Document Type : review paper
Abstract
The revolt of Zayd ibn Ali and the rise of the Zaydi movement encouraged some Zaydi scholars in Iraq and Hejaz to devote parts of their scholarly output to early Zaydi history. These historical works are primarily monographs and it was out of this tradition that the Zaydi hagiography has been developed. As this tradition aimed first and foremost at laying a legitimate ground for the advent of the Zaydi sect, the Zaydi tradition of historiography is proved to be based on certain paradigms. A study of 'Abu al-'Abbas al-Hasani's Kitab al-masabih shows how the historiography of the Zaydiyya, a marginalized trend within the Islamic community, had been under the heavy influence of its founding-fathers' polemical and theological approach to concepts such as the Islamic community and its salvation and iniquity.
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