factor which has often been noticed but rarely understood. It may have been
due to Persians often growing up bilingual, if not multilingual, with strong
ties to a culture whose roots were clearly linked to pre-Islamic religions.
Moreover, writing on religious others may have been for Persian Muslims part
of a process, most likely unconscious, of identifying with the other on the basis
of one’s own otherness given the power dynamics of Arab identity within the
Islamic world. Al-ShahrastÇn¥(1076–1153 CE), who technically belongs to the
early part of the sixth Islamic century, culminated the trend set in the fifth.
His famous work KitÇb al-milal wa-al-niªal(Book of religious communities
and systems of thought) was acclaimed by both Muslims of the next generations
and by twentieth-century Western historians of religions. It is not surprising
that his work is often referred to as the ‘first history of religions’.
The next period from the sixth to the twelfth Islamic centuries (12th to 18th
centuries CE) is marked by a radical shift: the production of great systematic
works is replaced by an almost complete cessation of new production and the
perpetuation of already existing writings on religious others. It is surprising
that this genre did not altogether die out, given the paucity of its apparent use
in official curricula. Nevertheless, this period is marked by small changes that
are worth noticing. For example, NashwÇn al-HimyÇr¥(d. 1178 CE), in al-Ór
al-‘¥n(The heavenly women), surveys Islamic religious others along maqÇlÇt
lines, but in a style that follows after the section on u‚l al-fiqh (foundation
of jurisprudence). As for Fakhr al-D¥n al-RÇz¥(ca.1149–1209 CE), his I‘tiqÇdÇt
firaq al-muslim¥n wa-al-mushrik¥n(Beliefs of Muslim and polytheistic sects) is
written in the polemical style of refutations, but from a Sunni Ash‘arite
perspective. With the decline and disappearance of the Mu‘tazil¥s, the Ash‘arites
seem to have taken over the task of defending Islam from divisions both
within and without. Ibn Óazm’s perspective also had its follower in Ibn
al-Jawz¥(1116–1200), a well-known polemical Hanbalite, who wrote Talb¥s
ibl¥s(Deception of Iblis [Satan]) that contains a short maqÇlÇton religious
others.
Writings in the proto-scientific study of religions may have ceased, but the
refutations did not. Of the four authors writing in the eighth Islamic century,
two wrote works from a strongly polemical Hanbalite perspective. Ibn
Taym¥yah (1263–1328 CE) composed four books touching on religious others,
of which two have revealing titles: Bughyat al-murtadd (Rebellion of the
apostate) and Radd al-jahm¥yah wa-al-zanÇdiqah(Refutation of Jahmiya and
Zanadiqa). Ibn Qayyim al-Jawz¥yah (1292–1350 CE) followed in the same line
as his teacher, Ibn Taym¥yah. The unknown author who wrote in Persian
HaftÇd-u se mellat(or I‘tiqÇdÇt-e madhÇhib) (Seventy-three nations – Beliefs
of religions) exhibited a tendency that could only follow a period of classics:
the production of concise summaries of previous masterworks. This short book
contains brief passages on each of the seventy-three sects of Islam, the number
of sects specified in a famous ªad¥th(Monnot 1985: 73).
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
NORTH AFRICA AND WEST ASIA
85
