Migration and social change: The 'ulama of Ottoman Jabal 'Amil in Safavid Iran, 1501-1736

The formation of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1736) marks an important watershed in the history of Twelver Shi'ism. The early Safavid monarchs were determined to convert Iran to orthodox Shi'ism and to spread a literate urban version of Twelver Shi'ite doctrine. Thus, they invited the Shi'ite 'ulama from Arabic-speaking countries--Iraq, Bahrain, and Jabal 'Amil in modern day Lebanon--to reinforce those in Iran. Among these, the contribution of the scholars and divines of Jabal 'Amil became especially notable as they started to accumulate significant power and prestige under Safavid patronage. By the seventeenth century a large number of these scholars residing in Safavid Iran--around 158 scholar--were of a 'Amili background.;The mainstay of my study is a historical inquiry into the social, religious, and intellectual foundations of the 'Amili community in sixteenth century Iran. The dissertation highlights Jabal 'Amil's socio-religious milieu, the development of Twelver Shi'ism and the historical conditions shaping the rise of the renowned 'Amili schools (madrasas) during the late fifteenth century. Furthermore, this study throws light on the relations between the 'Amili communities and jurists on the one hand and Mamluk and Ottoman Sunnite political establishments on the other and the conditions leading to the immigration of 'ulama families from Jabal 'Amil to Iran during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Once in Iran, leading 'Amili scholars maintained close ties with the Safavid court, occupied the highest religious offices and created the principal tools for the consolidation of Safavid rule whether they inherently accepted it or contrived to surpass it in time. The large majority of the 'Amili scholars, who advanced either a rationalist ('usuli) or a traditionist (akhbari) legal perspective imbued the jurist with authoritative knowledge while solidifying Safavid sovereignty. On the popular level, the 'Amilis saw themselves as the custodians of a defined orthodoxy and fathomed new bridges with Iran's social order and supplied pertinent justifications for how an exegetic use of the past in Twelver Shi'ite thought is relevant to the present. In essence, the 'Amilis made significant modifications in the legal-political foundations of Twelver Shi'ism and their writings left an unequivocal impact on the course of clerical authority in Iran and the Shi'ite world. By the eighteenth century the 'Amili collective clerical authority declined and its fortunes at the Safavid court were on the wane. The 'Amili legalistic-political precepts, however, continued to carry a particular utility for Iranian society and its juridical class which adapted and remolded them to fit their needs in a creative historical process.