Hierohistory in Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān's Foundation of Islamic Interpretation (Asās al-taʾwīl) and al-Muʾayyad fi’l-Dīn al-Shīrāzī's Basis of Islamic Interpretation (Bunyād-i taʾwīl): The Birth of Jesus

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Shafique N Virani 1
Seddigheh Kardan 2
1 University of Toronto, Canada
2 Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University
10.30470/phm.2024.2021379.2497
Abstract
The writings of Fatimid Ismaili dāʿīs emphasize the importance of understanding the world and faith by maintaining a proper balance between their ẓāhir and bāṭin. Evincing the latter from the former is known as taʾwīl, or symbolic interpretation. This article analyzes the concept of taʾwīl, focussing on its Ismaili form. It explores the Fatimid affirmation that just as only the Prophet was authorized by God to deliver the tanzīl, only his successors from the Ahl al-bayt have the authority to disclose its taʾwīl. This taʾwīl is then disseminated to the muʾmins by the Imam’s appointees. The article introduces the Asās al-taʾwīl of Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, one of the preeminent authors of works of this genre, and its Persian translation, Bunyād-i taʾwīl, by al-Muʾayyad fi’l-Dīn al-Shīrāzī. Reporting a tradition of Imam Muḥammad al-Bāqir, Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān wrote his Daʿāʾim al-Islam to elaborate the ẓāhir of the seven pillars of Islam. He explains their bāṭin in his Taʾwīl Daʿāʾim al-Islam. However, he dedicates a special book, the Asās al-taʾwīl, to walāyah, the foremost of Islam’s pillars. The book explores the symbolic meaning of the lives of the Prophets and Imams mentioned in the Quran-i sharīf. This articles analyzes the concept of sacred biography, hierohistory and the spiritual hierarchy (ḥudūd al-dīn) as elaborated in Kitāb Asās al-taʾwīl. It then provides al-Muʾayyad fi’l-Dīn Shīrāzī’s Persian translation from the hitherto unedited Bunyād-i taʾwīl of the section about the birth of Jesus (Q 3:42-48) as an example of this esoteric approach to sacred history.

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