Product Description

The years 260-329/874-941, known among the Shites as the period of Minor Occultation, comprised undoubtedly the most difficult and critical period in the history of Immite Sh'ism. The death of the eleventh Imam, with no apparent successor, resulted in internal conflicts, many desertions and conversions, and the emergence of numerous splinter groups and subsects within the Immite community. Contemporary Immite theologians had the difficult task of defending the doctrine against attack while trying to offer new interpretations of fundamental principles to accommodate contemporary developments. Abu Jafar b. Qiba al-Razi, one of the most prominent and active Immite theologians, had a major role in all of these reconstructions and developments. The present work attempts to shed light on some aspects of the Immite doctrine during the Minor Occultation and on the contributions of Abu Jafar b. Qiba to the formation of the developed Immite doctrine. The second part of this volume contains the texts of three short works of this scholar, together with their English translation.