School of Hillah and the Formation of Twelver Shi‘i Islamic Tradition

Against the background of long-standing narratives in which Twelver Shi‘ism is viewed as fundamentally authoritarian, The School of Hillah and the Formation of Twelver Shi‘i Islamic Tradition builds upon recent scholarship in the fields of Religious Studies, Anthropology, and History to argue that Twelver Shi‘ism is better understood as a discursive tradition. At a conceptual level, this solves the basic problem of how to integrate the extraordinary diversity of Twelver Shi‘ism across time and space into a single historical category without engaging in a normative assessment of its underlying essence. Furthermore, in light of this conception of tradition, the School of Hillah stands out as a seminal period in the archive of Twelver Shi‘ism, though it has seldom been recognized as such in European-language scholarship. Insofar as it gave birth to a conversation that would prove capable of encompassing the dynamism of Twelver Shi‘ism, the School of Hillah should be considered the formative period of Twelver Shi‘i tradition. Moreover, when the tradition is conceptualized in this manner, it is a bulwark against the very authoritarianism by which Twelver Shi‘ism has been characterized for so long.

Professor Ali’s book is a mammoth undertaking that interrogates the archival record to meticulously trace the relationships that existed between scholars and their texts. By recentering Hillah (from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries) as a key site for the formation of Twelver Shi'ism, he demonstrates the ways in which the intellectual tradition that flourished in this city continues to impact our understanding of Twelver Shi'ism until today, A tour de force of Shi'i Islamic studies, Aun Hasan Ali’s The School of Hillah manages to combine historical precision with the larger theoretical interests of religious studies. Ali carefully outlines the evolution of Shi'i law, theology, and exegesis by untangling a pivotal and complex network of scholars. Above all else, the book’s clarity and intellectual vigor render it a sheer joy to read., Aun Hasan Ali’s book provides an enlightening, comprehensive analysis of intellectual life at one of the most important centers of Shi'i scholarship during the formative period of Imami thought and practice. Surveying the pertinent scholarly networks, their controversies and literary contributions to the main disciplines and genres, the author demonstrates the extent to which the intellectual landscape of Imami scholarship of Southern Iraq between the twelfth and fourteenth century CE was determined by an underlying framework of disagreement., Aun Hasan Ali offers a long-overdue, in-depth and interdisciplinary examination of the careers and contributions of the Imami Shi'i scholars of this pivotal period in the history of the faith. The School of Hillah constitutes a masterful contribution to the field of Shi'i studies., [Aun Hasan] Ali has provided us with a rich account of the formation of what is recognisably the Shi'i learned tradition and each element of his discussion raises questions and takes one down a path of inquiry which will be fruitful. It is in that sense exemplary.

Aun Hasan Ali is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, USA. He is the author of articles in peer-review journals such as Islamic Studies, Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies and has contributed to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law and edited collections.