“The book of sects and creeds” by al-Shahrastani as an ismaili source: switch the paradigm in history of philosophy

Abstract

Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Karīm al-Shahrastani is a well-known source in the West about Islamic and non-Islamic religious teachings. His “Book on Sects and Creeds” has so far been considered in the history of philosophy among the Asharite doxographic works. At present, the evaluation of this work in the history of philosophy is radically changing: from the Asharite doxography its evaluation is shifted to the opposite pole – Isma’ili heresiography. The paper presents historical and biographical facts, as well as a brief description of the main works that allow us to include al-Shahrastani in the Isma’ili context. It analyzes the Shahrastani's preface to Kitab al-milal wa-n-nihal, which clearly shows the coherence of this section, including the methodology and structure of the treatise indicated by the author himself, with other Isma’ili books, in particular with the “Chapter on Shaytan” from Kitab al-Shajar Abu Tammam.

Using the example of the switching of this book evaluations, we want to argue against the point of view that insists on the conservatism of the philosophical canon ostensibly created and observed by the history of philosophy, and to show that the history of philosophy research, although it depends on speculative interpretations, is fundamentally an empirical work, essentially dependent on the facts which role played by the sources, and the decisive factor in changing the "paradigm" in history of philosophy or the philosophical canon is primarily our trust in the sources and their careful reading in various contexts.