Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam

Abstract

In his Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam, Todd Lawson provides a rich and multifaceted exploration of an unconventional exegetical text by Ali Muhammad Shirazi (d. 1850), more prominently known as the Bab. The text in question is Tafs¥r S´rah Y´suf, also known as Qayy´m al-AsmOE’ and Aúsan al-Qa§a§. Available only in manuscript form, the Tafs¥r is an early and critically important text for understanding the rise of Babism, a messianic new religious movement that emerged out of Shi‘ism. Lawson’s study will not only be of interest to scholars of Ithna’ ‘Ashari Shi‘ism, Babism, and Baha’ism, but is also a valuable contribution to tafs¥r studies and the burgeoning field of Muslim apocalyptic literature. The Tafs¥r S´rah Y´suf, however, is not a conventional scriptural commentary, for its relationship to the Qur’an is far more complex. Being deeply connected to the Bab’s emerging identity as the “gate” of the hidden Imam, the Tafs¥r moves beyond the sphere of the explanatory into that of the revelatory. As a result, the text bears explicitly scriptural resonances. Among the examples provided is that the chapters of the Tafs¥r are called s´rahs, the text has prostration (sajdah) markers, each s´rah opens with the basmalah, and nearly all of them have disconnected letters at their beginning. In Lawson’s own words, “…it is clear from the structure of the work that the author is introducing a new scripture or revelation by means of the Trojan horse of exegesis” (p. 22) ...