How Did the Early Shî'a become Sectarian?

Author(s): Marshall G. S. Hodgson

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1955), pp. 1-13
Published by: American Oriental Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/595031 .
Accessed: 08/12/2011 02:29

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of
the American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org
 EOW DID THE },ARLY SEttA BECOME SECTARIAN?

AIARSHALL (;. S. EIODGSON

OF CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY

IT IS BY NOWwell knownthat Shitismwas not leaders3 and,so far as relationsllipto the Prophet
at first, as orthodox Twelvers and even Sunnis entered the case, even the other uncles were not
would have it, a consistent cult of the twelve ruled out. lIence the most efective of all Shitite
imamsone after another,from whichvariousdissi- eforts, in one sense, was the one which put the
dent Sh^ltitegroups divergedin favor of one or 'Abbasidson the throne.
anotheralternativeclaimant. The early Shzl'ais We must no longerask how the early Shitacould
no longerto be viewedfromthe standpointof later neglect what we took for basic Shitite principles,
Imamism;and this fact obviatessomeonce-popular but how those very principles could have arisen
questions,raising new ones in their place. For out of the early situation. The particularquestion
instance,it can no longer be supposed,as it used touchedon in this paper is how Shitismcame to
to be, that the Zaydis parted companywith the be sectarian. There were many cross-currentsin
Twelvers because they preferred Zayd to Mu- ealnlyIslam; most were absorbedinto the Sunn
hammadBaqir as the fifth imam, succeedingto synthesis. lIow was Shitism able to escape this
'A1i Zayn al-tAbidin; nor that the subsequent fate and maintain and deepen its characteristic
Zaydi imams were descendantsof Zayd.l For diferences? Two of the several elements in the
Zaydis,'Ali Zayn al-'Abidinwas no imam at all; processare the spiritualindependence of the (;hulat
but even if he had been, there would have been and the strategic advantagesof the sectarian ten-
no questionof anyonein particular" succeeding" dencies in the imamateof Ja':faral-$adiq.4
to him, for the imamatewas not hereditary.2 In-
deed, strictly speaking,the Zaydisnever "parted The initial defeat of the Shtta, and its reactions
company" with the Twelvers at all; for in the thereto
days when Zaydismwas being formulatedthere The traditional Sunni viewpointhas been that
were as yet no Twelvers,for the Twelfth Imam 'All was one of the four great caliphs acceptedby
had not yet come upon the scene. Similarly, it the communityas rightful, and that the Shitites
need no longer be regardedas strange,as it used have merely exaggerated a reverence for him
to be, that so many Shl'itescould acceptas imam which the whole community shared. On this
non-Fatimids,like Muhammadibn al-Hanafiya; assumptionthe bitternessof the Shl'a againstthe
for it is now recognizedthat for the early Shzl'ites, rest of Islam is scarcely intelligible. The first
as for the other Arabs,it was descentin the male step in understandinghas been taken when it is
line which counted that is, from tAli, not pri- realizedthat for the early community'Ali was by
marily from Muhammad'sdaughter. Indeed, the no means on the same footing with the first three
whole family of 'Ali was given precedence;any caliphs. This early rejectionof 'A1i,which Buhl's
descendantsof Abu Talib could become Shitite biographyof 'Ali brings out so clearly,5imme-
1 The old assumptions are to be found in I. Goldziher 3 The term ' TAlibid' is used in contrast to "AbbAsid'

Vorlesungen vuber den Islam ( Heidelberg, 1910), 247, as often as is "Alid '; and as the case of 'Abd AllAh ibn
they are also reflected in the common term ' Fivers ' Mu'Awiya shows, other TAlibids could be looked on as
( Pinf er )-cf . B. Spuler, Iran in f ruh-islamischer Zeit within the family; however, even Ibn Mu'Awiya was
( Wiesbaden, 1952), 170. Confusion on these points expected by some to give over the imAmateto an actual
unfortunately continues by inadvertence. Cf. also C. 'Alid. Nawbakhtt,Firaq al-gheta, ed. E. Ritter ( Istanbul,
Brockelmann, History of the Ielamic Peoples, trans. J. 1931), 31. Cf. F. Buhl, "Alidernes Stilling," Danske
Carmichael and M. Perlmann ( London, 1949), 142-3. Videnskabernes Selskab, Forhandlinger, nr. 5 ( 1910), 384.
M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes,Les Instit?4trons musX^6lmanes 4 There are certainly other factors not dealt with here.
(Paris, 1946, 3rd. ed.), 41, even makes of Zayd a hidden B. Lewis, Origins of Ismailism ( C:ambridge,1940), 32,
imAm! Picturing the Zaydis in the Tlvelvers' image can stresses a shift to a more urban class situation uncon-
hardly go further. fused by Arab national predominanceas reason for the
2R. Strothmann, in his several works on the Zaydis, rise of conspiratorial sects under the 'AbbAsids.
has most fully clarified these points. 6 F. Buhl, 'Alf som Praetendent og SSalif (Kopen-
 IIODGSOISJ: Elow did the Early Shtta becomeSectarian?
diatelyposesa seriesof newquestions for instance,
how did the once despised 'Ali gain his present
prominencein Islam? and at the sametime sug-
gests what tremendousvitality lay in the minority
which formedhis initial party.
The bitternessof the Shititesagainstthe rest of
IslAmas the enemiesof 'A1ihas a soberhistorical
foundation. It is hard to suppose that anyone
thought of 'Ali as the logical candidate at the
deathof the Prophet;6 but even whenunderextra-
ordinarycircumstanceshe was elected at Madina,
many of the most prominentof Muhammad'scom-
panions opposed'Ali's rule, and others remained
distinctly neutral.7 Not only TaThaand Zubayr,
but Mutawiyafrom the first had supportersout-
side of Syria; the arbitrationat Adhruhwain
the very choice of al-Ashtari-a triumph for the
neutrals; and by the end of 'Ali's life he seems
to have been abandonedon one basis or another
by the greater part of Islam.8 Accordingly,the
opposition 'All or 'Uthman, which the Sunnis
denied (while the Shititesextendedit to the Shay-
khaynas well), was clearlyno fiction. The cursing
of 'All by the dominantpartyof Islam, that of the
IJmayyads,was an equivalentto the cursing of
'Uthman by both Wharijitesand Shitites from
hagen, 1921) . Al-Mans.Ar'sremarks on 'Alf's position
(Tabari, III 213) seem justified.
6 P. K. Hitti, however, still follows ShahrastAnf in
carrying a party of 'legitimists' (ahl al-nas$) back to
the death of the Prophet. II«story of the Arabs, 4th ed.,
(London, 1949), 179. No doubt 'All had personal fol-
lowers from the first. But in any case the term ' legiti-
mism,' which implies hereditary succession on the basis
of traditional rules, cannot be applied to the Shfta, least
of all when appeal is made to the imAm's nas, his
personal designation. Neither 'Ali nor Husayn would
have been the heir by usual rules.
7 Cf. F. Buhl, 'Alt, 36 f. C:learly 'Alf's election at
Madina did not have the same meaning as that of the
first three RAshidAn. The Madina caliphate originated
as a makeshift, dependent on Muh.ammad's personal
prestige as it extended to his closest associates and his
chosen city. Otherwise the Caliphate had no constitu-
tional character of its own; so that when these conditions
ceased, its first, Madinese, phase was at an end. 'A1t
both shifted the capital from Madina (for he relied on
a party, not on a sense of Muslim unity) and was suc-
ceeded by his son-in both respects like Mu'Awiya. But
unlike Mu'Awiya,he never commandedthe allegiance of
the whole Muslim community. The time between the
death of tUthmAn and the proclamation of Mu'Awiya
could as readily be reckoned an interregnum as a fourth
Madina cali)hate. Cf. J. Wellhausen, Das arabische
Reich ( Berlin, 1902), 34.
8 Wellhausen, Reich, 63 and passim.
amongthe originalpartyof 'All.9 The Shl'abegan
as a minorityparty,whoseleaderwas rejectedby
the othercompanionsof Muhammad;and although
the rest of Islam has since come halfwayto meet
them, and the 'IJthmaniyahas been quite sub-
merged,the Shititeshave refusedto be reconciled.
The history of the Shita after its initial defeat
moves toward two results. On the one hand is
the developmentof sectariangroupingswhichhave
come to give 'Ali and certain of his descendants
an exclusiverole in specialreligioussystems. On
the otherhand is the mouldingof Islam as a whole
in a Shititic direction, until reverencefor 'Ali
and his Fatimid descendantshas come to color in
manifoldwaysthe life of Sunm Islfim. Therewas
at first, however,apparentlyno distinctionbetween
the two trends both results followed from the
events of the first century.
IIated by the :Sharijites,resistedby the Syrians
and Mutawiya'sparty, unlovedby the Hijazi sup-
porters of Zubayr,abandonedby the neutrals of
Adhruh,andnot well supportedevenby the :Sufans
to whomhe couldat least guaranteethe presenceof
their treasury nonetheless,'Ali still had a zealous
personalparty. Malik al-Ashtar,Muhammadibn
Abu Bakr, and Salman Farisl were survivedby
othersat least as loyal. Strothmannsees in the
poetry of al-Du'alireligioushonorsof sorts being
alreadyaccordedto 'Ali.l° rAbdAllah ibn Saba'
is almost as much of a legend as Salman,but it
seemslikely that he did refuse to believethat 'Ali
could really be defeatedor killed; that he asserted
'All had a divinemissionto " drivethe Arabswith
his stick,n'to force the whole recalcitrantcom-
munity of Islam to accept his sway; and so
expectedhis return somewhatin the manner of
9 Wellhausen, Religios-polittsche Oppositionsparteien,
Abh. d. Kon. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. zu Gottingen, phil.-hist.
K1., n.f. V nr. 2 (1901), 83, notes that at the time of
MukhtArthe slogan opposed to that of Husayn was that
of 'UthmAn.
10R. Strothmann, EI s. v. " Shita." But even very
adulatory terms in a poem need not imply a real dogma.
Expressions like those in Ya'qflbt ( ed. Houtsma Historsae
(Leidenw1883), II, 208) where al-Ashtar says at the
time of 'All's accession that 'Ali is tua al-awsiyd' and
wartth 'tIm al-anbiyd' are not certainly genuine. But
in any case the terms as they stand could indicate a
purely personal enthusiasm: the term wag implies a
personal claim but not in itself a religious officc- cven
when used by al-Nafs al-Zakiya (Tabari, III 209). The
inheritance even of prophecy seems to lack an implica-
tion of doctrine when applied to the 'AbbAsidsas in H.
Lammens' citation, Fattmo (Rome, 1912), 139.
 HODGSON: Mowdid the Early Shtta becor)eSectarian? 3

Barbarossa. If it is true that he was banishedto (d. 687) gave a moreambiguousleadershipto the
Mada'in,his strong partisanshipwas alreadyem- movement,compromisingit with the tolerationof
barrassingto'Ali in his lifetime.l1 such variedelementsas Arabdivinationand equal-
this marked a breach with
The tendency for this partisanshipto develop ity for the Mawali; but attractedto the Shl'ite
into real sectarianismmovedrather slowly.l2 The sheer Kufan patriotism,
with considerablepotentialreli-
Eufans looked to the family of 'Ali, as did the tendencyelementsappeal. In diferent ways the
gious and social
Egyptians to the family of 'Abd al-'Aziz,13as and of MukhtArmark
representingtheir independence;but there early movementsof the Tawwabun
the coming of a spirit which would make sec-
came in severalfactors to give this sentimentan But the Shta was not yet a
emotional and moral, and therefore a religious tarianism possible.
sect; there can as yet be no division of Islam
turn.l4 In such a martyr as Hujr ibn 'Adi the Shi'a andtUthmaniya
Kufans could mourn not only a patriot, but a between Shltite and Sunni
imamate,
victim of the growingtendencyto discardthe old weremerelypositionswith regardto the This
Arab sense of the inviolabledignity of the tribes- not comprehensive divisions of the faithful.17
same spirit, which was to issue among some in a
man.l5 When Husayn becamea martyr for the others to
Sufans' sake (680), another element of moral sectarian tendency, proceeded among
and religiousfervor was added. Husayn himself become a motif for Islam as a whole.
no doubtwas awareof his dignity as grandsonof The Pious Oppositionto UmayyadArabismbe-
the Prophet,as well as son of 'Ali; and the Taw- came largelyinvolvedwith partisanshipfor 'Ali.l8
wsbun repentants of lRufa who went of to be In the time of Husaynthe Hijaz had still preferred
martyredin trying to avenge his death certainly a son of Zubayrto a son of 'Ali; but by the time of
were combining loyalty to 'Ali with loyalty to Zayd (740), the Hijaz was for him. The charac-
Muhammadhimself an essential step in making teristic Shitite bitterness, however, was concen-
the matter a strictly religious issue.lo MukhtAr tratedon the Umayyads. The Hij-azwas evidently
expectingan 'Alid houseto succeedto the Umay-
11The new ElI, s. v. " 'Abd AllAh ibn Saba'." yads, and was unanimousenough in supporting
12 For instance, there is no trace in the discussion with the Hasanids in their revolt against al-Mansur
Husayn at Madina about his candidacy and where his (762); not without referenceto 'Ali as wast and
support would lie, that support or non-support of him
was a matter of religious allegiance unless in the general
sense that juster government would be. (Tabarf, II ahl al-bayt but it is not clear that this would not
274ff.) The TawwAbfinand even MukhtArseem to have include the whole house of Hashim at that time. Cf.
been willing to accept Ibn Zubayr at one point or EI, art. " Sharif."
another; and it is not messianic proofs but political 17The blackening of MukhtAr'sreputation, making him
commitment that MukhtAr'sfollowers are satisfied with look like a heresiarch rather than an eclectic advocate
from Ibn al-Hanaffya in Madina (Tabarf, II 607, BalAd- of a more general cause, began immediately upon his
hurt, Ansab al-Ashraf V [Jerusalem, 1936], 221). death one of his wives was punished for refusing to
13 liindf, lTitab al-Umard' (Leiden, 1912), 50, 95 ff., contribute. (Tabari, II 743.) That MukhtArwas him-
124. But, p. 112, sometimes the family offered a less self something of a founder of a religion-the tendency
independent leadership. that shifted the sect name from KaysAn to MukhtArin
14 A statement such as J. Wellhausen cites, Relig.- time has become so persistent an idea that even B.
Polit. Opp.-Parteien, p. 69, that the Shitites still called Lewis lets himself write that "After the death of Mu-
other Msulims fellow-believers in the time of Husayn, h.ammad ibn al-Hanaftya " ( d. ca. 700), " MukhtAr"
suggests no sectarian differences, though not that there ( d. 687) " preached that he was not really dead, but
were no religious differences at all. Cf. incidentally had gone into concealment . . ." The Arabs in Eistory,
R. Strothmann's remarks on Shitite sectarianism in his 2d. ed. (London, 1954), 72. A. Guillaume, Islam
Kultus der Zaiditen, which approach the matter from a (Harmondsworth, 1954), 117, says the like.
very different angle. 18 Such favor did not yet mean a complete triumph
16 In glorifying the political necessity of the Umayyad for 'Ali some aspects of which no doubt waited on the
insistence on conformity, writers like Wellhausen have harmonizing tendency of Sunnism rather than on direct
perhaps overlooked the legitimate nobility of the spirit Shitite activity. Thus J. Schacht, Origins of SIqmham-
which admitted no honorable Muslim to be subject to a madan Jurisprudence ( Oxford, 1950), 24, notes that
man he himself had not sworn allegiance to. It is only ( though MAlik already had given his blessing to the
in ages that submit tamely to government that the case litasanids) ShAfi'i (who himself supported a Zaydf candi-
of Hujr can seem petty. date) still thought of the first three, not the first follr
16They are represented as fighting in the name of the caliphs as an authoritative group.
4 iIODSSON: How did the Early Sht'a becomeSectariane

to the Fatinlid descent,19and use of Mukhtar's mild Zaydlsits right wing is hardly acceptable,
term ' Mahdl.'20 Theideaof 'Alid andin particu- certainlyfor the earlierperiodwhichis most fully
lar Fatimid rule took such firm root that in the describedby the heresiographers.24Before the
courseof centuries,after martyrdomssuch as that gradualformationof sects after the time of JaYar
of the Fakhkh (786), it becamecommonfor the al-$adiq (d. ca. 765) such as the Ismatili, the
IIoly Cities to be ruled by 'Alids, Zaydi or not.2l Zaydl,and what was to issue in the Twelvers the
By moderntimes, reverencefor all sayyidsmadeit greater part of the strictly religious speculation,
only natural for the Sharif of Meccato suppose including that later adoptedin substanceby the
he was the logical candidate,as an 'Alid, for a Twelvers,has been labeledghuluw; which for the
revived caliphate. So many-sidedis this senti- earlyperiodis practicallya namefor any primitive
ment in hadtth,22in the $ufi orders,in guilds, Shitite speculation.25
in populartales-that not only in its supportof The term Ghulat, 'exaggerators,'was used by
the original 'Alid claims but in its whole piety the later TwelverShitites,26who liked to think of
Sunni Islam can be called at least half Shitite. themselvesas moderates,to designateas an extrem-
Yet there were Shi'ites who still refusedthe half ist any other Shitite whose ideas particularly
loaf, and formed themselvesinto sects. shockedthem. At first the term was surely not
Issues raised by the early Ghulat thought of as technical.27But it soon becameso.
If the Shitite tendencycould not be considered Gaudefroye-Demombynes,
24 Institutions, 40, who defines
less orthodoxin the first century than, say, an the Ghulat in terms of hulul, is for instance very unjustly
'Uthmanltendency,neverthelesssomeof the notions schematized. A few of the GhulAt seem to have gone in
which sprang up in Islam then and commonly for political extremism (e. g., the kbunnaq," stranglers "),
associatedthemselveswith the Shititemovement23 which is a diSerent matter.
The attachment of specificGhulAtto particular Shitite
25
could be consideredunorthodoxeven by the ill- candidates is often indefinitc no line is free of them:
defined standardsof the time. In this earlier Bayyan is credited in Nawbakhti with looking for the
GShuluw, accordingly,we find elementswhichhelped ruju' of Ibn al-Hanafiya (p. 25); with claiming to suc-
develop the sectarian aspect of the later Shita. ceed Abu Hashim in prophecy ( p. 30 ); and with claiming
But the conventionalapproachto the Ghulat-that the wisavafrom BAqir (p. 25). De Goeje, Fragmenta,
230, associates him with the Hasanids after a split with
they were the left wing of the Shica, a posited BAqir. Likewise, later Shitite sects all have adopted
Twelver "moderation"being its center, and the " GhulAt" ideas the Twelvers some, the IsmA'ilis others.
26 It is inherently likely that the term would originate

19Tabari, III 189: a head is sent to KhurasAnlabeled
not 'Alid but Fatimid.
20 The connection with Ibn al-Hanaftya is made yet
more likely in de Goeje's Ftragmentahistoricorurnarabi-
corum (Leiden, 1869), citing WAqidi, p. 230-1, where
Ghulat leaders have a hand in it.
21 The numerous 'Alid rebels with their miscellaneous
following, before the Zaydi doctrine was consolidated by
al-Rassi (d. 860), represent surely as much the Shitizing
of Islam as a whole as they do the formation of a
Zaydi sect. Cf. the case as late as BAyid times, when an
'Abbasid rebel enlisted wide support especially among
the Shititically inclined by giving himself out as a
reformer from the house of the Prophet, but was aban-
doned when found not to be an 'Alid. (Miskawayhi,
Escperiencesof the Nations (Oxford, 1921), 263/247. A
like attitude has been found at various times from
Morocco to Delhi.
22 Even the 'AbbAsidscould not displace 'Ali in favor
of their ancestor.
23 But not with the Shita alone. The ideas surrounding
the awaited SufySlnt,for instance, are surely part of this
general tendency. The GhulAw is not simply carrying
a Shitite position to a logical extreme, but is a type of
idea ready to appear in any party.
with Shitites for internal quarrels, as the Sunnts would
lump all Shitites together. This is borne out provi-
sionally by a comparison of its use by Nawbakti and
Ashtari (Maqdlat al-Islamyim, ed. H. Ritter, I [Istan-
bul, 1929] ), earliest heresiographers of any fullness:
Nawbakhti uses it to characterize certain sects, for the
most part as he comes to them, while Ashtari makes the
GhulAt into one of the grand divisions of the Shl^'a,
gathering all the material on Ghulat doctrines together
in one chapter yet also includes many of these groups
over again in his second group, the Imamiya, which he
orders not by doctrines but by successionto the imamate.
27Nawbakhti, p. 46, e.g., uses the term ghulXQw of a
group, the Eashimiya, which ascribed to the 'Abbasids
just those traits the imam is all-knowing, and whoever
does not know the imAmdoes not know God, etc.-which
Twelvers commonly ascribed to their own line. Usually
the term implies, for Nawbakhti, allegation of one or
more traits of a complex: divine incarnation, tandsxkh
(reincarnation) and cyclicism, and antinomianism. But
these are freely interpreted. Whereas p. 78 we have the
idea that 'Ali was rabb outright, on p. 29 God is a light
in Ibn Mutawiya (cf. the nur doctrine), and p. 28 it
seems to be merely that Abu HAshim was expected to
revive the dead.
 HODCTSOX: How did the Early Shtta becomeSectarian?

Just as the Sunnls have an embarrassingtime comingfrom St. John or St. Paul.30 Accordingly,
findinggood Sunnis in the earlygenerations,from the early GShulat havereceivedscantrespectamong
the time of the $ahaba who failed to recognize Islamists, since they have been despisedby both
eachother'sblessedstandingto that of AbuHanifa, Sunnis and Twelvers. But it has beenshownthat
rumoredto be a Murji'ite,so that TwelverShitites survivals of earlier religious teachings are to be
are not highly successful in tracing their pure found among them-by Friedlander especially;
doctrine to the beginning, even though they do and it can be suggestedthat they alone in Islam
not mind being in a minority. Contradictorytesti- at that time weredealingwith problemsthat $ufis
moniesin S:ashshisuggest a certainunwillingness later took up, no doubtwith greatersuccess; cer-
to relinquishso many early names! 28 But in fact tain questionsaboutpersonalreligiousexperience-
almost any early Shitite whose speculationswere about revelation,morality, and spirit.
at all free had to comeunderthe ban; and Ghulot These earlier GShulat can no doubt be regarded
was a convenientlabel. In the earlyheresiographers as relativelyunsophisticated;in that small ruling
Nawbakhtl (fl. ca. 910) and Ashtari (d. 935), communityof Arabs newly catapultedto power,
accordingly,the name Ghuluwis used for a whole and their motley clients, every individual'snew
range of groups prior to the consolidationof the ideas had a potential importancefor the whole;
imamateafter JaYar,but sparinglyfor the century and unsophisticatednotionsmight receivea promi-
immediatelyprecedingthemselves.29 The subse- nencenot possiblein later times, whenthe popular
quent heresiographicaltradition merely added a notions of the Qalandarswere scarcelychronicled
few later instances. That earlierGhuluwwith its any longeras seriouspositions. One leaderof the
shifting lines is in fact distinctly differentin role Ghulatis explicitlynotedas an illiteratebedouin.3l
from the relatively small numberof well-defined But we can no longer think of all their views as
sects (where one is not dealing with $ufi extre- particularlyextreme,as religiousviewsgo. Except
mism) which are also called Ghuluw in later to a pious TwelverShitite,there is no reasonto be
times-such as the Nusayris, the 'Ali-Ilahls, and shockedwhen the Ghulat looked to others than
sometimesthe variousIsmatilis. If the tendentious Muhammad's descendantsas messianicfigures one
term is to be retained at all, it might well be might equally say the extremist is the one who
restrictedto those earliergroups;leavingthe later exalts persons purely on account of their birth.
non-Twelversectstheir individualidentitiesrather Nor is there anythingmore extremein expecting
than confoundingthem, as now, with the miscel- a man to return whom othersregardas dead-as
laneous ferment of the early Shita which after some of the early Ghulat did than in the expec-
all is as much the heritageof the Twelversas of tation of the so-calledmoderateShl'a that a man
any otherone Shititesect. will return whom others doubt was ever born.
Thereis reasonto supposethat the views ascribed
Islamists, both Muslim and Western,have had to those Ghulat became exaggeratedwith time,
a way of absorbingthe point of view of orthodox moreover. We find leading Ghulat such as Abu
Islam; this has gone so far that ChristianIslamists 'l-Shattab and Mughira weightily accused by
have looked with horror on Muslim heretics for Eashshi of what strike one as fairly minor diver-
teaching doctrines which are taken for granted genciesin ritual law that the maghrtbshouldnot
28Kashshi, Akhbar al-rijal (Bombay [1317]), 83, has
be said till a certainstar is seen,or that the women
divergent but largely favorable reports on Mukhtar (and of Muhammad'sfamily could say the salot even
the worst report on Mukhtar comes s. v. Muphtra). Like- whenmenstruating(in deferenceto their purity)32
wise he is ambiguous, p. 126, on JAbir Jutfi. On p. 149 In the case of one of the first Ghulat,al-Barbarl,
he implies that even Mughira and Abu 'l-Khattab will at one point Nawbakhtihas him call Ibn al-Hana-
come to Paradise after a season in Hell.
29 Nawbakhti, pp. 32 and 41, sums up the Ghuluw as flya the god of whom he is prophet; but shortly
including certain groups up through the Khattoibtya after saysthat Barbaribelievedin the rtlju',return
(KaysAnlya, 'AbbAslya, Harithlya, especially ), appar- from the dead, of both himself and of Ibn al-
ently excluding later deviants; though on individual
occasions he uses the term later. Ashtari, his contem- 80 De Sacy on the Druzes and Von Hammer on the
porary, includes approximately the same groups. No NizAris are classical examples.
doubt, as H. Ritter suggests, such lists go back to police- 31 Abfi Mansur in Nawbakhtl, 34.
lists (" Philologika III," Der Islam, Vol. 18 [1929], 34.! 32Kashsht, 149.
6 ELODGSON: How did the l:SarlyShtta becomeSectariane
Hanaffya. In the light of this one suspectsthat this was not necessarilyrestrictedto one messianic
the idea of Ibn al-Hanafiya'sdivinity was an out- figure,though it was readilyadaptedto the whole
6ider's deduction from Barbarl's own propehtic messianicidea probablyin the case of 'Ali and
claims.33 certainly in the case of Ibn al-Hanaflya which
Probablyone of the first chargesto labelpersons the early Muslimstendedto avoid.
as ' exaggerators' was the condemnationof the Perhapsmore importantwas the expectationof
Shaykhaynin additionto 'Uthman. Accordingto divination and indeed of divinely inspired pro-
Nawbakhti,Ibn Saba'was the first to preachthe phesying, which we find notably at the time of
doctrine of waqf (refusal to recognizethe death MllkhtAr.It is hardlysurprisingthat the notionof
of the latest imam limited by Twelversto the prophecyas a recurrent(andnot necessarilyworld-
twelfth) and of ghutuw. Nawbakhtidoesnot define shaking) event should have survived the death
the ghutuw,but apart from the refusal to recog- of Muhammad. In later times prophethoodwas
nize tAli's death (waqf), what he does list is: the taken very seriously,as implying one or more of
doctrinethat 'Ali had the same relation to Mu- three things: (1) unique authority in one's own
harnrnadas Joshua to Moses i. e., as :Sashshi time; (2) equalitywith Muhammad;or (3) the
makesclear,he was the wassin the generalShi'ite foundingof a new community. But none of these
sense; and that 'Ali'sright to rule was prescriptive need have been implied by rwubuwa in the early
(fard), and the first three caliphs and their fol- Arabmind (whatevermay be the casewith resata).
lowers should be cursed. It is for Ibn Saba"s After all, there is nothing very explicit in the
rejectionof the first caliphsthat eAliis represented Qur'an,apart from the ambiguousphrase about
as banishing him; and that was no doubt his Muhammad'sbeing the 'seal' of the prophets,to
ghuluw. The obviousimplication of Nawbakhti debar even major prophetsfrom appearingafter
that the fault lay in saying such things pubticZy him; to say nothing of God's speaking through
tshakhara), a breach of taqzya, seems like an minor figures to confirmthe faith given as had
afterthought.34 admittedlyhappenedamongthe Jews. In Chris-
But though the early Ghulat were not neces- tianity indeed the death of Jesus was followedby
sarily extremistscomparedwith the later Twelvers the mass prophesyingof Pentecost and of the
(to say nothing of the Christians),they did raise primitive churches;the absenceof such a move-
distinctiveproblemsthroughwhich they helpedto ment in Islam is probablyto be explainedby the
give the whole Shitaa specialreligioustone; prob- need of the Madmaaristocracyto freezethe status
lems arisingfrom a distinctiveexperience.Among quo,and the swordof Ehalid whichenforcedtheir
them, as Friedlander pointed out, appeared a decisionin Arabia.
number of features of earlier Arabian thinking Accordingly,there arose a tradition -frowned
which were being suppressedin most of Islam.35 on by officialIslam in whichthe idea was carried
on that God might any day speak to lIis com-
There was the notion of raj'that a hero might munity through prophets;and this notion could
returnto this life fromthe dead;as in the Jahiltya,
readily be combinedwith the other, that in the
ss Nawbakhtl^,23 and 25. In general, the apparently fullness of time (and here the partisan enthu-
inconsistent character of the teachings ascribed to the siasmsthat tore earlyIslam found their place) the
various leaders, in the form we have them, suggests that heroes of the righteous but defeated party (for
the material has often been treated uncautiously. Thus most this was the party of 'All) would return and
in Ashtarl^,p. 11, the same people who make " janna"
refer to earthly rewards speak of ascending to " Malkut." finally establishjustice. In the generationsafter
Clearly we cannot simply call them deniers of Paradise, the failure of Ibn Zubayr(692) and of MukhtAr,
as would result from ShahrastAnl^'sshortened form, IslAmwas beginningto produceteachersof pure
Jrlal, I (Cairo, 1948), 301. religionfor those piouswhowerenot satisfiedwith
'4 Nawbakhtl, pp. 19-20. Cf. Eashshi, s. v. Ibn Saba'. Islam in its offlcialcondition. Among the others,
The charge comes up again against KaysAn in NawbakhtlA
and MughlArain Ashtarl. Can the notion of a sect of our GEhulat also developedthis enthusiastictradi-
Sabbabtya ( sometimes put for SabatlAya ) be traced to tion of theirs into regularteachings,dealingwith
a time when sabb al-Sahaba, reviling the Companions, the problemsit raised.86
was still ghul?iw to many Shl^'ites? Cf. I. Friedlander,
Heterodoanes of the Shr1,tes (New Haven, 1909), 137ff. s° This notion of prophetism,and possibly that of rxjA',
36 Priedlander, Beterodowses. seem the only ones to be found, beyond an exaltation of
 l5IODGSON': Hou dtd the Earty Shtta beconzeSectargne 7

One of the most intriguingproblemsthese Ghu- topin down. They may be founded on fear or
lat theoristsdid not fear to face was the form of hate, or on a misinterpretationof deviations-
God: what does Ee look like? Muhammadhad when a teacherhas a diferent law from the usual,
given no tangibleanswer,and officialIslamfrowned it may not be recognizedas being law at all. But
on any attempt to enlarge on his teaching; but as the chargesare laid selectively,in writers like
these menwho sawnothingstrangein meremortals' Nawbakhtl,they are likely to have somemeaning;
receiving divine leadings tried to have clear con- we have three possibilities. (1) There may be a
ceptionsof their Guide. The descriptionof God full-fledgedantinomianism,in the sense that once
ascribedto Mughlra (d. 736) is the most famous the inner spirit back of the law is entered into,
of these. the outer regulationsbecome superfluous. This
But more important:who could be inspiredby notion has arisen in Islam, but there is no clear
God, and how? Although officialIslAmwas for indicationof it so early. Rather,amongthe early
reasonsof its own bitterly opposedto the notion Ghulat it is probablyonly either (2) that there
that GEod was still ableto speakafter Muhammad's is a hidden truth symbolizedin the law (in an
death, this incapacityof Eis was not at all clear externalmanner-forbiddenfoodsrefer arbitrarily
to all the Muslims. Abu Mansur is noted for to certain men whom one must reject),39so that
describingin detail the vision on which he based points of ceremony,at least, are dispensedwith
his claim to speakwith divine authority. Linked when what they symbolicallyrepresentis followed
to questionson the natureof inspirationwerethose instead; or (3)7a positionverycommonin the later
on its meaning we find someof these earlyfigures Shl'a,and not to be disentangledentirelyfrom the
credited alreadywith symbolicalexplanationsof second position7that whoever is devoted to the
the Qur'anictext, introducinga type of problem imam will be forgisen his transgressionsof the
that has been with Islam ever since, whenever Law though not actually esemptedfrom it.
men's minds have not been content with the bare At any rate, the mooting of such positionson
wordsof belief, and wantedto make sense of life. revelation and morality clearly gave rise to many
Thus Mughlrais said to have referredthe Qur'anic differencesof opinionamongthe Ghulatteachers.
verse (33: 72) aboutthe refusal of the mountains Some followersof Abu'l-Ehattab (d. TSS/6) took
to undertakethe faith to tUmar'srejectiorlof 'A12; the significantpositionthat everybelieverreceived
and Abu Mansuris said to have interpretedref- privaterevelationfor his guidance.40Such a way of
erences to the heavens and the earth as bearing viewing the human soul is also familiar in Chris-
on the relationof the imams to their party, their tian experience. A more comprehensivetheoryof
shtea37 the soul, which would solve all such questionsat
Finally, inseparablefrom questions about the once, was sought by some in a teaching of cycli-
nature of the revealedlaw, were questionsabout cism and transmigration.This tendencyis already
the morality for which it legislated. We find reportedfrom the time of the revoltof 'AbdAllah
someof them accusedfromveryearly38 Ofteaching ibn Mutawiya(d. 747); it seems to have become
that all actions are lawful, despite any Qur'anic normal in the ';Eaysani" groups for whom the
text though presumablyin any case they added, 'Abbasidscame to be the legitimate candidates.
like Paul, that not all actions are expedient. The idea of raj'a, return in thts body from the
IJnfortunately,chargesof this kind are very hard dead, was replacedby that of reincarnation,tana-
stskh, in a differenthuman body; a notion pre-
'Ali and his family as chosen successors to Muhammad supposing a separablesoul which alone mattersv
as distinctive in Shitite thought through the time of '. 1lUS accordingto one's deserts in past lives one
MukhtAr-for instance, in the people of the Chair, who could have very differentreligiousstatus; and the
prophesied enthusiastically at Kfifa. The tribe of Nahd
involved with the Chair, also produced the GhulAt tAbbasid Kaysanl in tran (identified with the
teachers 6A'id and BayyAn (Nawbakhti, 25). lihurramdlniafter the tAbbasidvictory) are said
S7 AshtarS,8, 9. to have discussedtheir relative ranks,who was of
88 Already in the case of Barbari, said to have married angelic, who of prophetic,who of divine rank;
his own daughter (Nawbakhti, 25). IIere the prerequisite
to such freedom was to " know the imEm." IB it possible 89 This sort of ta'^l is ascribed already to Abt Manstr
that special privileges for the divinely favored were by Ashtari
justified with the obvious example of Muharnrnad? 4°AshtarS,12.
8 EODGSON: How did the Early Shsta becomeSectarian?

so solving readily the problemsof revelationand longerto be upsetby the viewsof the least member
law, which dependednaturally on one's spiritual of what was at first a ruling class, such deviations
status.4l no longer made such a stir for one thing, their
No doubt more importantfor the future were followers were no longer in a position to raise
the followersof Abu 'l-Ehat.t.ab, also contemporary insurrectionsof a sudden,such as those fearedby
with the rise of the tAbbasidsto power,but asso- al-QasrlunderHisham.45Later,individualsmight
ciated with Jatfar al-Sadiq. Here also it is not be executedfor heresy, as in the case of al-Shal-
clear in detail what Abu 'l-Ehattabtaught; but magham of the time of Muqtadir,but the dan-
from the heresiologistswe can at least tell what gerousmovementsstemmedfrom morelarge-scale
it was they arguedabout; and here more than in sects, notably the Ismatllls. The great debate
any earlier group we get a sense of large issues amongwhat are called Ghulatassociatedwith the
debated. One matter in dispute, it seems, was proto-Twelversafter Jatfar'stime-that aboutthe
the spiritualrankof variouspersons,their relative status of the 'ayn,the mtm,and the sM6n and related
strengthin receivingrevelation. They too ranked questions,to which the Nusayrls go back-comes
personsas angelsor prophetsor divinemessengers to us in much moreabstractand systematicterms
or, apparently,as gods cxplicitly, however,not than in the earlierGhuluw.46
in real rivalrywith the One God, Allah, but only The later Shl'ite sects carriedon especiallythe
as IIis representative.42(It was naturally this more partisanly determinedenthusiasmsof the
obscurematter of divine ranking that was most early Ghulat-their interest in the continuation
seized upon by enemies, in those cases where it of divineauthorityon earthafter Muhammad,and
appeared. ) how it was manifested,and their partisan escha-
But perhapsmoreinterestingthan these disputes tology, lookingfor the Qa'imto come,47or else the
about revelationand prophecywere the disputes return of some hero. So far as the Ghulatraised
recordedamong several of Abu 'l-E;hattab'sfol- problemsof a more general nature regardingthe
lowers over the nature of death and so of the spirituality of the soul and the possibilityof its
spirit. Some groups did, others did not, admit communionwith Gkod,they no doubt contributed
that they died which being interpretedseems to to the emotionaltone of later Twelverand Ismatlll
mean, that the afterlife depended on the body Shl'ism However,in this respect their evident
(heneethe soul by itself wouldnot live on). That successorswerethe Sufls. Though Sufismwas no
is, some aceeptedthe idea, which Muslims often doubt not immediatelyconnectedwith the Ghu-
stigmatizeas Christian,of an immortalsoul inde- luw,48the mystical states of the soul, as well as
pendentof the body.43Theremust havebeensome the relative ranks of various mystics, have been
sort of searchfor spiritualexperienceback of the endlesslydiscussedin Sufismeversincethe closing
report that one group pretended to see their of the classicalperiodof the early Ghulat; and it
fellows,whohad passedon, morningand evening.44 is amongthem that has beenkept alive that oddly
When Islam came to include the greater part significant,so-calledChristianidea, that what sur-
of society, and the communityat large was no vives at death is the pure soul.
Tanasukh is remarkably easy to derive from the
41
Reasonsfor the strengthofthe imarnateofJafar
Qur'an ( at least onee that sueh a ereed as Buddhism al-.Sadiq
has suggested it first ); espeeially at those passages The Ghulatby themselves,in any case, do not
whieh suggest that all speeies of animals bees, ete.,-
have their own ummas and their own responsibilities; 46 Tabari, II 1621.
whieh Nawbakhtf says the Kurramdinfs cited. An easy 46 Massignon makes the most of this in various places,
eonfusion between the judgment against particular um- particularly in the article on Karmatians in the EI.
mas and the Last Judgment would also help make a 47 The idea of the Qa'im as the last of a line of imams

eyelieal approaeh possible, no doubt.
42 The distinetion was made betseen the god on earth
and the God in the heavens; by Ibn al-LabbAn,STaw-
bakhtf, 40.
43 Apparently some expected their souls to aseend even
rhile their bodies were still alive, at least in appearanee.
Ashtarf, 11.
44 Ashtart, 12.
is ascribed i. a. to the followers of Abt Manstr. Nalv-
bakhti, 34. Among the Twelvers this idea is merged
with that of raj'a.
48 It can be noted, however, that some SAfis were
ranged with the Ghulat, notably the followers of HallAj,
who did make Shitite appeals. Ultxmate connections
between Shitite doctrine and SAfi theosophy are of cour3e
noticeable.
 z[IODGSON: How did the Early Shtta becomeSectariane 9

accoutltfor Shititesectarianism. Onemajorfactor tune was essentially laid in the time of JaYar
iIl this is the rise of the na.ss imamates. Whenwe (i! not through JaYar'sown eforts). Not just
look at early Shitite history without seeing it becausewe find JaYarhimself quietlyprominent-
through Twelver spectacles, the problem is no at the end of JaYar'slife Mansuris recordedas
longer to discoverwhy so many Shititeswere per- picking him out as the noblestof the many 'Alids
suaded to abandonthe line of imams now con- then living, and setting his claimsto honoragainst
sideredthe true one,but ratherhow that line came those of al-Nafs al-Zaklya.52Ratherbecausetesti-
to have so great a prominenceas it finally did monyfromeverysource,Sunniteas well as Shitite,
have. The reasonsfor this will at the same time points to his generation as towering above all
help to explain how Shitismbecamesectarian. others among the Shitites. JaYar is the most
Before and in the time of Jatfar al-Sadiq (d. prominent Shl'ite authority among the Twelver
ca. 765) the prominent Shitite movementswere authors.53He is the centerof more Ghulatspecu-
in roughly two groups. First, the so-called lation, as recorded,than any other one figure;
Saysani whoseimam was Ibn al Hanaflya who and on his death Nawbakhtllists claims to the
appear in the great rebellion of Mukhtar and successionin behalf of four of his sons, as well
then in that of 'Abd Allah ibn Mutawiya,and as a well-delineatedgroup that waited for Jatfar
who formed the nucleus of the 'Abbasidrevolt himself. Comparedevento the fairly controversial
itself. It is to this group that the most promi- Baqir, to say nothing of Zayn al-'Abidln,from
nent early Shl'ite poets belong by and large.49 whom no one claims anything, this indicates a
On the other hand there was the great rising- great deal of ferment. Finally, Jatfar'sreputation
whichlater Zaydlshave claimedfor their own 50
is widerthan his own Shl'a: he and his father are
of al-Nafs al-Zaklyaand the Hasanids; this was acceptedin Sunnl isnads; the philosophicalcircle
also no isolated phenomenon,being precededby aroundJatfar in particularis honoredby Ashtar
the movementsof Zayd and his son, which like- with many pages;54and finally when from time
wise received Hijazl sympathy,and followed by to time the acceptanceof the Shl'a as a Sunn
the martyrs of Fakhkh. On the contrary,after madAhabhas been projected,it has been done in
Husayn's early and not very large-scale rising, Jatfar'sname.
and the gesturesof the Tawwabunfollowingit, we Jatfar'stime was propitiousfor a reorientation
hear little in the chroniclesof the line revered in Shl'ism. When Walld II (d. 744) fell, everv
by modern Twelvers until the time of Jatfar's sort of idealisticprogramhad its chanceand Islam
grandson,whom we find as the scarcelydisputed was overflowingwith them. Even the Syrian
chief of the surviving Shl'a.5l From this point Umayyads themselves, who began the series of
on we find that most of the Shl'ites of subsequent revolutions, had a ' reform candidate.' And of
times trace their imamateback to JaYar, to the the five major movements that challenged the
exclusionof otherlines: this the Twelvers, Ismatllls, Syrian Umayyad rule altogether,four were like-
and Nusayrlsdo, but not the Zaydis. wi.se from the Pious Oppositionin the broadest
sense: two Kharijite movementsand two more or
I think we must supposethat the family's for- less Shl'iteones. OnlyMarwan'smovement,based
49 Suthayyir, Sayyid al-Himyarf, even perhapsKumayt. on the Qayslsin the
north,had no specialreligious
Buhl, Alidernes Stilling, 376. The lines were not of character.Whenit haddestroyedthe SyrianUmay-
course closely drawn. Nawbakhtf, p. 27, is able to claim, yad power and broken three of the other move-
on the basis of a qastda, that Sayyid al-Eimyarf (d. 173/ ments, it was in turn set aside by the 'Abbasids-
789) later turned to Jatfar; perhaps this is an indica-
tion of the way Jatfar's imamate was able to rally the 52 Tabarf, III 213. Jatfar also figures in the traditions
Shita after the great disappointment? concerning 'Alid intrigue at the time the 'Abbasids took
60 R. Strothmann, Staatsrecht der Zaiditen ( Strass- power. However, for instance in Abt Salama's offers of
burg, 1912), 106. Al-Nafs al-Zakfya even fiures as a the Caliphate to 'Alids, Jatfar is not the only one
Zaydi legal authority. approached.
61Ma'mAn'schoice, at least, would suggest this. Even 63 Cf. also the IsmA'flf work of QAdi Nutman, which
Zaydfs are supposed to have follolved him, according to cites no imam later than Jatfar.
Nawbakhtf. Jatfar himself, indeed, does enter the 64 The Shftite philosophers in the section on Shftite
chronicles as a potentially powerful figure, since he is tkStilaf, of which Ashtarf's Muttazilites sometimes make
cited for his peaceableness. much, are mostly associated lvith Jatfar or his son.
10 HODGSON: Bow did the Early Shtta becomeSectarwn?
and this seemedto mean a Shi ite triumph. The
whole upheavalhad been the great Shi ite oppor-
tunity, as it was that of Qadarites,S:harijites,and
even Jahmites (in Shurasan); the Shiites, with
the support of Madina, were expecting success.
When the 'Abbasidsrepudiatedthem, therefore,
the revolution became instead the great Shi ite
disappointment;and a fundamentalreorientation
was only natural,perhapsevenmorefor them than
for othergroups.
No doubt there were diverse historical reasons
for the rise to prominenceof the imamateof JaYar
in these circumstances:the abortionof its " Say-
sani" rivalsin an 'Abbasidcaliphatewhichemascu-
lated and graduallyrepudiatedthem; 55 the killing
of of many Hasanids by al-Mansurmight con-
ceivablyhave been to Husaynid advantage;56 and
surely also the personalitiesof JaYarhimself and
of his father played a role. But one can find
three principles embodiedin this imamatewhich
undoubtedlycontributedto its strength in the
struggle to gather in the diffuse Shl'ite sentiment
of the time.
The first principle is that of the nass. Ibn
Hazm chooses to set ofEthe Zaydis from other
Shl ites by the criterion that they denied that
there was an explicit ncl.ss, designation,of 'Ali by
Muhammad.57If one translatesthis principleinto
more general terms58_that the Zaydis denied
there was any designationof the next imam by
a preceding one-this is true not only of the
Zaydisat all times, but of a large proportionof
the early Shi a-up throughthe whole movement
surrounding al-Nafs al-Zakiya in the time of
JaYar; for he claimed no nas$. What is out of
the ordinaryis the notion that the imamate is
located in a given individual, whetherhe claims
rule or not; and is to be transferredfrom one to
66 Cf. Nawbakhtf, p. 42, on how Mahdf even shifted the
line of imAmsretroactively back to 'AbbAs,and got some
to accept this.
66 Certainly al-Mansfir set the gusaynids of visibly
from them. Tabart, III 171.
67 I. Friedlander " Heterodoxies of the Shftites," JAOS
XXVIII ( 1907), 74.
68As occurs in Ashtari; he (p. 16-17) makes the idea
of na to every imAm one of the key traits of the
" Raw&fid" as against the Zaydis; noting, p. 67, that
some Zaydis admit a naX to 'Alf and his sons, though
not to later imAms. Cf. R. Strothmann, Staaterecht der
Zaiditen (Strassburg, 1912), 44ff.
anotherby explicit designation, This notion
nass.59
seems to appearin two lines at once in that of
Abu lIashim, heir of Ibn al-Hanafiya;and in that
of MuhammadBaqir, one of the grandsonsof
Husayn. To judge by Nawbakhti,all of the lines
of ncBss, both 'Alid and not, stem back to these
two.60
This notion of a ncBss imamateprobablydates
backto the time of MuhamnladBaqir (d. ca. 733),
the contemporaryof Abu lIashim, at least in some
form. Nawbakhti'svery lifelike stories of his
dealingswith the early Zaydispresupposethat he
consideredhimself the uniquely ligitimate 'Alid
authority.6l But certainlyfor the specialfollowers
of Jatfarat the latest, the claim was not Just that
the caliph ought to be some memberof the 'Alid
family; but that a particularindividual,designated
by his father and who would in turn designatehis
son, inherentlypossessedall the authorityof the
rightful imam, whether he cared to be an overt
candidateor not. Hencearosethe famousproblem
of Jatfar's succession. This notion had a great
advantage. Not only did this centerthe allegiance
of the faithful on one individual; it gave them a
continuous imamate, and so a permanentgroqlp
existence-where otherwiseShitismwas rather an
indeterminatesentiment, which could be called
upon by any candidatefor the seasonof a revolt,
but dependedupon by none.
The idea of a na$s was not uniqueto the Jatfar
imamate,however,since the severallines claiming
their nas$ from Abu EIashimhad it too (and these
enteredboth of the main Shititerevoltsat the fall
of the Syrian Umayyads-those of Ibn Mutawiya
69 It is to be noted that in principle ' legitimist ' primo-
geniture is not involved here any more than in the rest
of IslAm, even though the eldest might sometimes be
chosen.
6°Thus BayyAn, Abt Manstr, Mughtra, and the Har-
btya, if it is true all these claimed the naw, as AshtarS
seems to maintain. Strothmann, Staatsrecht, p. 28, feels
that the story of the Kfifan Shftites' abandoning Zayd
for Jatfar shows that they already accepted the idea of
a line of imEms by inheritance. But one gathers that
their acceptance of Jatfar's position was at best not of
long standing.
61Also GhulAtsuch as BayyAnare said to have claimed
some such inheritance from him. Soon after his death,
when Zayd's followers abandoned Zayd, they are said
to have gone to Jatfar as representtng BaqsqJs¢larm.
TabarS, II 1698. That Jatfar recommendedsubmsssson
to the Shaykhayn and others does not necessarily mean
he rejected the idea of a non-rebelling imAmate.
 EODGSON: Hoqvdid the Early Shtta becomeSectariane ll

and of the 'Abbasids).62 JaYar had a special mitted, had no more legal authorityin principle
advantage,however,in that he was not only a than any of their followers.65
Talibid,and not only an 'Alid,but descendedeven This claim was perhapsinitially less a matter
if only througha womanfromMuhammad himself. of the knowledgehe had (from his father) than
Alreadyin Tabari's(Abu Mikhnaf's)storyof Kar- of the authoritativeuse he could make of it-
bala there figures the sense that Husayn as the his hereditary aqsthorityto decide cases. Any
grandsonof the Prophetwas in someway sacred- sovereignmust be empoweredto make the final
just as Ibn Zubayr'sMadinawas accountedsacred, decisionsin any legal matter; hence the imam's
as the Prophet's residence. This inviolability- very claim that sovereigntywas justly his could
for it was that, rather than any sense of a right readily entail a claim to final authority in legal
to rule-was still only an ancillarydistinctionin (and in this case all religious) matters. Such a
Xusayn, as muchlater with al-Nafs al-Zakiya,who claimwouldbe readilytransmutedto one of super-
listed iFatimaamongthe "gOodmarriages" which naturalknowledgein many minds, but it was not
his family had made,ratherthan fully as an ances- in all.66 But in an imamatewherethe authority
tress in her own right.63 But the point had an was not in actual fact the sovereign,and his 'ilm
immensepotentialappeal;it eventuallycameto be remainedon a theoreticallevel, that discernment,
a major plea among both Twelversand Ismatilis, that 'ilm which should guide his decisions,took
so that Fatima amongthem becameherself one of on a special sacrednessand becamea unique gift
the holiest of figures; and it was even adoptedby inherited from imam to imam. Accordingly,as
the Zaydis,who came to restrict the imamate to the exclusivelyauthorizedsourceof the knowledge
those 'Alids who were also Fatimids.64 of how to lead a holy life, the imam had an all-
The idea of an imamateby nas.$,restrictedto a importantfunction whether he was ruler or not.
definiteindividualout of all the 'Alids,continuing This fact must have had two results. First, it
through all political circumstances,was comple- was not at all necessaryfor the imam to rise in
mentedby that of an imamatebasednot primarily rebellion and try to becomede facto ruler; nay,
on a politicalclaim,but on specialknowledge,'ilrn. it might be unwise for him to do shis role as
This was the time of the rise of hadtth and the final authorityin legal cases in consciencewould
attempt to construct total systems of the pious surely be confusedby joining it with the rather
life-which eventually issued in the full sharta dif3Terentresponsibilitiesof actual political power.
law. It was the time of Abu Hanifa and of Malik, 66It seems likely that Baqir and Jatfar themselves
the imams. Jatfar was evidentlylookedon as an went along with this claim. The stories in Nawbakhti
imam like them concernedwith working out the of Baqir's difficulties with overly observant disciples are
proper details of how the pious should solve the too lifelike to be easily dismissed. It seems likely that
variouscases in consciencethat might arise. So the questioning of Jatfar's son 'Abd Allth, who had aa-
sumed his father's place, was a real event (Nawbakhti
he appearsin Sunni tradition to a degree. But p. 65); and perhaps MAst therefore had good reason to
in the case of Jatfarit was claimedthat he had a be KAzim even when he was free. Certainly 'Ali Ridk
unique authority in these matters, by virtue of was willing enough to accept claims. All this does not
his position as imam by na.s-that in some sense mean, of course, that an independent Shitite legal system
his was the final decision upon earth in these was fully formed 80 early. Cf. Schacht, Org«ns, 262,
who notes that the distinctive " Shttite " points come up
matters; whereas the othersSas was indeed ad- only now and later.
66 The discussions in Nawbakhti, e. g., over the child-
02 Also a line from AbA HAshim'snephew, and perhaps
imEms, show that it was not at first accepted that the
others, like BatryAn. The dispute between Ibn Mu'Awiya imAms had other than external sources of knowledge.
and the 'AbbAsidsover who really had the na, in Naw- The spirit of the philosopher in Ashtari (p. 36) who held
bakhti, p. 30, illustrates its concrete nature. to "whatever Ja'far decides "-like a lawyer accepting
esAl-Nafs al-Zakiya's letter to al-Manstr in tabari whatever the SupremeCourt decides-is no doubt typical.
III 209. The inheritance of an actual body of knowledge is of
e There are indications that the term Zaydtys, before course important in virtue of the same common sense
the time of al-Rassi, covered Shitites who insisted on by which a thoroughly incompetent SupremeCourtwould
activism generally. Nawbakhti, p. 51, has certain ZaydZs lose the respect legally due it; but it was eventually
accept any son of 'A1t,no matter of what wombe and R. made less necessary by the assurance that the (diplo-
Strothmann, Staotsrecht, 83 ff., mentions cases where it matically cautious) imAm would be divinely protected
was applied even to followers of Ibn Mu'Awiya. from error at all events.
 12 HODGSON: Mowdid the Early Shtta becomeSectariane
Accordingly,it seems to have been an explicit
policy with both Baqir and Jatfar to reject any
idea of armedrebellion. We havenumerousanec-
dotesaboutthem illustratingthis policy (nof least
the surelyfictitiousone in which Jatfarrefusesto
considerthe offerby Abu Muslimto make JaYar
caliph).67
It had been taken for grantedthat the point of
claiming imamatewas to bid for power; and this
new approachalienated many Shl'ites it seems.
We have some rather damaginganecdoteson this
head from Nawbakhtl,which will give something
of the atmosphereof the whole idea of a nclss
imamate.
A group left [the followers of Baqir]. They had
listened to one among them called 'Umar ibn Riyah.
This man claimed he had asked BAqirabout a certain
case and BAqir had given him an answer; then he
returned to BAqir after a year and asked him about
the same case and received a different answer from
the first time. He told BAqirthat this was different died without a son shortly thereafter,they had
from the answer he had given him on the point the
year before. BAqir said that their [the imams']
answers are sometimes determined by taqzya. But
Ibn RiyAh. was thrown into doubt about Baqir's
right, and his imAmate; he met one of Baqir's fol-
lowers called Muh.ammad ibn Qais and told him
L'sJhathad happened] and that Baqir had said he
did this from taqxya; " but God knows I [Ibn Riyah.]
only asked about it because I am firmly resolved to
believe what he decides in cases of conscience for me,
accepting it and acting upon it; there is no reason
for his taqlya from me; and that's my situation."
Muhammad ibn Qais said that perhaps there was
someone with him who made Baqir need taqtya but
Ibn Riyah. said, " There was no-one in his room at
either of the questions except me. No, his answers
are all a matter of luck [tabkhtt?],68and he doesn't great disappointmentwith such eclat. Baqir may
remembervvhat he answered the year before." Iba
Qays agreed with him and repudiated Baqir's
imAmate, saying that he is by no means an imAm
who gives incorrect legal decisions, for any reason
and in whatever circumstances. He is no imam who
gives other decisions, under taqzya, than what is
proper before God; nor who hopes to remain hidden,
closing his door; the imam is required to revolt and
to command the good and forbid the wrong. For
But howevermuchthe anti-activistpositiondis-
appointedsome older style Shl'ites, it reinforced
all the morethe secondresult of the idea of a nass
imamate:whichwas to createin efect a sect, with
the purity and zeal of a sect. This probablydidnot
come into full evidenceeven in Jatfar'slifetime,
acceptedas he was by later Sunnism. But the
groupconsciousness and cohesionis illustratedeven
in Nawbakhti'sstory of the rivalries of Jatfar's
sons. IIis narrativescarcelytroublesto disguise
the fact that Musa was not the heir-apparent.T°
At first it was Ismatll; and if it is true that some
left Jatfarwhen Ismatildied, on the groundsthat
JaYarshouldnot have nameda man who was nof
to survivehim, a distinct idea of the supernatural
characterof the nass was alreadypresent.7l Then
it was eAbd Allah, whom the great majority
acceptedon Jatfar'sdeath,and who is said to have
formally set himself up as imam; but when he
to move on to a third son, Musa. But from the
first there had been some who were dissatisfied
with 'Abd Allah and had adoptedother solutions,
including the imamate of Musa. There resulted
from all this typical situations of schism and
recriminationover whose faith was pure.72
But in additionto this combinationof a desig-
nated succession(though not all could agree who
was designated) and a uniquely authoritative
knowledge to guide the steps of the faithful,
which made for cohesivenesswithin the group or
groups, there was apparently a third principle
which helped the Jatfar imamate to survive the
to some extent have preparedthe way,73but at
any rate Jatfar,activelyor passively,seemsto have
attracted around himself people who speculated
with remarkablevigor on the problems of the
times. These included not only the philosophers
70 Nawbakhti, 57 f.
71 Nawbakhti, 55. Since this circumstance would pre-

this reason he turned to the position of the Butrtya clude Jatfar's having deposed IsmA'il for immorality, as
[Zaydis], and several went along with him.69 the later Twelvers would have it, it must be early.
72 Since the position eventually won out that the hand-
67 These are given in Buhl, Sttiltng, 386 etc. Note that ful who had accepted MusA from the start were correct
the policy is also related of Zayn al-'Abidin, though in ( and 'Abd AllAh was finally dropped from the list of
less detail. Certainly this persistent qXu' ud made the imAms, though his status still was disputable at the
family, despite the Twelver pious legends, relatively death of Hasan al-'Askarf), Nawbakhti brings in here
immune to 'Abbasidpersecution; this fact in itself would the appropriate saying from Jatfar: " My true followers
help them gain Shftite leadership from more active rivals, are few."
if only by default. 73 B9qir is represented as closely associated with the

68 Or, " vainly "- takhayb, in ed. of Kashshi, 154. Ghuluw-in Nawbakhtf, however, only in a hostile
69 Nawbakhti, 52-3. capacity. Cf., for more friendliness, Kashshi, 148-9.
 HODGSON: How did the Early Shtta becomeSectarian? 3

in whom Ashtaritakes such an interest, but also we find someof the samepreoccupation with rank-
some of the most suggestiveof the Ghulat. Only their hierarchismis in fact their trade mark-but
after a very close asociation,for instance, did he there is an important difference. There is no
disown his follower, the most importantthinker speaking and silent pair of prophets in every
of the time among them, Abu 'l-Shatt.ib.74 generation. The same words appear, notiq and
But it would seem that at the same time that s&mit,but they are restrictedto Muhammadand
this imamatewas thus invigorated,elementsof a 'All alone, that classical generationreceiving its
protectivediscipline were being developedwhich all-Islamicdue respect; and even then, 'All is no
ultimatelyaccommodatedthe variousspeculations prophet, but only the Prophet's " esecutor," a
within the flexiblelimits of the conventionalIslam term used of him alreadyin safelymoderatecircles.
of the time. The disownmentof Abu 'l-lihat.tabn Similarlythroughouttheir system,howeverextrav-
which can stand on its own feet as an event, agant its spirit may sometimesbe, the formula-
supportswhat is otherwiseprobable,that this dis- tion is kept carefully within a broad framework
cipliningbeganat least in the time of JaYar. But generally acceptedin Islam.77
the chronologyof the processis obscure. The most Likewise,the later Twelverterminologypresents
impressivecommenton it in :Sashshlis perhaps the same formal propriety,even when ideas are
a statementattributedto tAll Rida (d. 819) when entertained which amount to something very
he rejected certain hadmthwhich a follower had dubious from a non-Shlite point of view. The
copied from the notebooksof those in 'Iraq who term hmbjja, for using whichindeedAbu 'l-liha.t.tAb
had taken down the sayings of JaYarand Baqir: seemsto havebeen blamed,78 was later used freely
that Abu 'l-lihattab and his followers had mis- of the imams, for instance; apparentlybecause
representedJaYar,and got their lies acceptedin that term was not preemptedfor sacredpurposes
those notebooks,where they were still current. by Islam at large; though in the Twelverlore it
That sayings which had to be edited out were and other such terms came near implying deifica-
amongthe wordsnot only of JaYarbut of Baqir tion. But a term like nabt, originally perhaps
is shownby a parallelcommentascribedto JaYar, possessingless far-reachingimplications,was no
who complainsof MughlramisrepresentingBaqir; longer hinted at being bannedexplicitly by the
and addsthat all the ghmbliw ascribedto the latter all-Islamicconsensus. The irnamswerereverenced
is from Mughlra.75 as manifestationsof the divine Light, as perfect
At any rate, in the long run this process of embodimentsof holiness but they were never
disciplinetook eflTect,and gave the JaYarl Shl'as allowed the title of even very minor prophetsor
the benefitof fairly free speculationwithin guiding gods.
limits. The effect can be seen in some significant By this processof at least a formaldisciplining,
contrastsbetweenthe doctrinesreportedof Abu
'l-lihattab and those of the IsmaSlls,whoseranks it seems probablethat the imamateof JaYarand
are said to have been swelled by his followers. his line capturedfor itself much of the zeal of
Alongwith otherproblemswhichthe earlierGShulat the GShulat, at the same time drawingin time its
had dealt with, Abu 'l-lihattab and his school worst fangs; thus avoidingtoo great a scandalin
were much concernedwith problemsof spiritual the eyes of the world or indeedtoo unbridledan
ranking. He is said, for instance,to have taught enthusiasm within the ranksof the faithful. It is
that in each generationthere was a speakingand perhapsthis as much as anything else that gave
a silent prophet as in their generation Mu- the line of JaYarits ultimate preeminenceas the
hammadhad been the speakerand 'All the silent line of imamspar excellence.
possessorof knowledge.76 Now amongthe IsmaSlls
qqThis process was no doubt hastened by the desires
74 The disoment of AbA 'l-KhattAbcaused great con- for respectability of the FAtimids in power; but it had
sternation among the faithful. Cf. B. Lewis, Origins of begun before. Cf. "K. al-Rushd wa-l-hidAya" ed. M.
Ismailism, 32 ff. Kamil Hussein in Ismaili Society, Collectanea I (1Q48),
q5 Kashshi, 146-7 and 147. 189-213.
76 Ashtari, 10. 78 Ashtari, 10.