Studying Shīʿī Hadith and History
Introduction I find Ahmed El Shamsy's 2013 monograph The Canonization of Islamic Law - A Social and Intellectual History more ambitious in scope than its more well-known counterpart Jonathan Brown's 2007 offering The Canonization of Al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon. Shamsy is to be commended for the clarity of his writing … Continue reading The Canonization of Islamic Law (Review Article)
Introduction I came across the following report whilst translating Rijal al-Kashshi: حدثني محمد بن قولويه، قال حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال حدثنا أحمد بن هلال، عن محمد بن الفرج قال: كتبت إلى أبي الحسن عليه السلام أسأله عن أبي علي بن راشد و عن عيسى بن جعفر بن عاصم و ابن بند، فكتب إلي: … Continue reading The Imam Supplicates for Someone who was Killed for Cursing
Introduction Any casual reciter of Dua Samat knows that there is something different about this Dua. It is distinctive not only in its emphasis on Moses as the Prophet par excellence, but also in its adaptation of biblical terms and historical locations. Two passages from the Dua suffice to demonstrate this: وَأَسْأَلُكَ اللّهُمَّ بِمَجْدِكَ الَّذي … Continue reading Is Dua Samat a Jewish Supplication?
Introduction A more distinctive feature of the Imami Madhhab is its acceptance of Mut'a (temporary marriage), which it claims was sanctioned by the Qur'an and the Prophet, before being banned by the second Caliph. One would therefore expect to find support for this practice from the early Salaf, before the crystallization of the various theological … Continue reading The Grandson of George and Temporary Marriage
ما على وجه الارض شئ أحب إلي من التقية There is nothing on the face of the Earth more beloved to me than Taqiyya[1] - Imam al-Sadiq Introduction: This paper will be considered by some as belonging to the genre of Shi’i-Sunni polemics, but this would be a mis-characterization. It is mostly directed at … Continue reading Did the Imams praise Abu Bakr and Umar?
Shiitic Studies 