brochure 2012 - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

The intellectual and religious heritage of Shīʿism (Zaydism and
Imamism)
The scholarly investigation of Shīʿite Islam and its three branches, Twelver
(or Imami) Shīʿism, Zaydism and Ismāʿīlism, began much later than that
of Sunnī Islam, and Shīʿism has long been considered to be of marginal
importance at best. The Iranian Revolution of 1979, which cannot be
understood without taking the legal characteristics of Twelver Shīʿism
and its historical development into consideration, has proved this evaluation
to be wrong and since then the study of Twelver Shīʿite Islam is
steadily on the rise. The study of Ismāʿīlism has been actively promoted
over the last three decades by the current imam of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs, Aga
Khan IV (b. 1936), and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London that was
established in 1977 under his auspices. In contrast to these two branches
of Shīʿite Islam, Zaydism has so far attracted much less scholarly attention,
partly because it has been perceived as being more marginal than
either Twelver Shīʿism (which is the state religion of Iran and a politically
significant community in Lebanon, Iraq and the Arabian peninsula) and
Ismāʿīlism (due to the active role of the Aga Khan in its scholarly investigation).
However, the recent conflict in Yemen shows how important it
is to understand the legal and political notions of Zaydism, as its adherents
represent some of the most significant political factions in the country,
and their views will no doubt be an important factor in the future
developments in Yemen.
It is only during the last years that the vast holdings of the various private
and smaller public libraries of Yemen are being made available
to the scholarly community. While some of these materials have been
used for various publications by members of the “Muʿtazilite Manuscripts
Project Group”, the majority still awaits close study. This also applies to
the development of Muʿtazilite thought among the Zaydites from the 12th
century onwards.
The Research Unit (Hassan Ansari / Sabine Schmidtke / Gregor Schwarb /
Jan Thiele) focusses on some of the most neglected fields of Zaydī thought
and practice. Some results of these efforts are included in a special issue
of the peer-reviewed journal Arabica: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies/Revue
d’études arabes et islamiques, The neglected Šīʿites: Studies in
the legal and intellectual history of the Zaydīs = Arabica 59 iii-iv (2012)
that is published by Brill, Leiden.
Gregor Schwarb is preparing a comprehensive study of the development
of Zaydī legal methodology (uṣūl al-fiqh) that is closely related
to Muʿtazilism on the one hand and to Ḥanafism on the other. Jan
Thiele is focusing on Zaydī Yemenī doctrinal thought during the 12th
and early 13th centuries that was primarily under the influence of the
Muʿtazilite thought of the school of the Bahshamiyya. Beside his indepth
studies into the ontology and cosmology of al-Ḥasan al-Raṣṣāṣ he is
now preparing an editio princeps of the majority of the latter’s works on
theology. One of the major concerns of al-Raṣṣāṣ was with the rival group
of the Muṭarrifiyya, whose adherents upheld notions of natural causality
and a cosmology that was inconceivable for mainstream Zaydism of
the time. Hassan Ansari is currently preparing a comprehensive study
on the doctrinal history of the Muṭarrifiyya. Hassan Ansari and Sabine
Schmidtke further study the doctrinal developments of Yemeni Zaydī
thought since the 13th century, focusing in particular on the growing
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Institute of Asian and African Studies
The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies
and
Freie Universität
Research Unit Intellectual History of the Islamicate World
announce
The second
New Frontiers in Islamic Studies
German-Israeli Summer School
funded by the Einstein-Stiftung, Berlin
9–14 September at Freie Universität Berlin
The Genizah:
An unexploited source for the intellectual
history of the medieval world of Islam
The purpose of this School is to introduce students
of Islamic Studies to the immense riches of
the Genizah, to demonstrate its relevance and
potential through a number of case studies and
to enable them to work with the Genizah materials
on their own. Special emphasis will be laid on
technical and methodological issues related to
the material.
Conveners:
Prof. Sabine Schmidtke (FU)
and Prof. Reuven Amitai (HU)
Coordinator: Jan Thiele
The School is aimed at graduate
(MA and PhD) students in Islamic
Studies and adjacent fields. The
School will be conducted in English;
reading knowledge of Arabic is
required (knowledge of Hebrew is
preferred, but not necessary).
Students coming from outside Berlin
will receive full room and board.
Attendance throughout the week
of the Summer School is mandatory.
The School will be considered
equivalent to 2 academic credits
(approval pending).
For further information and application
please contact Jan Thiele
e-mail: jan.thiele@arcor.de
Application ends 31 May 2012
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