An Apocalyptic History of the Early Fatimid Empire

Jamel Velji (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

184 Seiten

2016
Edinburgh University Press (Verlag)
9780748690886 (ISBN)

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How can religion transform a society? This book investigates the ways in which a medieval Islamic movement harnessed Quranic visions of utopia to construct one of the most brilliant and lasting empires in Islamic history (979-1171). The Fatimids’ apocalyptic vision of their central place in an imminent utopia played a critical role in transfiguring the intellectual and political terrains of North Africa in the early tenth century. Yet the realities that they faced on the ground often challenged their status as the custodians of a pristine Islam at the end of time.
Through a detailed examination of some of the structural features of the Fatimid revolution, as well as early works of ta'wil, or symbolic interpretation, Jamel Velji illustrates how the Fatimids conceived of their mission as one that would bring about an imminent utopia. He then examines how the Fatimids reinterpreted their place in history when the expected end never materialised. The book ends with an extensive discussion of another apocalyptic event linked to a Fatimid lineage: the Nizari Ismaili declaration of the end of time on August 8, 1164.

Jamel Velji is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. In addition to his interests in Shia materials and Islamic intellectual history more broadly he is interested in apocalypticism, method and theory in the study of religion, and religion and violence.

Acknowledgments; Introducing Ismaili Apocalypses; 1. From ẓāhir to bāṭin: An Introduction to Fatimid Hermeneutics; 2. Oaths, Taxes, and Tithes: Organizing an Imminent Utopia; 3. Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript I: Kitāb al-kashf (Book of unveiling); 4. Taʾwīl of an Apocalyptic Transcript II: Kitāb al-rushd wa-l-hidāya (Book of righteousness and true guidance); 5. To Temper an Imminent Eschatology: The Contributions of al-Mahdī and Qāḍī l-Nuʿmān; 6. A Spiritual Progression to a New Eschatological Center: The Taʾwīl al-daʿāʾim on the Hajj; 7. Actualizing the End: The Nizari Declaration of the Resurrection; 8. From Movement to Text: The Haft-bāb; Conclusion.

Erscheinungsdatum	25.05.2016
Reihe/Serie	Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Apocalypticism and Eschatology
Verlagsort	Edinburgh
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	432 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Islam
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-13	9780748690886 / 9780748690886
Zustand	Neuware