The International Workshop “Exploring Connectivity around Medieval Islamic Political Thought and Beyond” will be organized by Islamic Trust Studies Gruoup B01“The Ideas of the Muslim Community and State Systems (Principal Investigator: KONDO Nobuaki)”.

Date & Time: February 28, Wednesday, 2024, 14:00~17:00 (JST)

Programme
14:00  Introduction by Nobuaki Kondo (ILCAA)
14:10  Han Hsien Liew (Arizona State University)
 “”I Put My Fear for You above My Fear of You”: Piety and Emotions in Ibn al-Jawzī’s Political Thought”
15:10  Ryo Mizukami (JSPS/ILCAA)
“Quoting Ibn al-Jawzī for Justification of Imamophilia: Cases of Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī and ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Irbilī”
16:20  Discussions

Abstracts

“I Put My Fear for You above My Fear of You”: Piety and Emotions in Ibn al-Jawzī’s Political Thought
Han Hsien Liew

Studies on medieval Islamic political thought have often focused on the writings of jurists and theologians, hence prioritizing dialectical reasoning as the main mode of political thinking. In this paper, I explore new avenues in the history of Islamic political thought by examining the role of preachers and emotions in effecting political reform. I take as my case study the political writings of the twelfth-century hortatory preacher (wāʿiẓ) Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1201) that aim at the moral reform of rulers. Compared with the scholastic and disputative discourses of Muslim jurists and theologians, Ibn al-Jawzī deems the hortatory preacher’s homiletic tools to be more effective in appealing to the ruler’s moral and emotional sensitivities. Such tools include the mixing of admonition with praise, the use of biographies of past rulers as models of ideal rulership, and an emphasis on eschatological themes to induce the pious fear of God. Moreover, the chapter arrangement of Ibn al-Jawzī’s mirror for princes dedicated to the reigning Abbasid caliph exhibits at a similar “emotional movement” as his hortatory sermons delivered to the laypeople of medieval Baghdad. Ibn al-Jawzī’s approach to reforming rulers ultimately sheds light on the relationship between politics, rhetoric, and emotions in late Abbasid Baghdad.

Quoting Ibn al-Jawzī for Justification of Imamophilia: Cases of Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī and ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Irbilī
Ryo Mizukami

Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1201), the leading Baghdadi Sunni scholar, has been mentioned as a prominent supporter of the Shiʿi Imams in the spread of interconfessional reverence for the Twelve Shiʿi Imams (imamophilia). Although he never praised the Twelve Imams in his works as one special group of honorable figures, later Shiʿis and imamophilic Sunnis utilized his words to justify imamophilia.
By focusing on both Sunni and Shiʿi faḍāʾil (virtues) works on the Twelve Imams, this study clarifies how Ibn al-Jawzī’s image, as an authority of imamophilia, was established. After discussing his general attitudes toward the Shiʿi Imams in his works, I examine the methodology of quotations by two faḍāʾil authors who valued Ibn al-Jawzī: Sibṭ Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1256), the famous Sunni historian and Ibn al-Jawzī’s grandson, and ʿAlī b. ʿĪsā al-Irbilī (d. 1293 or 94), the Shiʿi scholar of Ilkhanid Baghdad.

Language: English

Venue: Seminar Room 4th floor, Hongo Satellite Office, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies  (Hongo 2-14-10, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo）https://www.tufs.ac.jp/abouttufs/contactus/hongou.html

(registered participants may also access the workshop online by Zoom), Open to public/Admission free, Pre-registration is required.

Pre-registration: please use this form for in-person participation. 
                                     please use this form for online participation. 

Organizer: Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A), “The Ideas of the Muslim Community and State Systems” (Principal Investigator: KONDO Nobuaki (ILCAA); 20H05827)

Contact: MORITA Madoka (mmorita[at]aa.tufs.ac.jp)