Overview

Against the background of long-standing narratives in which Twelver Shi‘ism is viewed as fundamentally authoritarian, The School of Hillah and the Formation of Twelver Shi‘i Islamic Tradition builds upon recent scholarship in the fields of Religious Studies, Anthropology, and History to argue that Twelver Shi‘ism is better understood as a discursive tradition. At a conceptual level, this solves the basic problem of how to integrate the extraordinary diversity of Twelver Shi‘ism across time and space into a single historical category without engaging in a normative assessment of its underlying essence. Furthermore, in light of this conception of tradition, the School of Hillah stands out as a seminal period in the archive of Twelver Shi‘ism, though it has seldom been recognized as such in European-language scholarship. Insofar as it gave birth to a conversation that would prove capable of encompassing the dynamism of Twelver Shi‘ism, the School of Hillah should be considered the formative period of Twelver Shi‘i tradition. Moreover, when the tradition is conceptualized in this manner, it is a bulwark against the very authoritarianism by which Twelver Shi‘ism has been characterized for so long.

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Professor Ali's book is a mammoth undertaking that interrogates the archival record to meticulously trace the relationships that existed between scholars and their texts. By recentering Hillah (from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries) as a key site for the formation of Twelver Shi'ism, he demonstrates the ways in which the intellectual tradition that flourished in this city continues to impact our understanding of Twelver Shi?ism until today * Associate Professor Nebil A. Husayn, University of Miami *

Professor Ali's book is a mammoth undertaking that interrogates the archival record to meticulously trace the relationships that existed between scholars and their texts. By recentering Hillah (from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries) as a key site for the formation of Twelver Shi'ism, he demonstrates the ways in which the intellectual tradition that flourished in this city continues to impact our understanding of Twelver Shi'ism until today * Nebil A. Husayn, Associate Professor, University of Miami, USA * A tour de force of Shi?i Islamic studies, Aun Hasan Ali's The School of ?illah manages to combine historical precision with the larger theoretical interests of religious studies. Ali carefully outlines the evolution of Shi?i law, theology, and exegesis by untangling a pivotal and complex network of scholars. Above all else, the book's clarity and intellectual vigor render it a sheer joy to read. * Professor Cyrus Ali Zargar, University of Central Florida *

Professor Ali's book is a mammoth undertaking that interrogates the archival record to meticulously trace the relationships that existed between scholars and their texts. By recentering Hillah (from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries) as a key site for the formation of Twelver Shi?ism, he demonstrates the ways in which the intellectual tradition that flourished in this city continues to impact our understanding of Twelver Shi?ism until today * Associate Professor Nebil A. Husayn, University of Miami *

Author Information

Aun Hasan Ali is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, USA. He is the author of articles in peer-review journals such as Islamic Studies, Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies and has contributed to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law and edited collections.

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