Theology and Society in the Second and Third Century of the Hijra. SET: Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra. Volume 1 - A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam

Theology and Society is the most comprehensive study of Islamic intellectual and religious history, focusing on Muslim theology. With its emphasis on the eighth and ninth centuries CE, it remains the most detailed prosopographical study of the early phase of the formation of Islam. Originally published in German between 1991 and 1995, Theology and Society is a monument of scholarship and a unique scholarly enterprise which has stood the test of time as an unparalleled reference work.

List of contents

Foreword: The History of the van Ess Translation Project - Harvey Shoolman
Translator's Acknowledgements
Preface
List of the Most Frequent Abbreviations

A
Prelude: Characteristics of Islamic Religiosity in the 1st Century
1. Setting the Seal on Prophecy
2. The Awareness of Being Chosen and Identity Formation
2.1 Symbols of Islamic Identity in the Caliphate of Abd al-Malik
2.2 Early Evidence in the Literary Tradition
3. Community and Individual
3.1 Faith and the Promise of Paradise
3.2 Consciousness of Sin and Individual Responsibility
3.3 Divine Grace and Predestination
4. Specific Religious Developments Around the Turn of the 2nd Century
4.1 The Image of the Prophet
4.2 The Koran
5. The Spread of the Faith
5.1 The Literary Instruments for Conveying the Faith
5.1.1 The Creation of Dialectical Theology
5.1.2 The Prospect

B
The Islamic Provinces in the 2nd Century
0. Introductory Remark on Methodology
1. Syria
1.0 General Basic Features
1.1 The Relationship with the Shia
1.2 The Qadariyya
1.2.1 The Question of Origin
1.2.2 Ghaylan al-Dimashqi and His Environment
1.2.3 Ghaylan's Aftereffect
1.2.4 Yazid III's Putsch
1.2.4.1 Yazid III's Accession Sermon
1.2.4.2 Further Developments up to the Time of Marwan II
1.2.5 The Qadarites under Yazid III
1.2.5.1 Damascus
1.2.5.2 Qadarites from Palestine
1.2.5.3 Qadarites from Hims
1.2.6 Later Qadarites
1.2.7 General Conclusions
1.2.8 The Further Iraqi Development of Ghaylan's Doctrine
1.2.8.1 The Epistles of Ghaylan and the Ghaylan Legend
1.2.9 Umar II and the Qadariyya
1.3 A Case of Heresy
1.4 Syrian Murji ites
1.4.1 "Jahmites"
1.5 From Asceticism to Mysticism

2. Iraq
2.0 Preliminary General Remarks
2.1 Kufa
2.1.1 The Murji a
2.1.1.1 The Oldest Representatives of the Murji a in Kufa
2.1.1.2 The Delegation to Umar II
2.1.1.3 Two Murji ite Poems
2.1.1.4 The Polemic Against the Murji a in the Sirat Salim b. Dhakwan
2.1.1.5 The K. al-Irja
2.1.1.6 The Spectrum of the Murji a up to 150 Hijri
2.1.1.7 The Circle of Abu Hanifa
2.1.1.7.1 The Precursors
2.1.1.7.2 On the Life and Aftereffects of Abu Hanifa
2.1.1.7.3 Abu Hanifa's Theological Views
2.1.1.7.3.1 The Letter to Uthman al-Batti
2.1.1.7.3.1.1 Comparison with Other Early Hanafite Writings
2.1.1.7.3.2 A Second Letter to Uthman al-Batti
2.1.1.7.3.3 The So-Called Fiqh akbar (I)
2.1.1.7.3.4 The Image of God. The Political Theory
2.1.1.7.4 Contemporaries of Abu Hanifa
2.1.1.8 The Kufan Murji a after Abu Hanifa
2.1.1.9 The Reform of Ghassan b. Aban
2.1.2 Anti-Murji ite Currents in Kufa
2.1.2.1 Sufyan al-Thawri
2.1.2.2 Sufis
2.1.2.3 Qadarites
2.1.3 The Shia
2.1.3.1 "Shiitizing" Traditionists
2.1.3.2 The Zaydiyya
2.1.3.2.1 The Butriyya
2.1.3.2.1.1 The "Weak" Zaydis
2.1.3.2.2 The Jarudiyya
2.1.3.2.2.1 The Shaping of Jarudite Thought
2.1.3.2.2.2 Later Development
2.1.3.2.3 Early Zaydi Splinter Groups
2.1.3.2.3.1 The Kamiliyya
2.1.3.3 The Rawafid
2.1.3.3.1 Quietism and and Communal Spirit
2.1.3.3.2 The Imam as Omniscient Leader
2.1.3.3.3 The Return (raja)
2.1.3.3.3.1 The Idea of raja Among the Early Zaydis
2.1.3.3.3.2 The Adherents of raja Among the Shiite Authorities of the 1st Century
2.1.3.3.3.3 Early Shiite Tafsir as a Possible Purveyor of the Idea of raja
2.1.3.3.3.4 The Decline of the Kaysaniyya
2.1.3.3.3.5 The Change of the Idea of raja in the Imamiyya
2.1.3.3.4 Rejection of the First Two Caliphs
2.1.3.3.5 Maintaining Secrecy (taqiyya)
2.1.3.3.6 God Changing His Mind (bada )
2.1.3.3.7 Rafidite Theological Schools
2.1.3.3.7.1 The Beginnings
2.1.3.3.7.1.1 Pro-Murji ite Groups
2.1.3.3.7.1.2 Zurara b. Ayan and His Circle
2.1.3.3.7.1.3 The Discussion About God's Image
2.1.3.3.7.2 The Next Generation
2.1.3.3.7.2.1 Shay an al- aq and Hisham al-Jawaliqi
2.1.3.3.7.2.2 Hisham b. al-Hakam
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.1 "Ontology"
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.2 The Concept of God
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.3 Natural-Scientific Questions
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.4 The Theory of Perception
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.5 Human Action
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.6 The Divine Atrributes
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.7 The Koran and Prophecy
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.8 Isma and nass
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.8.1 Excursus: Means of Legitimation within the Shia
2.1.3.3.7.2.2.9 Raja
2.1.3.3.7.2.3 Ali Ri ab
2.1.3.3.7.3 The Succession to the Big Theologians
2.1.3.3.7.3.1 The School of Hisham al-Jawaliqi
2.1.3.3.7.3.2 The School of Hisham b. al-Hakam
2.1.3.3.7.3.3 The Prospect
2.1.3.3.8 General Conclusions
2.1.3.3.8.1 Rafidite Theology and Its Milieu. Stoic and Jewish Influences
2.1.4 The Kharijites
2.1.4.1 The Ibadite Community in Kufa
2.1.4.2 sa b. Umayr
2.1.5 "The Heretics"
2.1.5.1 The Term zindiq
2.1.5.2 Manicheanism in the Early Islamic Period
2.1.5.3 Zandaqa as a Social and Religious Phenomenon
2.1.5.4 The Daysaniyya
2.1.5.5 The Marcionites
2.1.5.6 The Kantaeans
2.1.5.7 Excursus: Mazdakites in the Islamic World
2.1.5.8 The zandaqa in Kufa (....)
2.1.5.8.1 Cosmology and Natural Philosophy
2.1.5.8.2 Polite Society
2.1.5.8.3 Arguing with the zanadiqa According to Imamite Sources
2.1.5.8.4 The Role of the zanadiqa in the Later Umayyad Period

Supplementary remarks
Genealogical table

About the author

Josef van Ess, Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies and Semitic Languages, University of Tübingen, Germany, has published widely on the history of the Islamic world; Islamic theology and philosophy, especially with respect to the formative period (8th-10th centuries) and the age of the Mongol conquests (13th-14th centuries); and Islamic mysticism. His most famous work is Theologie und Gesellschaft in 6 volumes (de Gruyter 1991-97), the first four volumes of which are now being published in English by Brill.

John O'Kane (1940) has been involved in various English translations of Arabic and Persian works to do with Sufism, and he has produced several English translations of works in the field of Islamic studies originally published in German.

Product details

• Authors: Josef Van Ess
• Assisted by: John O'Kane (Translation)
• Publisher: Brill
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 17.11.2016
• EAN: 9789004323179
• ISBN: 978-90-0-432317-9
• No. of pages: 546
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 37 mm x 239 mm
• Weight: 978 g
• Set: Theology and Society in the Second and Third Century of the Hijra. SET
• Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies.; Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East / Theology and Society
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works