Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Translation
- Introduction
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Selected Theological Writings
- 1 A Précis of the Doctrines of Abū ’l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī by Ibn Fūrak
- 2 The Succor of Nations amidst the Confusion of Darkness by al-Juwaynī
- 3 The Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate by Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī
- 4 The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering by al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
- 5 The Book of Excellence on the Fundamental Principles of Religion by Ibn al-Malāḥimī
- 6 The Concise Book of Doctrines by ʿAbd al-Kāf ī al-Warjalānī
- 7 The Crown of Doctrines and the Mine of Instructive Points by al-Dāʿī Ibn al-Walīd
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
3 - The Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate by Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī
from Selected Theological Writings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Translation
- Introduction
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Selected Theological Writings
- 1 A Précis of the Doctrines of Abū ’l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī by Ibn Fūrak
- 2 The Succor of Nations amidst the Confusion of Darkness by al-Juwaynī
- 3 The Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate by Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī
- 4 The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering by al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
- 5 The Book of Excellence on the Fundamental Principles of Religion by Ibn al-Malāḥimī
- 6 The Concise Book of Doctrines by ʿAbd al-Kāf ī al-Warjalānī
- 7 The Crown of Doctrines and the Mine of Instructive Points by al-Dāʿī Ibn al-Walīd
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Summary
Chapter three presents the views of the prominent Zaydī scholar al-Nāṭiq bi-’l-Ḥaqq Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī (d. 424/1033) in his Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate (al-Diʿāma fi tathbīt al-imāma). Al-Nāṭiq draws on key Muʿtazili concepts and technical terms to propound a comprehensive argument in defence of the Zaydi conception of the imamate while refuting the doctrines of his Muʿtazili, Sunni, and Twelver Shiʿi peers. Against the Twelvers, al-Nāṭiq sought to refute three assumptions: the rational necessity of the imamate, the necessity of infallibility, and the necessity of divine designation (naṣṣ). He was intimately familiar with Twelver doctrines because his father and larger family identified as Twelvers. Al-Nāṭiq’s Theoretical Underpinning became as a seminal work on the Zaydi imamate.
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- Caliphate and ImamateAn Anthology of Medieval Muslim Texts on Political Theology, pp. 42 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023