On the Limited Representation of the Ismailis in al-Ṣadūq’s (d. 381/991) Kamāl al-dīn

Roy Vilozny (University of Haifa) It is generally agreed that Kamāl al-dīn wa-tamām al-niʿma by Ibn Bābawayh, known as al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381/991) , is of the most important milestones in the process of institutionalising the notion of the Twelfth imam’s occultation and eschatological return as one of the Imāmiyya’s fundamental articles of faith. Al-Ṣadūq’s motivation in compiling this work several decades following the onset of the greater occultation (329/941) was derived – if we take his introduction to the work at face value – from the realisation of the degree of perplexity (ḥayra) among his fellow Imāmīs. Partly since this state of perplexity resulted – or at least had the potential of resulting – in the adoption of non-Imāmī views by members of the Imāmī community, al-Ṣadūq devotes considerable theological effort to attempting to refute what he considers to be erroneous groups. This sort of endeavour, one should bear...