Controversies in Formative Shiʿi Islam The Ghulat Muslims and Their Beliefs
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
Among the various Muslim communities that were articulating their doctrinal positions in the early Islamic centuries, one in particular was known derisively as the Ghulat (‘extremists’). This was owing to their specific interpretation of Shiʿi Islam, which included divinisation of their Imams, and controversial religious ideas, such as the transmigration of souls. Active in Iraq in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Ghulat developed a complex worldview and produced a rich religious literature. Until now, understanding of this community has mainly relied on sources produced outside of the group, which are polemical in nature. This book looks at newly recovered primary texts in order to study the Ghulat first hand. Mushegh Asatryan examines the development of the Ghulat writings, situating the community within a broader historical context and presenting a survey of their distinctive cosmology. Through his detailed analysis, the book provides insight into the formation of an early religious tradition in Islamic history as well as the nature of the community in which these texts were produced and circulated.
List of Abbreviations
List of Figures
Note on Transliteration and Usage
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Kitāb al-haft wa’l-aẓilla: A Textual Analysis
The Ghulat Corpus
Kitāb al-haft wa’l-aẓilla: An Introduction
2. The Early Ghulat and their Textual Milieu
Mufaḍḍal al-Juʿfī and Literary Activity among the Early Ghulat
The 'aẓilla Group’
Common Features
The Authorship and Dating of the ‘aẓilla Group’
3. Polemics and Authority in the 3rd/9th Century
Inter-communal Polemics in the 3rd/9th Century
Kitāb al-haft and Ghulat Literature in the 3rd/9th Century
The Ghulat during the Minor Occultation
4. Ghulat Literature among the Nuṣayrīs in Syria
The Ghulat between Iraq and Syria
Kitāb al-haft wa’l-aẓilla and Ghulat Literature in Syria
5. Constructing a Universe
Creation, the Fall and the Fate of Human Beings
The Chain of Being
Transmigration and the Dark World of Matter
Divine Man and Man of God
Antinomianism and the Esoteric Meaning of Religious Duties
6. Constructing a Community
‘Thou shalt not Claim Hāshimite Kinship!’: The Ghulat and the ʿAbbasids
Purity of Birth, Social Boundaries and the ‘World of Mixing’
Appendix: Ghulat Works Surviving in Fragments
Bibliography
Index
Titles of Works
General Index
Mushegh Asatryan is Assistant Professor of Muslim Cultures at the University of Calgary. He received his PhD from Yale, and has published on various aspects of Islamic history, in particular on the history of early Shiʿism. Previously, he was a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, and he has taught at Yale, Trinity College, and Fairfield universities.