Theological Compendia in Late 6th/12th and Early 7th/13th Century Zaydism: al-Ḥasan al-Raṣṣāṣ’s K. al-Taḥṣīl and Its Commentaries

Al-Ḥasan al-Raṣṣāṣ (d.584/1188), a prominent Zaydī scholar who lived in 6th/12th century Yemen, left a rather short theological compendium, entitled Kitāb al-Taḥṣīl fī l-tawḥīd wa-l-taʿdīl. This text was particularly popular among scholars of the generations following al-Raṣṣāṣ’s death. Three commentaries on the K. al-Taḥṣīl were composed between his death and the year 620/1223. This paper presents al-Raṣṣāṣ’s text and its reception, and furthermore discusses the identity of an extensive, but only partially extant commentary on al-Taḥṣīl. In addition, I will address the question to what extent these texts reflect specific intellectual trends in Zaydī scholarship.The research for this publication was undertaken while I was on a scholarship from the BGSMCS at the Freie Universität Berlin. The article was finalised in the framework of an M4HUMAN fellowship funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.Peer reviewe