Amir-Moezzi’s Shi’a Studies: A Critical ‎Analysis of Sources and Citations

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Qur'anic Studies and Islamic Texts, Faculty of ‎Islamic Studies and Thought, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.‎

Abstract

In his Shi’a studies, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi has built his historical analyses and reconstructions of early Shi’ism upon a spectrum of Shi’i hadith, narrative, and historical sources. The main issue of this research is a critical examination and evaluation of his sources and citations, assessing their reliability and the methodological coherence of Amir-Moezzi’s research in his utilization of them. Adopting an analytical-critical approach, this study examines the most significant hadith sources cited by Amir-Moezzi, the manner in which he utilizes these sources, and the critical viewpoints raised regarding them. The findings indicate that Amir-Moezzi faces serious problems in source selection, evaluation of traditions, and data analysis, including an extensive reliance on texts with dubious attribution or lacking definitive authenticity, disregard for hadith studies and rijāl (biographical) criteria in evaluating traditions, selective treatment of data, biased translations and interpretations, and references that are inaccurate or inconsistent with primary sources. Furthermore, the results indicate that a portion of his analyses is influenced by esoteric presuppositions and Orientalist approaches, which, in some cases, has led to the imposition of specific readings upon narrative texts.

Keywords

References

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