Lecture | Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
The 12th-Century Transfer of Zaydi Legal Texts from the Caspian Region to Yemen and its Impact on Later Yemeni Zaydi Law
- Ebrahim Mansoor (University of Bergen)
- Date
- Monday 25 November 2024
- Time
- Series
- Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
- Location
- Online via Zoom (register below)
The 12th century saw a significant transfer of theological and jurisprudential texts from the Caspian regions of Iran to Yemen. While the transfer of texts related to theology (kalām) and principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh) has received much attention in scholarly literature, the equally significant movement of legal texts (fiqh) during this time is less studied. In this talk I will argue that this influx of knowledge had a remarkable impact on the development of the Yemeni Zaydi legal school in subsequent centuries.
To demonstrate this, I will give a general overview of the history of Zaydi fiqh before and after the transfer and focus on how the Caspian Zaydi fiqh was gradually Yemenized in the next four centuries, leading up to the beginning of the Qāsimi dynasty (ca. 1600 CE). I will give examples of which elements remained stable and which institutions, genres, principles, and rules underwent significant change.
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About the speaker
Ebrahim Mansoor received his bachelor's degree in Sharīʿa and Law from Sana'a University and his master’s degree in law from Alexandria University. He is currently a fourth-year PhD candidate in the CanCode project based at the University of Bergen, Norway. Mansoor recently co-authored the a blog post on the overview of the history of Zaydi fiqh.
About the discussant
Edmund Hayes is a historian of Islam and the medieval Middle East. His particular focus has been the social history of early Shiʿa Islam, especially in its Imami and Twelver strands, giving rise to his 2022 monograph, Agents of the Hidden Imam: Forging Twelver Shi‘ism, 850-950 CE, and numerous articles on the institutions of Imami Shiʿism, including alms tax collection, agents, epistolary culture, pilgrimage and excommunication. He has also written on topics relating to the social, cultural and intellectual history of the medieval Middle East, including sexuality and the body, ethnic and cultural identity, and the history of water management.
The Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series is supported by the Horizon-2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project EMStaD YEMEN.
An overview of all events in this series can be found on the series page.