Shi`a Pajoohi

Shi`a Pajoohi

Indicators of Rationalism in Classical Shi'ism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad reza Hatampouri 1
syed Abolhasan Navab 2
Mohammad javdan 3
hamid reza saritmadari 4
1 Ph.D. Candidate in Shi‘a Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Jurisprudential Schools, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Shi‘a Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
4 Associate Professor, Department of Shi‘a Studies, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
Abstract

The relationship between reason and scripture in religious knowledge constitutes one of the pivotal debates within the Imami intellectual tradition, and has historically given rise to two major approaches—namely, rationalism and scripturalism. This article undertakes a novel analysis of these two currents by employing a spectral approach, seeking to reconceptualize them not as discrete opposing camps but rather as a continuous epistemic spectrum. Through the categorization of conceptual and epistemological indicators of rationalism and scripturalism, and the analysis of the historical evolution of these two approaches, the present study demonstrates that Imami thought has consistently operated in a dynamic interplay between the preservation of religious scriptures and the active employment of reason in the interpretation and substantiation of doctrines. Furthermore, the positions of prominent figures within each current are examined and presented in comparative tables, while the proposed spectral model offers an analytical framework for a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between reason and scripture in the Imami tradition. The principal innovation of this article lies in its presentation of a continuous, indicator-based, and historically grounded analysis, which may contribute to a critical reassessment of the Shi'i epistemological heritage in addressing contemporary challenges.
Keywords
Rationalism
Scripturalism
Imamiyya
Spectral Analysis
Religious Knowledge
Historical Current Analysis
Subjects
References
 
1.       Abū Zuhrah, Muḥammad. n.d. Tārīkh al-Madhāhib al-Islāmīyah* [History of Islamic Schools of Thought]. Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-ʿArabī.
2.       ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. 1429 AH. Nihāyat al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl [The End of Attainment in the Science of Principles]. Edited by Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Bahādurī. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi al-Imām al-Ṣādiq.
3.       Ashʿarī, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl. n.d. Maqālāt al-Islāmīyīn [Articles of the Muslims]. Edited by Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub.
4.       Astarābādī, Muḥammad Amīn. n.d. Al-Fawāʾid al-Madanīyah [The Medinan Benefits]. Qom: Maktabat Baṣīratī.
5.       Ibn al-Jawzī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. 1412 AH. Dafʿ Shubah al-Tashbīh bi-Akuff al-Tanzīh [Refuting the Doubts of Anthropomorphism with the Hands of Transcendence]. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub.
6.       Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad. 1414 AH. Lisān al-ʿArab [The Language of the Arabs]. Beirut: Nashr Dār al-Fikr.
7.       Ibn Ṭāwūs, Raḍī al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Mūsā. n.d. Kashf al-Maḥajjah li-Thamarat al-Muhajjah [Unveiling the Path to the Fruit of the Journey]. Qom: Intishārāt-i Āl al-Bayt.
8.       ʿIlm al-Hudā, Sayyid Murtaḍā ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. 1405 AH. Rasāʾil al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā [The Treatises of Sharīf Murtaḍā]. Edited by Sayyid Mahdī Rajāʾī. Qom: Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm.
9.       Iskāfī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. n.d. Al-Miʿyār wa al-Muwāzanah [The Criterion and the Balance]. Qom: Nashr Dār al-Ḥadīth.
10.   Khomeini, Rūḥ Allāh. 1421 AH. Kitāb al-Bayʿ [The Book of Sale]. 5 vols. Edited by Muʾassasah-ʾi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeini. Tehran: Muʾassasah-ʾi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeini.
11.   Khomeini, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. 1424 AH. Tawḍīḥ al-Masāʾil (Muḥashshā) [Clarification of Questions (Annotated)]. Edited by Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Banī Hāshimī Khomeini. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī.
12.   Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1407 AH. Al-Kāfī [The Sufficient]. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
13.   Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Taqī. 1403 AH. Biḥār al-Anwār [Oceans of Lights]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
14.   Muballiqī, Aḥmad. 1379 Sh. "ʿAqlāniyyat dar Andīshah va Fiqh-i Siyāsī-yi Imām Khomeinī" [Rationality in the Thought and Political Jurisprudence of Imam Khomeini]. Majallah-ʾi Muʾassasah-ʾi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeinī [Journal of the Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works], no. 31.
15.   Mudarrisī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Ḥusayn. 1368 Sh. Muqaddamah-ʾī bar Fiqh-i Shīʿah [An Introduction to Shiʿi Jurisprudence]. Translated by Muḥammad Āṣif. Mashhad: Muʾassasah-ʾi Chāp va Intishārāt-i Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, Bunyād-i Pizhūhish-hā-yi Islāmī.
16.   Mudarrisī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Ḥusayn. 1386 Sh. Maktab dar Farāyand-i Takāmul [School in the Process of Evolution]. Translated by Hāshim Īzadpānāh. Tehran: Nashr-i Kavīr.
17.   Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Nuʿmān. 1372 Sh. Awāʾil al-Maqālāt [The Beginnings of Articles]. Edited by Mahdī Muḥaqqiq. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tehrān.
18.   Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Nuʿmān. n.d. Majmūʿah-ʾi Muṣannafāt-i Shaykh Mufīd. Taṣḥīḥ al-Iʿtiqād [Collected Works of Shaykh Mufīd: Correction of the Belief]. Qom: Kungirah-ʾi Hazārah-ʾi Shaykh Mufīd.
19.   Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm. n.d. Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb [The Keys to the Unseen]. Qom: Intishārāt-i Bīdār.
20.   Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. 1369 Sh. ʿAdl-i Ilāhī [Divine Justice]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā.
21.   Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. n.d. Majmūʿah-ʾi Āthār [Collected Works]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā.
22.   Nasr, Sayyid Ḥusayn. 1342 Sh. Tārīkh-i Falsafah-ʾi Islāmī az Āghāz tā Imrūz [A History of Islamic Philosophy from Its Beginnings to the Present]. Translated by Mahdī Najafī Aqrā. 4th ed. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Jāmī.
23.   Riḍāʾī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. 1396 Sh. Maʿnā va Manzilat-i ʿAql dar Kalām-i Imāmīyah [The Meaning and Status of Reason in Imami Theology]. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi ʿIlmī-Farhangī-yi Dār al-Ḥadīth, Sāzmān-i Chāp va Nashr.
24.   Riḍāʾī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. 1396 Sh. Maʿnā va Manzilat-i ʿAql dar Kalām-i Imāmīyah [The Meaning and Status of Reason in Imami Theology]. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth.
25.   Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm (Mullā Ṣadrā). n.d. Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb [The Keys to the Unseen]. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi Muṭāliʿāt-i Ḥikmat va Falsafah.
26.   Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm. n.d. (a). Al-Asfār al-Arbaʿah [The Four Journeys]. Tehran: Muʾassasah-ʾi Muṭāliʿāt-i Islāmī.
27.   Ṣaffār Qummī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. n.d. Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt [The Insights of Degrees]. Qom: Kitābkhānah-ʾi Āyat Allāh Marʿashī.
28.   Sayyid Murtaḍā, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn. 1376 Sh. Al-Dharīʿah ilā Uṣūl al-Sharīʿa [The Means to the Principles of Sacred Law]. Edited by Abū al-Qāsim Gurjī. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehrān.
29.   Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn. 1409 AH. Ḥaqāʾiq al-Īmān [The Realities of Faith]. Edited by Mahdī Rajāʾī. Qom: Kitābkhānah-ʾi Āyat Allāh Marʿashī.
30.   Shahristānī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm. 1402 AH. Al-Milal wa al-Niḥal [The Religions and Sects]. Edited by Muḥammad Sayyid Kaylānī. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah.
31.   Sharīʿatmadārī, Ḥamīd Riḍā. 1391 Sh. ʿAqlāniyyat dar Kalām-i Imāmīyah: Taḥlīlī bar Mabānī va Rūykard-hā [Rationality in Imami Theology: An Analysis of Foundations and Approaches]. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tehran.
32.   Sharīʿatmadārī, Ḥamīd Riḍā. 1393 Sh. "ʿAql-garāyī va Naṣṣ-garāyī dar Kalām-i Imāmīyah" [Rationalism and Textualism in Imami Theology]. Faṣlnāmah-ʾi Maʿārif-i ʿAqlī-yi Islāmī [Journal of Islamic Intellectual Sciences], no. 17: 75–102.
33.   Shaykh Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. 1428 AH. Farāʾid al-Uṣūl [The Pearls of Principles]. Qom: Majmaʿ al-Fikr al-Islāmī.
34.   Shaykh Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. n.d. (a). Taṣḥīḥ al-Iʿtiqād [Correction of the Belief]. Qom: Kungirah-ʾi Jahānī-yi Shaykh Mufīd.
35.   Shaykh Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. n.d. (b). Al-Fuṣūl al-Mukhtārah [The Selected Chapters]. Qom: Maktabat Baṣīratī.
36.   Shaykh Ṣadūq, Ibn Bābawayh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. 1404 AH. Al-Iʿtiqādāt fī Dīn al-Imāmīyah [The Beliefs in the Religion of the Imamiyya]. Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyyah.
37.   Shaykh Ṣadūq, Ibn Bābawayh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. n.d. Al-Tawḥīd [The Divine Unity]. Qom: Jāmiʿah-ʾi Mudarrisīn.
38.   Shaykh Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. 1409 AH. Al-Fihrist [The Catalogue]. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī.
39.   Shaykh Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. 1417 AH. Al-ʿUddah fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh [The Preparation in the Principles of Jurisprudence]. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
40.   Shaykh Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. n.d. Kitāb al-Ghaybah [The Book of Occultation]. Qom: Dār al-Mufīd.
41.   Subḥānī, Muḥammad Taqī. 1374 Sh. "ʿAql-garāyī va Naṣṣ-garāyī dar Kalām-i Islāmī" [Rationalism and Textualism in Islamic Theology]. Majallah-ʾi Naqd va Naẓar [Journal of Critique and Reflection], nos. 3–4: 205–232.
42.   Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. n.d. Nihāyat al-Ḥikmah [The End of Philosophy]. Edited by Shaykh ʿAbbās ʿAlī Zāriʿī Sabziwārī. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi al-Nashr al-Islāmī.
43.   Ṭūsī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. 1389 Sh. Al-ʿUddah fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh [The Preparation in the Principles of Jurisprudence]. Edited by Muḥammad Riḍā Anṣārī Qummī. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb.
44.   Ṭūsī, Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. 1407 AH. Tajrīd al-Iʿtiqād [The Abstraction of Belief]. Commentary by ʿAllāmah Ḥillī. Edited by Mahdī Rajāʾī. Qom: Nashr Muʾassasah-ʾi al-Nashr al-Islāmī.