Andrew J. Newman. « The Vezir and the Mulla: A Late Safavid Period Debate on Friday Prayer », in : Michele Bernardini, Masashi Haneda and Maria Szuppe, eds., Eurasian Studies [Liber Amicorum. Études sur l’Iran médiéval et moderne offertes à Jean Calmard]. Vol. V/1-2, 2006, pp. 237-269.
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1This article contextualizes the debate among the Usuli and Akhbari schools of law regarding the validity of congregational prayer-leading in the Twelver Shi’ite community in the late Safavid era. Newman begins with the foundational Usuli arguments of ‘Alī al-Karakī (d. 1534) and his relatively controversial position that prayer was wujūb taḫyirī (obligatory) and that learned faqīhs could be appointed to lead congregational prayer sessions. Newman provides a systematic overview of the 16th and 17th century debates on this matter, and towards the end of the article turns to the Arabic writing of one Surāb Tanukābunī (d. 1712-13) regarding obligatory/non-obligatory prayer. Debate had emerged among Shi’ite scholars in the late 17th century, and Tanukābunī produced a series of lively essays in defense of Muḥammad Bāqir Sabzivārī (d. 1679) who had advocated a position of wujūb ‘aynī (individual obligation) regarding prayer and who had been roundly condemned as a result by contemporary arch-conservatives. Tanukābunī profiled his rationalization of Sabzivārī’s position by narrating a juridical debate between himself and opposing clerics in the presence of the grand vizier, Šayḫ ‘Alī Ḫān Zangana. Newman argues effectively that these debates over prayers and prayer-leading were inherently political since the status of an obligatory prayer-leader (i.e. wujūb taḫyirī) was an implicit challenge to the central authority of the Safavid shah. Thus, those scholars like Tanukābunī who supported the wujūb ‘aynī argument – seen as promoting a “pro-court” position” – were in turn recognized and rewarded by the Safavid authorities for their loyalty.
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Colin P. Mitchell, « Andrew J. Newman. « The Vezir and the Mulla: A Late Safavid Period Debate on Friday Prayer », in : Michele Bernardini, Masashi Haneda and Maria Szuppe, eds., Eurasian Studies [Liber Amicorum. Études sur l’Iran médiéval et moderne offertes à Jean Calmard]. Vol. V/1-2, 2006, pp. 237-269. », Abstracta Iranica [En ligne], Volume 29 | 2008, document 204, mis en ligne le 15 septembre 2008, consulté le 13 juin 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/28642 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.28642
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