In Islamic thought, religious and political authority, as well as other kinds of authority (such as moral and social) is firmly grounded in the acquisition and possession of excellences. Therefore, from the early stages of hadīth formation, Shīʿite and Sunni narrators have substantiated the authenticity of leadership and religio-political authority of their desired Caliphs by relating the corresponding virtues (Fadāʾil) of them. The supporters of ʿAlī, comprising a distinct group (i.e: Shīʿa) within the larger Muslim community, were the first to circulate reports which praised his exceptional virtues. Subsequently, the partisans of Abū Bakr, mainly belonging to the Sunni tradition, are then said to have responded with reports of their own which extolled their candidates’ virtues. Thus was launched the Manāqib genre which records, the merits of Abū Bakr and ʿAlī (and of other Companions as well). This study will now focus on a yet neglected aspect of the debate in this paradigm: "Purloined Excellence of the Companions". Some of the popular traditions of Fadāʾil of a Companion in one side, has one or more counterpart in the other side. These traditions have a particular role in the early discourse on the construction of religious and political authority, particularly in the dialectics between the Sunnis and the Shi'a on this crucial topic. Surprisingly, some of the Islamic scholars have discerned this phenomena and named it as "theft". This paper will now elaborate on how a popular tradition of moral excellence in one side, is copied in the other side, in a way that could be used again. Oldest extant hadīth compilations, as well as individual works on the merits of the Companions and biographical and historical works which record their lives, up to the 9th/15th century, will be investigated, in order to shed light on an interesting phenomena in the history of Islamic hadith

This proposed paper examines historical narratives documenting the final thirteen years in the life of Yahya b. ‘Abd Allah (d. 187/802-3). Yahya first came to prominence as a leader in the uprising of Sahib Fakhkh Husayn b. ‘Ali in 169/786. After the uprising was defeated, Yahya eluded capture for a number years before settling in Daylam where he unsuccessfully rebelled against the ‘Abbasids in 176/791-2. He was granted an aman from Harun al-Rashid (r. 170-93/786/809), which guaranteed him freedom of movement and access to considerable financial resources. Over the next decade, Yahya worked tirelessly to rebuild Zaydi and Alid political networks. This irked al-Rashid who eventually found a means to circumvent the aman, resulting in Yahya’s arrest and execution. This paper focuses on the historiographical treatment of the last thirteen years of Yahya’s life, drawing on both Zaydi (al-Natiq, Isbahani) and non-Zaydi (Tabari, Baladhuri, Yaqubi, etc) sources. The first part carefully reconstructs Yahya’s movements in this important period with a particular emphasis on his political and religious goals. A number of modern studies (cf Jarrar, Haider) have examined this topic but it remains largely undeveloped. The second part disentangles the motives of competing historical narratives. Zaydi sources are primarily interested in establishing Yahya’s credentials as an Imam while downplaying his complicity with Abbasid power. Non-Zaydi sources, by contrast, minimize Yahya’s importance by integrating his death into a narrative of shifting Abbasid political coalitions. The paper concludes with a set of general observations regarding Muslim historical writing.

Despite ‘Alī b. Abī Tālib’s (d.40/660) high esteem amongst most Muslims, some historically viewed him with contempt. Shortly after ‘Alī’s assassination, the Umayyads established their dynasty and apparently facilitated the circulation of anti-Alid rhetoric and propaganda in the public domain. However, the subsequent formation of orthodoxy within Sunnism was a process that required not only the inclusion of pro-Alid sentiments, but the repudiation of anti-Alid elements within the community and its eventual extinction (see Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Religion and politics under the early ʻAbbāsids. Leiden: Brill, 1997, p.33-5; Scott Lucas, Constructive Critics, Ḥadīth Literature, and the Articulation of Sunni Islam. Leiden: Brill, 2004; E.I.2, s.v. “’Uthmāniyya”). Muslim scholars have classified some early expressions of anti-Alid sentiment as naṣb. Naṣb in this technical sense has been described in various ways. One who held contempt (bughḍ) for ‘Alī and by extension, his family, was identified as nāṣibī (pl. nawāṣib, nāṣiba). A nāṣibī sought to cause pain to Alids through words or deeds and sometimes defended his anti-Alid sentiment as a virtue or theological principle. Nawāṣib who considered Alids heretics or evil in the sight of God are criticized in biographical literature more sternly than others who were simply rivals of ‘Alī or his descendants. In light of numerous studies on early Shīʻism, this paper elucidates anti-Alid sentiment (naṣb) as an opposing, concurrent social and literary phenomenon that has hitherto been ignored in academia. This paper identifies the reasons for which individuals were accused of naṣb and attempts to distinguish between anti-Alid and anti-Shīʻī sentiment. The paper utilizes the work of two scholars who wrote extensively on the corpus of beliefs identified with naṣb and sometimes validated them to the extent that they were accused of naṣb themselves: ʿAmr b. Baḥr al-Jāhiẓ (d. 255 AH/869 CE) and Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). A case study that compares primary source material with the work of al-Jāhiẓ, a contemporary to nawāṣib, and ibn Taymiyya, whose anti-Shīʻī polemics led him to rely on the naṣb tradition, allows one to identify common motifs in its characterization. This paper illuminates the crimes, sins, and derisive epithets that anti-Alid Muslims associated with ‘Alī to supplement other studies regarding his edification and rehabilitation in the early Islamic intellectual tradition.

Ibadi renditions of the emergence of the first Kharijites (i.e. the Muhakkima) have been shaped to reflect a concern with Ibadi origins. While Ibadi arguments for the “correctness” of the Muhakkima’s stance come primarily in two main forms – outright verbal disputes between Ibn ‘Abbas and/or ‘Ali and the Muhakkima using the device of a formal debate (munazara); and hagiographical depictions of figures associated with or appropriated for the early Muhakkima. This paper will focus on the second method (i.e. the portrayal of holy persons), focusing specifically on Ibadi characterizations of ‘Ammar b. Yasir, ‘Abdullah b. Wahb al-Rasibi and Hurqus b. Zuhayr in four pivotal Ibadi texts, two of which are from Oman: al-Qalhati’s 6th/12th century al-Kashf wa al-Bayan, al-Izkawi’s late-11th to early-12th/late 17th to early-18th century Kashf al-Ghumma; and two of which are from North Africa: al-Barradi’s 8th/14th century Kitab al-Jawahir and al-Shammakhi’s 10th/16th century Kitab al-Siyar (additionally, abbreviated references to these figures also exist in several earlier Omani sources). All of these sources are thought to preserve earlier material. Ibadi narratives about the Muhakkima portray these three figures as exceptionally pious ascetics and martyrs, and this image, along with the ways that their actions at Siffīn and Nahrawan are made to fulfill Prophetic hadith (in the cases of ‘Ammar and Hurqus), effectively makes the lives of these pious individuals into an “argument” in favor of the Ibadi viewpoint. This concern with pious originating figures reflects the Ibadi propensity to provide what Wilkinson has called “teacher lines” (lists of important personages who transmitted the Ibadi madhhab) as an integral aspect of authenticating the Ibadi view. Thus, the inclusion of hagiographical descriptions of Ibn Yasir, Ibn Zuhayr and Ibn Wahb in Ibadi narratives about the Muhakkima must be understood with regard to how Ibadis of al-Qalhati’s generation and beyond viewed their madhhab as encompassing not only a collection of particular arguments, doctrines and practices, but also the accumulation of personalities whose piety and renown authenticated those doctrines and practices.

The paper treats a fourth/tenth-century text, Sīrat Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn. Produced by an Egyptian scholar (of Twelver Shi`ite affiliation), Abd Allah al-Balawi, the Sīra details the career of the Abbasid governor of Egypt, Ahmad ibn Tulun. The text – a history of Ibn Tulun’s tenure in office (254/868-270/884) – is, at once, a biographical study; an early “advice to princes” text; and a regional history, written at the point of near collapse of the Arab/Islamic Empire. The paper takes up the question of the representation in medieval Arabic/Islamic letters of elite actors, in this case, a figure whose military background and Turkic ethnic origins might have ruled out the occupation of high office. The task is thus to reconcile two authorial efforts: the account of Ibn Tulun’s career and al-Balawi’s rendition of the amir’s policies and activities. The numismatic and archaeological record supports the first effort: one can write Ibn Tulun’s biography with confidence. But al-Balawi clearly also works to bring out the qualities that set Ibn Tulun apart: piety, humility, wisdom and a firm embrace of the Islamic learned tradition. These qualities, and al-Balawi is quite upfront on this score, justify Ibn Tulun’s consolidation of control over Egypt and his bid for a seat at the imperial table. The wider reading of the Sira is to see al-Balawi seeking to capitalize on a variegated and increasingly urgent discussion across the contemporary Islamic world on the question of legitimate leadership.