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2 results

  • Introduction

  • Edited by Hassan Ansari, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, Nebil Husayn, University of Miami
  • Book:
    Caliphate and Imamate
    Published online:
    19 October 2023
    Print publication:
    02 November 2023, pp x-lxii

  • Summary

    One of the most enduring sources of conflict among Muslims is the question of who or what represents legitimate power and authority after the Prophet Muhammad. This introduction briefly examines the diverse answers that key representatives of the classical Islamic tradition offered to this controversial question. A concise overview of early Islamic political history is followed by a survey of Islamic thought on the subject of authority in the formative (seventh-ninth centuries) and classical periods (ninth-thirteenth centuries). This introduction presents the views of six major theological schools of the classical period: Ashʿarism (representative of Sunnism), Muʿtazilism, Ibadism, Twelver Shiʿism, Ismaʿilism, and Zaydism. Finally, this chapter discusses the classical Arabic texts that appear in English translation in this anthology as well as their respective themes, authors, and historical contexts.

Caliphate and Imamate
  • An Anthology of Medieval Muslim Texts on Political Theology
  • Edited by Hassan Ansari, Nebil Husayn
  • Published online:
    19 October 2023
    Print publication:
    02 November 2023
  • One of the most enduring sources of conflict among Muslims is the question of power and authority after the Prophet Muhammad. This anthology of classical Arabic texts, presented in a new English translation, offers a comprehensive overview of the early history of the caliphate and key questions that medieval Muslim scholars discussed in their works on the subject. Composed between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, these texts succinctly present competing views on the prerequisites of legitimate leadership and authority in the Islamic tradition. This volume offers an engaging introduction to the diverse writings of influential scholars representing six classical Islamic schools of theology: Sunnism, Zaydism, Twelver Shiʿism, Muʿtazilism, Ibadism, and Ismaʿilism.