغيّر في ذات الله». يوجد المفهوم أساسا، في الفكر الشّيعيّ عند فرقة البَدائيّة «المغالية» التي لا نعرف عنها شيئاً ما عدا بعض الإشارات من مؤرّخي البِدَع عند الفرق، ويوجد بشكل خاصّ عند فرقة الإماميّة الإثني عشريّة «المعتدلة» (van Ess, Frühe, 64, Arabic text, 75; van Ess, tg, index). ويبدو أنّ الفكرة قد نشأت في الأصل مع الكيسانيّة (واحدة من أقدم الفرق الشّيع…

[English edition] كان غدير خُمّ بركة ماء، وهي لم تعد موجودة اليوم. وكان يقع في جُحْفة على طريق القوافل بين مكّة والمدينة. وكان الغدير يعود في عهد الرسول محمد إلى قبيلتي كنانة وخُزاعة (Caetani, 1 H., §76, n. 4, and §78, n. 3). ويرتبط غدير خُمّ بحدث هامّ في حياة النبي محمد، تُشكّل تأويلاته المتباينة السبب الرئيسي للانقسام بين السنة والشيعة. لقد نقلت المصادر السنية والشيعية تفاصيل الحدث مع اختلافات عديدة. في يوم الثامن عشر من ذي الحجة سنة 10 هـ الموافق ل 16 مارس 632 م، وفي طريق عودته من حجّة الوداع، توّقف محمد في غدير خمّ، وأخذ بيد علي بن أبي طالب (ت 40 هـ- …

, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī Abū D̲j̲aʿfar, Imāmī S̲h̲īʿī scholar, b. Ramaḍān 385/995 in Ṭūs, d. 459 or 460/1066-7 in Nad̲j̲af. After completing his preliminary studies, in 408/1017 he left K̲h̲urāsān, fundamentally S̲h̲āfiʿī and to an increasing degree controlled by the G̲h̲aznawid Maḥmūd, in favour of Bag̲h̲dād, where the S̲h̲īʿī Buwayhids were dominant. There, he studied under leading Imāmī masters including Abu ’l-Ḥasan Ibn Abī D̲j̲ūd, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Ahwāzī, al-G̲h̲aḍāʾirī, Ibn ʿAbdūn, and, in par…

(a.), lit. “secret”, denotes in Islamic spirituality two notions, at first sight distinct but which certain adepts did not hesitate to combine (al-D̲j̲urd̲j̲ānī, 218; al-Tahānawī, i, 653; on the combination of the two senses, see e.g. al-Sulamī, 1953, 213, 216, 282). 1. The first notion is that of secret, mystery, arcana, in the sense of a teaching, a reality or even a doctrinal point, hidden by nature or which is kept hidden from persons considered unworthy of knowing it. If there is a secret, says al-Sarrād̲j̲ al-Ṭūsī (d. 378/998), p…

, désigne en spiritualité mystique deux notions, à première vue distinctes, mais que certains mystiques n’hésiteront pas à combiner (sur les deux notions Ḏj̲urdjānī, 218; Tahānawī, I/653; sur la combinaison des deux sens, v. par ex. Sulamī, 1953, 213, 216, 282). 1. La première c’est le secret, le mystère, l’arcane, dans le sens d’un enseignement, d’une réalité ou encore d’un point doctrinal, cachés par nature ou que l’on garde cachés de ceux qui n’en sont pas dignes. S’il y a secret, c’est que, selon al-Sarrād̲j̲ al-Ṭūsī (m, 378/988) q…

Abū l-Qāsim Furāt b. Ibrāhīm b. Furāt al-Kūfī is the author of the Tafsīr Furāt (“Qurʾānic commentary of Furāt”), one of the oldest Shīʿī Qurʾānic commentaries. He is absent from the old Shīʿī bibliographical and prosopographical works, and almost nothing is known of his life and work. From the chains of transmitters (isnād) of the Tafsīr, in which many of his teachers are mentioned, and from some of his direct transmitters cited in the Tafsīr and in other sources—such as the works of the Imāmīs Ibn Bābawayh the Father (d. 329/940) and Ibn Bābawayh the Son, called al-…

ʿĀqil Khān Rāzī ʿAlī ʿAskarī b. Muḥammad Taqī Khwāfī (or Khāfī) (d. 1108/1696–7), man of letters and high-ranking official in the court of Awrangzīb (Mughal emperor of India, 1068–1118/1658–1707), was born to a family of Iranian sayyids (claiming descent from the Prophet), of the Khurāsānian village of Khwāf. ʿAlī ʿAskarī received the title of ʿĀqil (“sage”) from the emperor. His nisba “Rāzī” comes not from the ancient Iranian city of Rayy but from the name of his spiritual instructor—the Ṣūfī Shaṭṭārī Burhān al-Dīn Burhānpūrī (d. 1083/1672–3), called Rā…

ʿAbdallāh b. Jaʿfar b. Abī Ṭālib (d. between 80/699–700 and 90/708–9) was a son of the famous Jaʿfar (d. 8/629), who was the older brother by ten years of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib and a hero in nascent Islam. According to the tradition of the Prophet, ʿAbdallāh's father was also called Jaʿfar “with the two wings” ( dhū l-janāḥayn) or Jaʿfar “the flying” ( al-ṭayyār), because, according to a Prophetic ḥadīth, in paradise Jaʿfar would have two wings in place of his two hands (or arms), which had been severed during the battle of Muʾta, in 8/629. ʿAbdallāh purportedly was the eldest of the eight sons…

Ghadīr Khumm (Khumm Pond) was a pond, which no longer exists, located at Juḥfa, on the caravan route between Mecca and Medina. In the time of the prophet Muḥammad, the pond belonged to the Kināna and Khuzāʿa tribes (Caetani, 1 H., §76, n. 4, and §78, n. 3). Ghadīr Khumm is associated with an important event in the life of Muḥammad, the differing interpretations of which are one of the main reasons for the schism between Sunnīs and Shīʿīs. The story of the event is transmitted, with many variations, by numerous Shīʿī and Sunnī sources. On 18 Dhū l-Ḥijja 10/16 March 632, ret…

Abū l-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad Ṭāhir al-Sharīf al-ʿĀmilī al-Iṣfahānī (c. 1070–c. 1139/c. 1659 or 1660–1726 or 1727) was an Akhbārī Imāmī mystical theologian and Qurʾān commentator. Born to a family of scholars originally from Jabal ʿĀmil, in present-day south Lebanon, he was born and raised in Isfahan and Baḥrayn and spent most of life in Najaf, where he was buried. He studied with some of the greatest ʿulamāʾ of his time such as Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (d. 1110/1699), Niʿmatallāh al-Jazāʾirī (d. 1112/1701), Aḥmad Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Baḥrānī (d. 1102/1690–1), Mu-ḥ…

Ḥājj Mīrzā Ḥasan al-Āshtiyānī (or Muḥammad Ḥasan) b. Mīrzā Jaʿfar (d. 1319/1901) was an Iranian mujtahid, famous mainly for the important role he played in the campaign against the tobacco concession. He received his basic training in Najaf with teachers such as Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan Bāqir, Shaykh Muḥsin b. Khanfar, and especially Shaykh Murtaḍā al-Anṣārī (d. 1281/1864), of whose pupils he was one of the closest. He would later work as his secretary and name his eldest son Murtaḍā, as a tribute to his master (…

Gul Muḥammad Aḥmadpūrī (d. 3 August 1827) was a Panjābī saint of the Chishtī order, who wrote in Persian (the Chishtiyya is a Ṣūfī order founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, around 318/930 by Abū Isḥāq al-Shāmī, the “Syrian,” d. 328/940, and was introduced into India by Muʿīn al-Dīn Sijzī, d. 627/1230). He was born into a family of Ṣūfīs that traces its descent to Maʿrūf al-Karkhī (d. c. 199–204/815–20), a famous Baghdadi ascetic probably of Persian origin. His ancestor Shaykh Ẓāhir al-Dīn …

Mullā Muḥammad Kāẓim Ākhūnd al-Khurāsānī (1255–1329/1839–1911) was an important Imāmī religious authority. He was born and raised in Mashhad. After receiving his basic education there, at the age of twenty he travelled to Sabzawār, where he studied with the great philosopher Ḥājj Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī (d. 1295/1878). Later, he went on to study with Mullā l-Ḥusayn al-Khūʾī in Tehran, and in Najaf with two consecutive “models for emulation” (marjaʿ al-taqlīd), al-Shaykh al-Murtaḍā al-Anṣārī (d. 1281/1864) and Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Shīrāzī (d. 1312/1895), the latte…