Beyond Sectarianism - by Tehseen Thaver (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In this groundbreaking book, Tehseen Thaver offers a fundamental reevaluation of how one should think about the relationship between the Qur'an, Shi'ism, and religious identity. Beyond Sectarianism focuses on the literary Arabic Qur'an exegesis of the highly influential yet less studied poet, historian, and exegete al-Sharif al-Radi (d. 1015). Al-Radi's dense and fascinating interpretations sought to resolve Qur'anic ambiguities or mutashabihat. Through a philologically layered and historically attuned analysis, Thaver argues that al-Radi's efforts at resolving Qur'anic ambiguities were interlocked with the project of the canonization of the Arabic language. Although marked as a Shi'i scholar, the interpretive and political horizons that informed al-Radi's scholarly endeavors could not be reduced to predetermined templates of sectarian identity. Rather, Thaver argues, al-Radi was an active participant and beneficiary of critical intellectual currents and debates that animated the wider Muslim Humanities during his life, especially on questions of language, poetry and theology. Thaver thus pushes her readers to reconsider their assumptions about the interaction of sectarian identity and scriptural interpretation in the study of Islam and religion. Though centered on the context of late tenth/eleventh century Baghdad under the Buyid dynasty, Beyond Sectarianism raises and addresses crucial questions of religious thought and identity with major ramifications for how we imagine the narrative of Islam and the place of sectarianism in it today"--

Book Synopsis

In this groundbreaking book, Tehseen Thaver offers a fundamental reevaluation of how one should think about the relationship between the Qur'an, Shi'ism, and religious identity. Beyond Sectarianism focuses on the literary Arabic Qur'an exegesis of the highly influential yet less studied poet, historian, and exegete al-Sharif al-Radi (d. 1015). Al-Radi's fascinating interpretations sought to resolve Qur'anic ambiguities or mutashabihat. Through a philologically layered and historically attuned analysis, Thaver argues that al-Radi's efforts at resolving Qur'anic ambiguities were interlocked with the project of the canonization of the Arabic language.

Although he was marked as a Shi'i scholar, the interpretive and political horizons that informed al-Radi's scholarly endeavors could not be reduced to predetermined templates of sectarian identity. Rather, Thaver argues, al-Radi was an active participant and beneficiary of critical intellectual currents and debates that animated the wider Muslim humanities during his life, especially on questions of language, poetry, and theology. Thaver thus leads her readers to reconsider their assumptions about the interaction of sectarian identity and scriptural interpretation in the study of Islam and religion.

Though centered on the context of late tenth- and eleventh-century Baghdad under the Buyid dynasty, Beyond Sectarianism raises and addresses crucial questions of religious thought and identity with major ramifications for how we imagine the narrative of Islam and the place of sectarianism in it today.

Review Quotes

"At this study's core is al-Sharīf al-Raḍī's (d. 1015 CE) only surviving volume of his literary Qur'ānic exegesis Ḥaqā'iq al-Ta'wīl fī Mutashābih al-Tanzīl in which he tackled thirty-seven ambiguous verses in the Qur'ān. Tehseen Thaver persuasively demonstrates that when read with a keen scholarly eye and against the backdrop of the 'general episteme that dominated the social and intellectual currents' of Buyid Baghdad in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, al-Raḍī's work presents numerous and surprisingly compelling fruit...[G]roundbreaking...Clear and highly accessible, Thaver's prose excels in elucidating complicated theological and linguistic debates of a bygone era even to a lay reader."-- "Islamic Studies"

"Tehseen Thaver provides a timely corrective to our understanding of classical scholarship produced by Shi'i thinkers. Not only does her study of the hermeneutics of Radi speak broadly to debates in the study of the humanities, she also indicates important ways in which we cannot reduce a thinker to their theological affiliation nor can we set aside their personality. A critical intervention in the study of Islam."-- "Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter"

"One of the best works to appear in Islamic studies recently. Tehseen Thaver offers a profound, theoretically engaging study of medieval Islamic identity and hermeneutics. This is a must for any reader of Islamic intellectual history."-- "Walid Saleh, University of Toronto"

About the Author

Tehseen Thaver is Assistant Professor of Religion/Islam at Princeton University. She is author of articles in journals such as the Journal of Qur'anic Studies and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.