By Edmund Hayes A great body of Twelver legal doctrines is expressed through the Twelver ḥadīth corpus. A large body of these reports, like Sunnī ḥadīth, take the narrative form … Continue reading Servicing the Needs of a Community: Imamic Agency versus Local Demands
By Edmund Hayes In my first essay, I raised the question: was there an early Imāmī Shīʿī legal system? In order to think about this question, it is convenient to … Continue reading The Practical Agency of the Shīʿī Imams
By Edmund Hayes In 260/874, upon the death of the Eleventh Imam of the Twelver Shīʿa, al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskari, a crisis hit the inner circle of the Imam’s family. The Imam’s … Continue reading The Rejection of Legal Pluralism and Its Consequences
By Edmund Hayes When we speak of Shīʿī law, we usually mean the legal edifice of Twelver Shīʿīsm, which developed in the centuries following the collapse of the historical imamate … Continue reading Was There an Early Imāmī Shīʿī Legal System?
