284 Notes
Maja’s (d. 886). Added to this list is the Shi‘ite compilation of Malik Ibn Anas
(d. 795), which was the first such collection to be written down. See Joseph Schacht,
Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (1950) and An Introduction to Islamic Law
(1964). Schacht’s quote is from “A Revaluation of Islamic Traditions,” in the Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society (1949). See also Jonathan Berkey, The Formation of Islam,
pp. 141–51. The Pakistani scholar is Abdul Qadir Oudah Shaheed, and his quote is
from Criminal Law of Islam (1987), p. 13.
Mahmoud Taha’s views on the Quran can be found in The Second Message of
Islam (1996); see also Abdullahi an-Na’im, Toward an Islamic Reformation (1996). For
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, see his brief article, “Divine Attributes in the Qur’an: Some
Poetic Aspects,” in Islam and Modernity, edited by John Cooper et al. (1998). Al-
Ghazali’s quote is from Zakaria’s Appendix 1, page 303.
For more on naskh see Ahmad Von Denffer, Ulum al-Qur’an: An Introduction to
the Sciences of the Qur’an (1983). There are scholars who reject the concept of naskh
altogether; see Ahmad Hasan, The Early Development of Islamic Jurisprudence (1970),
pp. 70–79. However, even Hasan recognizes the importance of historical context in
interpreting the Quran.
- In the Footsteps of Martyrs
My narrative of Karbala relies on Syed-Mohsen Naquvi, The Tragedy of Karbala
(1992), and Lewis Pelly, The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain, 2 vols. (1879). For the
development and function of the Muharram ceremonies in Shi‘ism, see Heinz
Halm, Shi‘a Islam: From Religion to Revolution (1997); Halm’s quote is from page 41.
See also the sociological works on the subject done by Vernon Schubel, Religious
Performance in Contemporary Islam (1993), and David Pinault, The Shi‘ites (1992),
from which the two testimonials are taken (pp. 103–106). I also recommend Pin-
ault’s The Horse of Karbala (2001). Ehsan Yarshater traces the origins of lamentation
rituals in “Ta‘ziyeh and Pre-Islamic Mourning Rites” in Ta‘ziyeh: Ritual and Drama
in Iran, edited by Peter Chelowski (1979).
There are a few superb introductory texts on Shi‘ism, including the previously
cited Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam (1985), and S. Husain M. Jafri,
The Origins and Early Development of Shi‘a Islam (1979). An English translation of
Tabataba‘i’s work, Shi‘ite Islam, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1977) is available. For
Shi‘ite conceptions of Shariah, see Hossein Modarressi, An Introduction to Shi‘i Law
(1984). The concept of the “pre-existent Imam” is discussed in great detail in
Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide in Early Shi‘ism (1994). For the
Shi‘ite view of the Quran, see Tabataba‘i, The Qur’an in Islam (1987). Ja‘far as-Sadiq’s
exegesis of the Verse of Light is taken from Helmut Gatje, The Qur’an and Its Exege-
sis (1976).
However, very few books deal adequately with the origins and evolution of
the Mahdi in Islam. The books most useful to this study include Jassim M. Hussain,
The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (1982), and Abdulaziz Abdulhussein Sachedina,
Islamic Messianism (1981). Sachedina also deals with the role of the Imam’s deputies
in The Just Ruler in Shi‘ite Islam (1988).
Ibn Khaldun’s seminal history The Muqaddimah is available in complete and
abridged English translations by the eminent Islamist Franz Rosenthal. Those
interested in an in-depth look at the machinations of the clerical establishment in
Iran should see Roy Mottahedeh’s marvelous book, The Mantle of the Prophet (1985).
There are too many general histories of the Iranian revolution to list, though I rec-