Religious Scholars and the Umayyads

<p>Religious Scholars and the Umayyads analyzes legal and theological developments during the Marwānid period (64/684--132/750) focusing on religious scholars who supported the Umayyads. Their scholarly network extended across several generations and significantly influenced the development of the Islamic faith. Umayyad <i>qādòī</i>s who represented the intersection of religious authority and imperial power were particularly important. </p><p></p><p>This book challenges the long-standing paradigm that the emerging Muslim faith was shaped by religious dissenters who were hostile to the Umayyads. A prosopographical analysis of Umayyad-era scholars demonstrates that piety and opposition were not necessarily synonymous. Reputable scholars served as <i>qādòī</i>s tutors and advisors to Umayyad caliphs and governors. Their religious credentials were untarnished by their association with the Umayyads and they appear prominently in later <i>hòadīth</i> collections and <i>fiqh</i> works.</p><p></p><p>This historiographical study demonstrates that excessive reliance on al-Tòabarī’s chronicle has distorted the image of the Umayyads. Alternatively biographical sources produced by later <i>hòadīth</i> scholars reveal a rich tradition of Umayyad-era religious scholarship that undermines al-Tòabarī’s assumptions. Offering a better understanding of early Islamic religious development this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers in the fields of Islamic history Islamic legal studies and Arabic historiography.</p>