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The Naqīb of Ray Alids and His Support of Scientists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Sayyed Mohammad Hossein Manzoor al-Adjdad*
Affiliation:
Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The contributions of Shī‘a scholars and noblemen to the advancement of knowledge is well documented. These contributions culminated in the institution of dār al-‘ilm during the Buyids (334–447/945–1055). While the advent of the Saljūqs signaled the disappearance of the dār al-‘ilm, the Shī‘a minority continued to serve in the production of both religious and secular knowledge, despite the increasingly strict social policies under the Saljūqs. This article examines the remarkable role of Abu al-assan Muahhar, the naqīb of Ray Alids, who provided protection as well as immense support for scholars of his time. It further elucidates the sectarian tensions that affected the institutionalization of the sciences, hence a greater need for the opportune support afforded by the naqīb Muahhar.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2008

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Footnotes

Najm al-Din Yousefi translated this article from Persian.

References

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29 According to Dawlatshāh Samarqandī, there were always 400 poets in Mamūd's entourage; see Tadhkara al-Shu‘arā (Tehran, 1366/1987), 36.

30 This is reflected in Sulān Mamūd's letter to Ma'mūn Khwārazmshāh; see ‘Arūī Samarqandī, Chahār Maqālah, 151.

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32 Ālp Arsalān had such a zeal in his anafī faith that he was not pleased with Niām al-Mulk's Shāfi'ī faith; see al-Mulk, Niẓām, Siyāsat Nāmah, ed. by Shu'ar, Ja'far (Tehran, 1370/1991), 115117Google Scholar. This passage from Siyāsat Nāmah also reflects Niām al-Mulk's zeal for his faith.

33 An exemplar may be found in Imām Muammad Ghazzālī's rejection of Fārābī's and Ibn Sīnā's philosophy and equating them in some instances with infidelity (kofr); see Tahāfut al-Falāsifa (Bombay, ?), 94; also see Al-Munqidh min al-alāl (Cairo, 1955), 105; cf. Safa, Tārīkh-e Adabīyyat dar Iran, 271–288.

34 Yazdī, Durra al-Akhbār wa Lom'a al-Anwār, 95–96.