‫ۘۢٷڷ۠ٷۨۢۙ۝ۦۍڷۣۚڷۣۣ۠ۜۗۑڷۙۜۨڷۣۚڷۢ۝ۨۙ۠۠۩‪ψ‬‬ ‫ۧۙ۝ۘ۩ۨۑڷۢٷۗ۝ۦۚۆ‬ ‫ۍۑ‪ۛҖψ‬ۦۣ‪ۘۛۙғ‬۝ۦۖۡٷۗ‪۠ۧғ‬ٷۢۦ۩ۣ۞‪ҖҖ‬ۃۤۨۨۜ‬ ‫‪ỀặặẰếẴẹΝẺằΝếẳẰΝẮẳẺẺặΝẺằ‬ڷۦۣۚڷۧۙۗ۝۪ۦۙۧڷ۠ٷۣۢ۝ۨ۝ۘۘۆ‬ ‫‪ẽẴẰẹếẬặΝẬẹắΝằẽẴẮẬẹΝếỀắẴẰẾ‬‬ ‫ۙۦۙۜڷ۟ۗ۝۠‪Ө‬ڷۃۧۨۦۙ۠ٷڷ۠۝ٷۡٮ‬ ‫ۙۦۙۜڷ۟ۗ۝۠‪Ө‬ڷۃۣۧۢ۝ۨۤ۝ۦۗۧۖ۩ۑ‬ ‫ۙۦۙۜڷ۟ۗ۝۠‪Ө‬ڷۃۧۨۢ۝ۦۤۙۦڷ۠ٷ۝ۗۦۣۙۡۡ‪Ө‬‬ ‫ۙۦۙۜڷ۟ۗ۝۠‪Ө‬ڷۃڷۙۧ۩ڷۣۚڷۧۡۦۙے‬ ‫ۙۜےڿڷ‪ΝẴẾếẺẽỄΝẺằΝẳẴẴΝẾặẬẸғ‬ڷۃۺۦٷۨۚٷ‪ө‬ڷۘٷۜۦٷٯ‬ ‫ۀ‪ۙۧғ‬۝ۦۙۑڷۙۛٷۨ۝ۦۙٱڷ۝۝ۜۑڷۃۧۙ۝ۘ۩ۨۑڷ۝۠۝ٷۡۧٲڷۣۚڷۙۨ۩ۨ۝ۨۧۢٲ‬ ‫ۢ۝ڷۃۧ۝ۦ۩ٷےڷ‪ғψғ‬ٲڷۃ۟ۦۣﯦڷ۫ۙ‪І‬ڷۘۢٷڷۣۣۢۘۢۋڷ‪ۤۤғ‬ڷ‪Ң‬ڽڿڷۃ‪‬‬ ‫ۃۧۙ۝ۘ۩ۨۑڷ۝۠۝ٷۡۧٲڷۣۚڷۙۨ۩ۨ۝ۨۧۢٲڷۙۜےڷۜۨ۝۫ڷۣۢ۝ۨٷ۝ۣۗۧۧٷ‬ ‫‪ғ‬ڼڷڽۀہڷڿۀڼہۀڷڽڷہۀۂڷ‪ψІ‬ۑٲڷ‪ғ‬ڿڽڼھ‬ ‫ۦۙۢۢ۩ۦ‪ψ‬ڷۦۙۢ۝ٷې‬ ‫ۤۤڷۃ‪Ң‬ڽڼھڷۺۦٷ۩ۦۖۙٯڷ‪Җ‬ڷڽڼڷۙ۩ۧۧٲڷ‪Җ‬ڷہۀڷۙۡ۩ۣ۠۔ڷ‪Җ‬ڷۧۙ۝ۘ۩ۨۑڷۢٷۗ۝ۦۚۆڷۘۢٷڷ۠ٷۨۢۙ۝ۦۍڷۣۚڷۣۣ۠ۜۗۑڷۙۜۨڷۣۚڷۢ۝ۨۙ۠۠۩‪ψ‬‬ ‫ڿۂڽڷ‪Ғ‬ڷھۂڽ‬ ‫‪Ң‬ڽڼھڷۜۗۦٷیڷۀڽڷۃۙۢ۝ۣ۠ۢڷۘۙۜۧ۝۠ۖ۩ێڷۃۀۀڽڽڼڼۀڽﯥۀۀۂڽۀڼڼۑ‪Җ‬ۀڽڼڽ‪ғ‬ڼڽڷۃٲۍ‪ө‬‬ ‫ۀۀڽڽڼڼۀڽﯥۀۀۂڽۀڼڼۑٵۨۗٷۦۨۧۖٷ‪ۛҖ‬ۦۣ‪ۘۛۙғ‬۝ۦۖۡٷۗ‪۠ۧғ‬ٷۢۦ۩ۣ۞‪ҖҖ‬ۃۤۨۨۜڷۃۙ۠ۗ۝ۨۦٷڷۧ۝ۜۨڷۣۨڷ۟ۢ۝ۋ‬ ‫ۃۙ۠ۗ۝ۨۦٷڷۧ۝ۜۨڷۙۨ۝ۗڷۣۨڷۣ۫ٱ‬ ‫ۤۤڷۃہۀڷۃۧۙ۝ۘ۩ۨۑڷۢٷۗ۝ۦۚۆڷۘۢٷڷ۠ٷۨۢۙ۝ۦۍڷۣۚڷۣۣ۠ۜۗۑڷۙۜۨڷۣۚڷۢ۝ۨۙ۠۠۩‪ψ‬ڷ‪ғ‬ۀ‪Ң‬ڽڼھڿڷۦۙۢۢ۩ۦ‪ψ‬ڷۦۙۢ۝ٷې‬ ‫ۀۀڽڽڼڼۀڽﯥۀۀۂڽۀڼڼۑ‪Җ‬ۀڽڼڽ‪ғ‬ڼڽۃ۝ۣۘڷڿۂڽ‪Ғ‬ھۂڽ‬ ‫ۙۦۙۜڷ۟ۗ۝۠‪Ө‬ڷۃڷۣۧۢ۝ۧۧ۝ۡۦۙێڷۨۧۙ۩ۥۙې‬ ‫‪Ң‬ڽڼھڷۺٷیڷڿھڷۣۢڷڿڽ‪ғ‬ۂڿھ‪ғ‬ڼڿھ‪ғ‬ھڿڽڷۃۧۧۙۦۘۘٷڷێٲڷۃۍۑ‪ۛҖψ‬ۦۣ‪ۘۛۙғ‬۝ۦۖۡٷۗ‪۠ۧғ‬ٷۢۦ۩ۣ۞‪ҖҖ‬ۃۤۨۨۜڷۣۡۦۚڷۘۙۘٷۣۣ۠ۢ۫‪ө‬‬ 192 REVIEWS general assumption that Islamic heritage offers resources for a comprehensive interpretation of the political sphere, far outnumbering the equivalent offers of other religious traditions. Modern Islamic politics is primarily illustrated by portraying activists like Abū A῾lā Mawdūdī, Sayyid Quṭb, Sa῾īd Ḥ awwā and Ḥ asan al-Bannā, and “jihadists” such as Ayman az-Zawāhirī and Abū Muṣ῾ab az-Zarqāwī. Cook, who tellingly refrains from using any social theory which addresses the problem of relating religion to politics, maintains that there is a strong tendency within the social imaginary of modern Muslim activists to define Islam as political. But is this because Islamic heritage offers the possibility to Islamize politics? Or is it, as Thomas Bauer says in his recent book Die Kultur der Ambiguität (Berlin, 2011), because modernity has created a new epistemology of valorizing tradition to justify an unambiguous normativity? Bauer uses the same idiographic approach and likewise bases his research on a very broad range of primary sources. Thus the same evidence can be read very differently. This is also true for Cook’s argument that Islam has been a political community since its beginning. Hence the same sources allow radically different answers to the key question of why intellectuals and activists in the Muslim world developed such a distinct political profile. Cook’s highly stimulating and knowledgeable reading of Muslims’ use of tradition and his answer to the old question will certainly prompt a new discussion about the genealogy of political Islam. Reinhard Schulze Universität Bern FARHAD DAFTARY: A History of Shiʿi Islam. (The Institute of Ismaili Studies, Shiʿi Heritage Series.) xx, 315 pp. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2013. ISBN 978 1 78076 841 0. doi:10.1017/S0041977X14001177 In view of the significance of sectarian strife and Sunnite–Shiite civil war in the contemporary Islamic world, it seems anachronistic that the thorough and disinterested academic study of Shiite Islam is a comparatively recent phenomenon, roughly confined to the past five decades. Prior to this, the vast majority of Western scholarship drew on heresiographical or otherwise biased sources by Sunnite authors, with the foreseeable result that Shiism more often than not appeared as a heretical or even unislamic sect, as opposed to the seemingly orthodox Sunnite creed. Suffice it to remember what even erudite scholars such as Theodor Nöldeke and Ignaz Goldziher had to say, for instance, about Shiite Quranic exegesis – quoting the former, the latter called it “a miserable web of lies and stupidities” (cf. Goldziher, Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung, Leiden, 1920, p. 309). The first impartial comprehensive account of Shiite Islam, Dwight Donaldson’s The Shiʿite Religion, appeared as late as 1933, but it was actually only in the 1960s that Shiism moved into the academic limelight as an Islamic denomination in its own right. All this is summarized in a succinct, if sometimes apologetic, manner by Farhad Daftary in the introduction (pp. 1–24) to his History of Shiʿi Islam, in which this well-known Ismaili history specialist opens up the horizon considerably and also REVIEWS 193 takes the other Shiite factions into consideration. After a general chapter on “The origins and early history of Shiʿi Islam” (pp. 25–56), the subsequent parts of the book are devoted to Twelver Shiism (pp. 57–104), Ismailis (pp. 105–44), Zaydis (pp. 145–74) and finally Nusayris/ʿAlawites (pp. 175–90), respectively. This is followed by a detailed glossary, extensive notes, a very useful bibliography and a diligent index. Daftary’s presentation is in general very reliable, apart from some minor errors (e.g. Atatürk died in 1938, not 1936, p. 94; Ayatollah Borūjerdī died in 1961, not 1962, p. 96). His style, however, occasionally suffers from a certain proclivity to redundancy and from an effort not to pass over any sub-sect, however small and short-lived it may be, in silence. Useful though such an encyclopaedic approach may be, it makes it sometimes a little difficult for the reader not to lose track, especially with regard to the countless divisions and sub-divisions in Ismaili Islam, or in view of the many revolts in early Zaydism. On the other hand, the chapter on Twelver Shiism seems too short and terse to do justice to the multifaceted doctrinal and historical developments within and around this denomination, which has been the most important manifestation of Shiism for centuries. As far as the available secondary literature is concerned, Daftary is well acquainted with it – repeatedly drawing on the impressive scholarship of Wilferd Madelung – although a few regrettable lacunae have to be noted, such as Josef van Ess’s two volumes: Der Eine und das Andere. Beobachtungen an islamischen häresiographischen Texten (Berlin and New York, 2011). Moreover, several relevant items are quoted only in the notes, but do not appear in the bibliography. Another shortcoming is the fact that Daftary, especially when talking about the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, does not go into the wider political implications of modern Shiism or into the gamut of polemics and rapprochement between Shiites and Sunnites particularly in the Arab world. Consequently, the book ends in a rather abrupt way, without offering any form of synthesis or comprehensive interpretation about the nature of Shiism within the religion of Islam. These remarks should not, however, distract from the fact that Daftary has achieved a very useful introduction to Shiite Islam, intended for a wider audience. Without superseding previous surveys (e.g. by Heinz Halm or Moojan Momen), it is a welcome addition to the existing scholarship. Rainer Brunner Paris AYSHA A. HIDAYATULLAH: Feminist Edges of the Qur’an. xiii, 259 pp. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. £16.99. ISBN 978 0 19 935957 8. doi:10.1017/S0041977X14001475 This book is based on both a scholarly and a personal engagement with feminist readings of the Quran. It offers an analytical review, but also a critique of such approaches. The author’s focus is on English-language works by female Muslim scholars and activists who represent a feminist trend in the contemporary exegesis of the Quran, predominantly in the USA.