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Title Islamic Sectarianism & Syncretism during the Reign of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah: A Critical Edition and Study of Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani's Ma'asim al-huda
Full text https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1t73k15z
Date 2024
Author(s) Garrett, Timothy Buford
Contributor(s) Yarbrough, Luke Benson
Abstract This dissertation presents a critical edition of Ma@aṣim al-huda wa-l-iṣaba fa tafḍal aAla aala al-ṣahaba ('Strongholds of Guidance and Rectitude, Demonstrating aAla's Superiority Over the Companions'), the final extant unedited text of the famed Ismaaala Shaaa theologian, missionary, and spy Ḥamad al-Dan al-Kirmana (d. ca. 1021 CE). It also features an accompanying study that contextualizes the work and expounds upon its significance. Although the text initially appears polemical, asserting as it does the superiority of aAla ibn Aba Talib, the candidate favored by the nascent Shaaa movement to succeed the Prophet Muhammad, over Aba Bakr ibn Aba Quhafa, who would be favored by the Sunnas, Maaaṣim al-huda is a remarkably ecumenical treatise, offering a far more positive portrayal of Aba Bakr and the other Companions of the Prophet thanany prior extant Ismaaala text. The work thus offers a unique insight into the ways in which sectarian difference was navigated in the premodern Islamic context. This critical edition is based upon seven of the nine extant manuscript witnesses to the work. The accompanying study is divided into three chapters. The first offers an overview of al-Kirmana's life and works, an analysis of Maaaṣim al-huda's form and contents, and a defense of the text's authenticity. The second situates the text within the broader context of Faṭimid Egypt, demonstrating its departure from previous approaches to the subject matter. It further contextualizes the work within the reign of the Faṭimid caliph al-Ḥakim bi-Amr Allah (d. ca. 1021) and identifies Maaaṣim al-huda as the sole surviving primary source from a five-year period in which the caliph sought to merge Sunna and Shaaa elements into a syncretic Muslim tradition. The third chapter uses Maaaṣim al-huda to revisit an ongoing academic debate over whether al-Ḥakim intended to disinter the bodies of the Prophet Muhammad and the first two caliphs and rehouse them in three sanctuaries he built between Cairo and Fusṭaṭ. It ultimately argues that newly revealed evidence from Maaaṣim al-huda renders the outright dismissal of this theory no longer tenable.
Subject(s) Islamic studies; Middle Eastern history; Theology; Al-Hakim; Al-Kirmani; Fatimids; Ismailism; Sectarianism; Shi'ism
Language en
Publisher eScholarship, University of California
Type of publication etd
Rights public
Identifier qt1t73k15z
Repository Berkeley - University of California
Added to C-A: 2024-12-16;09:09:21