The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi'ite Islam

4. The Office of Charismatic Authority:The Functions of the Rijal

c h a p t e r f o u r The Office of Charismatic Authority: The Functions of the Rijal Acknowledge the status of the rijal among us in accordance with the traditions they report from us. (The Imam Ja¡far al-Sadiq) I n chapter three, I examined the process of the institutionalization of charismatic domination in Shi¡i Islam. I argued that the process of the routinization of the imams’ charisma and the creation of the office of charisma in the eighth century were linked to the need to perpetuate religious teachings by those personages who were trained by the imams. I further stated that the delegation of the imams’ authority to their disciples enabled the centralized , charismatic authority of the imams to be diffused among a set of special disciples and engendered the geographical, regional authority of the rijal. In this chapter, I will argue that the office of charisma that was created by the imams enabled the rijal to exercise authority and play significant roles in the Shi¡i community. More specifically, I intend to examine how the rijal, as occupants of the office of charisma, performed various didactic and polemical functions in the Shi¡i community, and how their authority evolved and was enhanced in the very functions they performed. I intend to further show that, by proclaiming the authority of an imam, framing their discourses, and performing other tasks related to their positions as the deputies of the imam, the rijal constructed a normative basis through which “orthodox” views and beliefs could be distilled and differentiated from those espoused by their opponents. 110 The Heirs of the Prophet In discussing the activities of the rijal, it is important to bear in mind that the disciples were responding to the historical vicissitudes that were precipitated by the adverse sociopolitical climate of the times. Thus, the functions of the agency of the discipleship were not confined to narrating traditions and pronouncing nuanced juridical points. On the contrary, due to the constant surveillance over the imams by the caliphal authority, the functions of the disciples evolved over time to encompass multiple roles. Gradually, those who were entrusted to occupy the charismatic office assumed the roles of socioeconomic and religious leaders of the community. A study of the contribution of the rijal requires a meticulous examination and reconstruction of discrete components that are interspersed in different genres of Sunni and Shi¡i literature. This is necessary because a composite framework of their diverse roles can only be formulated from a careful study of various juridical, biographical, heresiographical, and polemical texts. The significance of the rijal’s contribution can also be assessed from the refutations of the views ascribed to the rijal, which have been recorded in Sunni heresiographical, theological, and historical texts. In defining and delineating the multiplicity of roles of the rijal, an attempt will be made to isolate particular thematic constants or key concepts that are dispersed in different genres of Shi¡i and Sunni literature, emphasizing, in the process, those that are consistently stressed in the disciples’ relationship with the Shi¡i community. Detecting patterns in these topoi can lead us to the origins and possible motives for their selection in Shi¡i literature.1 The activities of the rijal can be divided into eight major fields. I will discuss each of these in turn. Acknowledgment and Proclamation of the Imamate of a Succeeding Imam An important function of the rijal, which is mentioned in Shi¡i biographical and hagiographical literature, was their identification and proclamation of an imam’s successor after his death. After the time of Ja¡far al-Sadiq, the imams had to contend with rival claimants to the imamate as various factions posited their own distinctive successor to an imam. Shi¡i sources maintain that, amid the confusion that often arose after the death of an imam, the rijal were largely responsible for the allegiance that was paid to a succeeding imam. By their recognition and acknowledgment of an imam, the rijal were identifying the charismatic authority of the time and refuting claims made by rival contenders . In the process, they were also promulgating and perpetuating the concept of the imams’ hereditary charisma. The Office of Charismatic Authority: The Functions of the Rijal 111 The identification and proclamation of an imam’s successor was often...