Development of Muslim Theology: Part I. Constitutional Development: Chapter II

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This is a chapter from a scholarly history of Islam, written in the early 20th century tradition of Western Orientalist historiography, covering the Shi'ite political and religious movements that fragmented the Abbasid caliphate. It surveys several distinct Shi'ite dynasties and sects — the Idrisids of Morocco, the Zaydites of Yemen, and the Imamite Twelvers of Persia — tracing how each developed different theories of legitimate rule, from the Zaydites' relatively flexible acceptance of historical caliphs to the Twelvers' doctrine that the Shah is merely a placeholder for a Hidden Imam, which the author argues structurally empowers Persian religious scholars (Mujtahids) over temporal rulers to this day. The text then pivots to what it calls "the most magnificent conspiracy in all history": the secret movement founded by Abd Allah ibn Maymun, a Persian skeptic who engineered a multi-generational, multi-audience fraud that promised different things to Shi'ites, nationalists, and freethinkers simultaneously, ultimately producing the Fatimid dynasty and its offshoots (Qarmatians, Druze, Assassins). A notably distinctive and now-dated feature is the author's frank ethnic stereotyping — asserting that Persians are "born liars" and "born conspirators" — framed as historical explanation for why the conspiracy succeeded. The work is aimed at an educated general reader rather than specialists, offering narrative drive alongside doctrinal summary, and treats the Shi'ite schisms primarily as political phenomena whose theological dimensions served dynastic ambition.

Development of Muslim Theology: Part I. Constitutional Development: Chapter II

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