The Fatimid period (297567/9091171) is duly characterised as the golden age of Ismaili thought and literature. A new genre of Shi平i literature emerged soon after the Fa畊imids established their hegemony over North Africa. Al-Qadi al-Nu平man (d. 363/974), the most prolific Fa畊imid jurist, who is responsible for orchestrating its almost entire textual tradition, was tasked with the responsibility of compiling literature that would serve as an authoritative point of reference for jurists, judges and bureaucrats in the burgeoning Ismaili state.
It is evident that he had to have recourse to earlierhadithcollections (the main point of focus in this lecture) that he cites consistently in his writings and incorporates into his works. These early Medinese and Kufanhadithcollections, most of which no longer exist, are believed to have equipped al-Nu平man with the raw material from which he formulated and systematised various aspects of Ismaili belief and practice. How can the historicity of these sources be determined? How did this early Shi平i material end up in North Africa? Which factors dictated the selection, interpretation and appropriation of the material available in these sources for Ismaili law and belief systems? This talk will focus mainly on addressing these and similar questions.
Image: View of Mahdia, Tunis. (c) Russell Harris.
Date:29 September 2022 Time:2.00 pm 4.00 pm GMT Location:Online (Zoom)
Q&A:At any time during the lecture, attendees can submit questions to the speaker through the Q&A option at the bottom of the control panel. As time allows, the speaker will address as many questions as they can during the Q&A session at the end of the presentation.
Recording:Please note that the session will be recorded and published on the IIS website, and on the IIS YouTube channel.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. He works on the Law, Authority and Learning in Shiite Islam project, an advanced award funded by the European Research Council. Though primarily focused on the origins and development of hadith corpora, his research includes Islamic law, legal theory, and Shi平i studies more broadly. He recently published an article entitled Between QumA historic city in Iran to the south of Tehran. It is considered by many Shii Muslims as Irans second holiest city after Mashhad. Qum is a leading centre of… and Qayrawn: Unearthing early Shii 畍a糸朝岳鞄Lit. report or narrative, used for the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and in Shii Islam also for those of the Imams. sources (BSOAS 84/3, 2021). He also edited The Sound Traditions: Studies in Ismaili Texts and Thought (Brill, 2021) and co-edited Shi平ite Legal Theory: Sources and Commentaries (forthcoming, 2022). He is currently working on converting his PhD (Making Sense of Ismaili Traditions: The Modes and Meanings of the Transmission of 畍ad朝th in the Works of al-Q畍朝 al-Nu平mn (d. 363/974), Exeter) into a monograph, among other pursuits. Dr Rajani spent a number of years in Shi平ite seminary (畍awza) of Qum studying and teaching classical Islamic texts of 畍adith, fiqhThe science of Islamic jurisprudence. and Islamic legal theory.
