- Maria De Cillis is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where she is also the Managing... moreMaria De Cillis is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where she is also the Managing Editor of the Shiʿi Heritage Series. She has authored Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna, al-Ghazālī and Ibn ʿArabī (2014) and has co-edited Shiʿi Esotericism: Its Roots and Developments (2016) as well as writing a number of journal articles and encyclopaedia entries. She has taught on the Qurʾan at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and on medieval Islamic philosophy and speculative theology at and at Birkbeck College, University of London. She continues teaching on Shi'i history, thought and philosophy at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. Her research interests include Islamic metaphysics, Sufism, Shiʿi esotericism and Ismaili philosophy.edit
It is well-known that as one of the most renowned Ismaili dāʿīs of the Fatimid age, Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020) attempted to create a complex system of thought, blending together Ismaili traditions — including gnostic... more
It is well-known that as one of the most renowned Ismaili dāʿīs of the Fatimid age, Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020) attempted to create a complex system of thought, blending together Ismaili traditions — including gnostic cosmological elements — and philosophical strands mainly drawn from Fārābian Neoplatonism. Through logical and philosophically charged sophisticated proofs, al-Kirmānī’s writings seem often to reflect a distinctive Muʿtazilite approach towards composite doctrinal issues. Indeed, some of the arguments adopted in treatises such as al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma and his magnum opus, the Rāḥat al-ʿaql, might lead to a view of him as an enthusiast supporter of that theological school, as were numerous Shiʿi theologians of his time.
Upon reflection however, a much more stratified outlook surfaces: in his Tanbīh al-hādī wa’l-mustahdī, focusing on the religious rites and the blessings derived from their practice, al-Kirmānī is often openly critical of the Muʿtazilites who in his view, included the Zaydīs, whilst comparing Muʿtazilite doctrines to the positions of the Magians in the Risālat Mabāsim al-bishārāt bi’l-imām al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh. Moreover, in his al-Aqwāl al-dhahabiyyah, designed to criticise the philosophical views of Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī (d. 313/925) on the exclusive salvific role of reason, al-Kirmānī binds intellectual reasoning to the necessity of the imamate and prophecy as tools on the path to redemption, thus implicitly denouncing some Muʿtazilite stances. In addition, al-Kirmāni’s original taʾwīl (esoteric hermeneutical interpretation) of the story of the prophets Moses and Shuʿayb (Qurʾan 7:143) presented in his Kitāb al-riyāḍ, reveals the dāʿī’s attempt to justify, by presenting theistic views on predestination, the legitimacy of the Fatimid imam-caliphs’ role.
This paper aims to probe al-Kirmānī’s understanding of what Muʿtazilite thought really entailed and what aspects he could consider suitable enough to serve his Fatimid political/doctrinal agenda.
Upon reflection however, a much more stratified outlook surfaces: in his Tanbīh al-hādī wa’l-mustahdī, focusing on the religious rites and the blessings derived from their practice, al-Kirmānī is often openly critical of the Muʿtazilites who in his view, included the Zaydīs, whilst comparing Muʿtazilite doctrines to the positions of the Magians in the Risālat Mabāsim al-bishārāt bi’l-imām al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh. Moreover, in his al-Aqwāl al-dhahabiyyah, designed to criticise the philosophical views of Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī (d. 313/925) on the exclusive salvific role of reason, al-Kirmānī binds intellectual reasoning to the necessity of the imamate and prophecy as tools on the path to redemption, thus implicitly denouncing some Muʿtazilite stances. In addition, al-Kirmāni’s original taʾwīl (esoteric hermeneutical interpretation) of the story of the prophets Moses and Shuʿayb (Qurʾan 7:143) presented in his Kitāb al-riyāḍ, reveals the dāʿī’s attempt to justify, by presenting theistic views on predestination, the legitimacy of the Fatimid imam-caliphs’ role.
This paper aims to probe al-Kirmānī’s understanding of what Muʿtazilite thought really entailed and what aspects he could consider suitable enough to serve his Fatimid political/doctrinal agenda.
Research Interests:
Il testo sacro dell’Islam appare sostenere simultaneamente l’onnipotenza di Dio e il libero arbitrio umano, sottolineando la responsabilità personale di ciascun essere umano verso i propri atti. Lo scontro, apparentemente irrisolvibile,... more
Il testo sacro dell’Islam appare sostenere simultaneamente l’onnipotenza di Dio e il libero arbitrio umano, sottolineando la responsabilità personale di ciascun essere umano verso i propri atti. Lo scontro, apparentemente irrisolvibile, tra i concetti di libera volontà e di predeterminazione divina, è stato uno dei grandi temi della riflessione teologica islamica.
Research Interests:
The metaphysical system of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā) (d. 1037) was strongly influenced by Neoplatonic and Aristotelian ideas. In works such as the Dānish Nāma-i and in the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ (al-Ilāhiyyāt), amongst others, Avicenna often speaks in... more
The metaphysical system of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā) (d. 1037) was strongly influenced by Neoplatonic and Aristotelian ideas. In works such as the Dānish Nāma-i and in the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ (al-Ilāhiyyāt), amongst others, Avicenna often speaks in an Aristotelian parlance about the interdependence of matter and form focusing particularly on the nature of prime and proximate matter; he also discloses a Neoplatonic understanding of the nature of evil which he examines both in ontological and moral terms.
The following article surveys Avicenna’s view of matter and evil and explores how the philosopher employs Qurʾanic hermeneutics in order to show that his positions on the above concepts are rooted in the Qurʾanic source. The focus is placed on the exegesis of Qurʾān 41:11-12 and 113: Avicenna interprets these verses in a way which allows him to demonstrate that questions mainly influenced by the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought - such as the notion of ʿiṣyān al-mādda (the disobedience of matter) and the ontological nature of evil – are clearly ‘Islamic’ concepts, found in the source of Islamic Revelation, and perfectly reconcilable with ‘orthodox’ dictates. This article highlights how Avicenna attempts to achieve this goal by setting his discourse within one of the most discussed topics in classical Islamic thought: the issue of divine decree and destiny (qaḍāʾ wa’l qadar).
The following article surveys Avicenna’s view of matter and evil and explores how the philosopher employs Qurʾanic hermeneutics in order to show that his positions on the above concepts are rooted in the Qurʾanic source. The focus is placed on the exegesis of Qurʾān 41:11-12 and 113: Avicenna interprets these verses in a way which allows him to demonstrate that questions mainly influenced by the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought - such as the notion of ʿiṣyān al-mādda (the disobedience of matter) and the ontological nature of evil – are clearly ‘Islamic’ concepts, found in the source of Islamic Revelation, and perfectly reconcilable with ‘orthodox’ dictates. This article highlights how Avicenna attempts to achieve this goal by setting his discourse within one of the most discussed topics in classical Islamic thought: the issue of divine decree and destiny (qaḍāʾ wa’l qadar).
Research Interests:
The notion of divine predestination, to which the Qurʾan refers with two terms, qaḍāʾ and qadar (decree and destiny), is a theme of central importance to any philosophy of religion, and to Islam in particular. A fundamental creed for... more
The notion of divine predestination, to which the Qurʾan refers with two terms, qaḍāʾ and qadar (decree and destiny), is a theme of central importance to any philosophy of religion, and to Islam in particular. A fundamental creed for Muslims, it was a contentious and much discussed topic in classical Islamic thought. Numerous theoretical positions on this subject emerged and developed from the 4thAH/10thCE century across the Muslim lands: within Sunni Islam this theological debate mainly saw the speculative schools of the Muʿtazilites and the Ashʿarites taking opposite views. The conventional Ismaʿili stance on the issue also dates back to the same century, the early Fatimid period of Ismaʿili history, and has been linked to a question of great doctrinal significance such as the lawfulness of renouncing the prescriptions of the Islamic law (sharīʿa), particularly those relative to religious obligations and forms of worship. Shiʿi theological and philosophical speculations on divine predestination were voiced, inter alia, by some of the most prominent Fatimid Ismaili dāʿīs, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Nasafī (d. 331/942), Abū Ḥatīm Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq ibn Aḥmad al-Sijistānī (d. c. 361/971) and Ḥamid al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1021) who produced meticulous analyses of the terms qaḍāʾ and qadar in an attempt to reconcile the terms’ meanings with their respective views on the Ismaili spiritual and material hierarchies. For these learned men, strictly connected to the topic of the hierarchical succession was the question regarding which one between qaḍāʾ and qadar should be identified with the Antecedent (Sābiq), which with the Follower (Tālī), which with the Universal Intellect (al-ʿaql al-kullī) which with the Universal Soul (al-nafs al-kullī), which with the enunciator-prophet (nāṭiq) and which with the imam (asās). Such associations had important theoretical repercussions especially if linked: i) with the nature of the divine command (amr) or the divine Word (kalima) and their debated nature as intermediate entities between God and the first originated being (i.e. the first Intellect), and ii) with the attitude, seemingly emerging in some Shiʿi groups, of attributing precedence to the imam (and his esoteric reading of the Qurʾan) rather than to the Prophet (and the literal/exoteric facet of the Scripture conveyed in his legislated sharīʿa). These issues surface, more or less directly, in many of the debates on qaḍāʾ and qadar which are recounted in al-Kirmānī’s Kitāb al-riyāḍ, particularly in the eighth chapter, and it is these questions upon which the present paper focuses its analysis.
Research Interests:
Medieval Islamic philosophers were deeply occupied with questions of predestination and salvation. Debates surrounding human responsibility for their actions, together with issues of cosmology, the notion of imamate and the eschatological... more
Medieval Islamic philosophers were deeply occupied with questions of predestination and salvation. Debates surrounding human responsibility for their actions, together with issues of cosmology, the notion of imamate and the eschatological role of the prophets and Imams were central Ismaili concerns. These were also a matter of doctrinal controversy within the so-called Iranian school of Ismaili philosophical theology. Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020) was one of the most important theologians in the Fatimid period, who rose to prominence during the reign of the Imam-caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (r. 386/996-411/1021). He is renowned for blending a number of philosophical traditions, including Neoplatonism, with Ismaili religious tradition.
This book provides an analysis of al-Kirmānī’s thought and sheds new light on the many layers of allusion which characterise his writings. Through a translation and analytical commentary of the eighth chapter of al-Kirmānī's Kitāb al-Riyāḍ (Book of Meadows), which is devoted to the subject of divine preordination and human redemption, Maria De Cillis shows readers first-hand his theologically distinctive interpretation of qaḍāʾ and qadar (divine decree and destiny). Here, al-Kirmānī attempts to harmonise the views of earlier renowned Ismaili missionaries, Abū Ḥātim Aḥmad b. Ḥamdān al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Nasafī (d. 332/943) and Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Aḥmad al-Sijistānī (d. c. 361/971). De Cillis skillfully guides the reader through al-Kirmānī's metaphysical and esoteric correspondences, offering new insights into Shiʿi/Ismaili philosophical thought which will be of great interest to those in the field of Shiʿi studies and, more broadly, to scholars of medieval philosophy
This book provides an analysis of al-Kirmānī’s thought and sheds new light on the many layers of allusion which characterise his writings. Through a translation and analytical commentary of the eighth chapter of al-Kirmānī's Kitāb al-Riyāḍ (Book of Meadows), which is devoted to the subject of divine preordination and human redemption, Maria De Cillis shows readers first-hand his theologically distinctive interpretation of qaḍāʾ and qadar (divine decree and destiny). Here, al-Kirmānī attempts to harmonise the views of earlier renowned Ismaili missionaries, Abū Ḥātim Aḥmad b. Ḥamdān al-Rāzī (d. 322/934), Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Nasafī (d. 332/943) and Abū Yaʿqūb Isḥāq b. Aḥmad al-Sijistānī (d. c. 361/971). De Cillis skillfully guides the reader through al-Kirmānī's metaphysical and esoteric correspondences, offering new insights into Shiʿi/Ismaili philosophical thought which will be of great interest to those in the field of Shiʿi studies and, more broadly, to scholars of medieval philosophy
Research Interests:
Bayn al ḥuriyya al insāniyya wa al qadar al ilāhiyya fī al-fikr al-islāmiyya Authorised Translation from the English Language Edition of Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna,... more
Bayn al ḥuriyya al insāniyya wa al qadar al ilāhiyya fī al-fikr al-islāmiyya
Authorised Translation from the English Language Edition of
Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna, al-Ghazālī and Ibn ʿArabī (Routledge, 2014)
Authorised Translation from the English Language Edition of
Free Will and Predestination in Islamic Thought: Theoretical Compromises in the Works of Avicenna, al-Ghazālī and Ibn ʿArabī (Routledge, 2014)
Research Interests:
Le shi'isme comme trait d'union entre les traditions spirituelles et ésotériques de l'Antiquité tardive et l'islam Togheter with the notion of secrecy, the core of Shi'i esotericism gravitates around the ẓāhir/bāṭin dualism. This... more
Le shi'isme comme trait d'union entre les traditions spirituelles et ésotériques de l'Antiquité tardive et l'islam
Togheter with the notion of secrecy, the core of Shi'i esotericism gravitates around the ẓāhir/bāṭin dualism. This dialectical relationship between the visible and the hidden, which has been inherited from Late Antiquity, buttresses the main doctrines of esoteric Shi'ism which include a dualistic worldview, doctrines of emanation, the contrast between the people of knowledge and of ignorance, the soterial nature of knowledge and of the Guide who possesses it, the two levels of the Scriptures, the need for hermeneutics, and initiatory knowledge and practices. It is true that the birthplace of Shi'ism was Iraq, which had been the central province of the Sassanid Persian Empire until the advent of Islam. This region and its main cities were home to the many intellectual and spiritual traditions of Late Antiquity, including various Jewish, Christian, Judeo-Christian, Mazdean, Manichean, Neoplatonic and Gnostic movements, with these traditions living on for several centuries after the advent of the religion of the Arabs. The articles in this collection, written by recognised scholars in the field, are divided into three sections covering a very wide period of time: the "prehistory" of these doctrines before Islam, early esoteric Shi'ism and its developments in both Shi'i and non-Shi'i Sufism, occult sciences and philosophy.
L’ésotérisme shi’ite a pour centre de gravité, à part la notion de secret, le couple ẓāhir /bāṭin. Cette dialectique de l’apparent et du caché, héritée de l’Antiquité tardive, se trouve à la base des principales doctrines du shi’isme ésotérique : vision dualiste du monde, doctrines émanationnistes, opposition entre les gens de la connaissance et ceux de l’ignorance, la nature salvatrice de la connaissance et du Guide qui la détient, le double niveau des Ecritures, la nécessité de l’herméneutique, savoirs et pratiques initiatiques…Il est vrai que la terre natale du shi’isme a été l’Irak, province centrale de l’empire perse des Sassanides avant l’islam. Cette région et ses principales villes ont été le siège de nombreuses traditions intellectuelles et spirituelles tardo-antiques : divers mouvements juifs, chrétiens, judéo-chrétiens, mazdéens, manichéens, néoplatoniciens, gnostiques… traditions qui continuèrent à vivre plusieurs siècles après l’avènement de la religion arabe. Les articles de ce recueil, écrits par des chercheurs confirmés, sont divisés en trois grandes parties recouvrant un très large arc chronologique : la « préhistoire » de ces doctrines avant l’islam, le shi’isme ésotérique proprement dit à l’époque ancienne, les prolongements de celui-ci dans le soufisme, les sciences occultes ou encore la philosophie, aussi bien shi’ites que non-shi’ites.
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi est Directeur d’études à l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) et Senior Research Fellow à l’Institute of Ismaili Studies (Londres). Daniel De Smet est Directeur de Recherche au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris). Maria De Cillis et Orkhan Mir-Kasimov sont tous deux chercheurs à l’Institute of Ismaili Studies (Londres)
Table of Contents
Mohammad-Ali AMIR-MOEZZI, Introduction
I. Les racines / Roots
Mohammad-Ali AMIR-MOEZZI, « Muḥammad le Paraclet et ʿAlī le Messie. Nouvelles remarques sur les origines de l’islam et de l’imamologie shi’ite »
Mushegh ASATRYAN & Dylan M. BURNS,"Is Ghulāt Religion Islamic Gnosticism? Religious Transmissions in Late Antiquity”
Daniel DE SMET, « Les racines docétistes de l'imamologie shi‘ite »
Jean-Daniel DUBOIS, « La figure du Prophète dans la religion manichéenne »
Moshe IDEL, « Hārūt and Mārūt: Jewish Sources for the Interpretation of the Two Angels in Islam”
Alain LE BOULLUEC, « La doctrine du vrai Prophète dans les écrits pseudo-clémentins »
Radu MARASESCU, « La question de la permanence du « platonisme » en Islam iranien selon Henry Corbin
Madeleine SCOPELLO, « Le thème de l’âme à la recherche du lieu de ses origines dans la gnose ancienne »
Michel TARDIEU, « L’oiseau d’or et les deux paons. Paraboles barlaamiennes de l’absence entre Mani et Ibn Bābūya »
Anna VAN DEN KERCHOVE, « Du Dieu au démiurge en passant par le Logos : la démiurgie dans les écrits hermétiques »
Jan VAN REETH, « La robe blanche des Serviteurs de Dieu. ‘Adī b. Zayd, le Coran, Bardésane et al-Muqanna‘ »
II. L’ésotérisme shi’ite ancien / Early Shi'i Esotericism
Hassan ANSARI, “Al-Ḥusayn b. Ḥamdān al-Khaṣībī and his al-Hidāya al-kubrā: Some remarks on Ḥadīth literature among the Nuṣayrīs”
Carmela BAFFIONI, “Esoteric Shī‘a in the Additions in Ancient Manuscripts of the Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’”
Maria M. DAKAKE, “The Concept of a Spiritual Elect in Shiite and Sufi Thought. Early Sources and Connections”
Maria DE CILLIS, “A Preliminary Study on the Significance of Qaḍāʾ and Qadar in the Eighth Chapter of al-Kirmānī’s Kitāb al-Riyāḍ”
Omid GHAEMMAGHAMI, ” “Except the Mawlā”.Notes on Two Hadiths concerning the Ghayba of the Twelfth Imam”
Heinz HALM, « Le « Livre des Ombres » et le mythe de la création »
Ehud KRINIS, “The Philosophical and Theosophical Interpretations of the Microcosm-Macrocosm Analogy in Ikhwān al-ṣafā’ and Jewish Medieval Writings”
Pierre LORY, « Esotérisme shi’ite et alchimie. Quelques remarques sur la doctrine de l’initiation dans le Corpus Jābirien »
Antonella STRAFACE, “The representation of al-Jadd, al-Fatḥ and al-Khayāl in the Ismaili literature: some examples and further remarks”
Bella TENDLER KRIEGER, “ʿAbd Allāh b. Sabaʾ and the role of the Nuṣayrī Bāb. Rehabilitating the Heresiarchs of the Islamic Tradition »
Roy VILOZNY, “What Makes a Religion Perfect: al-Ṣadūq’s (d. 381/991) Kamāl al-dīn Revisited”
Paul E. WALKER, “To What Degree was Classical Ismaili Esotericism based on Reason as Opposed to Authority?”
III. Les prolongements / Developments
Jean-Charles COULON, « L’ésotérisme shi’ite et son influence sur le corpus magique attribué à al-Būnī ».
Michael EBSTEIN, “Spiritual Descendants of the Prophet: al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, Ibn al-ʿArabī, and Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ on Ahl al-Bayt”
Christian JAMBET, « Ésotérisme et néoplatonisme dans l’exégèse du verset de la Lumière (Coran 24, 35) par Qāḍī Saʽīd Qummī »
Ahmet T. KARAMUSTAFA, “In his Own Voice: What Hatayi Tells us about Şah İsmail’s Religious Views ? »
Toby MAYER, “ ‘Mimetic Rivalry’ with Avicennism in Shahrastānī’s Esoteric Hermeneutics”
Orkhan MIR-KASIMOV, “Esoteric Messianic Currents of Islamic East Between Sufism and Shiʿism (7th/13th - 9th/15th Centuries)”
Lloyd RIDGEON, “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in Medieval Persian Sufi-futuwwat Treatises”
Sajjad RIZVI, "Shiʿi Political Theology and Esotericism in Qajar Iran: The Case of Sayyid Jaʿfar Kashfī"
Monica SCOTTI, “Esoteric elements of the doctrine among the Ṭayyibī community: analysis of a treatise by Ibn al-Walīd (VI-VII/XII-XIII century)”
Yuri STOYANOV, "Gnosis and "Gnosticism" in Alevi and Bektasi Syncretism. Disputed Origins and New Directions for Research"
Mathieu TERRIER, « Anthropogonie et eschatologie dans l’œuvre de Muḥsin Fayḍ Kāshānī : L’ésotérisme shī‘ite entre tradition et syncrétisme »
Thierry ZARCONE, « La mort initiatique dans l’alévisme et le Bektachisme : de la ‘résurrection’ de ‘Alī à la pendaison de Ḥallāj »
Index général
Togheter with the notion of secrecy, the core of Shi'i esotericism gravitates around the ẓāhir/bāṭin dualism. This dialectical relationship between the visible and the hidden, which has been inherited from Late Antiquity, buttresses the main doctrines of esoteric Shi'ism which include a dualistic worldview, doctrines of emanation, the contrast between the people of knowledge and of ignorance, the soterial nature of knowledge and of the Guide who possesses it, the two levels of the Scriptures, the need for hermeneutics, and initiatory knowledge and practices. It is true that the birthplace of Shi'ism was Iraq, which had been the central province of the Sassanid Persian Empire until the advent of Islam. This region and its main cities were home to the many intellectual and spiritual traditions of Late Antiquity, including various Jewish, Christian, Judeo-Christian, Mazdean, Manichean, Neoplatonic and Gnostic movements, with these traditions living on for several centuries after the advent of the religion of the Arabs. The articles in this collection, written by recognised scholars in the field, are divided into three sections covering a very wide period of time: the "prehistory" of these doctrines before Islam, early esoteric Shi'ism and its developments in both Shi'i and non-Shi'i Sufism, occult sciences and philosophy.
L’ésotérisme shi’ite a pour centre de gravité, à part la notion de secret, le couple ẓāhir /bāṭin. Cette dialectique de l’apparent et du caché, héritée de l’Antiquité tardive, se trouve à la base des principales doctrines du shi’isme ésotérique : vision dualiste du monde, doctrines émanationnistes, opposition entre les gens de la connaissance et ceux de l’ignorance, la nature salvatrice de la connaissance et du Guide qui la détient, le double niveau des Ecritures, la nécessité de l’herméneutique, savoirs et pratiques initiatiques…Il est vrai que la terre natale du shi’isme a été l’Irak, province centrale de l’empire perse des Sassanides avant l’islam. Cette région et ses principales villes ont été le siège de nombreuses traditions intellectuelles et spirituelles tardo-antiques : divers mouvements juifs, chrétiens, judéo-chrétiens, mazdéens, manichéens, néoplatoniciens, gnostiques… traditions qui continuèrent à vivre plusieurs siècles après l’avènement de la religion arabe. Les articles de ce recueil, écrits par des chercheurs confirmés, sont divisés en trois grandes parties recouvrant un très large arc chronologique : la « préhistoire » de ces doctrines avant l’islam, le shi’isme ésotérique proprement dit à l’époque ancienne, les prolongements de celui-ci dans le soufisme, les sciences occultes ou encore la philosophie, aussi bien shi’ites que non-shi’ites.
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi est Directeur d’études à l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) et Senior Research Fellow à l’Institute of Ismaili Studies (Londres). Daniel De Smet est Directeur de Recherche au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris). Maria De Cillis et Orkhan Mir-Kasimov sont tous deux chercheurs à l’Institute of Ismaili Studies (Londres)
Table of Contents
Mohammad-Ali AMIR-MOEZZI, Introduction
I. Les racines / Roots
Mohammad-Ali AMIR-MOEZZI, « Muḥammad le Paraclet et ʿAlī le Messie. Nouvelles remarques sur les origines de l’islam et de l’imamologie shi’ite »
Mushegh ASATRYAN & Dylan M. BURNS,"Is Ghulāt Religion Islamic Gnosticism? Religious Transmissions in Late Antiquity”
Daniel DE SMET, « Les racines docétistes de l'imamologie shi‘ite »
Jean-Daniel DUBOIS, « La figure du Prophète dans la religion manichéenne »
Moshe IDEL, « Hārūt and Mārūt: Jewish Sources for the Interpretation of the Two Angels in Islam”
Alain LE BOULLUEC, « La doctrine du vrai Prophète dans les écrits pseudo-clémentins »
Radu MARASESCU, « La question de la permanence du « platonisme » en Islam iranien selon Henry Corbin
Madeleine SCOPELLO, « Le thème de l’âme à la recherche du lieu de ses origines dans la gnose ancienne »
Michel TARDIEU, « L’oiseau d’or et les deux paons. Paraboles barlaamiennes de l’absence entre Mani et Ibn Bābūya »
Anna VAN DEN KERCHOVE, « Du Dieu au démiurge en passant par le Logos : la démiurgie dans les écrits hermétiques »
Jan VAN REETH, « La robe blanche des Serviteurs de Dieu. ‘Adī b. Zayd, le Coran, Bardésane et al-Muqanna‘ »
II. L’ésotérisme shi’ite ancien / Early Shi'i Esotericism
Hassan ANSARI, “Al-Ḥusayn b. Ḥamdān al-Khaṣībī and his al-Hidāya al-kubrā: Some remarks on Ḥadīth literature among the Nuṣayrīs”
Carmela BAFFIONI, “Esoteric Shī‘a in the Additions in Ancient Manuscripts of the Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’”
Maria M. DAKAKE, “The Concept of a Spiritual Elect in Shiite and Sufi Thought. Early Sources and Connections”
Maria DE CILLIS, “A Preliminary Study on the Significance of Qaḍāʾ and Qadar in the Eighth Chapter of al-Kirmānī’s Kitāb al-Riyāḍ”
Omid GHAEMMAGHAMI, ” “Except the Mawlā”.Notes on Two Hadiths concerning the Ghayba of the Twelfth Imam”
Heinz HALM, « Le « Livre des Ombres » et le mythe de la création »
Ehud KRINIS, “The Philosophical and Theosophical Interpretations of the Microcosm-Macrocosm Analogy in Ikhwān al-ṣafā’ and Jewish Medieval Writings”
Pierre LORY, « Esotérisme shi’ite et alchimie. Quelques remarques sur la doctrine de l’initiation dans le Corpus Jābirien »
Antonella STRAFACE, “The representation of al-Jadd, al-Fatḥ and al-Khayāl in the Ismaili literature: some examples and further remarks”
Bella TENDLER KRIEGER, “ʿAbd Allāh b. Sabaʾ and the role of the Nuṣayrī Bāb. Rehabilitating the Heresiarchs of the Islamic Tradition »
Roy VILOZNY, “What Makes a Religion Perfect: al-Ṣadūq’s (d. 381/991) Kamāl al-dīn Revisited”
Paul E. WALKER, “To What Degree was Classical Ismaili Esotericism based on Reason as Opposed to Authority?”
III. Les prolongements / Developments
Jean-Charles COULON, « L’ésotérisme shi’ite et son influence sur le corpus magique attribué à al-Būnī ».
Michael EBSTEIN, “Spiritual Descendants of the Prophet: al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, Ibn al-ʿArabī, and Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ on Ahl al-Bayt”
Christian JAMBET, « Ésotérisme et néoplatonisme dans l’exégèse du verset de la Lumière (Coran 24, 35) par Qāḍī Saʽīd Qummī »
Ahmet T. KARAMUSTAFA, “In his Own Voice: What Hatayi Tells us about Şah İsmail’s Religious Views ? »
Toby MAYER, “ ‘Mimetic Rivalry’ with Avicennism in Shahrastānī’s Esoteric Hermeneutics”
Orkhan MIR-KASIMOV, “Esoteric Messianic Currents of Islamic East Between Sufism and Shiʿism (7th/13th - 9th/15th Centuries)”
Lloyd RIDGEON, “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib in Medieval Persian Sufi-futuwwat Treatises”
Sajjad RIZVI, "Shiʿi Political Theology and Esotericism in Qajar Iran: The Case of Sayyid Jaʿfar Kashfī"
Monica SCOTTI, “Esoteric elements of the doctrine among the Ṭayyibī community: analysis of a treatise by Ibn al-Walīd (VI-VII/XII-XIII century)”
Yuri STOYANOV, "Gnosis and "Gnosticism" in Alevi and Bektasi Syncretism. Disputed Origins and New Directions for Research"
Mathieu TERRIER, « Anthropogonie et eschatologie dans l’œuvre de Muḥsin Fayḍ Kāshānī : L’ésotérisme shī‘ite entre tradition et syncrétisme »
Thierry ZARCONE, « La mort initiatique dans l’alévisme et le Bektachisme : de la ‘résurrection’ de ‘Alī à la pendaison de Ḥallāj »
Index général
Research Interests:
Koca's Islam, Causality, and Freedom: From the Medieval to the Modern Era takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through the depths of Islamic theological, philosophical, and mystical perspectives on causality and freedom. Relying on a... more
Koca's Islam, Causality, and Freedom: From the Medieval to the Modern Era takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through the depths of Islamic theological, philosophical, and mystical perspectives on causality and freedom. Relying on a wide-ranging selection of pertinent sources, this volume presents its readership with comparative 'snapshots' on occasionalistic and participatory accounts of causation and 'self-determination' among both major medieval and modern Muslim scholars. Particularly commendable is the author's skilful ability to simplify difficult concepts, thus effectively contributing to a better understanding of these ever-actual Islamic theological and philosophical discussions. The book is divided into eleven chapters, preceded by an introduction and followed by a general conclusion. Especially praiseworthy is the author's courtesy of providing brief conclusive summaries for each chapter's findings. One major setback is perhaps the lack of any sufficiently informative historical contextualization which would have helped place all the examined scholars in their rightful chronological and theoretical dimensions. The first chapter is dedicated to the early period of Islamic thought, and introduces the topic which acts as the theoretical thread linking all the remaining chapters, the topic of Ashʿarite (and to a less extent, Muʿtazilite) occasionalism. Koca clearly explains how, animated by the necessity of safeguarding God's supreme omnipotence, the Ashʿarites articulated a 'theology of possibility', rejecting the idea of a causal necessity in the world. By emphasizing the possiblerather than necessarynature of the causes-effects relationship, Ashʿarite occasionalistic atomism made the idea of 'preponderance without reason' (tarjīh bi-lā murajjih) the cornerstone of their theological position, granting divine will the ultimate 'decisional' powers. Despite providing clear-cut explanations and key primary resources on the argument, Koca appears to deal too hastily with the Ashʿarite theory of acquisition (kasb), which actually represented the hallmark of their theological stance in the enduring debate between divine predestination and human freedom, or, put differently, in the contentious discussion on the effectiveness between primary and secondary causality. The second chapter examines the synthesis of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic causality as exemplified in the thought of Ibn Sīnā. This chapter is skilfully crafted: beginning with a survey of Avicenna's understanding of existence (wujūd) and essence (māhiyya), the author successively argues that Ibn Sīnā propounded two distinct categories of
BOOK REVIEW Seyfeddin Kara, In Search of ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib’s Codex. History and Traditions of the Earliest Copy of the Qurʾān, Gerlach Press, Berlin, 2018, ISBN 9783959940542, 95 EUR/90 GBP, pp. 278.
Research Interests:
Invited Speaker at the IIS International Ismaili Studies Conference: The State of the Field. Paper presented: “Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī and the Mu’tazila”, Aga Khan Centre, London, (21-23 November 2022).
One of the most learned and talented Ismaili theologians of the entire Fatimid period, Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020) rose to prominence during the reign of the Imam-caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (r. 386/996-411/1021). It is... more
One of the most learned and talented Ismaili theologians of the entire Fatimid period, Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. after 411/1020) rose to prominence during the reign of the Imam-caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (r. 386/996-411/1021).
It is well-known Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī attempted to create a complex system of thought blending together Ismaili traditions - including gnostic cosmological elements - and philosophical strands mainly drawn from Fārābian Neoplatonism. Through logical and philosophically charged sophisticated proofs, al-Kirmānī’s writings seem often to reflect a distinctive Kalamic – mainly Muʿtazilite approach - towards composite doctrinal issues. Indeed, some of the arguments adopted in treatises such as his al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma and his magnum opus, the Rāḥat al-ʿaql might induce to regard him as an enthusiast supporter of that theological school, as were numerous Shiʿi theologians of his time.
Upon reflection however, a much more stratified outlook surfaces: Asw we shall see in this paper, in his work titled Tanbīh al-hādī wa’l-mustahdī, focusing on the religious rites and the blessings derived from their practice, al-Kirmānī is often openly critical of the Muʿtazilites, whom in his view, included the Zaydīs, whilst comparing Muʿtazilite doctrines to the positions of the Magians in his Risālat Mabāsim al-bishārāt bi’l-imam al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh. Moreover, in his al-Aqwāl al-dhahabiyyah, designed to criticise the philosophical views of Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī (d. 925) on the salvific role of reason, al-Kirmānī binds intellectual reasoning and the necessity of imamate/prophecy as a tools on the path to salvation thus implicitly denouncing some Muʿtazilite stances.
In addition, al-Kirmāni’s original taʾwīl (esoteric hermeneutical interpretation) of the story of the prophets Moses and Shuʿayb (Qurʾān 7:143) presented in his Kitāb al-riyāḍ, reveals the philosopher’s attempts to justify – by proposing a reconciliation between the Mutakallimūns views on human free agency and divine sovereignty - the legitimacy of the Fatimid imam-caliphs’ role.
It is well-known Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī attempted to create a complex system of thought blending together Ismaili traditions - including gnostic cosmological elements - and philosophical strands mainly drawn from Fārābian Neoplatonism. Through logical and philosophically charged sophisticated proofs, al-Kirmānī’s writings seem often to reflect a distinctive Kalamic – mainly Muʿtazilite approach - towards composite doctrinal issues. Indeed, some of the arguments adopted in treatises such as his al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma and his magnum opus, the Rāḥat al-ʿaql might induce to regard him as an enthusiast supporter of that theological school, as were numerous Shiʿi theologians of his time.
Upon reflection however, a much more stratified outlook surfaces: Asw we shall see in this paper, in his work titled Tanbīh al-hādī wa’l-mustahdī, focusing on the religious rites and the blessings derived from their practice, al-Kirmānī is often openly critical of the Muʿtazilites, whom in his view, included the Zaydīs, whilst comparing Muʿtazilite doctrines to the positions of the Magians in his Risālat Mabāsim al-bishārāt bi’l-imam al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh. Moreover, in his al-Aqwāl al-dhahabiyyah, designed to criticise the philosophical views of Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī (d. 925) on the salvific role of reason, al-Kirmānī binds intellectual reasoning and the necessity of imamate/prophecy as a tools on the path to salvation thus implicitly denouncing some Muʿtazilite stances.
In addition, al-Kirmāni’s original taʾwīl (esoteric hermeneutical interpretation) of the story of the prophets Moses and Shuʿayb (Qurʾān 7:143) presented in his Kitāb al-riyāḍ, reveals the philosopher’s attempts to justify – by proposing a reconciliation between the Mutakallimūns views on human free agency and divine sovereignty - the legitimacy of the Fatimid imam-caliphs’ role.
Research Interests:
Free Will and Predestination Between Philosophy and Mysticism
Immutabilita e Perfezione nell'Unicita dell'Esistenza. Un Analisi Comparativa tra Sufismo e Neoplatonismo
