Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.Beyond the Qur’ān: Early Ismaʿīlī Taʾwīl and the Secrets of the Prophets
| Publication Type | Article | |
| Year of Publication | 2018 | |
| Date Published | 2018 | |
| Authors | Andani, Khalil | |
| Original Publication | Khalil Andani (2018): Beyond the Qur’ān: Early Ismaʿīlī Taʾwīl and the Secrets of the Prophets, Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2018.1433369 | |
| Publisher | David Hollenberg, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 2016, 192 pp., $44.99 | |
| ISBN/ISSN Number | 9781611176780 | |
| Key Words | Doctrines of Shi‘i Ismaili Muslims; Ismailism’s socio-political activities; Fatimid era; Nizari state of Alamut; taʾwīl | |
| Full Text | Scholarship on the history and doctrines of Shi‘i Ismaili Muslims has progressed at a dizzying pace over the last few decades. Most publications in the field to date are historical studies of particular periods of Ismaili history analysing Ismailism’s socio-political activities, such as the famed Fatimid era or the Nizari state of Alamut. Relatively speaking, the study of Ismaili doctrine – theology, cosmology, hermeneutics and soteriology – remains in the early stages. In this context, David Hollenberg’s monograph is a penetrating study focused on the intellectual contributions of Ismaili thinkers, primarily Jaʿfar ibn Manṣūr al-Yaman (d. ca. 349/960), as well as a methodological intervention into the way Ismaili spiritual hermeneutics, known as taʾwīl, is studied. Hollenberg’s main argument, based on his analysis of tenth-century Fatimid Ismaili texts, is that Ismaili taʾwīl is best conceptualized as a form of cognitive training and intellectual conditioning that brings about ‘new habits of mind’ among members of the Ismaili movement and engenders in them a sectarian sense of special identity. |
- 1799 reads
Beyond the Qur’ān: Early Ismaʿīlī Taʾwīl and the Secrets of the Prophets
Scholarship on the history and doctrines of Shi‘i Ismaili Muslims has progressed at a dizzying pace over the last few decades. Most publications in the field to date are historical studies of particular periods of Ismaili history analysing Ismailism’s socio-political activities, such as the famed Fatimid era or the Nizari state of Alamut. Relatively speaking, the study of Ismaili doctrine – theology, cosmology, hermeneutics and soteriology – remains in the early stages. In this context, David Hollenberg’s monograph is a penetrating study focused on the intellectual contributions of Ismaili thinkers, primarily Jaʿfar ibn Manṣūr al-Yaman (d. ca. 349/960), as well as a methodological intervention into the way Ismaili spiritual hermeneutics, known as taʾwīl, is studied. Hollenberg’s main argument, based on his analysis of tenth-century Fatimid Ismaili texts, is that Ismaili taʾwīl is best conceptualized as a form of cognitive training and intellectual conditioning that brings about ‘new habits of mind’ among members of the Ismaili movement and engenders in them a sectarian sense of special identity.
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