An Introduction to Shi'i Law

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An Jntroduction toShi'i Lawa bibliographical studyHossein Modarressi Tabiitaba'i

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Ithaca PressLondon 1984


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Chapter One

A s a doctrinal system , Shi'ism repre sents a particular tendency of Islamshap ed by a chain of theologico-historicaI anal yses . The YodTth ol-Thoqolayn, a tradition which was handed down by both Shi'is and Sunnisfrom the Prophet, according to which the Prophet called on Muslims tofollow the Qur'an and his own Family after him, ' was, along with a numberof other tradit ions , ' the root and original source of this tendency whichwas later s trengthened by further theologico-philosophical and historicalreasonings.

In religious matters , Shi'ism has generally based its views on theinstructions ofprominent members (Imzms) of the Prophet's family. Th emain difference between Sunni a nd Sh i'i legal schools is the manner inwhich they received the Pro phet's Tradition an d in their legal sourc es.Whereas Sunnis received Tradition a s transmitted by the Prophet's com-panions, Shi ' is received i t through his Family. In another respe ct,whereas Sunn i legal schools follow the juridical op inions of some juris-consults of Medina and I ra q, Shi 'is follow the opinions of t heir Imams, whowere descendant s of the Prophet . The Twelver Shi'a which is now the--

I See Ibn Sa' d, 11, p. 194; Abmad, 111, pp . 14 , 17, 59, IV, p. 371,V, pp. 181-2; Muslim, 11, pp . 237-8; Tirmi dhi, 11, pp . 219-20; Nas a'i,p . 93; Dar imi , 11, p 310; Bayhaqi , 11, p. 148, VII, p. 30, X, p. 113;UZkim, 111, pp. 109-10, 533; K ha ti b, 111, pp . 255, 258; TabZwi, 11, p.307, IV, p . 368; Mundhiri, 11, p. 199; TabarSni, I, pp. 131, 135; al-Uakim al-Tirmidhi, pp. 68-9; Baghawi, V, pp. 593, 600; Ibn al-Athir ,I , p . 187 ; Ibn al-Turkumani, VII, p. 31; QasfalPn i, VII, pp . 4-8;Haythami, IX, pp. 164-5; 'AsqaIZni, IV, p. 65; Ibn 'AsSkir, I, p. 45;Maqrizi , p . 38; Suy iif i, IbyF', pp . 11-30; Muttaqi, XV, pp. 91, 122-3.Independent works are written about this tradition, among them at reat i se by ~awg m&Din al-Wishnawi (H ofi th 01- Thoqoloyn, Cairo ,1374q). mr usmid gu sa yn aI-Laknawi devote d a whole volume of hi s'AboqGt 01-on w5 to the chai ns of autho rity of this tradition (see theArabic transla tion of th is book, Vol. I , in which the tradition is quotedfrom approximately two hundred Sunni sources).

See for instanc e Sharaf aI-Din, pp . 42-51, 130-227.

THE SHT'T LEGAL SYSTEM AND ITS SOURCES 3prevale nt Sh i'i school, follow the opinions of their twelve Imzms, espec-ially the si xt h, AbG 'Abd Allzh Ja'far b . Mubammad al-fjadiq, and for thi sreason thei r legal school is also known as Ja'farT.

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The Qur'En, Tradition (sunno) , the consensus of the Shi ' i juris ts(ijmz') and reason ('oql )' form the sources of Sh i' i law.

The Qur 'Zn, in i ts apparent l iteral sense, has shaped the spiri t andfoundation of Shi'i law.

The Tradition, i.e. the statem ents, deeds and tacit consent of theProphet and the ImZms, must be handed down be reliable narrators. Inrespect to this reliability, the doctrinal views of the transmit ters ar e con-sidered irrelevant. A tradition handed down by a reliable non-Shi'i isviewed as sound and acceptable just as one transmitted by a veraciousSh i 'i .

IjmC', i.e. the unanimity of the views of all Shi'i jurists on a certainlegal questio n, i s not a source on its own, b ut it can become a meansthrough which the opinions of the Imgms may be discovered. This functionof iimo" has been explained in vari ous w ays, u p to twelve. The mostpopular among these in contemporary Shi'i law holds that since ijma'is the unanimity of the views of 'all' Sh i' i scholars, it naturally includesthe views of those sc holars who lived in the time of t he Imams or t heperiod qui te close to it. Many of the se were close companions of theIm&-~snd knew their opinions quite thoroughly. The consensus of thesever y ear ly jur ists , rnost of whom were abso lute followers of t he Imams,normally demonstrates the view of the ImZms.

By 'reason' a s a sourc e4 for S hi 'i law is meant categorical judgmentsThe common sources of the four S unni legal schools are : the Qur an ,

Trad itio n, ijm6' a nd qiycis. Opinions differ about a number of othersources which have been added by some of the schools to those four.IjmG' is a source on its own in the S unn i legal system. QiyFs is the applic-ation of th e prec ept of a certai n legal case to a similar one thro ugh ana-logical reasoning. The Sh i' is maintain th at su ch an application is possibleonly where there is a basic common denominator between the two casesinasmuch as one can be certain that the same reason which is behind t heprecept in th e original case, cov ers the other case a s well (see Karak i,Tor7q istinbGl 01-obkcim, p . 17) .It should be noted that these ar e the source s of t he predominantU@lT school of Sh i' i law. The AkhbCrrT school res ort ed only to Tra dit ion .

The earliest legal work in which the four sources above are mentioned withthe same order is I bn I dr is al-lJil1i1s 01-SorG'ir , p. 3. The early ShT'iusJI works did not usually mention reason a s a source of law. See furth erMu?affar, 11, p. 122.

See Mupaffar, 11, p. 107.' A s will be explained later, reason, in Shi 'i law, is also employed as


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4 AN INTRODUCTION TO S H T ' ~ LAWdrawn from both pur e and practical reason. A clear instance is the judg-ment of practical reason that justice is good and injustice is evil. ' InSh i' i ugBI a/-fiqh the re is a principle which stat es that whatever isorde red by reaso n, is also ordered by religion (kull mF bakam bih 01-'aql,hakam bih a/-shar'). In accordance with th is principle, which is known asthe 'rule of correlation ' (qz'i dat al-mulzzama), religious rules may beinferred from the sole verdict of reason. The correlation between theobligatoriness of an act and the obligato riness of its prereq uisites (muqad-domat al-wcjib), or between prescribing something and prohibiting itsoppo site (maS"a1ot 01-q'idd), or , t he impossibility of combining command andprohibition in a s ingle case from a single standpoint (ijtima' a/-amr wa'l-na hy ), are all rational precept s in the methodology of Sh i' i law andsou rces based on pure reason in the juridical efforts to discover legalrules.

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The traditions handed down from the Prophet and Imams, which con-stitute the most important source for Shi'i law, are assembled in specialcollections. The most renowned of the se, which are the usual referenceworks for jurists, are th e following:1. K . ol-KCP, b y Abu Ja'f ar Muhammad b . Ya'qub al-Kulayni

(d . 3291941)2 . K . Man 1 Yabq'uruh al-faqTh , by Mubammad b. Ali b. Babawayh

al-Qummi , known as al-saduq (d . 3811991-2)3. TahdhFb 01-obkCm, by Muhammad b . IJasan al-Tiisi , Shaykh al-

Ta'ifa (d. 46011067)4 . a/-lstibgzr, by Muhammad b. Ijasan al-Tiisithe means for thinking, in which sense it simply means rational argument.This sen se of reason i s described in t he traditio ns of the Imams as theonly means to discover realities (s ee Karajaki, p . 70).' See Mubaqqiq, Mu'tabar, p. 6; Shahid I , Dhikrci, p. 5 ; idem,QawF'id , p. 25; Miqdad, TonqTb, fols. 2b-3a; Sahib al-Madarik, Hidzyata/-tzlibin, fols. 2b-3a; Qa fi fi , Kashf a/-fawF'id, p . 130.

Muhammad Baqir al-gad r maintains that 'reason1 is a potential r ath erthan an actual source for Sh i' i law. He says that although, accordingto the methodology of S h i' i law, reason can on its own discover an injunc-tion and guide toward a certain religious precept, this has nev er beenactualized in practice and all religious commands which can be discoveredthrough the categorical verdicts derived from reason are to be found inthe Qur 'Zn and Tradition (Mubammad Baqir al-gadr , FatEwZ, I, p . 98).

This is because the traditions indicate duties in particular cases withdetails, whereas the Qur'an usually has general rules.

fg.g

!iTH E SHT'T LEGAL SYSTEMAND IT S SOURCES

! 5 . a/-Wcifi, by Mubarnmad b. MurtadZ al-K ash an i, known a s MuQsinal-FayQ ( d . 1091/1680)

6. WasE'il a/-ShT'a, by Muhammad b. ua san al-J Ju rr al-'xmifi (d . 110411693)

7. Bibcir 01-anwcir, by Muhammad Baqir b . Mubammad Taqi al-Majlisi(d. 111011699)

8. Mustodrak 01-Wasci'il, by Uusay n b . Mubammad Ta qi al- Nuri(d. 132011908)'

The first four of these books are collectively known as 'the four books'(a/-kutub a/-arba'o). In Shi'i legal literature these four hold the sameposition that th e six famous collections of Sun ni traditio ns ( a/-ku tub al-sitt a) have among Sunn is. The most popular legal work of reference isWosc'il a/-Shi'a which ga the rs the legal tradition s contained in the 'fourbooks' and in many other sour ces, a nd since it is limited to traditio ns con-cerned with legal subjects, it is the most convenient reference handbookfor every jurist.

The acceptability of any of the tradition s of these books is subject tocertain conditions. The reliability and honest y of all the n arra tor s of achain of transm itters of a tradition must first be pr oved . This is done bya bra nch of scho larship known as 'ilm a/-rijEl (='ilm rijcl 01-badTth) whichinvestigates the narra tors of the traditions and their biographies.Traditions are graded and divided in accordance with the levels of theirreliability, on the basis of specific principle s found in another b ranch of" Some othe r major comprehensive collections of Sh i' i traditions are:JawEmi' a/-kalim by Mubammad b. 'Ali al- Jaz a'i ri, ' Awzlim a/-'ulzm wa'l-ma'cirif by 'Abd AllZh b . NCr Allah al-BabrZ ni , Jzmi ' 01-ma'cirif wa 'l-

j abka'm by 'Abd Allah b . Muhammad RidZ Shu bb ar al-IJusayni al-KZqimiand JEmi' abF&th a/-shT'o b y JJusayn b . ' ~ l i l-Tabafabx'i al-BurCjirdi.See Shahid 11, DirFya, pp . 62-81; Abu'l-QZsim b. JJasan Yazdi, I ,pp. 44-61.

he main Shi'i works on this discipline are: K . Ma'rifat a/-riizl byal-Kashshi, K . a/-Qu'ofd' by al-Ghaaa'iri, K . 01-Rijcil by al-Najashi,K . a/-Fihrist and K . a/-RijEI by Mubammad b . JJasan al-Tiis i. Some impor-tant later works are: Ma'cilim 01-'ulamE' by Ibn ShahrZshC b, T@ al-ishtibcih and KhulEpt a/-oqwo'l by al-'AllZma, K . a/-RijFl by Ibn Dawud,a/- Ta bri r a/-TiiwCsT by Sahib a l- ~a 'z li m, Manhaj a/-moqEl by Mubarnmad b .'Ali al-Astarabad'i , Noqd a/-rijZl by al-Tafrishi , Majma' a/-rijcil by al-Quhpa ' i , Hzw? a/-maqzl by 'Abd al-Nabi al-Jaza'iri , JCmi' a/-ruwiit byMuhammad al-Ardabili , MuntahE 01-maqEl by AbG 'A li , 01-FowE'id 01-rijzliy ya by Bah r al-'Ulfim, Tonqit) 01-moqa'l by 'Abd Allah al-MZmaqZni,QiirnGs 01-riizl by Mubammad Taq i al -T us ta ri , and Mu'jam-rijiil 01-b afithby al-Khu'i. For other Sh i' i works on this subject see AghZ Buzu rg,Mugoft77 a/-maqa'l f i mugannifi 'ilm a/-rijcil (Tehran, 1959).

" See Shahid I, DhikrF, p. 4; Ibn Fahd , Muhodhdhab, fol. 2b;MiqdZd, TonqTb, fol. 3a; Karaki , TorTq istinbzi 01-obkEm, p. 10;


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6 A N I N T R O D U C T I O N T O SHI'T AWscholarship known, in Shi'i literature, as 'ilm 01-dircya ( = 'ilm dirFyata/-badi-th). On these bases, many traditions of the above sources arenot, in the view of the jurists, sound and reliable.

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The inference of legal precepts, from the four aforementioned sourcesof Sh i' i law (the Qur'a n, Tradition, ijmE' and reason) is carried outthr oug h a kind of logical reasonin g which, in Islamic termino logy,is calledijtihEd. According to Sh i' i teachi ngs, it is always possible for scholarsto practise this kind of rational argument in lslamic law, while Sunnisrest rict it to some scholars of the earl y centuries of Islam. In confrontingany legal problem, every Sh i' i jurist must personally investigate theselegal sources to take his own decision about it. imitation of t he opinion ofa mujtahid, however great he is, by another mujtahid in legal matters isunlawful.

Shahid 11, Dirayo, pp. 19-61; J ju say n b . ' ~ b d l-$amad, Wugzl ol-okhyEr,pp. 20-56; sahib al-Madgrik, HidEyat a/-frilibin , fol. 5a; BahE' al-Dinal-'Am ili, Wali-za, pp . 4-5; idem, Mashriq a/-shom sayn, p. 269; Damad,Rawiishib, pp . 115-204; Bih bah ani , To'lTqEt, pp . 5-9; Abu '1-Qasim b.Basan al-Yazdi, I , pp. 3-44; Mamaqani , MiqbEs, pp. 35-105.Some main Shi 'i works on this subject are: a/-Dircya and Sha rbRisrilot a/-diriiya by al-Shahid al-Thani, WugLii_al-okhyEr by Jjusayn b.'Abd al-$amad, 01-WalTza by BahE' al-Din al-*Amili , a/-RawFshib ol-somEwiyya by al-Damad , TawQCTb a/-maqEl by 'Ali al-Kani ; MiqbEsa/-hidE ya by 'Abd Allah al-Ma-maqani, and SomE' a/-moqril by Abu '1-Hudaal-K albas i. Also FawF'id-i sh cfiya by al -F ar lh i, Lubb 01-LubFb byMuhammad Ja'far al-Astarabadi , QawECid / - 0 ~6 th y a l -Ghari f i , an dQiy5' a/-di rzya by Qiyii' al-D in al-'Allama.All the above-mentioned principles are acc ordin g to the Ugiili schoolof Shi'i law. The Akhbaris rejected ijtihFd and prohibited the practiceof rational argum ent in law. The re are some objections to the practice

of ijtihFd in. the tr aditions from the Imams and in early Sh i' i works too.Most of these, however, refer to the Sunni version of ijtihrid which in-cludes qiycs and istihscn.

Chapter Two

GENERAL REMARKS ON SHT'T JURISPRUDENCE

The inference and dis covery of legal norms (i sti nbc t) from the afore-mentioned sour ces , which ar e in some cas es con tra dic tor y, follow particul arrules which are explained by a special bra nch of scholarship known asugzl 01-fiqh (principles of law). This discipline i s a collection of generalrules and regulatio ns on how to deduce positive precep ts from the so urces.Some of these r ule s and princi ples have been borrowed from oth er discip -lines such as logic, philosophy, theology and philology.

In the early periods of Islam, S hi 'i scholars wrote treatises on sometopics of ugiil a/-fiqh, as is mentioned in the source s. But the oldestextant work on ugzl a/-fiqh by a Sh i' i scholar is a/-Tadhkiro bi-ugJI al-fiqh by al-Shaykh al-Mufid, Mubammad b . Muhammad b. al-nut manal-Bagh dIdi ( d. 413/1022), a summary of which is included by al-Karajakiin hi s book Kon z 01-fowo"id.

Next, there is a relatively voluminous work on this subject byal-Sharif al-Murtad:, 'Ali b. Uusayn al-MGsawi (d . 436/1044), entit leda/-DharT'a il5 ugJl 01-sharF'a. The book of Sha ykh al- Ta'i fa illuQammad

"1 b. Jjasan al-Tii si,'U ddot 01-ugc14 is the most famous work on ugJl 01-fiqh V1 of early periods. It was a text-book in Sh ic i cent res of learning for along time. Another rather old source is the relevant chapter of 01-Ghunyot See Jjasan al-gadr , pp. 310-12. It will be seen later on in this workthat a group of early S hi 'i jurist s, who were contemporaries of the Twelve/I ImEms, used rational argument and th r rules of UT E/ /-fiqh in the infer -It ence of legal precepts.I KarZjaki , pp. 186-94 (see also Shayk h, 'Udda, p. 2; YFdnEma-yi11 shoykh-i TJsi, 111, p. 373; Brunschvig, pp. 201 f f ) .I Edited Tehran, 1967-9. Al-Murtada had written independent tr eatise s1 on almost all the topic s of ug Jl a/-fiqh (se e his introdu ction t o a/-DharTCo.

I , p . 2 ) . He also discussed the ugzl topic of okhbcr aI-FbEd in his 01-DhakhTro, formally a work of kolFm theology ( se e Sha ykh , 'Uddo, pp .33-7).Edited Te hra n, 1313-14q and Bombay, 1312-18q.


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2 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWincludes a surv ey of land law, and is normally followed by a study of thecommon property of the community (mushtarokFt), such as water andpasture .

6. K. 01-luqato = t rove property .7. K. 01-forFYiq'= inheritance.8. K . 01-qoq';' = arbitration, legal procedure.9. K . 01-shohCd5t = witnesses.

10. K. a/-budEd wo 'I-taezTrFt = penal law.11. K. 01-qi~F$= retaliation, the right of the offended person or his

hairs against the offender.12. K . 01-diy5t = blood-money an d other financial compensations.

Chapter Four

THE PERIODS OF S H ? ' ~LAW

The prese nt legal system of Shi 'i fiqh has developed throu gh variousphases, and has been reformed and elaborated by many eminent scholars,among whom ar e Shaykh al-Ta'ifa Mubammad b. Jjasan al-T hs i,al-Mubaqqiq Ja'far b. vasan al-Jjilli , al- 'Allha vasan b. Yisuf b .al-Mufahhar al-vi lli, al-Shahid al-Awwal Muhammad b . Makki al-'xmiliand $54ib al-Madarik Mubammad b . 'Ali al-' Amifi (d. 100911600).

In the legal sources , the history of S hi 'i law is usually divided intotwo periods, l that of the ancient or early scholars (qudamF' ormutaqaddimJn) and that of the moderns or later scholars (muto'okhkhiriin).In works of the 6th-7th112th- 13th centuries, the contemporaries of thetwelve Imams were considered as the 'ancients' and those who came afterthis era (i.e from 2601874 onwards) as the 'moderns'. At times, theexpression 'ancients' is applied to Shaykh al-Ta'ifa and his predecessorsand the expression 'moderns' given to his successors. Sometimes, how-ever , the expression 'moderns' is used by writer s to mean scholars con-temporary with themselves. In later sources the term 'ancients' meansthose who lived before al-Mubaqqiq or al-'Allama, and the term 'moderns'refers to those who lived after them. In the sourc es of the 13thl19thcentu ry, the expression muto'okhkhiru 'I-muto'akhkhir7n (the moderns ofthe moderns) is used to mean, in earlier works, those who came after

This division is other than th at of traditionists in which the S hi 'itraditionists have been divided into ten sections (toboqa). The bases andcriteria for these two divisions are quite different as well. (See AB.111, p. 137, quot ing vasa n al-g adr in his Bugh yat 01-wu'Ft fi oboqFtmashFYikha/-ij5zFt).*Abd al-Jalil al-Qazwini, p . 209; Mubaqqiq, Mu'tob ar, p. 7.Shaykh al-Ta'ifa himself is conside red to be one of 'th e ancie nts' in

Shahid 11, Rawdo, 11, p. 73.See for instance Mubaqqiq, Nukat, p.438; Yabya b. ~ a ' i d , uzho, p. 6.k Ibn Idris, p. 265; Burr al-' Amili , Amol, 11, p. 5.g ,


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24 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWal-Shahid al-Awwall and in later work s those who came aft er Sahib

This division does not adequately reflect the development of the law,which can more exactly be defined by a division into eight p eriods. Whatfollows is a brief description of these periods, together with a mention ofthe most eminent sch olar s4 of each period and their main legal works.1. T H E PERIOD OF T H E P R E S E N C E O F T H E IMAMSIt is generally believed that Sh i' i law was undeveloped in thi s periodwhich began with the Prophet and ended in 2601874. This is based on theassumption that since the Imams were present and accessible, there was nogreat urge to develop the practice of independent judgment and that lawwas limited to the transmission of tradition s. This idea is not correctIn order to have a better grasp of the situation, the circumstances ofShi'ism a t the time have to be examined.(1) It can be clearly seen from religious traditio ns that Sh i' i Imams hadpersistently urged their followers to reason and use their minds. In thecase of discussio ns on KolFrn theology they prais ed and encouraged Sh i' itheologians of their times. In the case of legal problem s, the Imamsstated explicitly that their own duties lay in explaining general rules andprinciples; whereas inferences in details and minor precepts for actualcases were left to the learned followers of the Imams. The Imams some-

KhalkhEli, 111, p. 174.Muda rris, 111, p . 439.' Compare with Radi al-Din al-Qazwini's classification of th e Sh i' ischolars up to the mid-lOthll6th centu ry into seven genreations. See hisTFr7kh-i moshzhhi-r-7 ImCmiyya.By these scholars a re meant those whose legal opinions have beenconsidered and quoted in the sources of f iqh. In these sources, theviews of different S hi 'i jurists and even sometimes of Sun ni ones areusually quoted before examining each case. Obviously, only the views ofthose scholars who influenced the development of law, were quoted andtaken note of. The names of these scholars and their famous referenceworks have been chronologically listed in the preface of Moqzbis 01-anwFrby aI-KZ~imi (pp . 4-19).In the Sh i ' i sources of law, there are special abbreviations for thenames of the scholars and t he legal sour ces , as well as some particularterm s; many of these are explained in al-Khw ansari 's Rowq'zt, 11, pp .114-15, and in th e preface of al-KEzimi's MoqFbis, pp . 19-22.See Kas hsh i, pp . 268, 278, 484-6, 489-90, 538, 542; Kul ayn i, I,pp . 169-74; Mufid, To$bi-6 01-i'tiqzd, pp . 171-2; Qu hp a' i , VI , pp .

223-30, 293-307."Alay n5 i /q FY I-u$GI ilaykum wa 'ala ykum 01-tafr7" (we must giveyou the principles a nd you have to derive-branches): Bazanti , p . 477;Fayd, a/-daqq a/-mubin, p. 7; Uur r al-'Amili, XVIII, p. 41.

THE PERIODS OF SHT'T LAW 25times also explained when faced by questions from their followers that the' correct replies to thei r questions could be grasped and derived from generalIslamic legal principles. ' On some occasions, the ImZms themselves fol-lowed what the y advised a s the correc t method of reasoni ng and th usinstruct ed their followers on the proper p rocedure for inferenc e of legalprecepts.(2) The period of the presence of the Imams is quite dist inct from thefollowing periods of Sh i' i history in respect to the variety of kalzrntheological doctrines held by Sh i' i scholars . Many of the Imams' compan-ions were eminent kalFm theol ogians 3 who held signific ant opinion s ontheological sub jec ts, some of which have been quot ed in th e gen eral kalFrnworks, among them: Hisham b. al -gakam, Hisham b. Salim, ZurZra b .A'yan, Mu'min al-Ta q, Yhn us b. 'Abd al-Rabman (all of th e 2ndl8t hcentu ry), and al-Bazanfi and Fadl b. Shadhan (of the 3rdl9th century) 4Some oth er kolFm schools of th e time had followers among Sh i 'i thologiansof the ear ly centu ries of Islam.

Differences of opnions on kalzrn theological subj ect s resu lted i n theemergence of a variety of tendencies and groups among the companions ofthe Imams, cau sing intensive debate s and argument s among then. Manyof the most prominent companions of the Imams had their own separate

See for instance Kulayni , 111, p . 33; V , p. 357; Shay kh, TahdhTb,1 I, p. 363; VII, p . 297; idem, Istib$Cr, I, pp.77-8; VII, p.297; 111, p.1 178; Burr al -'Amil i, I , p . 327 ; Jzrni ' ~ 4 3 t h/-ShT'a, I , pp . 116-18.See for instance Kulayni, 111, pp. 83-8; Bu rr al-'Amili, 11, pp .538-9, 542, 546, 547-8.

! See IqbZl, pp. 75-84.See for instance $adh q, TowbTd, pp. 97-104; Mufid, Fu ~6 1, p. 119-I 21; idem, A wz'il a/-rnaqzICt, p. 116, and th e whole tex t for th e opinions of! Nawbakhtis; Kas hsh i, pp . 268, 275, 284-5, 490, 540-4; Qu hp a' i, VI,: p. 8; Rad i al-Din al- Qazwini , Qiyz fa, pp . 180-1; Majlisi 11, 111,: pp. 288, 300, 303, 305; Bih bah ani , Tae/7qFt, p. 8; Abh 'A li , pp. 45,, 346; Kaqimi , Kashf 01-qin5' , pp . 198-200; MZmaqZni , TanqTb, the intro-duct ion , pp 208-9 . See also saf a'i , pp. 36-68. Asad Allah al-KZ~imi,known as sa hib al-Maqabis (d . 123411818-19) collected the di ffer ent viewsof the companions of Imams from early sources in a book entitled al-Manzhii (see his Kashf a/-qinz', p. 71).

See Mufid, Sarawiyya, p . 221; idem, A wz'il a/-rnaqzlzt, p. 77;Mur tad a, IbtFl 01-'amal bi- akhbCr aI-CbEd, fol. 142b ; Najashi , p. 289;Shay kh, 'Udda, pp. 54-5; idem, Fihr ist, p. 190; Ibn ShahrEshh b,Mo'Clirn, p. 126; Qu hp a' i, V, p. 177; Muhammad al-Ardabili, 11, p. 234;Majlisi 11, 111, p. 304; Fu th ni , p . 4.See sadiiq, Tawhi-d, p. 100; Ka sh sh i, pp. 279-80; Majlisi 11, 111,pp . 244, 307; Kiizimi, Koshf ol-qinZg , pp. 71-84.


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26 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'Y LAW Igroups of followers1 who sometimes branded each other as 'infidel' I(kbfir)' and many books were produced on these d isputations and con-frontations . It is inter estin g to note tha t, sometimes, members of onetendency or group would disagree even with their 'leader' on most aspect sof ideological principles. ' On the other hand, many Shi ' is who gatheredaround the Imams restricted themselves to the transmission of traditions Iand refrained from theological debates. They did not look favourably upon Ithe Shi' i theologians. The theologians who were apprecia ted and favouredby the Imams, strongly resented the reproaches directed against them bythe tradit ionists, and the Imams consoled the accused 6 by saying that theyshould tolerate and act moderately towards their adversaries since the Ilatters' capacity for understanding subtle points and minute nuances was Iextremely limited. Some of the traditionists of Qum, too, squabbled with Itheologians, fabricated traditions in condemnation of the latter and attrib- Iuted them to the authority of the Imams, and wrote books in this vein. l o IOn the other hand, the Imams recommended their followers to refer to Itheologians and read their books. l 1 They even encouraged the people ofQum to honour and resp ect ShT'i theologians 'in spite of the fact that the

Durust b .Abi Mangiir, p. 161. 1See Kula yni, VII, p. 285; Kash shi, p p. 279-80. 498-9; Bu rr al-'Amili, V I, p. 385.For instance Hisham b . al-gakam's treatise in refutation to Mu'minal-Taq (Naja shi, p. 338); Risbla fT rna'nb Hishbrn wa %nu s by 'Al i b .Ibrahim b. Hashim al-Qummi (ibid., p. 197); Risbla fi' 'I-radd 'alb 'AlTb. Ibrbhirn b. Hbshirn fT rna'nb Hishbrn wa Yi nus by Sa 'd b. 'Abd Allahal-Ash'ari (ibid. , p. 134).

THE PERIODS OF ~ ~ 7 . 1AW

' See for example Shaykh, Fihrist, p . 132, the biography of ~ b i i a ' f a ral-SakkZk .1See Kashshi, e.g. pp. 279, 487-8, 496, 498-9. See also $adiiq,

traditionists of their town were hostile to them'.'The Sh i' i books on rijbl (biograph ies of the narr ato rs of Trad ition ),

especially that of al-Kashshi, are full of reports on different theologicaltendencies and opinions found amongst Shi'is of the first centuries ofIslam. The works display the impact of intensive arguments and contro-versi es, as well as the impact of th e supp ort given by the Imams to thetheologians and their concerns for the prosperity and productivity ofShi 7 tho ught. In his reply to the followers of Yiinus b . * Abd al-Rabman,who were considered to be 'infidels' by the rest of the followers of theImams, Imam 'Ali al-Rirjl would tell them: 'I see you moving in the pathof deliverance. '

Most Sh i' i jurists durin g the time of the Imams were among thesetheologians, a s will be mentioned pres ently .(3) Certain tendencies could be found in the Sh i' i community of theperiod of the presence of the Imams which were opposed to the tradition-ally predominant doctrine concerning the nature of the Imams. Some ofthe companions of the Imams did not accept that the Imlms possesseddivine qualities such as infallibility and impeccability ( 'isma) but believedthat th ey were pious learned men ('ularnb' ab rb r) , who had merely ascholarly autho rity. This view was supp orted by some of the Sh i' itheologians of later periods, amongst them Abii JaSfar Muhammad b. Qibaal-Rlzi, a Shi'i scholar and theologian of the 4thIlOth century, who wasa leading figure in the S hi' i community of his time,' and whose viewswere respected and referred to by later Shi ' i scholars. He supportedthe idea that the Imlms were merely pious scholars, who had a comprehen-sive knowledge of the Qur'Zn and Tradit ion. He also refut ed the idea tha tthe Imams had knowledge of the unperceivable ('ilrn a/-ghayb). Yet, inspite of these opinions, his doctrinal stand was appreciated by later Shi'ischo lars . At leas t some of the traditi onis ts of Qum , who were consideredTawbid, pp. 458-60; Ibn Tawus, Kashf a/-rnabajja, pp. 18-19; Jjurral-'Amili, XI, pp. 457-9.

See Kashshi , pp . 498- 9.Ibid., p. 488.

Kashshi , p . 489.Ibid., p. 499.See $adiiq, Khi$m, p. 354; Jjurr al-'Emili, XI, pp. 429-30; Babral-'Uliim, 111, pp . 219-20.' *AllZma, Khulb$a, p . 143.

'" Kl3imi, p . 305.Ibid. , p. 200. Some other opinions of this scholar, which are differ-ent from Sh i' i traditional and popular views, are quoted in the works of

al-Sharif al-MurtarjZ (se e as an example his a/-Sh fi, p. 100).Shayk h, Fihrist, p. 132; Ibn Shahrashfib, Ma'blirn, p. 85; 'Allama,Khu lbp , p. 143. All stat ing tha t Ibn Qiba was 3abTo a/-madhhab o r basana/-i ' tiqbd.

I

a Ibi d., p. 489, also pp. 483, 506; Mubammad al- ~r da bi li I , p. 459,11, p. 357; Abii 'Ali, p. 28. IKashsh i , p . 497 . For examples of those traditions see pp . 491-6, * ' '540-4; Ba rq i, RijCI, p. 35; Baz ant i, p. 478.

l o For example K . Mathmib Hishbrn wa Yi nus b y Sa'd b. 'Abd A lllh Ia l - ~ s h ' a r i Na ja sh i , p. 134) and K . a/-T aSn 'alb Yinus by Ya'qiib b .Yazid b. Jjammad al-Katib al-Anbari al-Sulami al-Qummi (ibid. , p. 350).

l 1 Kas hsh i, pp . 483-5, 506; NajZshi, pp. 346-8.


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28 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHi.7 LAWas the backbone of the S hi 'i school, also held similar opinions with regardto the Imzms. ' It seems that the Nawbakhtis, too, thought likewise to someextent .

Some of the companions of th e Im am s even believed that the Imams, justIike the jurists of those times, practised independent judgment (r a' y) o ranalogical reasoning (qiy zs). ' This position was also accepted by some ofth e trad itio nist s of Qum. Abii Mubammad Layth b. al-B akht ari al-MurZdi ,known as Abii Bag ir, one of the most competent s chol ars among th e com-panions of ImZm Ja'fa r al- $ld iq6 who, accordin g to many nar rat ive s waspraised by th e ImEms7 and was one of the fou r elite of th e Sh i' i religion,did not accept the Iegal opinions of the seventh Imam, M6sZ al-KEgim, andthought that the latter had not yet acquired an adequate knowledge oflaw. A numbe r of oth er companions of the Imams ar e said to have heldsimiIar views. l

On this basis, some of the companions of the I m l m s openly disagreedwith them in scientific questions, l 1 and sometimes they even argued withthem over points of disagreement l 2 or asked them to present the reasonfor the positions they held in legal questions. l Such controversies bet-ween the companions of the ImZms sometimes culminated in serious quarrelsbreaking up friendships permanently, l while, according to customary

Mufid, Ta$bTb a/- i'ti qzd , pp . 218-19.See their view s in similar case s in al-Mufid's AwE'il a/-rnaqzliit, forexample pp. 78, 79, 80, 84.Babr al-'Uliim, 111, p. 220. Also $af far , Ba$E'ir, p . 301; Mufid,Sarawiy ya, p. 224; idem, Ikhti$F$, p. 274; JFrnie aba'd th a/-ShT'a, I,p. 273.

' KEgimi , p. 83.Mufid, Ta$bTb a/- i't iqz d, p. 219.

' Kashshi , p. 238; T ustari , QZrnEs a/-ri jzl, VII, p . 451.Kas hsh i, pp. 136-7, 170; Qu hpa 'i, V, p. 83; Mubammad al-Ard abm , 11, p . 34.Kashshi, pp. 238-9. The other s are Zurar a b. A 'yan, Muhammad b.Muslim and Burayd b. Mu'Ewiya al-'Ijli.Ibid ., p. 173; Quhp E'i, V, pp. 84-5.

l o Kashshi, pp. 147, 148, 158.l 1 KE ~im i, p. 71-2.l 2 Ibid., p. 72.

See for instance Kulayni , 111, p. 30; gadi iq, FaqTh, I , pp. 56-7;idem, 'Ilal, I , pp. 264-5; Shayk h, TahdhTb, I, pp. 61-2; idem,Istib$Er, I , pp. 62-3; Bu rr al-'Amili, I , p. 291, 11, p. 980.l 4 See Kulayni, I , pp. 409-11; Nfiri, I, p. 555.

THE PERIODS OF SHT'T LAWShi'i thoug ht, those cases of dispute ought to have been taken to theImSms for th eir jud gment, a pract ice usually followed by most faithf ulbelievers. '

! (4) As mentioned alre ady, th e inference of legal precept s in Shi 'i law isfundamentally based on logical analysis and reasoning within the frameworkof Qur'anic t ext s and Tradition. Rational argument is accepted on the1 ' basis of Aristotelian deduction, which brings certainty according to theprinciples of that logical system. The kind of analogical reasoning whichis entitled q iyzs in Islamic law was rejected b y th e Shi'a from the time itcame into Islamic law, in th e 2nd18th cen tur y, because it leads only to a

I probable cause for a precept, not to the certain one. Some cases of qiyEsin which the real cause of a precept i s found ar e, as mentioned before,accepted in Shi'T law.I In the first centuries, the traditionists who were opposed to any kindI of rational argum ent held tha t thi s mode of arr ivi ng at categorical judg-ments amounted to qiyzs and was therefore unlawful. Some later scholarscalled it permissible qiyFs, ' while in fact this mode of analysis bears noconnection with the Sunni concept of qiyzs. ' It seems that in the religiousI mentality of the Shi'a of the fi rst cen tur ies , all kinds of rational argument1 were considered a kind of qiyiis. ' This was perhaps caused by some out-) ward or terminological similarities. Then , traditio nists believed that the[ injunctions found in Shi 'i Tradition which forbade the practice of qiyzsI were also applicable to any other mode of rational analysis.I These traditions also forbid practising i ndependen t judgment, which isI called ra'y in legal terminology. In the legal usage of the early period s,the term ijtihzd was used7 n the sense of personal judgments including ra 'y.'

See Ka shs hi, p . 539; Abii Mangiir al- Ta bri si, 11, p. 284.Ibn JJazm , IbkFrn, VII, p . 177; idem, Mulakhkha$ ibtzl 01-ra'y wa 'I-qiyzs , p . 5 .Ka rak i, TarTq istinbzt a/-abkzrn, p. 17. Because of the same inter-pretation, later Akhbaris a ccused Ugiilis of following the practice of qiyzsin their legal judgments. See for instance JJusayn al-Karaki, chapter 8.

' Al-MasF'il a/-Mu hannz'i yya, fol. 92a; Shahid 11, Rawda, 111, p. 65.See also BihbahEni , Tabqiq fi 'I-qiyzs, fol. 85a.' Al-MasE'il a/-Muh annz'iyy a, fol. 92a; Miqdad, TanqTb , fol. 3a;( BihbahIni , TabqTq fi 'I-qiyzs, fol. 85b.I ' See Kas hshi, p . 189; Mubaqqiq, Ma'zrii, p. 127.See as examples Abu '1-ljusayn a l-B agr i, p p. 689, 722, 761-6; QZQiNu'mEn, IkhtilFf u$El a/-MadhFhib, pp. 203-28; Mufid, Fu$El, p. 68;Murtagz, Dha ri'a, pp. 672-3.

a See further the article idjtihzd in El, 111, p. 1026.


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30 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWThis explains why Shi 'is refrain ed from the use of the term ijtihcd until Ithe 6th112th century. It also explains the objections raised in Shi'i Itheological works toward ijtihad, and th e refutation of i ts legitimacy in Iworks written by Shi'i theologians like the Nawbakhtis, 'Abd Allah b.'Abd al-RabmZn-al-Zubayri and Abu '1-Qasim 'Ali b . Abmad al-Kiifi.All these were against ijtihzd in the above sense. Otherwise ijtihzd, as arational hode of reasoning, was quite an acceptable phenomenon amongmany Shi 'is from the 2nd18th cent ury onwar ds, and from late 4thllOthcentury it emerged as the only method by which legal subjects werea p p r ~ a c h e d . ' ~hese analytical and rational methods of S hi 'i scholars ofthe earl y cent urie s of Islam appeared t o amount to ra'y and qiyiis in the Ieyes of s tric t tra dition ists who objected to the rational analytical modes of Ireasoning in law. I(5) In some tradit ions, it is repor ted that some companions of the Imams Ipractised qiyEs on occasions when instructions over a particular problem Iwere not explicitly and clearly given in the Qur an and T radition, an d Ithat some of them were practising the method of ra'y. Some of the most . Iknowledgeable companions of the Imams whose opinions and judgments are Icited in legal sour ces, have been accus ed of following the practic e ofqiyEs. Among them ar e Fa Jl b . Shadhan al-Naysabiiri , author ofal- T~ Eb d . 2601873-4) whose opinions on some legal subjects su ch asdivorce and inheritance, and on some questions of ugEl a/-fiqh are quotedin the sources, ~ i i n u s . 'Abd al-RabmIn, whose opinions are cited in

See Mubarnmad Baqir al-$adr , DurEs , I , p p. 55-64.See for instance Mufid , A wz'il a/-maqzlzt , p . 127; idem, FugEl ,pp . 66-9. Also Nu'mZni, TafsTr, pp . 95-6; Murtagz, DharT'a, pp. 792-5;idem, IntigEr, p. 98.Iqbal, pp. 94, 117, 118, 120.NajLshi, p. 163.Ibid., p. 203.This is accor ding to the predominant U$iili school of Shi 'i law. Th eAkhb aris rej ected the validity of a11 kin ds of rational argument in law, a snoted before.

7 ' Books such a s a/-Radd 'alz man r ad d Cthzr 01-RasEl wa i'tamad 'ala'nat z'ij a/- 'uqEl b y Hi151 b. IbrZhim b. Abi '1-Fatb al-Madani (Najashi ,p. 344) are written with the same understanding.Durus t b. A bi Mangiir, p. 165; Ba rq i, hlabiisin, I, pp. 212-15;Ijimya ri, p. 157; Kas hshi , p. 239; Mufid, IkhtigEg, p. 275; uu rr al-'Am=, XVIII, pp . 33, 38; Nii ri, 111, pp . 176-7; JEmi- abEdTth a/-ShT'a,

I, pp. 274-6.Ba rq i, MabEsin, I, pp. 212-15; Kas hshi , pp. 156-7.

l o se e Kul ayn i, VI, pp . 93-6, VII, pp . 88-90, 95-6, 98-9, 105-8, 116-18,

THE PERIODS OF ~ ~ 7 . 7AW 31some chapters of fiqh such as p raye r, alms tax, marriage and inheritance, 'ZurEra b. A'yan al-Kiifi . Jam2 b. DarrZj, the most learned companion ofthe sixth Imam, Ja'far al-$Idiq, 'Abd Allah b. Bukayr, a great Shi' ijurist of the 2ndl8th ce ntu ry4 and a number of othe r famous companions,who were accused of and blamed for their practice of qiyzs. It is almostcertain t hat th e above were sup port ers of the analytical mode of reasoningand not of the Sunni concept of qiyzs. Thei r judgments, many of whichhave been collected by Asad Allah al-Kazimi confirm this point.

It is evident from what has been said in the five sections above that inthe period of the presence of the Imams, two legal tendencies existed inthe Sh i' i community. One of them adhered to an analytical, rational ap-proach toward legal problems within the framework of the generalprinciples of the Qur an and Tradition. The other was a traditionalistapproach which relied on transmitting traditions without any further infer.ential derivation of law. '

Many Sh i' i jurists of this period are mentioned in the S hi 'i works on'ilm a/-rijElg and o ther source s. l o he names of some of them are al somentioned together with their works in Ibn al-Nadim's K . a/-Fihrist. "120-1, 142, 145-6, 148-9, 161-2, 168; Sadii q, FaqTh, IV, p. 197; i bi d. ,Muqni', p p. 170, 175-6; Mufid, FugEl, pp . 123-4; Murtada , Int igz r,p. 286; Ibn Shahra shiib, MathCIib, fols. 233b-234a; Shahid I, DurEs ,p. 263; idem, Qawz'id, p. 316; Najafi, XVI, p. 90.

See Kul ayn i, VII, pp . 83-4, 115-16, 121-5; Sadiiq, Muqni', p. 175;Murtada, I nt i~ Fr , p . 77-8; 'Allama, Mukhtalaf, I, p . 136; Shahid I,DurEs, p . 57; idem, Qawz'id, p. 325; 'abd Allah al-Ti ini, fol. 97.Kashshi, p. 156. See for some of his legal views Kulayni, VII,pp. 97, 100-1.Kashshi, p. 375. Some of his legal opinions are quoted in thesources, e. g. Kulayni, VI, p. 141, VII, p. 256; Shaykh, TahdhTb, X,p. 137; idem, Istibga'r, IV, p. 253.Kashshi, p. 345.Sadiiq, FaqTh, IV, p. 197; Murtada, Ibfzl aalcamal bi-akhb zr al-EbCd, fol. 142b; Fut iin i, p. 44; Babr al-'Uliim, 111, pp . 215-19;KZzimi, p. 83. See also Shaykh , 'Udda, p. 51.See his Kashf a/-qin ER pp . 82-3, 198, 244 as some examples .See Kashshi , p. 156.See also Kh umayn i, Risa'la fi 'I-ijtihzd wa 'I-taqlTd, pp . 125-8.For instance Kashshi , pp . 238, 375, 556, also p. 484; Shaykh,Fihrist, p. 52; Ibn Dawiid, p. 272.

O A s an example Mufid, Al-Radd 'alz a~b?iba/- 'adad, p. i28; Shaykh,Tahdhrb, VIII, p . 97. See also uasan al-$adr, pp. 298-305.

l 1 See Ibn al-Nadim, pp . 275-9.


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the opinions of th e jurists of this period a re quoted in the legal works oflater periods.2. THE FIRS T CENTURY OF THE OCCULTATIONIn the period of the 'Minor Occultation' (2601874-3291941) and until thelatter pa rt of the 4thllOth cen tury , three different legal schools existedin the Shi ' i community.

I . The School of the tra diti onis ts (Ah1 a/-badTth)This was a continuation of the con servative legaI tendency of the period

of the Pres ence, and likewise devoted it s efforts to collecting, recordingand preserving the traditions from the ImEms. The adherents of thisschool, like their predecessors in the time of the Imams, were not sym-pathetic to rational arguments in religious matters, and condemned eventhose e ffort s which applied rational argument to religious q uestions in o rde rto strength en the Shi ' i point of view. * This school resembled in it s out-look the S unn i school of tradit ionis ts, where Abmad b. ljanba13 and hi sfollowers4 reje cted kalzrn even when u sed in defence of Islam.In their legal approa ch, t here were two groups of traditio nists whodiffered among themselves:(a ) Those who only accepted tradition s which were related by transmi tter swhose reliability ha d been thorough ly examined. Their knowledge of thetraditions dealing with legal questions was extensive. They recognizedand implemented those prin ciples of u$El a/-fiq h which were contain ed inthe tradition s of the ImEms. Like Sun ni traditio nists, however, theywere chary of writing about legal subje cts with words other than exactly

See for instance th e introduction to al-Mubaqqiq's a/-Mu'tabar, p. 7,in which he s ays tha t he will quote the views of five jurists of thatpe rio d. Also S5bib al-Mad5rik1s Hido'yat a/-[iilibin , fol. 4b. Also th ePreface t o al-K5qimits Maqzbis a/-anwo'r, p. 23, in which six such scholarsare mentioned. See also Shaykh, Tahdhib, VIII, p . 97.Saduq, I t iqzdzt, p . 74. See also Mufid, Ta$bi b 01-i'tiqo'd, p p . 169-70; Shaykh, Ghayba, p. 3.Ibn al-Jawzi , Mano'qib Abrnad, p. 205.Ibn Qudama, Tabrim a/ -n o~ ar T kut ub ah1 a/-kalErn, p. 17.Later traditionis ts followed their prede cessors in this case. Al-JJurral-'Amili, the renowned AkhbZri scholar of the late 11th. 17th cen tur y,wrote a treatise against studying 'ilrn 01-kalzrn (AB, XXIV, p. 431).Sh ay kh , 'Udda, p. 248; KZqimi, Kashf a/-q inc' , p p. 207-14; 'Abd

Allah al-Ti ini , p. 97; Amin al-Ast arEbZdi , Jawzb rnasz'il a/-Shayk huu say n, fol. 101b.See 'Abd al-Majrd, pp. 288-9.

THE PERIODS OF S H T " ~LAW 3 3those mentioned in the traditions. The legal works of t his group oftraditioni sts were collections of tradition s compiled accordi ng to their sub-ject m atte r, a nd sometimes with the omission of the chain of tra nsm itt ers(isnzd) . Traditionists such as:(i ) Mubammad b. Ya'qub al-Kulayni(ii) Mubarnmad b. al-JJ asan b. Ahmad b. al-Walid (d . 3431954-5)(iii) Muhammad b. 'Ali b . Babawayh al-Qummi , al-$aduqfall into this group. The legal choice s4 of al-Kulayni and al-$adfiqhave been quoted in the legal sources.(b ) The oth er gro up followed tradit ions without compromise and completelyignored the principles of u$E/ a/-fiqh a nd th e rules by which a traditioncould be examined. They completely ignored the proce dures of debate ,reasoning and modes of discourse . The extreme tendencies of theseS hi t i traditionists were comparable to the tendency of the ljashwiyya inSunnism which was the most extreme an d inflexible Sun ni traditionistschool. However, in the works of Sh i' i theologians of the 4th-6thl10th-12th c entur ies, terms such a s boshwiyyaB and rnuqallidag togetherwith the terms a$bo'b a/-badTth ' and akhbzriyya l 1 were applied to all

Sha ykh , Mabsijl, I , p . 2; Amin al-AstarEbEdi , op. cit . fol. 101b.K. 01-Muqni' sy Sadiiq is an example of this sor t 0-f 'legal works' .See especially p . 2 of th is book.Shaykh, Fihrist, pp. 135, 156, 157; Tus tar i , Sahw a/-Nabi, p . 9.See also AngZri , Raso"i1, p . 87.Both al-Kulayni and al-$adiiq in t he introduction to their two mainworks, viz. K . a/-KCfl and Man lo' yabq'uruh a/-faqTh re spec tive ly, acknow-ledged the authenticity of what they transm itted in those books. Thus in

the cases of conflict between traditions, the one they accepted and nar-rate d in their wor ks, dem onstrates their viewpoints in each specific case.Mubaqqiq , Mu 'tabor, p . 7; Sahib al-Madarik, Hido'yat a/-[alibrn ,fol. 46; Klqimi, Maqo'bis, p. 23.Shaykh, 'Udda, p. 248; Kgzimi, Kashf a/-qin a", p. 202.See Mufid, Ifso'b, p. 77; idem, A wo"i1 a/-rnaqo'lo't , p . 65; Murtad.5al-Razi, p. 46.Mufid, Ukb ariyya, fol. 59a; idem, A wci'il a/-rnaqZlFt, p. 86; i dem,Jawzb ah / a/- uc' ir, p. 114; 'abd al-Jalil al-Qazwini , pp. 3, 235, 272, 285,529, see also Muhaqqiq, Mu' taba r, p. 6; F ayq , a/-U$Gl a/-a$Tla, p .61.Mufid, Jawo'b ah1 01-uo"ir, p. 112; Shaykh, 'Udda, p. 54.

l o and th e like (a$bFb 01-akhbzr, ah / a/-badTth, ah1 a/-akhbo'r etc . ) . SeeMufid , a/- Rad d 'a15 a$bo'b 01- 'ad ad ,p . 124; idem, A wz'il a/-rnaqzlzt , pp .80-1, 87, 88, 89, 92, 101, 108, 118; idem, Ta$bTb a/-i 'tiq zd, pp . 186,222; idem, Saraw iyya , pp. 222, 223; Murtad.5, TabbFniyyFt, f ol. 2; idem,a/-Mow~iliyyaa/-thzlit ha, fol. 40a; idem, TarEbulusiyyzt, fol. 110; idem,a/- Rad d '01; o$bo'b 01-'adad, fol. 130b; Sh ay kh , 'Udda, p. 248; idem,Chayba, p . 3 ; Ibn Id r is , pp . 5 , 249. See also Shaykh, Mabsljt, I , p . 2.l 1 ' A ~ Al-.Tali7 a l - I I ) ~ ~w i nT n . . 3. 236. 272. 282. 285. 458. 529. 568-9;


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3 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWthe adh erents of the traditionist tendency, even the former group.

In the so urces of 'ilm a /-r ija the names of some jurists of this b ranchof the traditionists have been recorded, such as Abu '1-gusayn al-Nlshi','Ali b . 'Abd AllZh b . Wusayf ( d. 3661976-7) who is said to have dis-cusse d law in the same way as ah1 a/- ~G hi r. However, due to the school'srefusal and failure to apply reason and rationality and also due to theabsence of any ideas and original thoug ht of thei r own, th e decisions ofits a dhe rent s2 did not gain any legal validity and were totally ignored inthe sources. As noted , their judgments were nothing but refere nces totraditions. '

The traditionist school which, in the period of the Presence, was oneof the two prevailing tendencies of S hi 'i scholarly circl es, graduallygained control over the whole Sh i' i intellectual community, and totallysuppressed the rational theological and legal tendencies which were basedon reas onin g. The school of Qum, which in those da ys was the most prom-inent religious centre of the Shi'is, was completely dominated by thiscu rre nt and the Qummi scholars were all traditionists' objecting to anykind of reasoning and analytical thought in the Shi 'i community. Theoverwhelming majority of Sh i' i jurists durin g this period and up to thelate 4thllOth century were adherents of this school of thought.

A s will be explained later, in the last decades of the 4thllOth and early5th/llth centuries, the school was swept away by the teaching of al-Shaykhal-Mufid and his disciple al-Sharif al-Rlu rtadl. Although a small number ofit s adherents sur vived, here and the re, in later periods6 none of themgained prominence or influenced Sh i' i thoug ht.

The methodology and beliefs of the a dhe ren ts of th is school have been

'Alllma, Nihcyat a/-wu$iil, fol. 200b. See also ShahrastSni , p p. 169, 178;Sharif al-Jurjiini , p . 629; Fa kh r al-RZzT , Mob561 (quoted in KEqimi ,p. 203).Shaykh, Fihrist , p. 89.It should be noted here t hat t her e were differe nces of opinions amongthe adh ere nts of this tran ch of traditionists to o, as the traditions of theImams were sometimes con tra dic tor y, an d each of those juris ts was decid-ing legal problems according to those traditions he had received.MurtadE , a/-Rad d 'a15 agbiib a/- 'ad ad, fol. 130b; idem, TobbEniyyEt,fol. 2 ; idem, a/-Mawgiliyya a/-thiilitha, fol. 40a.' MurtadZ, Ibtzl a/-'amal bi-a khbc r a/-EbFd, fol. 142b; Futi ini , p . 4 .

See also Shaykh, Fihrist, p. 157.Shaykh, 'Udda, p. 248; 'Alhma, NihGyat a/-wu$fil, fol. 200b.'Abd al-Jalil al-Qazw ini, p. 568.

THE PERIODS OF s ~ i ' iAWdescribed and criticized in the works of al-Mufid and al-MurtagZ. '

11. 'Qadimayn'While the traditionist schooI was predominant in Shi'i academic circles

in the second half of the 3rd19th and a greater part of the 4thllOthcentu ries, two important figures emerged among Sh i' i scholars, each ofwhom had h is own parti cula r app roac h to law. Both practised rationalreasoning in legal thought. Hence, their methods can be considered as acontinuation of th e exerci se of analytica l and rational tho ught i n law whichexis ted in the period of the presenc e of th e Imams. They are regarded2a s c o n s t i t ~ t i ~ ghe first school of Shi'i deductive law, based not merelyon collections of trad itions bu t on speculative analysis and rationalargument.

Although these two personalities represented two different legal percep-tions and approaches, in many cases , they a rrived at the same conclusioi~sand issued similar opinions on legal problems. Their legal judgments ar e,there fore, quoted jointly in the source s as the opinion of th e Qadimayn,the Two Ancient (sc hol ars) . They are :( i ) Ibn Abi 'Aqil, Abfi Mubammad Ijasan b. ' ~ 1 i . Abi 'Aqil al-

'UmEni al-IJadhdha', of the firs t half of th e 4thllOt h ce nt ur y. 'He is the aut hor of a legal work entit led a/-Mutamassik bi-bob/ 21a/-Rasil, which was one of the most renowned legal sources duringthe 4th and 5th/lOth and 11th centu ries.

(ii) Ibn a l - ~ u n a ~ d ,bu 'Ali Mubammad b. Ahmad b. al-Junaydal-Katib al-IskZfi, of the middle of the 4thllOth cent ury . He is

See Mufid, Sarawiyya, p p. 222, 223; idem, TaSbTI, a/-i'tiq zd, p. 222;idem, 'Ukba riyya, fol. 59a; idem, lawo'b ah/ a/-y z'i r, pp. 112, 116; idem,a/-Rad d 'alF a56Gb a/- 'ad ad, p. 24; MurtadE, 01-Maw~iliyya /-thiilitha,fol. 40a; idem, Tabbo'niyyZt, fol. 2; idem, a/-Radd '015 a5bo'b a/-'adad,fol. l30b; idem, IbtGl a/-'amal bi-a khbz r aI-Eba'd, fol. 142b. See alsoShaykh, Ghayba, p.3; idem, Mabsiit, I, p. 2; idem, 'Udda, pp. 54,248; 'Abd al-Jalil al-Qazwini , pp. 529, 568.See ~abral -'U ldm , 11, p. 218.This name was invente d by Ibn Fahd al-Mill7 (d . 84111437-8) in early9th115th century. See his a/-Muhadhdhab a/-bE ric , fol. 3a. See also hisa/-M uqta ~ar, ol. 2a.' n a let ter to Ja'f ar b. Mubammad b. Qulawayh (d . 3691979-80), lb n

Abi ' ~ ~ 2ermitted him to narrate his works ( NajEshi , p. 38).Najsshi, p. 38; AB, XIX, p. 69.He was in NaysSbGr in 3401951-2 and enjoy ed the re spe ct of its people(Mufid, $cghEniyya, p . 17). One of his works is a book of answ ers hegave to the qu esti ons of the Buyid Mu'izz al-Dawla, who died in 3561967(NajZshT , p . 301) .


12/23

36 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWthe aut hor of Tahd hrb al-ShT'a li-abka'm 01-sharT8a an d a/-Abmaai-f; ' 'I-fiqh al-Mubarnma&.

These scholars were, thus, nearly contemporaries. Ibn Abi 'Aqil ,who slightly preceded Ibn al-Junayd, ' was a kalzm theologian. He maywell be considered a precursor of the legal method of the kalzm theologiansof Baghda d who formed the third e ra in the development of S h i' i law tobe discussed later. Like other kalZm theologians, he did not considertraditions transmitted by a single or a few transmitters (akhbEr 01-EbZd)as valid. It is evident from his judgments that his legal approach wasfirmly based on general Qur'anic principles and widely transmitted trad-itions. In cases where there was a general principle in the Qur'an towhich an exception was made in traditions, Ibn Abi 'Aqil would maintainthe general validity of the Qur'anic principle and ignore the traditions,unless the latter had been universally and unquestionably accepted. Inview of the proximity of his time to that of the Presence, however, theuncertainty with re gard to the reliability of many traditions affectinglater discussions was not yet felt to be a serious problem and there wasless disagreement concerning the opinions of the Imams on fundamentallegal principles arising from contradictory traditions. Because of this,the traditions which Ibn Abi 'Aqil attributes to the Imams in his bookhave come to be accepted entirely by Sh i' i scholars after him. His legalmethod also was appreciated by later scholars, and his legal opinions a requoted in most Shi ' i sources .

Ibn al-Jun ayd was not held in such hig h esteem and his legal methodwas criticized by both his contemporaries and by later scholars. He, too,was a kalCm theologian and produced many works on theology. Amongthese was one written in defence of Fadl b. ShZdhZn, ' supporter ofreasoning in law and theology. In legal matters, Ibn al-Junayd held the

- -Babr al- '~l hm , 11, p. 218.NajHshi, p.38; Shayk h, Fihri st, pp.64, 194; Ib n Dawiid, p. 111.' Tus ta r i , QZmZs, 111, p. 198. For similar legal appoaches in Sunnischool see 'Abd al-Malid, pp. 219-24, 236.See for example $abib al-Madarik, p. 219.

5 e Allama, Mukhtolaf, 11, pp . 157, 167; Miqdad, TanqTb, fol. 88b. ' Seealso ' Abd al-Majid, pp . 267-8 for similar cases in Sunn i law.

NajZshi, p. 38; Ibn Idris , pp. 99, 192, 397, 398.Najashi, pp. 301-2; Shaykh, Fihrist, p. 134.Najashi, p. 302.

THE PERIODS OF S H T ' ~LAW 37validity of akhbzr a/-ZbZid as a source of law and because of this, al-Mufidranged him among the traditionists. He relied, however, on rationalanalysis when it came to comprehending, infe rrin g and ext ractin g legalprinciples from the sources and contrary to the traditionists who looked atthe literal meaning of tradition alone, he appears to have aimed at a gen-eral legal interpretation of each tradition through comparison with othersimilar tradi tions . In accordan ce with a commonly accepted practi ce inlater Shi'T law, he appear s to have tried to discover the rationale ( 'ilia)of a precept. As mentioned, this method which establishes generalprinciples in legal matters without the need to rely on the specific texts intraditions in every case, was held to be a kind of qiyzs in the earlycenturies and was rejected by Shi'i jurists in the same way that theyrejected the Sunni concept of qiya's. Like the ad here nts of rationalreasoning in th e time of the Pre senc e, among whom was Fadl b. Shl dhZ n,Ibn al-Junayd was accused of employing qiyZs5 and rb 'y. As a result,the works of Ibn al-Junayd were abandoned, in contrast to the works ofIbn Abi 'Aqil. Thus, his legal opinions did not receive much attentionduring the third and fourth sta ges of Sh i' i law,' in which legal though twas affected to a great ex tent by t he school of the traditionist s.

In defenc e of his methodology, Ibn al-J unayd wrote a number of books,the t itle s of some of which indicate hi s method in law, notably Kashf al-tamwTh wb'l-ilbCs "oC aghmaF al-ShT'a f i amr 01-qiyEs and Izha 'r mEsat ara h ah1 a/-'ina'd min a/-riwzya 'an a'immot al-'lt ra fT amr al-ijtihzd.

Among prominent Shi'i theologians, AbG Mubarnmad uasan b. MuSzal-Nawbakhti (early 4th llOth cen tury ) also maintained th e same opinion(see Najlshi , p. 50). It is already well-known that mush disagreementexist ed among the Mu'tazili the:logians of the time, too, ab out thevalidit y of akhbo'r 01-ZbZd (s ee Abd al-Majrd, p. 94).

Mufid, Sarawiyya, p. 223.Uasan al-$adr , p. 302.Ba br al-'UlEm, 111, p. 214; Tu st ar i, Qo'mZs, XI, p. 94.Mufid, $CgghCniyya, p. 19; idem, Sarawiyyo, pp. 222-3; NajZshi,p. 302. Shaykh, Fihrist, p. 134; Ibn Shahr lsh fib , Ma'Clim, p . 87;'Alllma, K hulG ~a, . 145; Ibn DZwud, p. 292; YabyE al- Bab ran i, p. 306;Amin al-AstarZbZdi , p. 30; ljusayn al-Karaki , chapter eight; Babral-'Ulum, 111, p. 207; Abfi 'Ali, p. 346.Mufid, Sarawiyya, p. 223; MurtadZ, IntijEr, p. 238.Mufid, $EghZniyya, p. 19; Shayk h, Fihrist, p . 134; Ibn DSwEd,

p. 292.Mufid, $5gho^niyyy p. 19; KZzimi, pp . 297-8.NajZshi , p . 301.


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AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAW

serious ly with his legal method, subj ecti ng it to criticism in a number of I/He also justified his app roac h in his book: at-MasF'il at-Mi yiyya.

Al-Mufid, th e prominent S hi 'i scholar at the beginning of the M hl ll thce ntu ry, who praised Ibn al-Junayd's intelligence came to disagree

hi s work s, incl udin g hi s 01-MasC'il a/-$FghCniyya,' al-MasC'il al- 11

IIi

Sarawiyya4 and in two special treatises, one entiled: Naqd risFlatal- Jun ayd 7 ;la ah1 Misr, a refutation of Ibn al- Jun ayd ls a/-MasE'il al- iMisriyya, and anoth er called al-Naqd 'a15 Ibn a/-Ju nayd fT ijtiha'd at-ra'y.Al-Mufid's stu den ts too have cited and rejecte d some of Ibn al-Junayd'slegal opinions in their works.

Ibn al-Junayd's legal method which, on the one hand (and in contrastto al-Mufid and hi s followers), accepted ZbFd traditions a s valid and con- Isidered them as the principal source of law, and , on the other , gave liformal recognition to reason a s the means through which pr ecep ts couldbe ascertained, was closer to the more developed Shi'i legal methodolog-, \ical practices of later periods than to those of his time. It is evidentlybecause of thi s similarity of methodology that two centurie s afte r him, hislegal opinions were quoted for the first time with a degree of reverence,by Ibn Idris , the Sh i ' i scholar of the late 6thl12th centur y. From thesecond half of the 7th113th century onwards, when rational analysis 1:pentr ated more deeply into ShT'i law, the works of this scholar received 1much prai se and admirati on. Al-'AllSma reg ard ed him as one of the out-standing exp erts of jurisprudence, l o and cited many of his legal judg- 1ments in his own works. l 1 The jurists of the fifth stage, especiallyal-Shahid al-Awwal, al-FErJil al-MiqdZd and Ib n Fah d, paid c aref ulattention to Ibn al-Junayd's opinions, and nar rated his views on many

Mufid, Sarawiyya, p. 224.Idem, Siighzniyya, pp . 18-19.Ibid. , pp. 17-22.Idem, Sarawiyya, pp. 222-4. \Ib id. , p. 224; NajSshi, p. 312.NajEshi, p. 315.See MurtaQZ, In ti sF r, pp. 77-8, 80-1, 8 3, 217, 227, 237-43, 244,246; idem, a/-Mawsiliyya al-t hcni ya, fol. 34a; Ibn al-Barr Sj, Shar bJurnal, pp. 244, 251. I' Tu st ar i, QZmGs, XI, p. 94. ISee Ibn Idris , p . 99. t

l o See 'AllSma, T d ~ b , p. 88-9. See also Babr a l- '~ lu m, 111, pp. 205-6;AB, IV, p. 510, XX, p. 177.l 1 See 'Allama, Kh uli ip, p . 145; idem, TdZb, p. 89.

THE PERIODS OF SHT'Y LAW 39legal problems. Al-Shahid al-T hZni, one of th e late r schola rs of th is samestage says of Ibn al-Junayd tha t the sh arp nes s of his gra sp of problems,and his analysis was exceptional among classical S hi 'i jurists.

Ibn Abi 'Aqil and Ibn al-Junayd t hu s must be considered as the found-er s of Shi' i systematic law, as distinct from the Traditi0n.P

111. The Interme diate SchoolIn this same period, th ere existed in Shi ' i centre s of scholarship a

group of jurists who, while holding the validity of many a'bCd traditionsand while not offering an analytical systematic law comparable to that ofthe Qadimayn, followed the practice of ijtihCd, thus differentiating them-selves from the conservativ e and narrow approach of the trad itionists.In sho rt, they held an intermediary position between the two tendenciesdescribed above.

The school formulated its juridical opinions through the process ofextracting specific precepts from the general principles implied in trad-itions, or th roug h selection or reconciliation when traditions were contra-dictory. Opinions formed on this basis were not always uniform, andthis sometimes caused intense arguments on certain issues among thefollowers of this school. The case of "adad' (i. e. the argument as towhether the number of day s of th e month of RamadZn like the da ys ofother months, conform to the laws of astronomy or have a fixed andunalterable measure) was such a case about which the scholars of thisschool were in disagreement among thems elves, and produc ed many trea t-ises in defence of the ir own, or in r efutation of the opposing views.

The most important schol ars of thi s ten denc y, whose views are some-times mentioned in the legal sources, are:(i ) 'Ali b. Bgbawayh al-Qummi (d . 3291904-1)(ii) Abu '1-Fad1 Mubammad b. Abmad al-SZb8ni al -J u' fi , au th or of

a/-Fa'khir (fi rst half of the 4thllOth cen tur y)(iii) Ja'f ar b. Mubammad b. Q8lawayh al-Qummi ( d. 3691979-80)( iv ) Ahmad b . Muhammad b. DSwGd b. 'Ali al-Qummi ( d . 3681978-9)

Shahid 11, MasFlik, 11, p. 222.Bab r al-'UlGm, 11, p. 218. See also Mufid, Sarawiyy a, p . 222.Mubaqqiq , Mu ' abar , p . 7; 8Zbib al-Madarik , HidFyat al-ta'libTn,

fol. 4b.See especially Ibn TZwGs, IqbFl, p . 6. Also KZ~im i,p. 139; AB, V ,pp. 236-8.


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40 AN INTRODUCTION TO S H T " ~LAW3. THE RATIONALISTSA s has been se en, the school of the traditionists gained control over theSh i'i cen tres of learning from the early yea rs of the period of MinorOccultation (2601874) until the second half of the 4thllOth century. Inthe last decades of that century, however, the emergence of a new schoolplaced the traditionists unde r pres sure and exposed them to sever e crit- 1icisms which gradually weakened, and finally reduced them to silence. tThe founder of this school was the theologian and jurist al-Shaykh Ial-Mufid, l Abii 'Abd A115 Mubarnmad b . Muhammad al-Nu'mZn al-BaghdZdi Ibn al-~u'a llim (d . 41311022). He had studied under Abmadb. Muhammad b. al-Junayd al-IskZfi , Muhammad b. ' ~ l i . BFbawayhal-sadiiq, ~ a ' f a r . Muhammad b . Qiilawayh, Abmad b. Mubammad b.DZwiid b . 'A17 al-Qummi and Abu '1-uusayn ' ~ l i . Wugayf al-Nzshi','

doctrine, he attacked and criticized the conservative approach of the 1

and was accordingl y, very well acquainted with the three legal schools ofthe 4thllOth century.

In orde r to pave the way for the retu rn of rational analysis in Sh i'i

trad ition ists in an attempt to brea k their position of dominance. In this, II

he was to be successful. One factor which was instrumental in his suc- Ecess was that the traditionists of Qum, who spearheaded that school, Imaintained certain special views with regard to the ImZms, and consid- Iered the attribution of any supernatural thing to them as a mark of Iextremism (ghuluww) and religious deviation. Some even considered as Ian extremist (gha'li-) anyone who believed that the Prophet was immune toinadvertence (sahw ). In this matter, most later Shi ci AkhbZris as wellas some Ugiili scholars sided with these early traditionists. These viewspresumably were not popular among the common people who preferred to Ielevate the spiritual status of their ImZms, and al-Mufid took advantage 1of this unpopularity to break the power of his opponents.

In spi te of the fact th at he had stu died with al-Sadiiq who was 'the

See especially Amh al-AstarZbZdi, p. 30.Mufid, Lamb a/-burhzn (quoted in Ibn Taw is, IqbFI, p. 5); Shayk h,Fihrist, pp. 89-90, 134, 136, 157.See MFimaqZni , the introduction, p . 212, V, pp. 84, 249.See Sadiiq, I, p p. 234-5; Majlisi I , Rawg'o, 11, pp . 451-2.JazZ 'iri, 111, p. 131, IV, pp . 35-40. Among the ancient Ugiili Sh i' ischolars al-Tabrisi suppo rted this view. See his Majrnas a/-bay en, I ,p. 181 (also IV, p. 317). See also Abii 'Ali , p. 45. II

THE PERIODS OF SHT'T LAW 41most outstandin g of the Qummiyyunl' and 'the head of the tradi tionis ts',al-Mufid crit iciz ed him har shl y in some of his work s, among them Ta$bTba/-i'tiqzd, a commentary on al-$adiiqts 01-1 ' iqzdzt , 01-Mosz'il ol-saro-wiyya3and JawFb ah1 a/-UC'ir. The words he use d in Jawzb ah / a/- OF'irwere so har sh 4 that some scholars doubted if it had indeed been w rittenby al-Mufid, while some suggested that it was written by al-Sharifa l - ~ u t a g a ~r someone else. It is clear, however, that this treatise is byal-Mufid,' since much of its content i s similar to state men ts in his otherworks, notably in TasbTb a/-i'tiqcd.

These har sh w ords, and al-Mufid's other criticism of th e opinions ofthe traditionists, l o reflect his great concern about the la tter st dominationover the S hi 'i intellectual community, and hi s determination to revive therational approach in law and theology. His pupil, al-Sharif al-MurtadZalso played an important pa rt in weakening the school of traditionists . Inmany of his works, notably JabFbFt a/-rnasF'i1 a/-Mawsiliyya al-thzlitha, l 2IbtFl a/-'arnal bi-ak hbzr a/-coo'dl and a/-Rad d 'ale as@b a/-'a dad l 4 hewas very critical of the traditionists, and even accused all 'Qummiyyiint ofbeing religious deviationists, with the only exception of al-Sadiq,toward whom he adopted a more moderate approach.

The attacks by al-Mufid, al-MurtadZ and ot her S hi 'i theologians in the

Shaykh, F ihr is t , p. 157.' BabrZni, Uadc'iq, I, p. 170.

See p. 2 2 2 .See pp . 112, 116, 118, 120. Also Jaz Z'i ri, IV, pp. 34-5; Bah rani ,KashkZl, I , pp. 218-19.'Ali b. Muhammad al-'Amili, a/-D urr a/-Manthcr, I , p. 100. See

also Macdermott , p. 41.JazZ 'iri, IV, p. 34; BabrZni , KashkEl, pp. 218-19.AB, V, p. 176.KZzimi, p. 211; Tustari, Sahw a/-NabT, p. 2 . See also Majlisi 11,XVII, p. 123, CX, pp. 165-7.See pp. 156, 160, 178, 182-3, 186, 211, 222 .

l o For instance 'U kboriyy a, fol. 59a. He also devoted a book to hiscriticisms to the traditionists, entitled Maqcbbh a/-anwcr fi 'I-radd 'a15ah/ a/-akhbzr (N ajZshi, p. 315; AB, XXI, p. 375).l1 KZzimi, pp. 205, 211.

l 4 Fol. 130b.l 5 Mu rtag a, IbtEl a/-'arnal bi-akhb& 01-*Zd, fol. 142b.


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42 AN INTRODUCTION TO SH i"I LAWfirs t half of the St hl ll th cen tur y, res ulted in the decline and fall of theschool of traditionists. Aspects of this sev ere controversy are recordedin some of the so urc es2 in which the traditionis ts a re refer red to as theIokhbCriyya' , and the 'ratio nalis ts' as 'rnu'tazila' or 'kalCrniyyal. Al-Mufidand al-Sharif al-Murtada to o, speak of the appro ach of 'mu takal lirn~ n' nd'rnubaqqiq5n1 as against that of t he 'traditionists'. ' n later Shi' i sources,the adh eren ts of thi s rationalist school are re ferr ed to by the term'u$Gliyyol. Al-Mufid was taug ht law by Ja'far b. Mubammad b. Qfilawayh,one of the jurists of the Intermediate tendency, and was familiar with theother legal Schools of his time. However, because of his rational andanalytical tenden cies he was an admire r of Ibn Abi 'Aqil, whose legalapproach was similar to his own.

The approach of the rationalists, as was described under the discussionof the legal methods of Ibn Abi 'Aqa, relied firmly on general Qur'znicprinciples and on widely transmitted (mutawCtir) traditions, and excludedthose traditions which did not provide certainty (CbCd). Instead of thelatter, they conformed to those legal views which were accepted and con-tinually practised among Shi'is (ijmC'Ct). e The process of inferring

'Abd al-Jalil al-Qa zwin i, p . 568.For instance Shahrastini , p. 178. It is strange that al-Babrani, whobelonged to the later Akhbaris of the sixt h stage of Sh i'i law, thoughtthat 'nothing happened between the traditionists and mujtahids (rational-ist jurists) in the first centuries, although those ages were full of bothtypes of scholars' (dadC'iq, I, p . 169).Sha hras tani , pp. 169, 178; Sharif al-J urj ani, p. 629; Fakhr al-RZzi , MobsGI (quo ted in KFqirni, p. 203).

' Mufid, A wC'il a/-maqClCt, p. 98; Mu rta aa, TabbCniyyCt, fol. 2 .See for instance 'Abd al-Jalil al-Qazwini, pp. 3 , 178, 179, 190, 231,235-7, 240, 272, 281, 282, 284, 415-16, 459, 481, 504, 506, 528, 569;

'Allzma, Niha'yat a/-wugGl, fol. 200b.NajZshi , p . 95.Ibid., p. 38.

"ee works of al-Mufid an d al-Murta (I.S. Also Rawandi , Fiqh al-Qu r Cn , I , p . 4 . However, t her e were some diffe renc es between theapproach of al-Mufid and al-MurtaaZ. See fur the r Brunschv ig, pp . 208-11.They had suc h a difference in theological matters as well. Al-RZwandi(d . 57311178) collected the cas es of disagreeme nts between al-Mufid andal-Sharif al-MurtadZ in thei r works, in an independe nt treat ise . Hegather ed ninety-five theological cases upon which their opinions differed.Al-RZwandi t houg ht it would need a larg e book to gath er all th e cases onwhich they had taken different standpoints (Ibn TZwfis, Kashf a/-mahaija,p. 20). Likewise, th er e were many cases of disagr eement between al-Sharif al-Murta(I.5 an d Abu '1-SaEb aI-galabi . Al-Kariijaki collected thesecases in a book entitled Ghzyat a/-ingcf f7 mas?i'il a/- khil zf in which hetried to support al-Murtadii's opinions (Nfiri, 1 1 1 , p. 498/AB, XVI, p. 9).

precepts from the appropriate sources was done through rational analysi s,the proc edu res and r ule s of conduct of which were familiar to the theolog-ians because of the latt ersl daily involvemtns with ha rd theological debates.I Nevertheless it should be noted that long years of entrenched traditionistinfluence on Shi 'i scholarship had left deep marks on the overall patter nsof Sh i' i th ought, and had, over time, become an integral part of these1 pat terns . The different standpoints over certain problems between thetheologians of the Period of the Presence and those of later periods, springfrom this fact. '

The characteristic of the rationalist school, according to the above,

account, i s their refusal to relay on Chzd traditio ns as a source of law.' Al-Mufid, al-Murtarl.5 and their stud ents ' all emphasized thi s point. The

three eminent scholars of the school, each of whom made his own originalI contribution to it, were :1 (i ) Al-Mufid, au thor of numerous legal treatises and t exts such a s1 a/-Muqni'a, a/-/'/Ern bi-rnC ittafaqat 'olayh a/-IrnCrniyya rnin a/-AbkCrnl and a/- A w 7 ~ i 'I-abkCrn(i i) Al-Sharif al-MurtadZ, au th or of a/-IntigCr, 01-MasC'il a/-NCgiriyyCtI and many other treatises(iii) Abu '1-$alZb Taq i al-Din b . Najm al-Din al-galabi , author ofa/-Ka'fT fi 'I-fiqh an d a pupil of al-Mufid

Other scholars of this school and inter pre ters of its views, whose original1 contributions are less conspicuous, ar ei ( i ) SallZr b . ' ~ b dl-'Aziz al-Daylami, aut hor of a/-MarCsirn al-'A llawiyya wa 'I-abkCrn a/-N abawiyya( ( i i) QEdi 'Abd al-'Aziz b. al-BarrZj al-S himi , author of al-Muhadhdhab,

a/-JawCh ir and Shar!, Jurnal a/-'il rn wa 'I-'arnal(iii) Abu '1-gasan Mubammad b. Mubammad al-B ugraw i, a stu den t ofI al-MurtadZ and author of al-M urd fi 'I- takrfI These differences were, however, in theological matters. In legal, discussions, they followed the same approach. The in vali dity of CbCdI tra dit ion s, which was the main chara cte ris tic of thi s school of law, wasfor instance su pporte d by Fadl b. ShZdhZn as well. See Babr al-'Ulfim,111, p . 232; AB, XXIV, p. 287.

See his : TagbTb a/-i'tiqC d, pp . 179, 212, 227-9; Tadh kira, p. 193;Saraw iyya, pp. 223-5; Jaw& ah1 a/-VC'ir, pp. 112, 116. See also IbnId ris , p. 409; Mubaqqiq, Ma'Crij, p. 127.In most of his wo rks, as example: a/-Mawgiliyya a/-thClitha, fol. 40a;I

DharTRa,pp. 528-55.' For instance al-balabi , Taqr7b a/-M aR%if , fol. 91a; Karzjaki , p. 296;Ibn al-BarrZj, Sha rh Jumal, pp . 170, 177, 256. See al so ~ a h g ' l-Dinal-'Amili, Warza, p. 6; KZzimi, p. 442.


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4 4 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAW(iv ) Abu '1-Fath Muhammad b . 'A li al-Kariijaki4 . THE SCHOOL OF SHAYKH AL-TA' IFAThe rationalist school based its legal theories on the Qur'an and on well-known widely transmitted traditions. Jho'd traditions on their own werenot con sidere d-to be a reliable source for law.

Shaykh al-Ta'ifa, Mubammad b. gas an al-Tiisi ( d. 46011067), knownsimply as 'al-Shaykh' in Sh i'i legal works, s trove to retain the authorityof EhEd traditi ons a s a sourc e of law, ' while preserving the analytical andrational method of law; a method which has remained the characteristicof Shi'i law up to the present time. The method of Shaykh al-TZ'ifa, ineffect, combined the method of the rationalists with that of the tradition-ist s. The legal works of Shaykh al-TZ'ifa ope ned up much new ground inShi ' i law. His K . a/-Mabsijt treated many cases which Shi'i jurists hadnot dealt with prev iousl y. His K . a/-KhilEf was the first notable work inthe field of comparative law among Sh i' is . These two books were modelledupon Sunni works, and through them an important part of Sunni legalscholarship passed into Shi'i law facilitating its further development.Sh i' i law at this s tage benefited much from the heritage of Sunni legalthought of the early centuries of Islam. At the same time, non-Shi'iconce pts, which were alien to traditional Sh i' i thoug ht, also crep t intoSh i' i law and created some inconsistencies in it. In his two works,Shaykh al-Ta'ifa cited the te xt of some Sunni legal works literally andthen added his judgments on the basis of S hi 'i general principles orShi'i traditions in the form of marginal notes. His efforts to adjust non-Shi'i concepts to his own legal system were not always successful. As aconsequence, some confusion and inconsistencies are apparent in hisworks, which were later refined by al-Mubaqqiq al-Jjilli .More consonant with traditional Shi'i legal thought, was Shaykh al-p ' i f a ' s K . a/-Niho'ya, which became the most auth orita tive Shi'T text fo rtwo centur ies. Apart from this, his a/-Jumal wa 'I- 'uqzd and some otherlegal treatise s of his have also surviv ed. His two collections of traditionsTahdh ib ol-otJk?irn and a/- lstib $Er, became important sou rces of the law.His approach towards contradictory traditions in these two books, and hislegal interpretation of them, deeply influenced Shi'i law.

The school of Shaykh al-Ta'ifa maintained i ts predominance in Sh i' i

See the cha pte r on okhbEr 01-o'tJEd in his 'Udda, pp . 25-63.For this second, he was accused by the Akhbiiris of following theprac tice of qiyEs. See Busay n al-Kar aki , chapter 8 .

THE PERIODS OF SHT'P LAW 45legal scholarship for thr ee centuries . During this time, it passed throughthree stages:

(a ) The disciples of Shaykh al-TZ'ifa- The century after his death was the period of his pupils and imitators.

None of the S hi 'i jurists of th is period produced any major novel ideas.They merely quoted and explained rl-Shaykh's statements and there-fore have been called 'muqallido' ( imit ator s). 'Sadid al-Din Mabmud al-gimma$i in the latt er pa rt of the 6 thl12 thcentu ry said that after al-Shaykh, the Shi'a had no muftT ( meaning ajurisconsult with independent judgments) and tha t all Shi 'i jurist s afterhim were merely nar rato rs and ex pound ers of his views.

The most prominent sc holar s of this peri od, whose names and works arementioned in the legal sources, are :( i) Abii ' ~ l i asa n b. MuPammad b. ga sa n al-TEST, son of al-Shaykh

( d . aft er 515/1121), autho r of Sho rh 01-Niho'ya an d a/-Murshid ilEsabTl 01-ta'abbud

(ii) NiqZm al-Din SulaymZn b . B asan al- $ah ras hti , a stu den t of al-Shaykh and a uth or of I$bEh a/-ShT'o bi-mi~ bEtJ 1-shari'a

(iii) 'AlZ' al-Din 'Ali b. gasan al-ga labi, autho r of Isho'rat a/-sabqilo' ma'rifat a/-h aqq

( iv ) Abii 'Ali Fad1 b . gas an Amin al-IslZm al-T abris i ( d . 54811158),author of a/-Muntakhab min Moso''i1 01-khilEf

( v ) 'ImZd al-Din Mubarnmad b. 'AE b. gamza al-Tiis i ( d . afte r 56611171), au th or of a/-Wasila i16 nay1 01-fafila

(v i ) Qufb al-Din Sa'id b . Hibat AllZh al-RZwandi (d . 573/1178), auth orof Fiqh a/- Qu r En

(vii) Quf b al-Din MuPammad b . Busayn al-Kaydari al-Bayhaqi (d . after57611181), auth or of 01-I~bo'h(viii) Rashid al-Din Mubammad b. 'Ali b . ShahrZshiib al-Sarawi (d . 5881

1192 ), au th or of MutashEbih 01-Qur'o'n wa mukh tolifu h( b ) The period of criticism1 A cen tury after the death of al-Shaykh, in the second half of the 6 thl1 12th century, a number of scholars arose in opposition to the fundamental

! principles of his school. Rejecting th e validity of EhEd tradi tio ns as asour ce of law, th ey revi ved th e rational method of al-Sharif al-Murtaqii.

I ' See KZ6imi, p. 4 4 2 .Ibn TZwEs, Kashf a/-Mabajja, p. 127; Jjusayn b. 'Abd al-$amad,WUSEI a/-akhyZr, p. 33; $Ebib al-Ma'alim, p. 179; Abu '1-~Zsim b.Basan al-Yazdi, I , p . 2 0 ; Khw5ndr i , VI I , p . 161.


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46 AN INTRODUCTION TO SH ~ ' ?AWThe prominent representatives of this new tendency, which did notdevelop any furt her after them, are:1. Sadid al-Din Mabmiid b. 'Ali al-uimmagi al-R Ezi ( d . aft er 5831 1187)2. 'Izz al-Din Abu 'I-Maklrim Ijamza b . 'A17 b. Zuh ra al-IJalabi ( d . 58511189-go), authpr of Chunyat a l - n ~ z i j ' ~3. Mubammad b. Mangiir b . Ahmad b. Id ris al-villi (d . 59811202), aut horof a/-SorZ'irTo this list some other scholars of the same period could be added, whoin their positive legal doctrine followed al-Shaykh, and hence we mentionedthem among his disciples, but in theory and under the influence of theworks of al-Sharif al-Murtada, the y maintained the invalidity of ZbEdtra dit ion s. Among them were Qutb al-Din al-fllw andi4 and IbnShahrzshiib .

The most radical proponent of this tendency was Ibn Idr is. His critic-ism of the views and t he legal approach of al-Shaykh was so stron g that itwas considered by some later scholars to have exceeded proper bounds.

Although Ibn IdrTsts critical views did not attr act many sup port ers ,they did stimulate effo rts to take S hi 'i law out of its static mould, a ndthu s furt here d its evolution. The main chara cterist ics of Ibn Idri s'sapproach were his critical eye and his independent thought, which areobservable even in the preface and conclusion of his a/-Sarz'ir.

During the 7thl13th century, a number of jurists offered some newopinionss which ar e cited in the legal sources. They are:( i ) Muhadhdhab al-Din uus ay n b. Mubammad al-Nili (earl y 7thl13th

century )( i i ) Musin al-Din Salim b. Bad ran al-Migri (ali ve in 621311231), aut hor

of Tab rir a/-farc'i d and a/-,Ma'Ena- -ee his opinions about CbFd traditions in Ibn Idri s, Sa rz'i r, pp. 409-11, quoting from al-gimmagits a/-Magodir.2 See his view about akhbZr 01-ZbZd in h is Ch unya, pp . 537-9.See his view on akhb zr al-obzd in his a/-Saro'ir, p . 4.

See his view in that case in his Fiqh a/-Qur'Zn, I , p. 4.See his opinion in his MutashZbih a/-Quim'Zn,11, pp. 153-4.See as an example of those judgments Naj afi, X IX , D. 37.See it , pp . 4, 404. It is to be noted that th is book is full of usefulphilological, genealogical and biographical information which demonstra testhat Ibn Idris was well acquainted with different branches of Islamic

scholarship.See '~llZma,MuntahZ, p. 4. These schol ars followed al-Shaykh intheir general methodology.

! THE PERIODS OF SHY ? LAW(iii) Zayn al-Din Muhammad b. Qzsim al- Ba rzi fi al-Nay szbfir i (ali ve in

66111263)- ( iv) Najm al-Din Mubammad b. Ja'far b. Hibat Allzh b. Nimz (d. 6451

1248)( v ) Sadid al-Din Yiisuf b. al-Mutahhar al-uilli (alive in 66511267)(vi) Abmad b . Mi i s 5 b . TOwiis al-uilli (d . 6731 1274-5), au tho r of

B ush rb a/-mubaqqiqin(vii) YahyZ b. Sa'id al -uilli ( d. 68911290), aut hor of Jcmi' al- sharo 'i'

and Nuzhat a/-nZ?ir(viii) 'ImZd al-Din Basan b . 'A17 al- Ta bar i (ali ve in 69811299), au th or

of a/-'U mda, Nahj a/ -'i rE n and a/-Fa$Tb a/-munh ij(C Al-Mubaqqiq and al- 'AllzmaThe legal heritage of al-Shaykh, though fertile in new perspectives,

was, nevertheless, as yet immature and inconsistent, and needed furt herrefinement and organizati on. Some of the elements which he adopted fromSunni law remained tied to their original framework, and were not wellabsorbed and adjusted to the new system. If Shi 'i law was to benefitfully from these elements, the whole system had to be adjusted and reorg-anized in order to accommodate them.

Th is task was accomplished by al-Mubaqqiq, Najm al-Din Abu '1-QssimJa' far b . Basan al-uilli (d . 67611277) aut hor of SharZ'i' 01-lslzm,a/-Mukhta~ar /-ncfi , a/-Mue abor , Nukat 01-NihCyo and other legalworks. He refined the Shaykh al-T5'ifats legal heritage in detail, collectedand rearr anged his opinions on various subje cts, harmonized his legaldoctrine and thus restored its authority which had been discredited byIbn Idris's criticism. He contested these criticisms vigorously anddefended al-Shaykh's legal doctrine.Al-Mubaqqiqts main contribut ion to Sh i 7 law, th ere for e, was his recon-struction and refinement of al-Shaykhts legal system, which placed Shi'ilaw on a firmer bases enabled i ts fur the r development. His studental-'Allzma, gas an b. Yfisuf b. al-Mutahhar al-v illi followed thi s samecourse . He strove to elaborate and expand the law on the basis of al-Shayk hts legal doctrine and of al-Mubaqqiqts reorganization. He wrotemany books on different branches of law, which all became importantworks of referen ce for later juris ts. Among them were Mukhtalaf a/-Shi'a,Tadhkirat al-fuqahz, Muntaho a/-Moflab, TabrTr a/-abkzrn a/-shar'iyya,Tabsira t a/-muta'allimin, Qawz'id a/-abkFm, Irs hzd a/-adhhZn, N ihzyata/-ibkCm and TalkhTs a/-marzm.

Al-'Alllma contr ibute d to the development of Shi 'i law parti cular ly in


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48 AN INTRODUCTION TO SHT'T LAWtwo areas . He greatly enlarged the section on legal transacti ons on thebas is of I'elevant general rule s mainly taken from Sunn i law. His effo rtsin this area reflect his thorough knowledge of Sun ni legal principles. Hissecond contribution was the introduction of mathematics, in which he waswell ver sed , into the law. He seems to be the first prominent scholar touse advanced mathematical rules in the relevant legal subjec ts such as thelaw of inheritance, the times of prayer (awqat 01-$slat) and the directionof prayer (qibla). He also made great contributions to the development ofSh i' i law through his criticism of the transmitter s of the traditions, hisimplementation of a novel classification for the Shi 'i trad itio ns accord ingto the deg ree of autho rity of their n arr ato rs2 and his refinement ofu@l a/-fiqh through his numerous u$Gl works.

To sum up , th e legal doctrine of Shaykh al-Ta'ifa which had becomepredominant in the S hi rr community from the middle of the S th ll lt h cen-tu ry onw ards, reached i ts highest level of refinement in th e latte r half ofthe 8th114th centur y as a re sult of al-Mubaqqiq's clarification andsystem ization , and al-'Allzma's elaboration and expans ion. It s definitiveformulation appeared in the works of these two scholars. The pupils andfollowers of them all worked within this same legal framework . The mostrenowned of them, whose views have been cited in the legal works, are :( i) Abh Mubammad gasan b . Abi T llib al-Yhsufi al-Abi , Ibn Zaynab,

aut hor of Kashf 01-rumilz (compos ed in 67211274)(ii) 'Amid al-Din 'Abd al-Muffa lib b. Mubammad al-I;Iusayni al-A 'rajr

( d . 754/1353), aut hor of Konz a/-fawa'id(iii) Fa kh r al-Mubaqqiqin, Mubammad b. IJasan al-I;Iilli , son of al-

'AllZma ( d . 77 1/1 370 ), au th or of Td?ib 01-fowz'id5. THE SCHOOL OF AL-SHAHTD AL-AWWALIt was in the second stage of its development that Sh i'i law emerged as anindependent and systematic legal structure. The legal works which havesurvived from the second and the third stages, reflect the traditionalstyl e of S hi 'i law which Shaykh al-TE'ifa followed in his 01-NihFyo. But

He had been preceded in the application of advanced mathematicalrul es in this cas e by Mu'in al-Din al-Migri in his TahrTr a/-farE'iQ' (s eeAB. 111, p. 377), followed by NasG al-Din al -Th si in his a/-FarEY i#al-Na$ii-iyyo (ibid., XVI, p. 150).Thi s novel classification was originally in itjated by al-'Allama's teacherJams al-Din Abmad b. Mils5 b . Taw&, auth or of B us hr z 01-hlubaqqiqTn

(T ur ay bi, JFmi' al-maq51, c hapt er 56) and gained popularity throu gh itsvast implementation by al-'Allzma in his works.

I THE PERIODS OF SHT'T LAWI after th is , an d with the app earanc e of his a/-Mabsljt and 01-Khilaf which

incorporate Sunni legal methods and concepts, some fundamental changesappeared in the form and content of Sh i 'i law.

With regard to form, the new expositions of the law turned into a mix-ture of the two legal systems. They usually covered legal topics on thebasis of Sunni legal tex ts, first citin g the views of Sunni jurists , usuallythose quoted in 01-KhilCf, and th en pre sent ing the opinions of Sh i' ischolars. AI- Abi , a student of al-Mubaqqiq and author of Kashf a/-rumzz,was one of the first Sh i' i aut hor s who did not follow the appr oach andrefrain ed from quoting th e opinion of Su nnis in his own book. Thestud ents of al-'Allzma, notably Fak hr al-Mubaqqiqin in his book T#Fb01-fawZyid, followed al-Abi's lead and omitted th e an alyses and opinions ofSunni scholars.

With regard to content, the additional subsidiary legal cases first dis-cussed in 01-Mabsu't and late r in the w orks of al-'Allama in the sect ion ontransactions, were borrowed from Sunni works and continued to be pres-ented on the basis of the principles of Su nni law. Hence, a stud y of thefoundations of Sunni law became crucial to the understanding and studyof Shi'f legal sour ces.

Al-Shahid al-Awwal, Shams al-Din Mubammad b. Makki al-'Amili(d . 78611384) in his 01-QowC'id wa 'I-fawz'id refor mul ated th e fund amen talrules and principles of Shi'i law, and in applying them, changed the con-tents of Shi'i law and provided it with an independent identity.

On the basis of the same principles , al-Shahid opened up new grou ndsfor Sh i'i law and introduced discussions of many new subsidiar y cases.Thus his legal system was quite distinct from those of his predecessorsboth in methods and contents. His legal wor ks, such a s 01-QawF'id wa 'I-fowii'id, al-DurGs 01-shar'iyy a, GhFyot 01-muriid, a/-Baya' n, 01-Alfiyya and01-Lum'a 01-Dimashqiyya ar e among th e most important w orks of S hi 'i law.

Scholars after him for about one and a half centuries continued toadhere to his school and, though they offered cer ~a in ovel opinions, theymostly directed their efforts towards explaining his views. The mostrenowned among them were:( i ) Ibn al-Khlzin, Zayn al-Din, 'Ali b . I;Iasan b. al-Khzzin al-I jz'iri

(early 9th115th century)(ii) Ibn al-Mutawwij, Ahmad b. 'Abd AllSh al-BabrSni ( d. 8201 1417-18),

author of a/-NihGa f7 tafsTr a/-Khamsmi'at Fya(iii) A1-FZQil al-MiqdZd , Miqdzd b . 'Abd AllZh al-Suyhri al-uilli(d . 826/1423), autho r of Kanz 01-'irfin and a/-TanqTL, 01-rF'i'


19/23

50 AN INTRODUCTION TO ~ ~ f ' iAW(iv) Ibn Fahd, Ahmad b. Mubarnmad b. Fahd al-Asadi al-lJilli (d . 8411

1437-81, author of 01-Muhadhdhab a/-bcri', a/-Mi7jaz 01-hew7 anda/-Muqtasar

( v ) Shams al-Din Mubarnmad b. Shuja' al-Qatt an al-l Jilli ( fi rs t half ofthe 9thl15th century), author of Ma'iilirn a/-dTn fT fiqh A / Yesin

(v i ) Muflib b. Ijusayn al-Saymari (d . af ter 87811473-4), aut hor ofGhFyat a/-marcm, Kashf a/-iltibcs and Jawchir a/-kalimet

(vii) Ib n Hilzl, 'Ali b . Muhammad b. Hi151 al- Ja zl 'i ri (d . 909-91511504- 10)

(viii) Ibrohim b. Sulayman al-Qatifi ( d. a fter 945115391, author of T d~ ba/-NFfit

( ix ) Al-Shahid al-Th5nT , Zayn al-Din, b . 'Ali b . AQmad al-'Amili(d . 96611559), au th or of a/-Rawda a/-b ohiy ya, MasEIik al-afho'mand Rawd a/-jincn

6. THE LAW OF THE SAFAVID PERIODSh i' i law d uri ng th e period of th e Safavids (907-113511502-1722) may bedivided into three schools which although appearing one after another,continued to exist and evolve side by side for a long time.

(a ) The school of al-Mubaqqiq al-KarakiAl-Mubaqqiq 'Al i b . Ijusa yn b. 'Abd al-'Ali al-Karaki (d . 9401 1534)

was a leading figure in Shi'i scholarship in the early Safavid period andmade a major contr ibuti on to the development of S hi 'i law.

Al-Karaki 's law differed in two res pec ts from earlier formulati ons.Firstl y, he was able throug h strin gent legal reasoning to place Sh i'i lawon a more stable and solid footing by way of re constru cting and streng th-ening its principles. He analysed legal problems thoroughly, payingmeticulous attention to the discussions and arguments previously advancedabout them, and used his power of reason and analysi s to arriv e a t his ownjudgment. Earlier analyses of legal questions were rath er superficial andinade quate . He base d his judgments on a thoroug h investigation both infavour of and against them. His legal doctrine, ther efore, was much moresolidly argued than had been doctrines by earlier jurists.

Secondly, he paid close attention to certain problems which had arisenas a resu lt of the cha nge of th e political situation with the adoption ofShi'ism as the official relig

Documents

An Introduction to Shi'i Law