The Rational Turn in Imāmism Revisited.

According to the most widely accepted view, Imāmism and Muʿtazilism were originally poles apart. Subsequently, proselytes physically transported Muʿtazilī theology to Imāmī circles where it was adopted by the Banū Nawbakht among others. The basic problem with this explanation is that intellectual developments remain disconnected from wider social and political realities, which obscures the illocutionary force of texts and distorts their significance. Therefore, the first part of this article examines the background to the Imāmī turn toward rationalism. To understand the assimilation of Muʿtazilism as a creative historical process, intellectual developments are placed in the context of three sociopolitical factors: the crisis of the Occultation, Buwayhid patronage, and the religious topography of Baghdad. The second part of the article compares two texts that represent the evolution of Imāmī theology in this period: Ibn Bābawayh's Iʿtiqādāt al-imāmiyya and al-Mufīd's Taṣḥīḥ iʿtiqādāt al-imāmiyya. When historicised properly, a detailed comparison of these creeds suggests a more nuanced understanding of the Imāmī turn toward rationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]