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Encounters with the Hidden Imam in Early and Pre-Modern Twelver Shīʿī Islam
Series: - Islamic History and Civilization, Volume: 167
Author:
The history of Twelver ShÄ«Ê¿Ä« Islam is a history of attempts to âdeal with the âabrupt loss of the Imam. In Encounters with the Hidden Imam in Early and Pre-âModern Twelver ShÄ«Ê¿Ä« Islam, âOmid Ghaemmaghami demonstrates that in the early years of what came to be known as the Greater Occultation, ShÄ«Ê¿Ä« authorities maintained that all contact with the Imam had been sundered, forcing him to remain incommunicado âuntil his (re)appearanceâ. This position, however, proved âuntenable to maintain. Almost a âcentury after the start of the Greater Occultation, prominent scholars âbegan to concede the âpossibility that some ShÄ«Ê¿a can meet the Hidden Imam. Accounts of encounters with the Imam from the Greater Occultation soon began to appear, adumbrating their exponential growth in later centuries.
Omid Ghaemmmaghami is Assistant Professor of Arabic and Near Eastern Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton.
âAt a time when ShÄ«Ê¿ite Islam is a major religious and ideological force in the Middle East, this book constitutes a very important addition to the scholarly literature on this subject. [It] is outstanding in its presentation and analysis of a wide-ranging array of sources, both primary and secondary. It is especially strong in the number and nature of the Arabic and Persian sources comprising religious treatises, Hadith compilations and biographical dictionaries (RijÄl books) pre-modern and modern. One of the best books on ShÄ«Ê¿ite thought that I have read recently or, for that matter, at any time.â
William F. Tucker, University of Arkansas, author of Mahdis and Millenarians: Shīʿite Extremists in Early Muslim Iraq, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
âOmid Ghaemmaghamiâs thoroughly researched monograph ⦠offers a well-documented and well-argued historical contextualization of a central idea in Twelver Shiismâ¦.The strength of the book is that it combines thorough philological groundwork with broad historical contextualizationâ¦.Encountering the Hidden Imam is a well-researched and a thoroughly argued contribution to the religious and intellectual history of pre-modern Islam: it explores both the big picture of political and social change and the detailed small picture of the texts where this change is reflected.â
Mushegh Asatryan, University of Calgary in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 84, Issue 1(2021).
âGhaemmaghami has produced a well-researched, well-argued, and clearly written book that fills a gap in the literature on Twelver ShiÊ¿ism.â
Moojan Momen, Independent researcher in: Religion, Volume 52, Issue 2(2022).
âGhaemmaghami has brilliantly produced an interesting study that will benefit scholarship on Islam, its religious history in general, and the Shiite doctrine of authority in particular. This stimulating scholarly effort is also one more reminder of the importance of a solid, balanced philological approach when dealing with Islamic tradition, piety, and theology.â
Marco Salati, University of CÃ Foscari in: Der Islam, Volume 98, No. 2(2021).
ââ¦this work has been written with its readership in mind and provides an important examination of terms, texts and concepts to assist with gaining clarity on this fundamental issue in the Twelver Shiâi tradition.â
Rebecca Mastertonin, The Islamic College in: Journal of Shiâa Islamic Studies, Volume 12, No. 3-4(2019).
âIn all, Ghaemmaghami has produced a well-researched, well-argued, and clearly written book that fills a gap in the literature on Twelver ShiÊ¿ism. It is also a useful addition to the literature on âinvented traditionsâ and the manner in which the âinventedâ nature of such traditions is concealed and the traditions consolidated as well-grounded knowledge.â
Moojan Momen, Independent researcher in: Religion Volume 52 (2022).
William F. Tucker, University of Arkansas, author of Mahdis and Millenarians: Shīʿite Extremists in Early Muslim Iraq, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
âOmid Ghaemmaghamiâs thoroughly researched monograph ⦠offers a well-documented and well-argued historical contextualization of a central idea in Twelver Shiismâ¦.The strength of the book is that it combines thorough philological groundwork with broad historical contextualizationâ¦.Encountering the Hidden Imam is a well-researched and a thoroughly argued contribution to the religious and intellectual history of pre-modern Islam: it explores both the big picture of political and social change and the detailed small picture of the texts where this change is reflected.â
Mushegh Asatryan, University of Calgary in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 84, Issue 1(2021).
âGhaemmaghami has produced a well-researched, well-argued, and clearly written book that fills a gap in the literature on Twelver ShiÊ¿ism.â
Moojan Momen, Independent researcher in: Religion, Volume 52, Issue 2(2022).
âGhaemmaghami has brilliantly produced an interesting study that will benefit scholarship on Islam, its religious history in general, and the Shiite doctrine of authority in particular. This stimulating scholarly effort is also one more reminder of the importance of a solid, balanced philological approach when dealing with Islamic tradition, piety, and theology.â
Marco Salati, University of CÃ Foscari in: Der Islam, Volume 98, No. 2(2021).
ââ¦this work has been written with its readership in mind and provides an important examination of terms, texts and concepts to assist with gaining clarity on this fundamental issue in the Twelver Shiâi tradition.â
Rebecca Mastertonin, The Islamic College in: Journal of Shiâa Islamic Studies, Volume 12, No. 3-4(2019).
âIn all, Ghaemmaghami has produced a well-researched, well-argued, and clearly written book that fills a gap in the literature on Twelver ShiÊ¿ism. It is also a useful addition to the literature on âinvented traditionsâ and the manner in which the âinventedâ nature of such traditions is concealed and the traditions consolidated as well-grounded knowledge.â
Moojan Momen, Independent researcher in: Religion Volume 52 (2022).
Acknowledgments A Note on Transliteration and Style
Introduction
â1âApproaches to the Question of Encountering the Hidden Imam in Sources in Western Languages
â2âOutline of the Book
1 The Unknown, the Unseen, and the Unrecognized
â1âThe Hadith Compilations Attributed to al-BarqÄ« and al-á¹¢affÄr al-QummÄ«
â2âThe Exegetical Corpus: The tafÄsÄ«r of al-Ê¿AskarÄ«, al-SayyÄrÄ«, al-FÅ«rat, al-QummÄ«, and al-Ê¿AyyÄshÄ«
â3âThe Hadith Compilation of al-KulaynÄ«
â4âThe Hidden Imam: Unseen and Unrecognized
â5âThe Hidden Imam: Seen but Not Recognized
2 Hidden from All, yet Seen by Some? The Special Case of Three Hadiths
â1âHadith 1 (and Variants): âthe 30 are never lonelyâ
â2âHadith 2: â[and] no one will know his location except the elite of his mawÄlÄ«â
â3âHadith 3: âexcept the mawlÄ who is in charge of his affairsâ
â4âThe mawlÄ/mawÄlÄ«
3 âA Lying Impostorâ
â1âIbn AbÄ« Zaynab al-NuÊ¿mÄnÄ«
â2âAl-Shaykh al-á¹¢adÅ«q
â3âThe Final Missive of the Hidden Imam
â4ââA Lying Impostorâ
â5âAl-Shaykh al-MufÄ«d
â6âAl-SharÄ«f al-Murtaá¸Ä and His Students
4 From the Youth and the Stone to the Proliferation of Accounts
â1âThe Earliest Accounts of Encounters with the Imam in a Wakeful State
â2âThe âInventionâ of a Tradition
â3âThe Proliferation of Accounts and the Consolidation of a Tradition
5 Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Bibliography
Index of Quran Citations
Index of Quoted Hadiths
Index of People and Places
Index of Subjects
Introduction
â1âApproaches to the Question of Encountering the Hidden Imam in Sources in Western Languages
â2âOutline of the Book
1 The Unknown, the Unseen, and the Unrecognized
â1âThe Hadith Compilations Attributed to al-BarqÄ« and al-á¹¢affÄr al-QummÄ«
â2âThe Exegetical Corpus: The tafÄsÄ«r of al-Ê¿AskarÄ«, al-SayyÄrÄ«, al-FÅ«rat, al-QummÄ«, and al-Ê¿AyyÄshÄ«
â3âThe Hadith Compilation of al-KulaynÄ«
â4âThe Hidden Imam: Unseen and Unrecognized
â5âThe Hidden Imam: Seen but Not Recognized
2 Hidden from All, yet Seen by Some? The Special Case of Three Hadiths
â1âHadith 1 (and Variants): âthe 30 are never lonelyâ
â2âHadith 2: â[and] no one will know his location except the elite of his mawÄlÄ«â
â3âHadith 3: âexcept the mawlÄ who is in charge of his affairsâ
â4âThe mawlÄ/mawÄlÄ«
3 âA Lying Impostorâ
â1âIbn AbÄ« Zaynab al-NuÊ¿mÄnÄ«
â2âAl-Shaykh al-á¹¢adÅ«q
â3âThe Final Missive of the Hidden Imam
â4ââA Lying Impostorâ
â5âAl-Shaykh al-MufÄ«d
â6âAl-SharÄ«f al-Murtaá¸Ä and His Students
4 From the Youth and the Stone to the Proliferation of Accounts
â1âThe Earliest Accounts of Encounters with the Imam in a Wakeful State
â2âThe âInventionâ of a Tradition
â3âThe Proliferation of Accounts and the Consolidation of a Tradition
5 Conclusion
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Bibliography
Index of Quran Citations
Index of Quoted Hadiths
Index of People and Places
Index of Subjects
All interested in early Islamic intellectual history, Shīʿī Islam (especially in its formative period), messianism, authority, and the history of ideas.