Theology and Society is the most comprehensive study of Islamic intellectual and religious history, focusing on Muslim theology. With its emphasis on the eighth and ninth centuries CE, it remains the most detailed prosopographical study of the early phase of the formation of Islam. Originally published in German between 1991 and 1995, Theology and Society is a monument of scholarship and a unique scholarly enterprise which has stood the test of time as an unparalleled reference work.
Josef van Ess, Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies and Semitic Languages, University of Tübingen, Germany, has published widely on the history of the Islamic World; Islamic theology and philosophy, especially with respect to the formative period (8th-10th centuries) and the age of the Mongol conquests (13th-14th centuries); and Islamic mysticism. His most famous work is Theologie und Gesellschaft in 6 volumes (de Gruyter 1991-97), the first four volumes of which are now being published in English by Brill.
Gwendolin Goldbloom (1969) has produced English translations of several books and a number of articles in the field of Islamic Studies, most of them originally published in German.
2.2 Basra
2.2.1 The âhereticsâ
2.2.1.1 BashshÄr b. Burd
2.2.1.2 á¹¢Äliḥ b. Ê¿Abd al-QuddÅ«s
2.2.1.3 The Sumaniyya
2.2.1.4 Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ
2.2.1.4.1 A text against Islam
2.2.1.4.2 The parody of the Quran
2.2.1.5 The environment. âNatural philosophersâ
2.2.2 Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and his spiritual successors
2.2.2.1 The Qadariyya
2.2.2.1.1 Qadarite ideas in hadith
2.2.2.1.2 Qadarite traditionists
2.2.2.1.2.1 The generation following Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
2.2.2.1.2.2 The middle generation
2.2.2.1.2.3 Pupils of Saʿīd b. Abī ʿArūba
2.2.2.1.2.4 Other Qadarites in the second half of the second century
2.2.2.1.3 The UswÄrÄ«s
2.2.2.1.4 Qadarites among the Basran grammarians
2.2.2.2 Qadariyya and asceticism
2.2.2.2.1 Ḥasan al-Baá¹£rÄ«âs younger contemporaries
2.2.2.2.2 The following generation
2.2.2.2.2.1 The importance of Ê¿AbbÄdÄn
2.2.2.2.3 Theological and juristic special opinions within the circle of Basran ascetics
2.2.2.2.3.1 The Bakriyya
2.2.2.2.4 Asceticism and rationality
2.2.3 The jurists
2.2.3.1 The case of IyÄs b. MuÊ¿Äwiya
2.2.3.2 Early theoretical texts
2.2.3.3 Experts and jurisconsults
2.2.3.4 Kullu mujtahid muṣīb
2.2.4 Murjiʾites in Basra. The âGhaylÄniyyaâ
2.2.4.1 Faá¸l al-RaqÄshÄ«
2.2.4.2 Abū Shamir and his school
2.2.4.3 âJahmitesâ
2.2.5 The IbÄá¸iyya
2.2.5.1 The case of Ê¿AbdallÄh b. IbÄá¸
2.2.5.2 The development of the Basran community
2.2.5.3 The question of qadar
2.2.5.4 The quarrel over the anthropomorphisms
2.2.5.5 Further controversial issues
2.2.5.6 The environment
2.2.5.7 The relation between sin and faith
2.2.5.8 Puritanism and scrupulousness
2.2.6 The early Muʿtazila
2.2.6.1 WÄá¹£il b. Ê¿Aá¹Äʾ
2.2.6.1.1 The chronology of his life. His origins and profession
2.2.6.1.2 WÄá¹£il the khaá¹Ä«b. His appearance before Ê¿AbdallÄh b. Ê¿Umar b. Ê¿Abd al-Ê¿AzÄ«z
2.2.6.1.3 WÄá¹£ilâs speech defect
2.2.6.1.4 WÄá¹£ilâs relations with the Ê¿Alids in Medina
2.2.6.1.5 The image of WÄá¹£ilâs personality
2.2.6.1.6 WÄá¹£ilâs relationship with Ê¿Amr b. Ê¿Ubayd and Ḥasan al-Baá¹£rÄ«
2.2.6.1.7 The doctrine of the intermediate state
2.2.6.1.7.1 Sin and penitence
2.2.6.1.7.2 WÄá¹£ilâs relationship with KhÄrijites and Murjiʾites
2.2.6.1.8 WÄá¹£ilâs political views
2.2.6.1.9 Further points of doctrine
2.2.6.1.9.1 Epistemological issues
2.2.6.2 ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd
2.2.6.2.1 Biographical data
2.2.6.2.2 Political decisions
2.2.6.2.2.1 The relationship with Manṣūr
2.2.6.2.3 The image of Ê¿Amrâs personality
2.2.6.2.4 His relationship with Ḥasan al-Baṣrī
2.2.6.2.4.1 ʿAmr as an exegete
2.2.6.2.5 ʿAmr as a legal scholar
2.2.6.2.6 ʿAmr as a traditionist
2.2.6.2.7 Theology and politics
2.2.6.3 The pupil generation
2.2.6.3.1 The circle around WÄá¹£il
2.2.6.3.1.1 The duÊ¿Ät
2.2.6.3.1.2 WÄá¹£ilâs other pupils
2.2.6.3.2 The circle around ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd
2.2.6.3.2.1 Jurists and traditionists
2.2.6.3.2.2 The âMuÊ¿tazilitesâ of the uprising of AH 145
2.2.6.4 The origin of the name Muʿtazila
2.2.7 The traditionist reaction
2.2.7.1 Opposition against ʿAmr b. ʿUbayd
2.2.7.1.1 AyyÅ«b al-SakhtiyÄnÄ«
2.2.7.1.2 Yūnus b. ʿUbayd
2.2.7.1.3 Ê¿AbdallÄh b. Ê¿Awn
2.2.7.1.4 SulaymÄn al-TaymÄ«
2.2.7.1.5 AbÅ« Ê¿Amr Ibn al-Ê¿AlÄʾ
2.2.7.2 The next generation
2.2.8 The Muʿtazila in Basra during the second half of the second century
2.2.8.1 á¹¢afwÄn al-Aná¹£ÄrÄ«
2.2.8.1.1 The image of the early MuÊ¿tazila in á¹¢afwÄnâs qaṣīda
2.2.8.2 The principle of amr bil-maʿrūf wal-nahy ʿan al-munkar
2.2.8.2.1 The case of Muḥammad b. MunÄdhir
2.2.8.3 The position of the Muʿtazila in Basra after 145
2.2.8.4 The development of theology and law
2.2.8.4.1 Al-Aá¹£amm
2.2.8.4.1.1 Aá¹£ammâs âontologyâ
2.2.8.4.1.2 Aá¹£ammâs Quranic commentary
2.2.8.4.1.3 The consensus of Muslims
2.2.8.4.1.3.1 Consensus and political theory
2.2.8.4.1.4 Aá¹£amm the lawyer
2.2.8.4.2 Ibn ʿUlayya
2.2.8.4.3 Further Basran Muʿtazilites
2.2.9 Basran Shīʿites
2.3 WÄsiá¹
2.4 The Jazira
2.4.1 ḤarrÄn
2.4.1.1 The á¹¢Äbians
2.4.1.2 ḤarrÄn and Islamic theology
2.4.2 DiyÄr Rabīʿa
2.4.2.1 The KhÄrijites
2.4.2.2 Mosul
2.4.2.3 Nisibis
2.4.3 Raqqa
2.4.3.1 SulaymÄn al-RaqqÄ«
2.4.3.2 Extreme Shīʿites
3. Iran
3.0 General preliminary remarks
3.1 Eastern Iran
3.1.1 Jahm b. á¹¢afwÄn
3.1.1.1 The connection between Jahm and the Jahmiyya
3.1.2 The cities
3.1.2.1 Balkh
3.1.2.1.1 Quranic exegesis
3.1.2.1.1.1 MuqÄtil b. ḤayyÄn
3.1.2.1.1.2 MuqÄtil b. SulaymÄn
3.1.2.1.1.2.1 MuqÄtilâs theological views
3.1.2.1.2 ʿUmar b. Ṣubḥ and the rafʿ al-yadayn
3.1.2.1.3 Murjiʾites and Ḥanafites
3.1.2.1.4 The beginnings of eastern Iranian mysticism
3.1.2.2 Marv
3.1.2.3 Tirmidh
3.1.2.4 Samarqand
3.1.2.5 Herat
3.1.3 SÄ«stÄn
3.1.3.1 The KhÄrijites
3.1.3.1.1 Ḥamza b. Ädharakâs uprising
3.1.3.2 Non-KhÄrijite groups
3.1.4 The western part of the province of Khorasan
3.1.4.1 Khorasanian KhÄrijites
3.1.4.1.1 The Bayhasiyya
3.1.4.1.1.1 YamÄn b. RiʾÄb
3.1.4.1.2 The IbÄá¸iyya
3.1.4.2 Nishapur
3.2 Central and southern Iran
3.2.1 The KhÄrijites
3.2.1.1 YazÄ«d b. Unaysa and the uprising of AbÅ« ʿĪsÄ al-Iá¹£fahÄnÄ«
3.2.1.2 Later KhÄrijites
3.2.2 Ê¿AbdallÄh b. MuÊ¿Äwiya
3.2.3 The cities
3.2.3.1 Isfahan
3.2.3.2 Qom
3.2.3.3 Hamadan
3.2.3.4 Rayy
4. The Arabian Peninsula
4.1 The Hijaz
4.1.1 Mecca
4.1.1.1 The Qadarites
4.1.1.2 The KhÄrijites
4.1.1.2.1 The IbÄá¸ites
4.1.1.3 The Murjiʾites
4.1.1.4 The Shīʿites
4.1.2 Medina
4.1.2.1 The KhÄrijites
4.1.2.2 The Murjiʾa
4.1.2.3 The Qadarites
4.1.2.3.1 Al-Nafs al-zakiyyaâs uprising
4.1.2.3.2 Later developments. Resistance against the Qadariyya
4.1.2.4 The Jahmiyya
4.2 Southern Arabia
4.2.1 Yemen
4.2.1.1 The Qadarites
4.1.2.1 Other trends
4.2.2 Oman and Ḥaá¸ramawt
5. Egypt
5.0 General preliminary remarks
5.1 Shīʿite tendencies
5.2 Counter-trends. The IbÄá¸iyya
5.3 Implicit theology. Hadith
5.4 Explicit theology. KalÄm
5.4.1 Theologians of uncertain affiliation
All interested in Middle Eastern history and history of religion.