Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 brill.

nl/arab

Marriage, Birth, and bāti nī tawīl: A Study of Nusa yrī

Initiation Based on the Kitāb al-H āwī fī ilm al-fatāwī
of Abū Saīd Maymūn al-Ta barānī

Bella Tendler Krieger

Princeton University

Abstract
is paper explores the description of Nus a yrī initiation found in the recently published Kitāb
al-H āwī fī ilm al-fatāwī of the Vth/XIth century Nusa yrī scholar al-Ta barānī. Like other so
called gu lāt sects, the Nusa yrīs believed that religious knowledge must be hidden from the masses
and should only be revealed to the elite after proper initiation. Al-Ta barānī’s work gives new
insight into this process, showing how the laws of Nusa yrī initiation were systematically modeled
on Islamic marital laws. Al-Ta barānī’s description of initiation is a perfect example of the type of
esoteric exegesis characteristic of the bāti nī sects active in early Islamic times and reveals the
extent to which the Nusa yrīs made use of the Qur ān and H adīt. Rather than discarding Islamic
precepts, as they have often been accused of doing, the early Nusa yrīs paid great attention to the
laws of Islam, extracting inner meanings from the text of the Qurān in order to create their own
legal system that was at the same time Islamic and distinctly sectarian.
Keywords
Nusa yrī, Alawī, al-Ta barānī, K. al-H āwī, initiation, Islamic Family Law, women, bāti nī tawīl

In Nusa yrī thought, esoteric knowledge is hidden in the open. It is concealed

within exoteric truths, within natural phenomena, biological realities, and
Qurānic verses. is premise underlies the entire religious system of the
Nusa yrīs, from their most fundamental belief in the apotheosis of Alī b. Abī
Tā lib, who hid his “esoteric [divine nature] within his exoteric [historic
1 ā
body]”,
law. to their wisdom
e esoteric allegorical interpretation
of the (tawīl ) through
Nusa yrīs functions of the Qur  n andbyIslamic
a process which
all apparent realities are allegorized and ascribed inner meanings. ese mean-
ings are considered to be the true sense of their exoteric indicators but they do
1
Abū Saīd Maymūn al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī fī ilm al-fatāwī, in Rasāil al-H ikma
l-alawiyya, ed. Abū Mūsā and al-Šayh Mūsā, Diyār Aql (Lebanon), Dār li-agl al-Marifa (« Silsi-
lat al-Turāt  al-alawī», 3), 2006, p. 82; Ab ū Saīd Maymūn al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-Dalāil fī
l-masāil, in ibid., p. 155.
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 DOI: 10.1163/157005811X550291
54 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

not necessarily supplant them. Rather, they exist in a hierarchical correspon-

dence where the laws of the natural world and of revealed religious texts serve
as extended analogies for the secret truths and laws of the Nus a yrī religion.
is is why the imams of the Nusa yrī community are required to have memo-
rized the Qurān, be proficient in Islamic jurisprudence, and understand such
secular sciences as medicine, astrology, agriculture, dialectics and logic. 2 For
without these within
truths hidden exotericthem?
sciences, how are they to have access to the esoteric
Perhaps the most fundamental rule of the Nusa yrī religion is that exposure
to esoteric wisdom is prohibited without proper initiation. e explanation
given for this restriction is one of the best examples of how Nusa yrī tawīl
(esoteric exegesis) functioned. is paper will describe the stated import of the
Nusa yrī initiation ceremonies to explain how the Nus a yrīs imagined the pro-
cess through which one entered their community and gained access to these
secrets. It will also show how the belief in a corresponding hidden reality
allowed for the development of a parallel practical Nus a yrī law based on the
texts of the Qurān and H adīt. is correspondence reveals how deeply rooted
the sect was in Islamic discourse and gives new insight into what it meant to
be a bāti nī (esotericist) in early Islamic times. Rather than enabling antinomi-
anism
of the and
bati the abandonment
nī stance, of Islamic
the belief in the precepts,
existenceasofhasangenerally
esotericbeen
senseassumed
to the
Qurān allowed the early Nusa yrīs to create a hyper-legal world where both
mundane and sectarian concerns were regulated by the laws of the Qurān.
Nusa yrī initiation is based on the following analogy: the transmission of
esoteric truth is likened to sexual intercourse. Just as Islamic Law forbids sex-
ual intercourse without a properly contracted marriage, so access to the secret
teachings and rituals of the Nusa yrī community is forbidden without a prop-
erly conducted initiation. e first stage of initiation is conceived of as a mar-
riage between the sponsor who stands in the position of the husband and the
student who is his wife. However, once the initiate has been ‘impregnated’
with the esoteric truths of the religion he can be ‘reborn’ nine months later in
a second initiation ceremony as a man and a full-fledged member of the
 ī 
Nusayr
then community.
evolves from that ofe arelationship
husband and between
wife tothe
thatsponsor and and
of a father his student
son. In
other words, it is initiation which literally creates the Nusa yrī male. Once the
new believer has been born, there is a two year period, conceived of as the
breastfeeding stage, in which the believer is taught the secret laws and esoteric
2
Arab MS 1450, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fol. 157a; al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 106.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 55

exegesis of the religion. e relationship between the sponsor and student

then also takes on the character of that between a mother and son or, if it is
someone other than the sponsor who ‘breastfeeds’ him, a milk-mother and
son. ese relationships are conceived of as ‘true’ kinship as opposed to mere
‘biological’ consanguinity. All Qur ānic laws that apply to exoteric relations of
marriage, parentage, and milk-kinship also apply to their esoteric equivalents
relating to initiation.
is analogy and the laws that proceed from it are explained in detail in the
Kitāb al-H āwī fī ilm al-fatāwī [the Book which Contains the Knowledge of Legal
Rulings] of Abū Saīd Maymūn b. Qāsim al-Ta barānī (d. 426/1034).
Al-Ta barānī is perhaps the most important figure for the regularization of
Nusa yrī practice. His Kitāb al-H āwī, which is still one of the most revered
texts of the Nusa yrī community, includes over one hundred legal rulings relat-
ing to Nusa yrī initiation. As such, it is the most extensive and earliest available
discussion of the topic. Despite this, it has not been used by Western scholars
who have instead based their analysis of Nusa yrī initiation on texts dating
from the XIIIth/XIXth and XIVth/XXth centuries, nearly a millennium later.
is has not necessarily been a scholarly oversight. Nusa yrī texts have always
been fiercely protected. Previous scholars have based their descriptions of
ī
Nus a yrism
Sulaym on Islamic
ān al-Ad heresiographies,
anī, and on a handful on the report
of Nus of the Nusa obtained
a yrī manuscripts yr apostate
by
European travelers and missionaries in the XIXth century and scattered in
Western libraries. Needless to say, knowledge of Nusa yrī doctrines has been
extremely fragmentary. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the works of Heinz Halm,
Matti Moosa, and Bar-Asher and Kofsky have begun to rectify this problem
through descriptions and translations of some Nus a yrī texts. But perhaps the
greatest development in the study of Nus a yrism is the recent publication of
many hitherto unavailable Nusa yrī works by the Lebanese press Dār li-agl
al-marifa in a nine part series called al-Turāt  al-alawī (the Alawite Heritage).
e Kitāb al-H āwī as well as several other works analyzed in this paper were
published in this series over the last five years and became accessible to non-
Nusa yrīs for the first time. ere has not yet been any Western scholarship

based
ing on these
them publications,
will allow for radicalbut as this article
reassessment seeks we
of what to demonstrate, employ-
currently know about
the secret Nusa yrī religion.3
At various points in the Kitāb al-H āwī, al-Ta barānī attributes his ideas
about initiation to his teacher Abū l-H usayn Muhammad b. Alī l-G illī as well
3
Subsequent to writing this paper the first book to be based on the D ār li-agl al-marifa
sources has been published: Yaron Friedman, e Nusayr  ī Alawīs: An Introduction to the Religion,
History and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria, Leiden, Brill, 2010.
56 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

as to Abū Šuayb Muhammad b. Nusa yr, the eponymous IIIrd/IXth century

founder of the sect, suggesting that his ideas about initiation are based on an
even older Nusa yrī tradition.4 e more recent descriptions of Nusa yrī initia-
tion also seem to be based on the analogy of marriage and birth described by
al-Ta barānī. e anonymous treatise titled Šarh al-imām wa-mā yūgabu alayhi
[an Explanatory tract on the Imam and his Duties], whose scribal date is
1211/1796,
ent initiationquotes, at times5 
as marriage. verbatim,
e Kitābsections
al-Bākūof
ra the
Kitāb al-H āwī that pres-
l-sulaymāniyya fī kašf asrār
al-diyāna l-nusa yriyya [e Book of Sulaymān’s First Ripe Fruit Disclosing the
Secrets of the Nusa yrī Religion], written by the XIVth/XIXth century Nusa yrī
apostate, Sulaymān al-Adanī, describes one of the stages of his initiation into
Nusa yrism as a nine month induction period.6 is is most likely based on the
analogy to human gestation proposed by al-Ta barānī. One can therefore speak
of a Nusa yrī model of initiation which spans the full history of the sect.
At the beginning of his account of Nusa yrī initiation, al-Ta barānī proclaims,
“talīq is nikāh [marriage], there is no doubt”.7 is equation is the key to
understanding the complex system of rules governing entrance to the Nusa yrī
community. Talīq, meaning attachment, is the first stage in the graduated
process of Nusa yrī initiation and is conducted as a marriage between a full-
ī
fledged
ceremony,Nustaa yr believer
līq must and an uninitiated
be contracted before anyouth.
imamAsandinwitnessed
an Islamicbefore
marriage
two
men. is marriage allows the student to partake, for the first time, in some of
the important rituals of the sect, most significantly the drinking of the conse-
crated wine called abd al-nūr, the servant of the light, which accompanies all
Nusa yrī religious gatherings. It also makes it permissible for the him to hear
the sacred utterance, sirr a-m-s (the mystery of ayn-mīm-sīn), for the first
time. e word a-m-s, referred to as al-kalima l-āliya (the most high word),
is an acronym for Alī, Muhammad, and Salmān al-Fārisī, the three historic
figures who comprise the Nusa yrī trinity. e unity and divinity of these three

4
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 49, 108-11. Al-Ta barānī mentions titles of two works which
he attributes to Ibn Nusa yr, the Kitāb al-Mawārid and the Kitāb al-Kāfī li-l-didd al-munāfī.
5ese have not yet been published and I do not know if they are still extant.
Fols. 160b-162b are almost exclusively a paraphrase of the discussion of talīq and samā in
the Kitāb al-H āwī. A summary of the initiation ceremonies described in this manuscript can be
found in René Dussaud, Histoire et religion des Nosa irīs, Paris, Librairie Émile Bouillon, 1900,
p. 106-13 ; Abū Mūsā l-H arīrī, al-Alawiyyūn al-nusa yriyyūn Beirut, 1980, p. 85-92 and in Matti
Moosa, Extremist Shiites: e Ghulat Sects, Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 1988, p. 372-7.
6
Sulaymān al-Adanī, Kitāb al-Bākūra l-sulaymāniyya fī kašf asrār al-diyānā l-nusa yriyya, Bei-
rut, n.d., p. 3. is book is also translated in part in Edward Salisbury, “e Book of Sulayman’s
First Ripe Fruit Disclosing the Nosairian Religion,”JAOS, 8 (1864), p. 227-308.
7
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 49.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 57

characters, epitomized through the joining of their initials in the word a-m-s,
is considered a great secret and is first revealed to the initiate during talīq.8
Al-Ta barānī explains that what occurs during the talīq ceremony is “the
initial penetration of the wife”. It is the first time that “the two of them are
united in a-m-s,” the central mystery of the Nus a yrī religion. eir union is
thought of as “the implanting of the sperm into the womb”,9 the first step in
the creation
sayyid (master)of aand
newhis
Nus a yrī believer.
student averages e length
nine of the“to
months marriage between
echo the lengththe
of
pregnancy”. However, as in a biological pregnancy, where a fetus can be
10

viable after seven months, a very successful student might give birth after only
seven months of study while others might take much longer. For as al-Ta barānī
points out, “not every wife achieves pregnancy from her first night.”11 It is also
possible for the student to be “barren and sterile, just as it occurs among
women”, and never to achieve pregnancy. Al-Ta barānī relates that he has seen
a student who was attached to his sayyid for over twenty years and failed to
progress to the next stage of initiation.12
But even once successful conception has been achieved, a fruitful birth can-
not be guaranteed. ere is always the possibility of miscarriage, which occurs
when a student rejects the religious truths disclosed to him by his sayyid. In
13
this
For assituation,
al-Ta barthe
ānī initiation process isknowledge
explains, religious terminatedis just
whatasgives
a fetus
lifeistoaborted.
a person
and without this knowledge a person cannot survive. “Death is not the demise
of the body according to what we have testified, it is the demise of the soul. Its
life is its establishment in the sanctity of knowledge and its death is its denial
and rejection.”14 So while talīq begins the process of Nusa yrī initiation by
uniting a student to his Nusa yrī sponsor who can grant him access to some
religious secrets, it does not guarantee his successful rebirth as a full-fledged
Nusa yrī believer.
Achieving a healthy delivery is the responsibility of the student and depends
on the fertility of his mind and his capacity to internalize belief. While not
explicitly stated by al-Ta barānī, the analogy to marriage and gestation at the
core of this first stage of initiation implicitly credits the student with his own

spiritual rebirth. For during the period of talīq the student does not merely
8 Kitāb al-Mašyaha
, in Kutub al-Alawiyyīn al-muqaddasa, ed. Abū Mūsā and al-Šayh Mūsā,
Diyār Aql (Lebanon), Dār li-agl al-marifa (« Silsilat al-Turāt  al-alawī », 9), 2008, p. 216.
9
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 54.
10 Ibid.
, p. 49.
11 Ibid.
, p. 55.
12 Ibid.
, p. 55.
13 Ibid.
, p. 56.
14 Ibid.
, p. 56.
58 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

act as a wife who is passively inseminated by her husband, but he also plays the
role of the pregnant mother as well as the developing fetus of the believer who
will eventually be born. In other words, during talīq, the student acts as his
own parent, bearing and giving birth to himself. It is not only the teacher’s
instruction which allows him to be reborn as a believer, but also his own
dedication and perseverance which empowers him to find belief within him-
selfInand to self-generate
Islamic law, nikāh isas not
a member
the onlyoftype
the Nus a yrī community.
of union which legitimates sexual
intercourse between a husband and wife. ere are also lesser forms of mar-
riage which can accomplish this goal. e same is true in the context of Nusa yrī
initiation. Talīq is only the most normative way by which one can gain access
to religious secrets. ere are also lower forms of initiation modeled on
Qurānic marital equivalents.15 In Islamic law, if a man does not have the
financial means to take a wife from among the believing free women, he may
marry a believing slave-woman belonging to another man. is arrangement
is not ideal because the woman is considered to be jointly owned by both
her master and her husband, although only the husband may have sexual
access to her. Any children resulting from this union remain slaves and the
property of the owner. e purpose of such a marriage is therefore not procre-
ation
affordbut rather,
a free as stated
wife from in Kor 4, 25,of to
the temptations protect a 16poor
fornication. In itsman who equiva-
esoteric cannot
lent, this type of union is called šarb al-sār, drinking the sār and refers to a
17

union with a sayyid that allows for the student to participate in the drinking of

15
Al-Ta barānī does not specify what would be the equivalent of sexual relations with one’s
own slave-girl. If the equation between licit sexual intercourse and disclosing religious secrets
were complete, this category too should have an esoteric equivalent.
16
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 51.
17 
e term šarb al-sār has traditionally been translated as “drinking the mystery” since this is
its apparent meaning from the context where initiates are given this or that religious mystery
(sirr) to drink. However, it may be more appropriate to translate the name of the ceremony as
“drinking the remnant (sur)” since during the ceremony the novice is given a remnat of the abd
al-nūr of his master. See, for example, the description of talīq in the « Silsilat al-Turāt  al-alawī »
K. al-Mašyaha, p. 216, where the novice is instructed to kiss a drop of wine (atar  min al-sur) off
of the hand of his sayyid. Al-Ta barānī supports this interpretation when he writes, “the sār is the
sūr (remnant), and the sūr of the believers is a cure.” Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 75. Most likely, the term
sār is a play on the similarity between both the word for remnant and for mystery. In the descrip-
tion of the initiatory ceremonies found in the Šarh al-Imām the student is repeatedly instructed
to drink both the sār and the sirr of various personalities highlighting the alliteration between the
two words and implying that there is a difference between them. (Arab MS 1450, fols. 159b,
160a, 167a). e term sār takes on additional meaning in the analogy to marriage spelled out by
al-Ta batānī. As described above, during šarb al-sār the novice stands in the position of a slave
wife surriyya (pl. sarārī) and so the word sār may also allude to the esoteric role of the student in
this relationship. See Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 49, 54.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 59

the abd al-nūr and to learn certain rudimentary religious ideas.18 But it does
not include the utterance of sirr a-m-s and consequently can never result in
offspring, i.e. in the creation of a full-fledged believer. Since šarb al-sār is
not the ideal form of attachment, al-Ta barānī advises that a student who is
found worthy should progress to talīq with his sayyid no later than a month
from the date of his initial šarb al-sār ceremony.19 As it turns out, many stu-
dents
gressingbegin
to tatheir
līq.20initiation with this lesser form of attachment before pro-
e other form of marriage permitted by some schools of Islamic law is
called muta or temporary marriage. e word literally means pleasure, as the
legitimizing of sexual intercourse is its sole purpose. e marriage does not
require witnesses or the permission of the woman’s guardian. It is simply con-
tracted between the partners who agree to be married for a fixed time at the
end of which the marriage is dissolved without the need for a divorce. Muta
marriage has been exceedingly controversial in Islamic law and is generally
prohibited by Sunnī Muslims. But as the author of the Šarh al-Imām suc-
cinctly points out, “muta marriage is permissible for the Šīites”.21 Since
Nusa yrīs consider themselves to be the true Šīites (partisans of Alī b. Abī
Tā lib), it is not surprising that they include this type of union in their esoteric
ā ī
interpretation of Islamic
“wants to convey marital
the secret law.to Al-T
of god a bar nhe explains
someone thatintegrity,
senses has if a person
but
there are no believers in that town and none within a distance of a day’s travel,

18
Ibid., p. 49, 54.
19 Ibid., p. 55.
20
From the description of his initiation found in the K. al-Bākūra, it would appear that
Sulaymān al-Adanī started his course of initiation with a šarb al-sār ceremony. In his account the
ceremony is called al-mašwara (the deliberation). In it he was made to hold his sayyid ’s sandal
over his head in a sign of obeisance and was enjoined to secrecy before being given to drink the
abd al-nūr. is is exactly the process described by al-Ta barānī (Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 54) regarding
the šarb al-sār ceremony. After this, Sulaymān was made to wait forty days (as opposed to the
thirty prescribed in the K. al-H āwī) before he progressed to the next stage of initiation which he
calls gamiyyat al-malīk (the king’s assembly) equivalent to the talīq ceremony of the K. al-H āwī.
He wasa given
times the abd
day. Sulaym
al-nūr to drink and instructed to recite the ‘mystery of a-m-s’ five-hundred
ān says that it took him seven months to progress to the next stage of initia-
tion but that most people are required to wait nine months. is is the indication that Sulaymān’s
initiation was probably based on the model of marriage and birth. After this important cere-
mony, which included the laying on of hands, recital of certain Nus a yrī prayers, drinking the
abd al-nūr, the presentation of sponsors and finally the o fficial oath of secrecy, Sulaymān was
taken to his sayyid ’s house for a long course of study equivalent to the breastfeeding period of
al-Ta barānī. It was at this point, after learning the secrets of his religion, that Sulaymān began
doubting his faith and eventually turned apostate.
21
Arab MS 1450, fol. 160b.
60 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

then he can relate [the secret word] to him without witnesses after he has
taken the oath from him . . . is is on the model of muta marriage.”22
In a muta marriage, the offspring of the union are considered to be legiti-
mate and the responsibility of the father. Likewise, when a Nusa yrī is initiated
without witnesses, he may still ‘conceive’ and be ‘born’ as a full-fledged believer
after the requisite gestation period.23 But as al-Ta baranī points out, a marriage
with
For aswitnesses
God says,is ‘when
preferable: “e greater
you hand over to the
them number of witnessesletthethere
their possessions, better.
be
[many] witnesses on their behalf, God is sufficient in taking accounts’ ”.24 e
passage that al-Ta barānī adduces here comes from Kor 4, 6 and does not actu-
ally refer to the need for having witnesses at a wedding. It pertains to the
obligation of having witnesses present when a guardian returns the property to
his orphaned ward. e conflation of the rules for marriage with those for
dealing with orphans is not simple carelessness on al-Ta baranī’s part. In the
tawīl practiced by Nusa yrī scholars, there are various Qurānic terms that refer
to students and can be used in expounding the rules for their initiation. e
most important are ‘women’, ‘wives’, and eventually ‘sons’, according to the
analogy to marriage and birth. But all mentions of orphans, poor people,
immigrants, travelers, and holy warriors also refer to students.25 is is because
ffi
of their
they lack of
embark knowledge
upon in orderand religiousbelievers.
to become mentorship and the di cult journey
But the most comprehensive Qurānic cipher for student is the feminine
form. Aside from interpreting all legal prescriptions for dealing with women
as instructions for dealing with initiates, al-Ta barānī explains that “all of the
praiseworthy names in the Qurān which refer to the feminine . . . such as,
‘women who submit themselves to god, believing women, pious women,
repentant women, women who incline towards fasting, be they previously
married or maidens,’26 actually refer to students”.27 In this case, al-Ta barānī
does not merely propose a parallel reality where laudatory feminine terms in
the Qurān refer exoterically to women but esoterically to students, he takes
pains to nullify the apparent meaning of the words altogether. is is because
the vilification of women is an essential feature of Nus a yrī cosmology. In the
 ī
Nusthe
of ayrdevils.
creation
28
Asmyth,
such, women
they canarenever
believed to have
become been created
believers from the
or participate in sins
the
22
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 48.
23
Arab MS 1450, fol. 161a.
24
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 48.
25 Ibid., p. 115.
26
is list is from Kor 66, 5.
27
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 115.
28
Al-Mufaddal b. Umar al-G ufī, Kitāb al-Haft wa-l-azi lla, ed. Aref Tamer, Beirut, Dar
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 61

salvific religious rituals of the Nusa yrī community. e best they can hope for
is to be reborn in a future life as men who may then strive to enter the com-
munity.29 As a result of this belief, the Qur ānic references to believing or
righteous women are oxymoronic, they are ideological impossibilities, and
must refer to something else. Interpreting these as code words for students
effectively eliminates the feminine from their religious discourse and at the
same
male time provides
students. prooftexts for their doctrinal views and legal dealings with
is position is most clearly stated in another work of
al-Ta barānī, the Kitāb al-Dalāil fī l-masāil (Book of the Proofs for the Ques-
tions) in which he asks, “how it is possible that god praised women in His
Book when all of the People of Unity30 vilify them?”31 He replies, “women are
all blameworthy and therefore the mention of praiseworthy women in the
Book of God, may He be exalted, are the students. e Gnostic is male and
the one who seeks knowledge is female. e tongue of the Gnostic is the penis
and the ear of the one who seeks knowledge is . . . the vulva.”32
e sexualization of the transmission of religious knowledge is striking and
immediately calls to mind the oft-repeated claim of the IVth/Xth century
Imāmī heresiographer al-Nawbahtī that Muhammad b. Nusa yr, the founder
of the sect, promoted sodomy as a moral ideal. In his Firaq al-šīa [ e Divi-
ī
sions sexŠīwith
of the
to have ites],
oneNawbah t writes
another in theirthat Ibn Nus
anuses. He aclaimed
yr “permitted [his[practice]
that this followers]
is
among the things which attest modesty and humility [in the passive partner]
and that it is one of the desires and delights [for the active partner] and that
God did not prohibit it”.33 While accusations of sexually deviant behavior are
common features of Islamic heresiographical entries, al-Nawbahtī’s allegation
is somewhat different. Most accusations of immoral behavior in the heresio-
graphies have to do with the sectarians’ illicit relations with women such
as incest or the communal sharing of wives. 34 Accusations of sodomy are

el-Machreq, 1970, p. 49, 143-4; al-Ta barānī, K. al-Dalāil, p. 141, 145; al-Adanī, K. al-Bākūra,
p. 61.
29
Al-G ufī, K. al-Haft, p. 142-3.
30 
is is the term that al-Ta barānī usually uses when referring to his community.
31
32 Al-T a barānī, K. al-Dalāil, p. 124.
Ibid., p. 124-5.
33
Al-H asan b. Mūsā l-Nawbahtī, Firaq al-šīa, Najaf, al-Heideria Press, 1959, p. 110-1. ese
same charges appear in greater detail in Saīd b. Abd Allāh al-Ašarī l-Qummī, Kitāb al-Maqālāt
wa-l-firaq, ed. Muhammad G awād Ma škūr, Teheran, Haidarī, 1963, p. 100. Al-Nawbahtī and
al-Qummī’s entries are both based on the earlier, now lost, heresiography of Hišām b. al-H akam
titled Kitāb Ihtilāf al-nās fī l-imāma. See Wilferd Madelung, “Some Remarks on the Im āmī Firaq
Literature,” Shi’ism, ed. Etan Kohlberg, Burlington (VT), Ashgate Variorum (« the Formation of
the Classical Islamic World », 33), 2003, p. 153-67.
34 
ese latter charges seek to portray the sectarians as crypto-Zoroastri
ans and crypto-Mazdakites
62 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

somewhat less common but when they do occur, they usually follow a long list
of Islamic prohibitions that the sectarians willfully transgress. For example,
al-Bagd ādī claims that the G anāhiyya “allowed the use of wine, the eating of
carcasses, fornication, sodomy, and the other prohibited things”.35 is type of
charge does not differentiate between sexual crimes such as sodomy and forni-
cation, and dietary restrictions such as drinking wine or eating improperly
slaughtered
nomian stance meat. Sodomy
towards is merely
Islamic another expression
law. Al-Nawbah of against
tī’s charge the sectarians’
the Nusanti-
a yrīs
is different in that it portrays their homoerotic behavior as the fulfillment of a
religious ideal in and of itself.36 One therefore wonders whether al-Nawbahtī’s
account might have been informed by some knowledge that the Nusa yrī ini-
tiation process is conducted as a marriage between two men. 37
Establishing a direct connection between al-Nawbahtī’s charge of sodomy
and Nusa yrī conceptions of initiation cannot be done with any degree of plau-
sibility. It is always possible that al-Nawbahtī’s claim was completely unfounded
and that the similarity between his description of Nus a yrī behavior and their
sexualized portrayal of the transmission of knowledge is merely coincidental.
But even if a core of truth is conceded, it is clear that al-Nawbah tī’s report is
based on a misunderstanding of Nusa yrī ideas and not on the religiously con-

respectively. It was common knowledge among Islamic theologians that pre-Islamic Zoroastrians
promoted incestuous marriages and that Mazdak, the famous Vth century CE Zoroastrian her-
esiarch, proclaimed the communal ownership of wives and property.
35
Abū Mansū r Abd al-Qāhir b. Tā hir al-Bagd ādī, Moslem Schisms and Sects (Al-Fark Bain
al-Firak): Being the History of the Various Philosophic Systems Developed in Islam, trans. Abraham
S. Halkin, Tel Aviv, Palestine Publishing, 1935, p. 60.
36
Another example of the portrayal of sodomy as a sectarian religious practice in and of itself
is al-Bagd ādī’s description of the IVth/Xth century heresiarch, Muhammad b. Alī l-Šalmagā nī,
who “permitted sodomy, maintaining that it was the communication of light from the superior
to the inferior” (ibid., p. 85). is charge is similar to that of al-Nawbah tī, as it proposes a reli-
gious incentive for the practice of sodomy, but al-Bag d ādī’s report seems to imply that
al-Šalmagā nī was under some sort of Manichean influence, since Manichaeism taught that sperm
was the site in which light was most concentrated. Of course, in Manichaean thought, this is
exactly what made sexual intercourse so reprehensible, since it forced the light found within
sperm to be trapped in material bodies while in al-Bag d ādī’s description of the followers of
al-Š37almag ā nī, the communication of light is a positive outcome of sexual intercourse.
ere is a telling heresiographical entry on the Muh amissa who were forerunners of the
Nusa yriyya, found in al-Qummī’s K. al-Maqālāt, p. 58, which supports the idea that al-Nawbahtī
was aware of the analogy to marriage behind Nusa yrī initiation. Al-Qummī claims that the
Muhamissa abolished Islamic marriage and held that the esoteric meaning of marriage is the
contracting of a union with a fellow (male) believer with the dowry being the transmission of
esoteric wisdom. If this idea was told of forerunners of the sect, it is likely that it was also known
about the Nusa yrīs. On the relationship between the Muhamissa and the Nusa yriyya see Heinz
Halm, “Das »Buch der Schatten« Die Mufaddal-Tradition der Gu lāt und die Ursprünge des
Nusa iriertums,” Der Islam, 58 (1981), p. 61-4.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 63

doned practice of sodomy among the followers of Ibn Nusa yr. Nusa yrī litera-
ture is full of vociferous denunciations of homosexuality. is is true of their
earliest texts, including the Kitāb al-Haft wa-l-azi lla [e Book of Seven and
Shadows], attributed to the IInd/VIIIth-century proto-Nusa yrī al-Mufaddal b.
Umar, which portrays passive homosexuality (ubna) as a disease inflicted
upon those who were enemies of the believers in past lives. An alternate expla-
nation
women given by thelives
in previous
K. al-Haft is that passive homosexuals were immoral
and that god punished them by making them return
as men who retained the desire of women to be penetrated. Regardless of the
reason for homosexuality, the K. al-Haft is adamant that the affliction is one
that is never imposed upon believers.38 Writing several centuries later,
al-Ta barānī is just as opposed to homosexuality, insisting on numerous occa-
sions that passive homosexuals can never be initiated, nor can they ever become
believers.39 Considering the hostile stance towards homoeroticism found in
the works of the sect, it is unlikely that their founder, Ibn Nusa yr, would have
promoted sexual relations between men as a moral duty. As mentioned above,
al-Ta barānī attributes aspects of the analogy between talīq and marriage to
Ibn Nusa yr. erefore, if there is any core of truth to al-Nawbah tī’s report, it
is probably that Ibn Nusa yr promoted a form of initiation structured as a mar-
riage between men, but not that he endorsed the practice of sodomy among
his followers.
Needless to say, sexual descriptions of the transmission of knowledge found
in Nusa yrī literature are figurative and do not allude to physical intimacy
between teacher and student. ey merely seek to reinforce the private and
juristically regulated nature of religious knowledge which can only be revealed
within the bonds of an exclusive union. Knowledge shared outside of this
union is considered zinā (fornication) and a person who obtains it in this way
is both a fornicator and a bastard.40 But having contracted talīq does not pro-
vide a student with open access to religious knowledge. He may only obtain it
from his own teacher. Just as marriage creates bonds of sexual exclusivity
between a wife and husband, talīq creates bonds of intellectual exclusivity
between the novice and his teacher. It is therefore prohibited for a believer to

relate
talīq. religious
Doing sosecrets to someone
is considered zināelse’s
and student while
according theya bar
to al-T areāin
nī,the
thisstage of
is the

38
Al-G ufī, K. al-Haft, p. 140-1.
39
Abū Saīd Maymūn al-Ta barānī, al-Risāla l-G awhariyya, in Rasāil al-H ikma l-alawiyya,
p. 25; al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 67, 75.
40
Al-Ta barānī, K. al-Dalāil, p. 120, 122.
64 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

esoteric meaning of the prohibition of adultery found in Kor 17, 32: “do not
commit adultery for behold it is an abomination and an evil way.”41
It should be pointed out that the rules of exclusivity are not the same for
the Nusa yrī teacher and student. Just as in Islamic law, where a man can take
several wives at once while a woman must remain monogamous, a sayyid is
permitted to be attached to several students simultaneously while a student
can onlyisdo
student thelīqposition
in ta with one teacher while
of women at a time. As al-T
the sayyid is athe
barmale
ānī explains, “the
spouse. And
[since] God, may He be exalted, says, ‘marry women of your choice, two,
three, or four’ ”,42 a believer can do talīq with many students at once. e
number recommended by the Qurānic analogy is four but al-Ta barānī inter-
prets it generously as allowing nine students per teacher since the prophet
Muhammad had nine wives simultaneously.43
e analogy to marriage gives rise to another inequality in the talīq bond,
namely, in the right to sever the bond. As al-Ta barānī points out, “divorce is
the right of men and not of women,”44 and therefore a student is not allowed
to leave his sayyid and contract talīq with another man. If there are exigent
circumstances, such as the student needing to emigrate to a distant village, he
may ask his sayyid for a divorce but it is the teacher’s prerogative to refuse.45
For his their
plicate part, relationship
the sayyid is encouraged to stay
by moving far awaywith
fromhishim.
student and not
However to com-
he can end
their attachment if the student displeases him, although this is generally seen
as a last resort after all means of reconciliation have been exhausted.
In the case of a disobedient student, al-Ta barānī offers the Qurānic recom-
mendation for dealing with nušūz (wifely insubordination) before opting to
end the relationship. He writes:

If a student disobeys his sayyid and drinks with the opponents, this is nušūz, and
God, may He be exalted, says, “For those women whose nušūz you have reason to
fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if
thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them”.46 e meaning of “leave
them alone in bed” is that you should not drink with him and you should not
converse with him regarding any of the esoteric knowledge. e meaning of “beat
ff
them”them,”
harm is that you should
it means cut them
through o . As for
repentance and“ifshowing
they payobedience.
you heed do
47 not seek to

41 Id. Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 93-4; id. K. al-Dalāil, p. 121-2.

42
Kor 4, 3.
43
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 48, 108.
44 Ibid., p. 51.
45 Ibid., p. 77.
46
Kor 4, 34.
47
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 50.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 65

e Qurānic instruction to admonish first’ is self explanatory and easily

translates to the context of initiation. As for the recommendation to withhold
sex from a disobedient wife, al-Ta barānī interprets it as denying the abd al-nūr
and religious secrets to a disobedient student. Only once this has been tried
should the teacher opt for divorce.
Al-Ta barānī does point out that a more rigorous view exists which recom-
mends
student that
if hea finds
teacher
himneed not waitwith
fraternizing but opponents
should immediately
or speakingrepudiate
of what his
he
should not. is is because talīq, like nikāh , is predicated on agreement to
obedience and exclusivity. Once the student has disobeyed his teacher or
begun sharing religious secrets with outsiders, he has e ffectively violated his
marriage vow and can be sent away. In this case a distinction is made between
a student attached through talīq and one attached through šarb al-sār. As
mentioned above, šarb al-sār is a lower form of attachment analogous to mar-
riage with a slave-girl. e same Qurānic verse which permits marriage with
slave-women also states that if these slave-wives’ become “guilty of immoral
conduct, they shall be liable to half the penalty to which free married women
are liable”.48 Since they do not have the same rights as a free woman in their
marriage, they are not held to the same standard when they violate it. e
same
latingfollows for the
the terms student
of his attachedhethrough
attachment, šarb al-s
is supposed toārbe
. Ifreprimanded
he is caught vio-
and
threatened but should not be punished with the same severity as one who has
committed to talīq.49
If a repudiation is to take place, for logistical purposes or because of a falling
out, the teacher must recite three times the statement, “bear witness for me o
so-and-so [insert name of witness] that I have abandoned my student so-and-
so [insert name of student] and there does not remain between us any
connection”.50 is triple repudiation is modeled on the Islamic triple divorce
which severs absolutely the connection between husband and wife, making it
unlawful for them to get back together without an intervening marriage of the
wife to another man. e dismissal can also be done in writing. 51 After it has
been finalized, the connection between student and teacher is completely sev-

ered, and
teacher thereciting
when studenthis
is religious
not permitted to before
pedigree includedrinking
the name
the of hisal-n
abd former
ūr at
some future date.52

48
Kor 4, 25.
49
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 51.
50 Ibid., p. 78.
51
Ibid., p. 76.
52
Ibid., p. 76.
66 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

If the teacher and student agree to be separated because of some exigency,

the student may seek to be reattached to a new sayyid, but he cannot do it
immediately. He must wait a year, comprised of nine months for the length of
talīq modeled upon pregnancy and another three months for a idda period.53
In Islamic law, a divorced woman is made to wait a three month interval called
a idda before remarrying in order to leave enough time between sexual part-
ners
laws to ascertain the
of initiation paternity
follow of of
the laws anymarriage
child shein might be carrying.
every other respect,Since the
it makes
sense that al-Ta barānī would recommend a three month idda period before
forming a new attachment. But his insistence on a nine month talīq period
modeled on the length of pregnancy in addition to the three months of idda
seems redundant and might be based on something other than a strict mim-
icking of Islamic Law.
But in most respects, the assimilation of talīq and marriage is so complete
that every Qurānic law relating to marriage and the regulation of sexual inter-
course has an esoteric equivalent. e Qurānic prohibition of having sex with
one’s wife while she is menstruating found in Kor 2, 222 is interpreted by
al-Ta barānī as an interdiction of teaching students religious secrets if they are
not completely honest. For as al-Ta barānī writes, “dishonesty is the menstrua-
tion of men”, and
menstruating, so a just as may
sayyid a man notmay nothishave
teach sex with
student his wife
religious when
secrets shehe
when is
is being dishonest. 54

e analogy even extends beyond the rules of initiation to affect other

aspects of religious life. For example, Islamic law demands that a man who has
touched a woman should perform ablutions with water, a ritual called wudū,
before starting prayer. Based on this law, al-Ta barānī instructs believers to
wash themselves before prayer if they have had physical contact with a stu-
dent. He goes on to explain that “after ablutions and entering into prayer, it is
not permissible to touch a student or shake hands with him because he is in
the position of women”, and physical contact with him would break the
believer’s ritually clean status. 55

53
54 Ibid., p. 76, 95.
Ibid., p. 78. e analogy between dishonesty and menstruation is explained by al-Ta barānī
as follows: Kor 9, 28, states “the polytheists are unclean and they shall not approach the sacred
mosque”. Kor 16, 105 establishes the equation between polytheists and liars when it says, “those
who invent falsehoods are those who don’t believe in the signs of God.” Since liars are equated
to polytheists, liars must also be banned from the sacred mosque. e sacred mosque is then
understood to mean religious secrets and so liars are banned from studying religious secrets.
Since we know that the rules governing religious secrets are analogous to those governing sexual
intercourse, the prohibition of having sex with women during their menstrual cycle found in
Kor 2, 222 is interpreted as an interdiction of teaching students religious secrets when they are
dishonest.
55 Ibid.
, p. 73.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 67

is rule shows the kind of slippage that can occur when allegorizing one
practical law to create another. In the case of wudū, women correspond to
students but the context of prayer and the physical act of touching remain
constant throughout the analogy. us touching is not a metaphor for disclos-
ing religious secrets as in other Qur ānic laws regulating sexual contact with
women, but instead remains mundane, simply referring to inadvertent touch-
ing andstate
broken shaking hands
of wud ū is with students
not either in greeting.
construed Ironically,
literally. Instead the cure for a
of demanding
ablution with water, al-Ta barānī instructs the person who touched a student
after beginning his prayers to perform an ‘esoteric’ or ‘inward’ ablution (by
rubbing his face and hands); this is because the end of the Qur ānic verse
regulating wudū says, “pass lightly over your face and hands. God does not
want to impose any hardship on you, but wants to make you pure”. 56 Exo-
terically, this qualification refers to the permission to cleanse the body with
sand when no water can be found. But al-Ta barānī interprets it to mean that
“God has removed the burdens from upon you and [doesn’t want to trouble
you with the requirement of] exoteric wudū and the chill of water”.57
Reinterpreting Qurānic directives for dealing with women as instructions
for dealing with students not only informs the laws of Nus a yrī initiation, it
also enables
the Nus a yrī the construction
community. eofrelationship
the first layer
ofofteacher
social relationships
and student that form
bound in
talīq extends beyond their particular union to impose obligations and restric-
tions on the partners’ families. e ‘biological’ (ta bīī) relatives of the teacher
and student become ‘real’ ( h aqīqī) in-laws and must be treated as such by the
partners. All of the Qurānic restrictions that come into play when two people
are married have their equivalents in the esoteric law of initiation. For example,
a teacher cannot contract talīq with two biological brothers simultaneously

56
Kor 5, 6.
57
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 74. It should be pointed out that al-Ta barānī does not deny
the need for ritual ablutions, as the Nusa yrīs are often accused of doing. He merely insists that
there are literal and allegorical ways of fulfilling the obligation of wudū. If I understand cor-
rectly, he says thatdo
theitinitial wudū needs to be with water but if someone has to do a subsequent
ablution, he may esoterically, without water. But al-Ta barānī never rejects the obligation as
such. In fact, he takes the opportunity in this context to polemicize against a rival sect, the
Ishāqiyya, who “don’t do ablutions either exoterically or esoterically” before prayer but rather
“seek blessing from pure wine at the end of prayer and consider it in the place of wudū”. He
insists that the Ishāqī practice, “has no ground to it, for wudū after prayer is not helpful and not
permissible either in the exoteric or in the esoteric”. See also al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 63,
where al-Ta barānī insists that washing the body after sexual intercourse (ga sl al-ganāba) is “oblig-
atory according to the people of truth”. But in this context, the requirement refers to washing
after sexual contact with women. See also Muhammad b. Alī l-G illī, Kitāb Bāti n al-sa lāt, in
Rasāil al-H ikma l-alawiyya, p. 261-6. Here al-G illī, al-Ta barānī’s teacher, describes the exoteric
obligations of ritual ablution as well as their esoteric meanings.
68 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

since marriage with two sisters at once is forbidden by Islamic law. 58 Nor can
he become attached to a boy and then to that boy’s biological father; a man
may not marry his mother-in-law and contracting talīq with his student’s
biological father would violate that restriction. Likewise, a teacher may not do
talīq with his biological son’s student because Islamic law forbids a man to
marry his daughter-in-law.59 Finally, a man may not become attached to his
60
student’s biological modeled
of these examples, son because
on athe
man may not degrees
forbidden marry his
of step-daughter.
marriage found Allin
Kor 4, 23, show how the biological families of the teacher and student attached
through talīq are brought into the union and are subject to the esoteric equiv-
alents of all Qurānic laws relating to in-laws. In this way, the Nus a yrī com-
munity is reinforced through bonds of talīq in the same way that that Islamic
communities are held together through bonds of marriage.
e kinship ties that are formed through Nusa yrī initiation become even
more complex when the student graduates to the next stage of Nus a yrī initia-
tion, called samā (hearing). As mentioned above, samā generally occurs nine
months after talīq, and is conceived of as the birth of the Nus a yrī believer. It
is called samā because it is the end result of having heard the sacred word dur-
ing the talīq ceremony. As al-Ta barānī explains, “the analogy [of samā ] is to
birth
spermbecause he was
of his sayyid silenta child
sought and then pronounced
through the unity
[the utterance of the
of the] God, andhigh
most the
word.” Once the student has advanced to this stage of initiation, he has pro-
61

gressed from “the level of women to the level of men”.62 His teacher, previously
imagined as his husband who inseminated him with religious truths, becomes
his father who conceived him. At this point, the teacher and student can no
longer be separated, for unlike a marriage which can be ended through divorce,
the bonds of paternity cannot be undone.63
Samā reframes the Nusa yrī community as a male family. e student who
has achieved samā is not only the son of his sayyid but also the brother of
his sayyid ’s other students. He is the nephew of his sayyid ’s brothers and the
cousin of their students. Attaining samā establishes the novice within the
community by tying him laterally to other believers as though they were con-

sanguineal
to trace his kin. But itgenealogy
religious also connects
backhim to founders
to the believers of the past,
sect. allowing
Accordinghim
to

58
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 66.
59
Ibid., p. 66.
60 Ibid., p. 66.
61 Ibid., p. 55.
62
Ibid., p. 58.
63
Ibid., p. 58-9.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 69

al-Ta barānī, a believer’s genealogy is the “cord which connects to God”and it

legitimizes his participation in the sacred rituals of the sect.64 Before partaking
of the abd al-nūr, a believer must correctly recite his religious lineage. If he
forgets a name in the chain, he is required to travel or write to someone who
can remind him.65
Correct memorization of one’s lineage is the most important obligation of
aorize
newallbeliever.
of the Al-T a barin
prayers ānī explains that if necessary, a student need not mem-
the Dustūr, the Nusa yrī canon, but can simply be
taught their meanings. Yet he must be able to correctly recite the names of his
forebears in his religious pedigree. 66 A believer’s religious lineage, including
the date of his samā, is inserted in the recitation of the fourth chapter of the
Dustūr called al-Nasab, the pedigree. Since each believer’s pedigree is unique,
the chains of transmission recorded in the available versions of the Nus a yrī
canon are different. Nevertheless, they all eventually reach back to the found-
ers of the sect (in reverse chronological order): al-G illī, al-H asī bī, al-G unbulānī,
Ibn G undub, and finally Muhammad b. Nusa yr, the bāb (door) of the Imam
al-H asan al-Askarī and the man after whom the sect is named.67 By reimagin-
ing the student as the son of his teacher, samā confirms the initiate in this
lineage, making access to its religious secrets his rightful inheritance.
ī
Sam
ning ofāhis
marks the birth
education. of the the
During Nusceremony,
a yr believer,
thebut it is really
student gainsonly thefor
access begin-
the
first time to the Dustūr, the Nusa yrī canon, also known as the Kitāb al-Mağmū.
After swearing to hide its contents from the uninitiated, the student is
instructed to ‘listen’ to hissayyid as he teaches him the religious secrets discussed
within. is is perhaps another meaning behind the name of the ceremony.

64 Ibid., p. 60.
65 Ibid., p. 60.
66
Ibid., p. 106.
67
ere are two available versions of the Nusa yrī canon and both include their own versions
of chapter four, al-Nasab. e first of these is the Kitāb al-Magmū found in Sulaymān al-Adanī,
K. al-Bākūra. is version is included with a French translation in the appendix of Dussaud,
Histoire et religion des Nosa irīs, p. 161-205. e second version is called the Kitāb al-Dustūr, in
Kutub al-alawiyyīn, p. 12-28. e Kitāb al-Magmū and the Dustūr are essentially the same
book. e Šamālī sect, to which Sulaym ān al-Ada nī belonged, called it the Magmū, but it is
referred to as the Dustūr in the works of al-Ta barānī. e version of Sulaymān al-Adanī must be
from 1269/1852 (since Sulaymān was born in 1250/1834 and began his initiation when he was
eighteen years old, only receiving the Magmū/Dustūr around a year later). e Dustūr in the
Kutub al-alawiyyīn al-muqaddasa is from 1375/1955. Oddly, the list in Sulaym ān’s version is
longer, including thirty-one names in the chain while the later AH 1375 version only includes
twenty-six names. Also interesting is the fact that al-G illī is the first name that the two versions
have in common. Neither chain goes through al-Ta barānī who was the student of al-G illī, and
the person who would logically be the next link in the chain.
70 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

After the student has been confirmed through samā he is allowed forty days
to memorizes the Dustūr under the guidance of his sayyid. is length of time
does not appear to have a life-cycle equivalent and is based, instead, on the
amount of time it took Mūsā (Moses) to learn the Tawrāt (Torah). Al-Ta barānī
cites Kor 7, 142, “We appointed for Moses thirty nights, and completed [the
period] with ten [more]: thus was completed the term [of communion] with
68
hisBefore
Lord, forty
samānights” to justify
, disclosing this length
religious secretsoftotime.
a student was analogous to
engaging in sexual intercourse with a woman. It was regulated by the esoteric
equivalents of the Islamic laws on the subject, and its stated intent was the
successful insemination of the student-wife, who would conceive within him-
self a new believer. But once this believer has been born as a man through
samā, sharing religious secrets with him can no longer be equated to sex.
Instead, it is reinterpreted and likened to radāa, breastfeeding an infant. e
secret knowledge which had previously given him life now nurtures his devel-
opment. And the person who feeds him this knowledge is likened to a mother
who nourishes him with her milk. us when he teaches his student the
Dustūr, the role of the sayyid evolves again. He is no longer merely the stu-
dent’s husband and father, he now also becomes his mother.
Considering
from the explicitcategory
the lower discursive misogyny of the sect,
of women the of
to that graduation of the
men makes initiate
sense, as it
represents his spiritual progression on his path towards becoming a believer.
But the master’s corresponding gender switch, his becoming a mother who
breastfeeds her son, is quite surprising. In this case it does not signify a degra-
dation in the status of the sayyid. Instead it is a celebration of the reproductive
and nurturing powers of the feminine that are appropriated by the sayyid as he
creates and sustains new religious life.
Just as in the natural world where a wet-nurse might be employed to breast-
feed a child if the mother does not produce sufficient milk, another believer
can be employed to educate the initiate if his own sayyid is not qualified for the
task. Religious knowledge is no longer equated to sex which can only be shared
within an exclusive relationship, but rather to food which can be given freely.

erefore,
does thetosayyid
not have be thewith whomwhom
one with the student had contracted
he continues talīAl-T
his education. q anda bar
samānāī
writes that if a person is illiterate and knows only the word of unity ( i.e. a-m-s),
he may still initiate a student, but he should hand him over to someone else
who can “breastfeed” him. is authorization comes from Kor 2, 233 where it

68
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 105.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 71

says, “there is no blame on you if you entrust your children to a wet-nurse

provided that you pay what is due from you in kindness”.69
e period of breastfeeding can end after the memorization of the Dustūr
with a ceremony called nağwā, meaning secret conversation. During nağwā,
the initiate is again entrusted with the most-high word, thereby solidifying his
full membership in the sect. At this point it becomes unlawful to hide reli-
70
gious secrets fromanhim,
now considered equalwhether or notand
in religion he can
asksno
to be told be
longer about
cut them.
o ff fromHetheis
Nusa yrī community or excluded from participation in its rituals.71 Having
achieved nağwā, the new believer is saved and is promised that he will not have
to suffer the tribulations of degrading reincarnations (musūhiyyāt) to which
non-believers are subject after death.72
For many believers, nağwā concludes their education. Alternatively, the
breastfeeding stage can continue for up to two years, based on Kor 2, 233
which states, “e mothers shall give suck to their offspring for two whole
years”.73 is longer period of radāa, also called tafaqquh, meaning to study
jurisprudence, is intended to teach the initiate the intricacies of Nusa yrī law,
and is necessary if the student ever wants to contract a talīq of his own.74 But
before he can do so he must take into consideration the bonds that had been
ff
formed
people heduring the on
can take various
as hisstages of his initiation,
own students. Havingasbeen
these e ectinthe
a wife the choice of
relation-
ship of talīq does not place restrictions on who he can initiate because women
do not have agency in marriage. It does however, place restrictions on the
sayyid to whom he was attached. Some of these, including the prohibition of
contracting talīq with two biological brothers and with a biological father and
son, were described above. But achieving samā and studying the Dustūr do
activate forbidden relations which the student must avoid when contracting
his own talīq. As described above, samā and radāa establish blood kinship
between the student and his sayyid and milk kinship between the student and
the one who taught him the law. Contracting talīq with anyone who shares
that kinship is thus considered incest and is not allowed.
In Islamic law the forbidden degrees of marriage resulting from blood or

milk kinship are set out in Kor 4, 22-23 and include father’s wives, mothers,
69
Kor 2, 233.
70
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 56.
71 Ibid.
, p. 77.
72 Ibid.
, p. 55. e nağwā ceremony does not appear to have survived as there is no mention
of it in the later accounts of Nusa yrī initiation.
73 Ibid.
, p. 51, 56.
74 Ibid.
, p. 51.
72 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, milk-mothers, and milk-sisters. 75 All of these

have their counterparts in the Nusa yrī laws of initiation, although some of
them require quite imaginative reinterpretation in order to find their esoteric
equivalents. For example, the esoteric equivalent of marrying one’s father’s
wife is explained by al-Ta barānī as follows: if a teacher had contracted talīq
with two students but had passed away after progressing to samā with only
one
isof is them, thethe
because more
oneadvanced
who had student
achievedcannot
samā contract
had becometalīq with the other.
his teacher’s son
while the less advanced student remained his wife, so contracting talīq with
him would violate the prohibition of marrying his father’s wife.76
e law against marrying one’s mother is interpreted by al-Ta barānī as for-
bidding talīq with one’s teacher. But why would thesayyid who introduced
the novice to the religion in the first place ever need to be taken on as a student
through talīq? Al-Ta barānī explains that if the sayyid forgot the Dustūr after
having taught it to his student, he must be reinitiated from the very begin-
ning. But it is not permissible for his former student to be the one to contract
talīq with him as that would be like marrying his mother. 77 e same logic
follows for reinitiating the teacher from whom one studied the fiqh as well as
his other students, as they stand in the position of his milk-mother and milk-
78
sisters, respectively.
e preceding paragraphs have described perfect bāti nī readings of the laws
listed in Kor 4, 22-23 where marriage was rendered as talīq and the forbidden
degrees of consanguinity covered those people with whom the believer had
affinity as a result of his spiritual rebirth and suckling . But just as in the case
of wudū, where literal aspects of Qurānic law were brought untranslated into
their Nusa yrī legal equivalents, so literal elements of the Qurānic laws of con-
sanguinity were incorporated into the laws governing talīq. Not only did
Nusa yrī law prohibit talīq with ‘real’ (h aqīqī) relatives resulting from samā
and radāa, it also forbade talīq with the ‘biological’ (ta bīī ) relations listed in
the Qurān. For example, the Qur ānic prohibition of marrying one’s sister
made it unlawful for a believer to reinitiate a student who had previously
attained samā from his own teacher; but it also prevented him from contract-

75
ose relationships resulting from marriage, namely, those with mothers-in-law, step-
daughters, daughters-in-law, and two simultaneous sisters found in Kor 4, 23 were described
above.
76
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 58-9.
77 Ibid.
, p. 65. If a person needs to be reinitiated as a result of having forgotten the Dustūr, he
must progress through all of the stages of initiation, but can advance through them in one night.
e way this is accomplished is that the night is divided into three parts, one for šarb al-sār, one
for talīq, and one for samā; a stage of initiation is performed in each ( ibid., p. 53).
78 Ibid.
, p. 66.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 73

ing talīq with his biological brother, as that would also be like marrying a
sister.79 e same applied to initiating real and biological uncles and nephews
which would be like marrying aunts and nieces.80
e interweaving of the literal and allegorical, biological and real made the
system polyvalent and extremely difficult to untangle. If a general rule can be
abstracted from the lists of forbidden degrees found in the Kitāb al-H āwī, it is
that talīq is prohibited with one’s own biological’ relations as well as with
those men who have become ‘real’ relatives as a result of samā and radāa. But
one may contract talīq with the ‘biological’ kin of one’s ‘real’ relatives. For
example, a man may contract talīq with his sayyid ’s biological son since he is
not his brother by blood or through initiation.81
is changes once the believer has taken on the role of the husband in a
talīq. Once the believer has become a sayyid in his own right and taken on his
own student as a wife, the biological relations of his student become forbidden
to him in a subsequent talīq, as that would violate the prohibition of marry-
ing in-laws found in Kor 4, 23. For example, as mentioned above, a sayyid may
not contract talīq with his student’s biological son. is is because that stu-
dent had been his wife and contracting talīq with his student’s biological son
would violate the prohibition of marrying a step-daughter. So while the
description of initiation
dent, progressing in this
first from thepaper
role ofhaswife,
followed
to thattheofexperience of the hus-
son, and finally stu-
band, it is the actions of the teacher which impose the prohibitions arising
from consanguinity. It is thesayyid who has agency, and it is his giving birth
to his student and then nourishing him with religious secrets which imposes
the first layers of restrictions. Only once the believer has become a sayyid in his
own right and contracted his own spiritual marriage is the final layer of restric-
tions added.
e prohibitions of consanguinity resulting from initiation serve to high-
light the manifold and intertwined rings of a ffinity that tie the Nusa yrī com-
munity together with bonds of blood and religion. However, it is important to
emphasize that these bonds govern the esoteric world of religion and do not
influence the exoteric world. Believers related through initiation are connected

only
 eir inspiritual
the religious
kinshipsense
does that prevents the
not influence them fromofconsanguineous
choice līq.
women they cantatake
in an exoteric, sexual marriage. As mentioned above, women are absolutely
excluded from the religious community and they do not become relatives as a
result of the initiation of their fathers, brothers, husbands, or sons. For example
,
79 Ibid., p. 66.
80
Ibid., p. 65.
81
Ibid., p. 66.
74 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75

becoming the spiritual son of a sayyid does not prevent a man from marrying
his sayyid ’s biological daughter since, as al-Ta barānī explains, “she did not
become his sister in the biological world nor in the ‘true’ reality”. 82 In fact,
al-Ta barānī gives the example of Mūsā (Moses) who married the daughter of
his teacher, Šuayb (Jethro) to emphasize the fact that initiation only prevents
a man from contracting talīq with his teacher’s male students. It does not
83
prevent him from
According to themarrying his teacher’s
same reasoning, biological
a teacher daughters.
may marry his student’s divorced
or widowed wife since she did not become his daughter-in-law as a result of
his having spiritually fathered her husband. e Qurānic prohibition of mar-
rying one’s son’s wife prevents a man from contracting a talīq with the student
of his student and not from marrying his student’s wife. According to
al-Ta barānī, the marriage of Muhammad to the wife of Zayd b. H ārita illus-
trates this law.84 Zayd was the adoptive son of the Prophet Muhammad and
the fact that Muhammad married the wife of Zayd has traditionally been
linked to the fact that Islam does not acknowledge adoption, or rather, that
adoption does not create consanguinity and therefore marrying the wife of
Zayd did not violate the prohibition of marrying a daughter-in-law found
in Kor 4, 23.85 Al-Ta barānī instead employs the story in the context of talīq
ff
to showofhow
choice womena teacher-student relationship
that one can marry, does only
as initiation not have anconsanguinity
creates e ect on the
between men.
After all, the Nusa yrīs are a community composed entirely of men. Exclud-
ing women is exactly what makes the analogy to marriage and birth so produc-
tive, as it allows believers to appropriate all heterosexual roles of husband,
wife, father, mother, nurse, and child. If the bonds between these roles are the
most sacred a person can have in the biological world, then structuring initia-
tion upon them reinforces the sacrality of the community and its beliefs which
like sperm, blood, and milk, are only shared with family. Furthermore, by act-
ing as both the males and females of his religious world, a Nus a yrī believer is
able to become a complete, spiritually hermaphroditic person who has been

82 Ibid., p. 57.
83
is has been misunderstood by previous scholars writing about Nus a yrī initiation. In
Extreme Shiites, p. 374-5, Moosa writes that a student may not marry his teacher’s biological
daughter as she is considered to be his sister. But as Ta barānī clarifies, statement to this effect
found in Nusa yrī works mean that a man may not contract talīq with his sayyid ’s other students,
and not that he is prevented from marrying his sayyid ’s daughter.
84
Al-Ta barānī, Kitāb al-H āwī, p. 58.
85
See Kor 7, 37 : “When Zayd had come to the end of his union with her, We gave her to thee
in marriage, so that [in future] no blame should attach to the believers for [marrying] the spouses
of their adopted children when the latter have come to the end of their union with them”.
 B. Tendler Krieger / Arabica 58 (2011) 53-75 75

receptive as a wife, authoritative as a husband, creative as a father, and nurtur-

ing as a mother or nursemaid. rough initiation, the Nusa yrī subject becomes
al-insān al-kāmil (the complete man) who has been elevated from his mun-
dane bodily existence and become a member of the saved community.
By employing a bāti nī tawīl to their reading of the Qur ān, the founders of
the Nusa yrī religion were able to create a law that was at the same time sectar-
ian andintercourse
sexual thoroughlythey
Islamic. By equating
encouraged membersthetostudy of religious
jealously truths
keep their with
doctrines
from non-initiates in the same way that a good Muslim might guard his chas-
tity. Not only did the comparison provide the structure for initiation, it
allowed the sect to cohere through imagined bonds of marriage and consan-
guinity and to solidify sectarian lines against the outside word. Transposing
Islamic marital laws onto the context of Nusa yrī initiation enabled the believ-
ers to feel as though they were the true Muslims and gave Qur ānic legitima-
tion to dogmas and rituals which others considered antithetical to Islam. But
mostly, it highlighted the transcendent nature of religious knowledge which
when shared between two people had the power not only to create a life but to
give birth to an entire community of believers.
Understanding how this community actually functioned throughout his-
tory, how
society, andtheir theoretical
the social schema
loads that wereofactually
relationships actually
carried by played isout
these bonds in
a job
for the future of the field. But until such a time when the veils of secrecy will
be sufficiently lifted as to allow an ethnographic study of the Nus a yrī com-
munity, we are grateful to the Dār li-agl al-marifa for making possible this
fascinating glimpse into the literature of this intriguing and understudied
Islamic sect.