Contents

A Word to the Reader

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Violence and Scripture in the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays

The Work and Its Putative Author

A Book with Multiple Strata

A Work of Enduring Popularity

Fragments from the Book of Sulaym b. Qays

Table of Contents of the Book of Sulaym b. Qays

2. Qur’anic Recensions and Political Tendencies: Al-Sayyārī and His Book of Revelation and Falsification

MOHAMMAD ALI AMIR-MOEZZI AND ETAN KOHLBERG

Questions Raised by Western Studies

Uncertainties and Contradictions in the Islamic Sources

The Falsification of the Qur’an According to Imami Shi’ites

Al-Sayyārī: Notes on His Life and Work

Remarks on The Book of Revelation and Falsification or The Book of Variant Readings

3. The Necessity of Hermeneutics: On the Qur’anic Commentary of al-Ḥibarī

The Silent Qur’an and the Speaking Qur’an

Al-Ḥibarī and His Qur’anic Commentary

Personalized Commentaries and the Beginnings of Esotericism

4. The Emergence of Gnosis: A Monograph on Knowledge Compiled by al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī

A Representative of a Double Period of Transition

Some Significant Anomalies

Table of Contents of the K. Baṣā’ir al-darajāt

5. Perfecting a Religion: Remarks on al-Kulaynī and His Summa of Traditions

MOHAMMAD ALI AMIR-MOEZZI AND HASAN ANSARI

The Scarcity of Direct Sources of Information Amid Countless Uncertainties

Some Historical Points of Reference

Biographical Elements

Observations on the Work

The Formation of an Entire Religion Set Apart

Epilogue

 

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index