The Institutions of the Shīʿī Imāmate: Towards a Social History of Early Imāmī Shiʿism*

Abstract

Mushegh Asatryan has recently criticised the use of the word “community” as a framework for understanding early Shiʿism. This article makes the case in favour of community as a framework when used precisely as a foundation for a properly sociological approach to early Imāmī Shiʿism. Imāmī Shiʿism has most often been treated as a community of belief. However, if we understand the early Imāmī community through the lens of its social...