The Divine Guide in Early Shiʻism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam

The Divine Guide in Early Shiʻism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam

Imamate
Shīʻah -- Doctrines -- History

The Imam, the Divine Guide, is the central point around which the Shi'ite religion turns. The power of Shi'ism comes from the actions of the Imam. This title is reserved exclusively for the sucessors of the prophets in their mission. The author shows that from the beginning of Shi'ite Islam until the tenth century, the Imam was primarily a master of knowledge with supernatural powers, not a jurist theologian. The Imam is the threshold through which God and the creatures communicate. He is thus a cosmic necessity, the key and the center of the universal economy of the sacred. The author presents Shi'ism as a religion founded on double dimensions where the role of the leader remains constantly central: perpetual initiation into divine secrets and continued confrontation with anti-initiation forces. Without esotericism, exotericism loses its meaning. Early Imamism is an esoteric doctrine. Historically, then, at the beginning of esotericism in Islam, we find an initiatory, mystical, and occultist doctrine. This is the first book to systematically explore the immense literature attributed to the Imams themselves in order to recover the authentic original vision. It restores an essential source of esotericism in the world of Islam. -- Back cover.

Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

Albany : State University of New York Press

Translated by David Streight

Ch. I. Introduction: Return to the Earliest Sources. Hiero-Intelligence and Reason. Esotericism and Rationalization. The Sources. The Nature and Authority of Imamite Traditions -- Ch. II. The Pre-Existence of the Imam. The Worlds Before the World. The Guide-Light. Adamic Humanity. The "Voyage" of the Light. Excursus: "Vision with the Heart" Conception and Birth -- Ch. III. The Existence of the Imam. Comments on the "Political" Life of the Imams. The Sacred Science. Notes on the "Integral Quran" The Sacred Power -- Ch. IV. The Super-Existence of the Imam. Imamite Points of View on the Ancientness of the Information. The Imam and His Occultation: Esoteric Aspects. The Return and the Rising: Esoteric Aspects. Appendix: Some Implications of the Occultation: Individual Religion and Collective Religion.

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