ABSTRACT

In this article, I study how Imāmī imams ʿAlī al-Hādī (d. 868 CE) and al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī (d. 874 CE) attempted to police boundaries. While their excommunications have hitherto been treated through the lens of doctrinal discipline, I argue that we should not situate doctrine within practice. Religious leaders like the Imams used the politics of boundaries in order to meet challenges to their authority. By studying acts of excommunication we get a more precise sense of where the practical power of the imams lay: their ability to mobilise figures of localised authority in the far-flung communities that recognised the imamate. Such mediatory figures were needed to gain assent for imamic commands within their networks. Conversely, local actors were also constantly constructing their own sense of deviance autonomously. This could conflict with imamic commands, or could be confirmed by an imamic imprimatur. The construction of deviance was a multi-polar process.

摘要

在这篇文章中，我研究了 Imāmī 伊玛目 ʿAlī al-Hādī（卒于公元 868 年）和 al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī（卒于公元 874 年）如何试图监管边界。虽然迄今为止，他们被逐出教会是通过教义纪律的视角来处理的，但我认为我们不应该将教义置于实践之中。像伊玛目这样的宗教领袖使用边界政治来应对对其权威的挑战。通过研究逐出教会的行为，我们可以更准确地了解伊玛目的实际权力所在：他们能够在承认伊玛目的偏远社区中动员地方权威人物。需要这样的调解人才能在他们的网络中获得伊玛目命令的同意。反过来，本土行为者也在不断地自主建构自己的越轨感。这可能会与伊玛目命令发生冲突，或者可以通过伊玛目认可得到确认。偏差的构建是一个多极过程。