Divine Text Versus Collective Identity - A Critical Analysis of Maria Dacaca's Sociological Reading of Wilayat in Ancient Imamiyya Sources

Author

Assistant Professor, University of Mazandaran, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Department of Islamic Studies, Babolsar, Iran

10.22080/jepr.2026.32042.1345

Abstract

**Objective:** In her book *Charismatic Community*, Maria Massi Dakake, applying concepts from the sociology of religion, primarily understands authority (wilāyah) in Shiism as a social phenomenon based on horizontal solidarity, while neglecting the role of divine text (naṣṣ). The aim of this research is to provide a fundamental critique of this interpretation by systematically re-examining early Imami sources and evaluating Dakake’s three key claims.
**Method:** This study employs a descriptive-analytical method with a critical approach, reviewing eight early Imami sources: *Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays*, *Uṣūl Arbaʿumiʾa*, *Baṣāʾir al-Darajāt*, *Al-Tamḥīṣ*, *Risālat Faḍl ibn Shādhān*, *Al-Kāfī*, *Al-Ghayba al-Nuʿmānī*, and the reconstructed treatise of Abū Yaʿlā al-Jaʿfarī. The traditions related to divine text (naṣṣ) are analyzed with precise internal references.
**Findings:** In all these sources, the divine text is presented as a foundational, pre-existing divine basis independent of social acceptance. The Twelve Imams are designated by name through divine text, and the most significant evidences for naṣṣ are the Hadith of Ghadir, the Verse of Wilāyah, and the hadiths on the Twelve Imams. Dakake’s three claims—that the narrators of Ghadir are limited to the people of Medina, that Ghadir had a circumstantial cause (sabab al-nuzūl/ṣudūr), and that the hadiths on the Twelve Imams are fabricated—are refuted based on these same sources.
**Conclusion:** Dakake’s sociological reading is inconsistent with the internal religious meaning of the divine text (naṣṣ) in early Imami sources.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics