Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introducing Ismaili Apocalypses
- 1 From ẓāhir to bāṭin: An Introduction to Fatimid Hermeneutics
- 2 Oaths, Taxes and Tithes: Organising an Imminent Utopia
- 3 Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript I: The Book of Unveiling
- 4 Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript II: The Book of Righteousness and True Guidance
- 5 To Temper an Imminent Eschatology: The Contributions of al-Mahdī and Qāḍī l-Nu ʿmān
- 6 A Spiritual Progression to a New Eschatological Centre: The Taʾwīl al-da ʿāʾim on the Hajj
- 7 Actualising the End: The Nizari Declaration of the Resurrection
- 8 From Movement to Text: The Haft-bāb
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Subject Index
1 - From ẓāhir to bāṭin: An Introduction to Fatimid Hermeneutics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 September 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Introducing Ismaili Apocalypses
- 1 From ẓāhir to bāṭin: An Introduction to Fatimid Hermeneutics
- 2 Oaths, Taxes and Tithes: Organising an Imminent Utopia
- 3 Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript I: The Book of Unveiling
- 4 Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript II: The Book of Righteousness and True Guidance
- 5 To Temper an Imminent Eschatology: The Contributions of al-Mahdī and Qāḍī l-Nu ʿmān
- 6 A Spiritual Progression to a New Eschatological Centre: The Taʾwīl al-da ʿāʾim on the Hajj
- 7 Actualising the End: The Nizari Declaration of the Resurrection
- 8 From Movement to Text: The Haft-bāb
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Subject Index
Summary
Key to understanding the ways in which Fatimid apocalypticism was deployed in the construction and maintenance of empire is a discussion of some of the differences between Sunni and Shia hermeneutical methods. One of the major distinctions is that the early Shia emphasised the distinctions between the literal (ẓāhir) and hidden (bāṭin) meanings of the Quranic text. The Quran itself acknowledges that some of its verses are clear and others are equivocal:
He it is Who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive (muḥkamāt), they are the basis of the Book, and others are equivocal (mutashābihāt); then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the part of it which is equivocal, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation (taʾwīl). But none knows its interpretation except God, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge (al rāsikhūn fī l- ʿilm) say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding (3:7).
Many Sunni interpreters place a period after ‘God’; the verse then reads, ‘But none knows its interpretation except God. And those who are firmly rooted in knowledge (al-rāsikhūn fī l- ʿilm) say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.’ The meaning of these equivocal verses is, then, inaccessible to humans. The Shia, on the other hand, do not place any punctuation after ‘God’ so that the verse reads, ‘But none knows its interpretation except God and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge,’ the rāsikhūn fī l- ʿilm, who, according to Shia thought, are the Prophet Muḥammad and the imāms.
Multivalent Quranic interpretation became a staple of Shia hermeneutics. Fused to the presence of these equivocal verses was the necessity that those ‘firmly rooted in knowledge’ interpret them. While the development of Shia taʾwīl and tafsīr (exegesis) lies far beyond this discussion, it should be noted that in the Shia system, the meanings of equivocal verses are known only to God and His elect.
The early Ismaili system further developed this fundamental distinction between hidden and apparent meanings. The process of taʾwīl, derived from the root a/w/l, means to return to the origin, not simply the esoteric interpretation of the text, but the ḥaqīqa, or eternal truth, embedded within that bāṭin.
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- An Apocalyptic History of the Early Fatimid Empire , pp. 14 - 21Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2016