Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Translation
- Introduction
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Selected Theological Writings
- 1 A Précis of the Doctrines of Abū ’l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī by Ibn Fūrak
- 2 The Succor of Nations amidst the Confusion of Darkness by al-Juwaynī
- 3 The Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate by Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī
- 4 The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering by al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
- 5 The Book of Excellence on the Fundamental Principles of Religion by Ibn al-Malāḥimī
- 6 The Concise Book of Doctrines by ʿAbd al-Kāf ī al-Warjalānī
- 7 The Crown of Doctrines and the Mine of Instructive Points by al-Dāʿī Ibn al-Walīd
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
4 - The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering by al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
from Selected Theological Writings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Translation
- Introduction
- Glossary of Key Terms
- Selected Theological Writings
- 1 A Précis of the Doctrines of Abū ’l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī by Ibn Fūrak
- 2 The Succor of Nations amidst the Confusion of Darkness by al-Juwaynī
- 3 The Theoretical Underpinning of the Imamate by Abū Ṭālib al-Hārūnī
- 4 The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering by al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī
- 5 The Book of Excellence on the Fundamental Principles of Religion by Ibn al-Malāḥimī
- 6 The Concise Book of Doctrines by ʿAbd al-Kāf ī al-Warjalānī
- 7 The Crown of Doctrines and the Mine of Instructive Points by al-Dāʿī Ibn al-Walīd
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Summary
Chapter four presents the views of the prominent Twelver Shiʿi scholar Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067). Like other Zaydis and Twelver Shiʿis of his era, al-Ṭūsī incorporated Muʿtazili doctrines into his writings on theology. His seminal work on the imamate is an abridgment of The Curative Book (al-Shāfī) by al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (d. 436/1044). Al-Ṭūsī’s work was similarly entitled The Curative Book on the Imamate: A Paraphrastic Rendering (Talkhīṣ al-Shāfī fī al-imāma) and reflected his own understanding of the text. Both al-Murtaḍā and al-Ṭūsī ground the Twelver conception of the imamate in Bahshamī Muʿtazili theology to argue for the rational necessity of the imamate and its necessity according to the Qurʾan and hadith. They accomplish the former by tying the existence of imams to the existence of moral obligations (taklīf) in the sight of God. As long as moral obligations exist, humans need imams who function as a type of divine assistance (luṭf).
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- Information
- Caliphate and ImamateAn Anthology of Medieval Muslim Texts on Political Theology, pp. 67 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023