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Mītham b. Yaḥyā al-Tammār: an Important Figure in Early Shī‘ism

Mītham b. Yaḥyā al-Tammār: an Important Figure in Early Shī‘ism

By Khalid Sindawi

Al-Qanṭara, Vol.29:2 (2008)

Abstract: The present study provides an analysis of an important Shī‘ite personality, Mītham b. Yaḥyā al-Tammār, a close follower and confidant of ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, who played a significant role in the early history of Shī‘ism but has been quite ignored by modern scholarship. We hope to redress the matter here, and provide insight into his biography, his relations with ‘Alī, and how these relations enriched early Shī‘ite thought and religious jurisprudence. In the following pages we shall discuss Mītham’s origins, his personality, his descendants and the role they played in Shī‘ite jurisprudence, his commentary on the Qur’ān and his other writings, his role as transmitter of traditions, his students, his mystical knowledge, and the events surrounding his death.

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