Cover -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi -- Preface -- Contributors -- Note on Transliteration and Dates -- Abbreviations -- PART I: HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY -- Introduction Wilferd Madelung -- 1. Reflections on the Expression dīn ʻAlī: The Origins of the Shiʻi Faith Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi -- 2. The Study of the Ismailis: Phases and Issues Farhad Daftary -- 3. Al-Maqrīzī's Connection to the Fatimids Nasser Rabbat -- PART II: THE QURʼAN AND ITS SHIʻI INTERPRETATIONS -- Introduction Meir M. Bar-Asher -- 4. What Defines a (Pre-modern) Shiʻi Tafsīr? Notes towards the History of the Genre of Tafsīr in Islam, in the Light of the Study of the Shiʻi Contribution Andrew Rippin -- 5. The Tafsīr of al-Ḥibarī (d. 286/899): Qurʼanic Exegesis and Early Shiʻi Esotericism Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi -- 6. The Empire Writes Back: Fatimid Ismaili Taʼwīl (Allegoresis) and the Mysteries of the Ancient Greeks David Hollenberg -- 7. The Authority to Interpret the Qurʼan Meir M. Bar-Asher -- PART III: SHIʻI ḤADĪTH -- Introduction Etan Kohlberg -- 8. Writing and Resistance: The Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Early Shiʻism Maria Massi Dakake -- 9. Pre-Būyid Ḥadīth Literature: The Case of al-Barqī from Qumm (d. 274/888 or 280/894) in Twelve Sections Roy Vilozny -- 10. The Story of 'Pen and Paper' and its Interpretation in Muslim Literary and Historical Tradition Gurdofarid Miskinzoda -- PART IV: SHIʻI LAW -- Introduction Mohyddin Yahia -- 11. Renunciation (Zuhd) in the Early Shiʻi Tradition Christopher Melchert -- 12. The Evolution of al-Qāḑī al-Nuʻmān's Theory of Ismaili Jurisprudence as Reflected in the Chronology of his Works on Jurisprudence Ismail K. Poonawala -- 13. The Theory of Māl among the Zaydīs Sayyid Zayd al-Wazir -- PART V: AUTHORITY -- Introduction Andrew J. Newman.

14. 'Seeking the Face of God': The Safawid Ḥikmat Tradition's Conceptualisation of Walāya Takwīniyya Sajjad Rizvi -- 15. The Role of the Imam-caliph as Depicted in Official Treatises and Documents Issued by the Fatimids Paul E. Walker -- 16. 'Minority Reports': Twelver Shiʻi Disputations and Authority in the Būyid Period Andrew J. Newman -- PART VI: THEOLOGY -- Introduction Wilferd Madelung -- 17. Early Imāmī Theology as Reflected in the Kitāb al-kāfī of al-Kulaynī Wilferd Madelung -- 18. Al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī: His Writings on Theology and their Reception Hassan Ansari and Sabine Schmidtke -- PART VII: RITES AND RITUALS -- Introduction Gerald R. Hawting -- 19. ʽĀshūrāʼ Rituals, Identity and Politics: A Comparative Approach (Lebanon and India) Sabrina Mervin -- 20. The Luminous Lamp: The Practice of Chirāgh-i rawshan among the Ismailis of Central Asia Hakim Elnazarov -- PART VIII: PHILOSOPHY AND INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS -- Introduction Daniel De Smet -- 21. Shahrastānī's Ḥanīf Revelation: A Shiʻi Philosophico-Hermeneutical System Toby Mayer -- 22. Philosophising at the Margins of 'Shiʻi Studies': Reflections on Ibn Sīnā's Ontology Nader El-Bizri -- Epilogue by Azim Nanji.