The Shi?i Past in the Great Book of the Songs : A New Perspective on the Kitab al-Aghani by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani and Shi?i Islam in the Tenth Century Hardback

The Kitab al-Aghani (the Book of the Songs) stands as one of the most important extant sources for Arabic literature and Islamic history.

Compiled during the first half of the tenth century, the Kitab al-Aghani emerges from a pivotal period in the formation of Islamic sectarian identities, a subject of keen and ongoing scholarly debate that is fundamental to our understanding of the later development of Shi?i Islam.

While its compiler, Abu al-Faraj al-I?fahani (died after 356/967), is generally viewed as a 'Zaydi Shi?i', no in-depth study has investigated what can be gauged from the Kitab al-Aghani about his sectarian perspectives. The present study addresses the question of whether or not al-I?fahani's sectarian leanings can be discerned from the Kitab al-Aghani through an analysis based primarily on redaction criticism.

By examining the compiler's editorial interventions, this book argues that al-I?fahani, to some extent at least, presents past people and events central to the Shi?i worldview in accordance with his sectarian affiliation.

Furthermore, this work questions the label 'Zaydi' that is commonly associated with al-I?fahani.

Based on textual analyses of the Kitab al-Aghani, as well as on evidence from his Maqatil al-?alibiyin ('The ?alibid Martyrs') and other sources rooted in the tenth-century milieu, this book suggests that al-I?fahani's religious thought can be construed as a 'mild' form of Shi?ism - in the sense that it neither comprises belief in a specific lineage of imams, nor repudiation of most of the Companions including the first three caliphs.

However, it cannot necessarily be identified with any sect, as set down in the heresiography.