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The issue of the entry of Imāmite/Twelver Shīʿism into Iran is one of the most controversial issues in the History of Islamic Sects. According to the established general opinion, it is after the Safavids that the Shī’ite groups in question became the dominant thought in Iran. Before, they were only a minority. However, this study reveals that Imāmite Shīʿism was not a minority to be underestimated even before the Safavids. The introduction of Imāmism/Twelve Shīʿism into Iran runs parallel to the formation of the Shīʿite Imāmite ḥadīth literature that was produced in Qum in the second phase of its configuration. The first phase was inaugurated by the introduction of some extremist doctrines in Kufa of Iraq and then discussion of them by such theologians as Hishām bin al-Ḥakam and ʿAlī bin Mītham al-Tammār in such centers as Kufa and Baghdad. The Arabs of Yemenite origin who immigrated from Kufa to Qum carried the lore formed in the former to the latter. This Qum-centered Shīʿism in Iran made progress in some areas that were in contact with Kufa and Baghdad. To speak in very general terms, Qum’s becoming the center of Imāmite Shīʿism in Iran starts in the late third/ninth century. In this period, the followers of Imāmite Shīʿism seemed to exist in the region of Nishabur (Sabzevar and Tus), as well as in Ahwaz and the coasts of Fars. Towards the end of the fourth century, Imāmism made some progress in Tabaristan, Daylam, Jurjan, Hamadan, Ray, Azerbaijan, and, though to a lesser degree, in some parts of Transoxiana. By the end of the fifth/eleventh century, such towns as Kashan and Abeh (Aveh) near Qum had become followers of Imāmism, their population having possibly increased in Ray. By the sixth/twelfth century, they had grown even more to acquire the majority in Ray, gaining a considerable number of followers in Qazvin, Mazandaran, and Tabaristan (Sari and Uram) in the north and in Astarabad and Jurjan in the northeast. In the seventh/thirteenth century, when the Ilkhanates came into power, the Imāmite Shīʿites began to appear in Isfahan, too, maintaining their control of Ray in which, being one of the largest cities of the time, they reached majority one century earlier; in further east, they reached Herat and Balkh, which are located in the territory of present-day Afghanistan. In fact, Imāmite Shīʿism held ground in the first place in Qum and the neighboring area, as well as the region of Nishabur, never shrinking after it held ground over there. In answer to the question of whether Shīʿism retreated in any regions, Azerbaijan and Hamadan are possible to be mentioned; however, they are not clearly so. Although the names Azerbaijan and Hamadan may be given in response to the question “whether there were regions that could be considered as a regression in some periods in this process?”, it is not entirely clear to what extent this answer reflects the truth.

The formative period of Imāmī law is generally placed in Buwayhid Baghdad. However, by the end of the Buwayhid era, Imāmī law had not yet developed all of the features that would enable future scholars to elaborate the law along particular methodological lines. In particular, it was not until the 7th/13th century that Imāmī scholars invented a typology to systematize the use of ḥadīth as an independent source of law. Because the bulk of substantive law rests on the Sunnah, and because the main source of Muslims’ knowledge of the Sunnah is ḥadīth, it is argued that the moment when ḥadīth come to be regarded as an independent source of law is a strong indication of its formative period. While some scholars have tried to locate this development in an earlier stage of the development of Imāmī law, a careful examination of key passages in the relevant texts demonstrate that their argument is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of early bio-bibliographical writing as well as a misunderstanding of the arguments of critics of the typology.

The Imāmī Shī‘a of Syria stood along with the Sunnīs as one group against the Franks, rather than as followers of different religious traditions. This article traces the rapprochement between the Sunnī and the Imāmī Shī‘a in the face of the Franks. Examples that were invoked to make the point here include the Imāmīs of Tripoli and Aleppo and the Imāmī vizier of the Fatimids, Ṭalā’i‘ Ibn Ruzzayk. Three factors seem to have underlined this sense of unity: doctrinal nearness, geographic proximity, and the political quietism of medieval Imāmism. Saladin’s relations with the Imāmīs are also invoked here. Being more pragmatic than his predecessor Nūr Al-Dīn, Saladin valued winning hearts and minds as much as winning battles. He successfully adopted a containment policy that was based on winning the Syrian Imāmīs and building a broad alliance with them against the Franks.

The Imāmī Shī‘a of Syria stood along with the Sunnīs as one group against the Franks, rather than as followers of different religious traditions. This article traces the rapprochement between the Sunnī and the Imāmī Shī‘a in the face of the Franks. Examples that were invoked to make the point here include the Imāmīs of Tripoli and Aleppo and the Imāmī vizier of the Fatimids, Ṭalā’i‘ Ibn Ruzzayk. Three factors seem to have underlined this sense of unity: doctrinal nearness, geographic proximity, and the political quietism of medieval Imāmism. Saladin’s relations with the Imāmīs are also invoked here. Being more pragmatic than his predecessor Nūr Al-Dīn, Saladin valued winning hearts and minds as much as winning battles. He successfully adopted a containment policy that was based on winning the Syrian Imāmīs and building a broad alliance with them against the Franks.

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The peculiarity of Kitāb al-Aškāl wa-l-qarāʾin, the opening section in the printed editions of Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Barqī's (d. 274/888 or 280/894) Kitāb al-Maḥāsin, is easily discernable: it is sub-divided into chapters bearing numeric titles, from “The Chapter on Three” to “The Chapter on Ten”. Each of these chapters contains various Imamite or prophetic traditions whose message is related in one way or another to the number mentioned in its title. Attempting to shed additional light on the Shiite hadith literature prior to its canonization during the Buwayhid era (334/945-447/1055), this article examines the relationship between style and content within this numerical framework. Being the earliest extant Shiite example of a numerical treatise, the present paper sets out to trace the author's possible sources of inspiration as well as the work's impact on later generations of Shiite scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Résumé Le Kitāb al-Kašf, attribué à Ğafar b. Manūr al-Yaman (Xe s.), est un recueil de six traités ismaéliens anciens. L'examen du deuxième de ces six traités montre qu'il est constitué pour l'essentiel de deux adīs attestés dans les sources duodécimaines, bien que cela ne soit pas précisé par l'auteur ou l'éditeur du Kitāb al-Kašf. Selon les cas, la comparaison entre les versions ismaélienne et imamite des adīs éclaircit le texte du Kitāb al-Kašf, souvent difficile et obscur, ou laisse soupçonner une transmission parallèle à celle dont les recueils duodécimains se font l'écho. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]