Taqiyya and the Fast of Ramadan: some Ismā‛īli Reflexions on the Esoteric Meaning of the Sharī‛a
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2013.013Keywords:
Taqiyya, kitmān, Ismā‛īlism, Messianism, zāhir, Faṭimids, bāṭin, Fast of RamadānAbstract
This article explores the concepts of taqiyya and kitmān as they were developed by Ismā‛īli authors of the 10th and 11th centuries. In the present « cycle of occultation » « true knowledge » is veiled under the wordings of revealed texts and laws. Only the imāms and their disciples have access to this knowledge, but they are supposed to keep it secret. This obligation of secrecy is part of the oath of allegiance that every Ismā‛īli has to take prior to his initiation. But even the imāms were forced to act with care and in secret. At certain moments, they had to go into occultation (satr, istitār), hiding their true identity and their abode. The practice of taqiyya and kitmān is presented as the hidden sense of the Qur’ānic prescriptions about fasting during Ramadan. Breaking the fast illegally means transgressing the rules of taqiyya, whereas ‘Id al-fiṭr symbolizes the final abolition of taqiyya. Fatimid authors interpret the rise of ‘Abd Allāh al-Mahdī and the foundation of the Fatimid state in Ifrīqiya as a sign announcing Id al-fiṭr,which will occur with the advent of the Qā’im on the day of the Great Resurrection. By opening a new « cycle of manifestation » he will abrogate all exoteric religions and laws. Knowledge will be directly accessible, without zāhir nor bāṭin. Hence, there will be no longer a need to observe taqiyya or kitmān. As Ismā‛īlism is a messianic movement with strong political aims, it makes no sense to distinguish prudential and esoteric aspects of secrecy in its theory of taqiyya.
Downloads
References
Amir-Moezzi, Mohammad Ali, Le guide divin dans le shî'isme originel. Aux sources de l'ésotérisme en Islam, Lagrasse, Verdier, 1992.
Bar-Asher, Meir et Kofsky, Aryeh, The Nusayrī-'Alawī Religion. An Enquiry into its Theology and Liturgy, Leiden-Boston-Köln, E. J. Brill, 2002, Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture, 1.
Corbin, Henry, Histoire de la philosophie islamique. Des origines à la mort d'Averro.s (1198), Paris, Gallimard, 1964, Id.es, 38.
Corbin, Henry, " Le temps cyclique dans le Mazdéisme et dans l'Ismaélisme", Eranos Jahrbuch, 20 (1951), pp. 149-217.
Daftary, Farhad, The Ismā'īlīs. Their History and Doctrines, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007, 2ᵉ éd.
De Smet, Daniel, " Adam, premier prophète et législateur? La doctrine chiite des ulū al-'azm et la controverse sur la pérennité de la šarī'a", dans Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Meir M. Bar-Asher et Simon Hopkins (.d.), Le shī'isme imā-mite quarante ans après. Hommage à Etan Kohlberg, Turnhout, Brepols, 2009, Bibliothèque de l'école des Hautes Études. Sciences Religieuses, 137, pp. 187-202.
De Smet, Daniel, " Dieu leur prête longue vie: les mu'ammarūn dans l'imamologie chiite", Acta Orientalia Belgica, 13, (2000), pp. 163-174.
De Smet, Daniel, " Henry Corbin et les études ismaéliennes", dans Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Christian Jambet et Pierre Lory (éd.), Henry Corbin. Philosophies et Sagesses des Religions du Livre, Turnhout, Brepols, 2005, Biblothèque de l'école Pratique des Hautes Études. Sciences Religieuses, 126 / Histoire et prosopographie de la section des sciences religieuses, 1, pp. 105-118.
De Smet, Daniel, " L'Arbre de la Connaissance du bien et du mal. Transformation d'un thème biblique dans l'ismaélisme ṭayyibite", dans Stefan Leder (.d.), Studies in Arabic and Islam. Proceedings of the 19th Congress of the U.E.A.I., Halle 1998, Leuven-Paris-Sterling, Peeters, 2002, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 108, pp. 513-521.
De Smet, Daniel, La philosophie ismaélienne: un ésotérisme chiite entre néoplatonisme et gnose, Paris, Cerf, 2012, Les Conférences de l'école Pratique des Hautes Études, 6.
De Smet, Daniel, "La pratique de taqiyya et kitmān en islam chiite: compromis ou hypocrisie?", dans Mohamed Nachi (éd.), Actualité du compromis. La construction politique de la différence, Paris, Armand Colin, 2011, pp. 148-161.
De Smet, Daniel, Les Épîtres sacrées des Druzes. RasĀ'il al-Ḥikma. Volumes 1 et 2. Introduction, édition critique et traduction annotée des traités attribués á Hamza b. 'AlĪ et à Ismā'īl at-Tamīmī, Leuven-Paris-Dudley, Peeters, 2007, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 168.
De Smet, Daniel, " Loi rationnelle et loi imposée. Les deux aspects de la šarī'a dans le chiisme ismaélien des Xe et XIe siècles", Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph, 61 (2008), pp. 515-544.
De Smet, Daniel, "Marie, Marie Madeleine, Zacharie, Jean-Baptiste et Simon-Pierre: auxiliaires de J.sus selon la prophétologie shi'ite ismaélienne", dans Guillaume Dye et Fabien Nobilio (éd.), Figures bibliques en islam, Bruxelles-Fernelmont, Éditions Modulaires Européennes, 2012, pp. 59-79.
De Smet, Daniel, "The Risāla al-Mudhhiba Attributed to al-Qāḍi al-Nu'mān: Important Evidence for the Adoption of Neoplatonism by Fatimid Ismailism at the Time of al-Mu'izz ?", dans Omar Ali-de-Unzaga (éd.), Fortresses of the Intellect: Ismaili and Other Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad Daftary, London-New York, I.B. Tauris-The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2011, pp. 309-341.
Ebstein, Michael, "Secrecy in Ismā'īlī Tradition and in the Mystical Thought of Ibn al-'Arabī", Journal Asiatique, 298, 2 (2010), pp. 303-343.
Friedman, Yaron, The Nuṣayrī-'Alawīs. An Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of a Leading Minority in Syria, Leiden-Boston, E. J. Brill, 2010, Islamic History and Civilization, 77.
Haji, Hamid, A Distinguished Dā'ī under the Shade of the Fāṭimids: Ḥamīd al-Dīn al-Kirmānī (d. circa 411/1020) and his Epistles, London, I. B. Tauris, 1998.
Halm, Heinz, Kosmologie und Heilslehre der frühen Ismā'īlīya. Eine Studie zur islamischen Gnosis, Wiesbaden, Steiner, 1978, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 44/1.
Halm, Heinz, Le chiisme. Traduit de l'allemand par Hubert Hougue, Paris, PUF, 1995.
Halm, Heinz, The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning, London, I. B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 1997, Ismaili Heritage Series 2.
Halm, Heinz, " The Isma'ili Oath of Allegiance ('ahd) and the 'Sessions of Wisdom' (majālis al-ḥikma) in Fatimid Times", dans Farhad Daftary (éd.), Mediaeval Isma'ili History and Thought, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 91-115.
Hamdani, Abbas et de Blois, François, " A Re-examination of al-Mahdī's Letter to the Yemenites on the Genealogy of the Fatimid Caliphs", Die Welt des Orients, 14 (1983), pp. 173-207.
Hamdani, Ḥusayn, On the Genealogy of Fatimid Caliphs, Cairo, Publications of the American University at Cairo, 1958, School of Oriental Studies, Occasional Papers, 1.
Idrīs 'Imād al-Dīn, Kitāb Zahr al-ma'ānī, Musṣṭafā Ghālib (éd.), Bayrūt, al-Mu'assasa al-Jāmi'iyya li-l-dirāsāt wa-l-nashr wa-l-tawzī', 1991.
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā (attribué à), al-Risāla al-Jāmi'a, Muṣṭafā Ghālib (éd.), Bayrūt, Dār al-Andalus, 1984.
Ja'far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, Kitāb al-'Ālim wa-l-ghulām, James W. Morris (éd. et trad.), The Master and the Disciple. An Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue, London-New York, I. B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2001, Ismaili Texts and Translations Series, 3.
Ja'far b. Manṣūr al-Yaman, Sarā'ir wa-asrār al-nuṭaqā', Muṣṭafā Ghālib (éd), Bayrūt, Dār al-Andalus, 1984. Al-Kirmānī, Ḥamīd al-Dīn, Kitāb al-Maṣābīḥ fī ithbāt al-imāma, Paul E. Walker (éd. et trad.), Master of the Age. An Islamic Treatise on the Necessity of the Imamate, London-New York, I.B. Tauris, in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2007, Ismaili Texts and Translations Series, 9.
Al-Kirmānī, Ḥamīd al-Dīn, al-Risāla al-Ḥāwiyya fī l-layl wa-l-nahār, dans Muṣṭafā Ghālib (éds.), Majmū'at Rasā'il al-Kirmānī, Bayrūt, al-Mu'assasa al-Jāmi'iyya li-l-dirāsāt wa-l-nashr wa-l-tawzī', 1987, pp. 102-112.
Kohlberg, Etan, " Taqiyya in Shī'ī Theology and Religion", dans Hans G. Kippenberg et Guy G. Stroumsa, (éd.), Secrecy and Concealment: Studies in the History of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Religions, Leiden-Boston, E. J. Brill, 1995, Studies in the History of Religions, 65, pp 345-380.
Layish, Aharon, " Taqiyya among the Druzes", Asian and African Studies, 19 (1985), pp. 245-281
Lewis, Bernard, " An Ismaili Interpretation of the Fall of Adam", BSOAS, 9 (1938), pp. 691-704. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00078459
Madelung, Wilferd, " Das Imamat in der frühen ismailitischen Lehre", Der Islam, 37 (1961), pp. 43-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/islm.1961.37.1-3.43
Madelung, Wilferd, " Fatimiden und Bah rainqarmat en", Der Islam, 34 (1959), pp. 34-88.
Maqrīzī, Kitāb al-Mawā'iz wa-l-i'tibār bi-dhikr al-khitat wa-l-āthār, Būlāq, 1853, 2 vols.
Marquet, Yves, " La pensée philosophique et religieuse du Qāḍi al-Nu'mān à travers la Risāla Muḏhiba", Bulletin d'Études Orientales, 39-40 (1987-88), pp. 141-181.
Naysābūrī, Aḥmad b. Ibrāhīm, al-Risāla al-Mūjaza al-kāfiyya fī ādāb al-du'āt, Verena Klemm et Paul E. Walker (éd. et trad.), A Code of Conduct. Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission, London-New York, I.B. Tauris, in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2011, Ismaili Texts and Translations Series, 15.
Al-Qāḍī al-Nu'mān, Da'ā'im al-islām, vol. 1, Āṣaf Fayḍī (éd.), al-Qāhira, Dār al-Ma'ārif, 1985. Al-Qāḍī al-Nu'mān, (attribué à), al-Risāla al-Mudhhiba, dans 'Ārif Tāmir (éd.), Khams Rasā'il Ismā'īliyya, Salamiyya, Dār al-Inṣāf, 1956, pp 28-87.
Al-Qāḍī al-Nu'mān, Ta'wīl al-da'ā'im, vol. 3, Muḥammad Ḥ. al-A'ẓamī (éd.), al-Qāhira, Dār al-Ma'ārif, 1972.
Al-Rāzī, Abū Ḥātim, Kitāb al-Isṣāḥ, Ḥasan Mīnūchehr et Mehdī Mohaghegh (éd.), Tehrān, The Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Teheran-McGill University, 2004, Wisdom of Persia, 56.
Seybold, Christian, Die Drusenschrift : Kitāb Alnoqaṭ Waldāwair. Das Buch der Punkte und Kreise, Kirchhain-Leipzig, M. Schmersow, 1902.
Al-Sijistānī, Abū Ya'qūb, Kitāb al-Iftikhār, Ismā'īl K. Poonawala (éd.), Bayrūt, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2000.
Al-Sijistānī, Abū Ya'qūb, Kitāb Ithbāt al-nubū'āt, 'Ārif Tāmir (.d.), Bayrūt, Dār al-Mashriq, 1982.
Steigerwald, Diane, " La dissimulation (taqiyya) de la foi dans le shī'isme ismaélien", Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses, 27 (1998), pp. 39-59.
Stern, Samuel M., " The 'Book of the Highest Initiation' and Other anti-Ismā'īlī Travesties", dans Samuel M. Stern, Studies in Early Ismā'īlism, Jerusalem-Leiden, The Magness Press-The Hebrew University-E. J. Brill, 1983, pp. 56-83.
Al-Ṭabarānī, Abū Sa'īd Maymūn b. Qāsim, Kitāb al-Ma'ārif, Meir M. Bar-Asher et Aryeh Kofsky (éd.), Leuven-Paris-Walpole, Peeters, 2012, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 209.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2013 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
