Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)

The Formative Period of Twelver Shī'ism: Hadīth as Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad by
ANDREW J. NEWMAN
Review by: Rainer Brunner
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 1 (June 2005), pp. 95-97
Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
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 MESA Bulletin 39/1 (2005) 95

Clearly, Illuminationist philosophy differs from Peripatetic philosophy in that the

former privileges intuition over syllogism. But how does that occur, and why is the tactic

persuasive? For those not persuaded that "Illuminationist" philosophy sheds much light, the
editors have work to do.
Another matter that should have been
addressed concerns the way Ibn Kammuna

organizes his book. To be sure, he follows

the four-part division established by SuhrawardI,
on whose book he is commenting. But in the opening lines of the text he also explains that
he considers the discussion of natural science or physics to fall into eight divisions. As things
turn out, division one is discussed in Part One, divisions two and three in Part Two, divisions
four and five in Part Three, and the remaining divisions in the last part. But why is the
discussion structured in this manner? Does it conform to that used by SuhrawardI? How does
it differ from that followed by Aristotle in his account of natural science or physics?
Moreover, if physics is the second art, what is the first?
There are also some philological matters one wishes the editors had addressed. Why,
for example, are the terms mudrik and mudrak translated as "knowing" and "knowable"

respectively (p. 46), rather than "perceiving" and or

"discerning"
"perceived" and
"discerned"? The choice may be perfectly defensible, but it does need an argument.
Still, in a certain sense, these are mere cavils. Indeed, the text itself is far and away
the most important part of this book. There, as noted, Ziai and Alwishah have done a
marvelous job and deserve unstinting praise.
Charles E. Butterworth

University of Maryland

The Formative Period of Twelver Shi'ism: Hadith as Discourse Between Qum and

Baghdad, by ANDREW J. NEWMAN. Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000. 222 pages,

index. £50.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-7007-1277-1

One of the most striking events in the history of Shiite Islam is the occultation of the
twelfth Imam at the end of the 3rd/9th century and, by consequence, the sudden and
definite termination of the tradition of a living Imam among the believers. Considering
the fact that the expectation of a Mahdl was, by that time, not a new feature within

Shiism, it was by no means sure that this idea would be the most successful model for the
future. But this was precisely what happened, certainly also due to the establishment of a
Twelver Shiite high theology by which the loss of the Imam's presence could be

compensated. The book under review is devoted to these early stages of Shiite history
and the role of the first Shiite hadith collections for this development. Its author is a well
known expert in this field, having written his Ph.D. dissertation on the Akhbari-Usulx

conflict; he currently teaches at the University of Edinburgh.

The study can be divided into two parts, the first one comprising chapters one to
three, which examine the socio-political background in the 9th and the first half of the 10th

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96 MESA Bulletin 39/1 (2005)

century. Newmanargues that this time was not only characterized by the rise of Sunni
traditionalism, following the political disorder at the Abbasid court, but also by a
resurgent Shiism that even managed to forge (fragile) alliances with the court. In this, the
situation in Baghdad differed markedly from that in Iran, e.g. in Qum. The second, longer
and more important, part concentrates on three famous early Hadith-compilations: al

Barql's (d. 887-94) al-Mahasin, al-Saffar al-Qumrm's (d. 902-03) Basa'ir al-darajat and
al-Kulainl's (d. 940-41) al-Kafi, the last one being one of the four fundamental

theological works of classical Shiism (al-kutub al-arba 'a).

Newman's approach avoids the debate (useless, according to his conviction) over
the authenticity of the traditions, instead concentrating entirely on the compilations
themselves, "the differences between them and, especially, the different circumstances in
which each was assembled" (p. xix). Thus, he considers all three works as having

originated in and for a distinct socio-intellectual milieu and reflecting a basic struggle
within early Shiism (that was later to be resumed), namely the dispute between
rationalists and traditionalists over the role of reasoning in jurisprudence and theology.
Both al-Barql and al-Saffar al-Qumml, according to Newman, wrote from a clearly

Qumml position and solely for a Qumml audience, motivated by the urgent need to find a
"continuity of belief and practice from the period of the Imams' presence in the

community" (p. xx). Therefore, the 12th Imam's immediate return was expected, and

emphasis was laid on the Imams' miraculous and fantastic abilities. Al-Kulainl, by
contrast, is depicted as giving a traditionalist Qumml answer to the rationalist tendencies
in Baghdad, instigated Banu the
Nawbakht,
by as well as to the resurgent Sunni
traditionism. On the
hand, he "disavowed
one any institutionalised, hierarchical
structure" (pp. xxi and 96), on the other hand he downplayed the miraculous abilities of
the Imams, whose resurrection was now no longer expected to happen within the short
term.
such an approach
In principle, may be justified, but more often than not, Newman
tends to overshoot the mark.
His stereotyped wording that the compilations "can/could

only" have reflected this basic (political) debate not only lacks elegance, but also very
often seems too bold. Sometimes, the words "may/might be interpreted as" would have
been more appropriate-and more convincing, considering e.g. the fact that al-Barqls's
work is lost save for the sixth or seventh parts. Newman acknowledges this shortcoming,
but nevertheless feels entitled to carry on his "informed speculation" (p. 53). He
concentrates on the geographical and political setting and the presumed profound
differences between Qum and Baghdad, but he neglects the (theologically important) fact
that al-Kulainl wrote several
decades after his predecessors. When they had still expected
the Mahdi's immediate return, the later scholars had to cope with a new situation: they
had to maintain the Imam-centered Shiism in the absence of the Imam. Quite naturally,
the perspective of al-Kulainl would therefore be different from that of al-BarqT or al
Saffar al-QummT. What Newman constantly describes as a politically motivated rivalry,

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 MESA Bulletin 39/1 (2005) 97

might also be regarded as a quite natural intellectual process and as a transition from the
living authority to the development of a man-made theology.
Most unfortunately, the author ignores all relevant literature written in a language
other than English (apart from some French articles)-and he clings to an extremely

complex and redundant style, writing series of sentences of 12 lines and more. This and
the author's habit of simply repeating whole sentences or passages (e.g. pp. 160/165,
xxi/60/86/95) make reading the book unnecessarily burdensome.
Rainer Brunner

University of Freiburg

Cities and Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Urban Space in Medieval

Anatolia, by ETHEL SARA WOLPER. Buildings, Landscapes, & Societies Series.

University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. 134 pages, endnotes,
illustrations, glossary, bibliography, index. US$60.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-271-02256-6

In this book, Sara Wolper examines the role of dervish lodges in the transformation of the
"cultural and religious landscape" of Anatolia between the mid-thirteenth and mid
fourteenth centuries. In three parts and seven chapters, Wolper focuses on three
Anatolian cities: Sivas, Tokat and Amasya, and analyzes the complex network of

relationships between Sufism, political authority and architecture.

Cities and Saints is written with the concern to place the dervish lodge into a
social context. Wolper thoroughly analyzes how the uses, audiences and the architecture

(including its location in the larger urban setting) of the lodge changed in relation to the

political and social developments in medieval Anatolia. In Part II, and chapters three and

four, she presents a short but profound survey of the three cities. Combining waqf
registers, hagiographies, chronicles, and travelers' accounts, Wolper is able to portray the
dervish lodge from multiple angles. However, her account would be clearer if she had

distinguished between the Sufi orders of different orientations (both Sunni and non
Sunni). Such a distinction becomes essential especially when the reader encounters
different types of dervish lodges, such as the independent lodge, the madrasa-lodge, and
the multi-unit complex. The purposes and functions of these buildings can be better
understood when the reader is made aware of their inhabitants, which would clarify their

position with regards to political

authority.
Historiographically, Wolper's work follows a tradition that was pioneered by the
studies of W. M. Ramsay, F. W. Hasluck and J. K. Birge. Similarly, she emphasizes the

appropriation of Christian cults and shrines by the Muslim population of medieval

Anatolia as a sign of the cultural interaction between the two populations. In this regard,
her work presents a criticism of Turkish nationalist historiography on Sufism, which has

depicted the dervish lodge as "a tool in the Islamization and Turkification of Anatolia."

Contrary to that, Wolper presents the lodge as an institution with a crucial functional role

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