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“Adhering to the Community” (Luzūm al-Jamāʿa): Continuities between late Umayyad Political Discourse and “Proto-Sunni” Identity1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2016

Abbas Barzegar
Abbas Barzegar*
Affiliation:
Georgia State University
*
e-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

This article addresses the early formation of Sunni “orthodoxy” through the prisms of historical memory and collective identity rather than those of theology, law, and formal political power.2 It does so by exploring the socio-political context in which the phrase luzūm al-jamāʿa3 (adhering to the community) was deployed during the late Umayyad/Marwanid (64/684–132/750) and early Abbasid (132/750–333/945) periods, primarily among the networks of hadith transmitters who circulated the idea during that period. The results of this analysis reveal that ideas central to Sunni conceptions of community first developed in Umayyad patronage structures and networks, before being adopted by the so-called “proto-Sunni” elite.

Keywords

SunniShiiteOrthodoxyUmayyadMarwanidAbbasidHadithIsnadJama‘aCommunity
Type
Articles
Information
Review of Middle East Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , August 2015 , pp. 140 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc. 2016 

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Footnotes

1

I would like to thank Devin Stewart and Lou Ruprecht for their invaluable feedback on early drafts of this article.

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