٢. Chibli Mallat, The Renewal of Islamic Law: Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr, Najaf and the Shii International (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ١٩٩٣), pp. ٣٩-٤١, calls these levels study cycles and lists all the texts that are studied at each level of the mujtahids edu‌ cation. The level of uruf:t
ogy that is applied in the deductive jurisprudence. Hence, I have identified this level with
"the technicalities." Yitzhak Nakash, The Shiis of Iraq (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
١٩٩٤), p. ٢٤٥, also gives the details of the three stages and correctly identifies the uruf:t
involving rational jurisprudence and principles of deductive jurisprudence.
٣. The number of students at Najaf in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fluctuated between eight thousand and twelve thousand, depending on the political condi‌ tions in the city. Nakash, The Shiis of Iraq, pp. ٢٤١-٤٢, discusses these numbers in the con‌ text of the development of the religious colleges under the leadership of some prominent mujtahids at the turn of the century. That number dwindled to some eight hundred after the Gulf War. Following the Shiite insurrection in ١٩٩١, the remaining students disappeared. During my May ١٩٩٦ visit to the holy cities of Iraq, some local students were gradually begin‌ ning to acquire the traditional education privately.
٤. Hamid Algar, Religion and State in Iran ١٧٨٥-I٩٠٦: The Role of the Ulama in the
Qajar Period (Berkeley: University of California Press, ١٩٦٩) gives a detailed account of the jurists regular visits to the holy cities of Iraq for higher learning under the well-known mujtahids.
٥. Abdulaziz Sachedina, The Just Ruler in Sh!ite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority
of the Jurists in Imamite Jurisprudence (New York: Oxford University Press, ١٩٨٨), pp. ٦١-٦٤; I discussed the ijaza system and its importance in the traditional educational system pursued in the Muslim seminaries.
٦. Sachedina, "Activist Shiism in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon," in Fundamentalisms Obsen,ed,
ed. Marty Martin and Scott Appleby (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ١٩٩١), pp. ٤٠٣-٥٦; also, Yann Richard, Shiite Islam (Cambridge: Blackwell, ١٩٩٥), pp. ٧٧-١٠٩ offers useful insights into the development of the activist posture in the context of the Shiite tradition of religious professionals.
٧. Mallat, The Renewal of Islamic Law, p. ٤٤.
٨. AI-KhDT. al-Masa if al-muntakhaba: a!- ibadat wa al-mu amalat (Beirut: Dar al‌ AndalDs, ١٩٧١) p. ٢.
٩. Sachedina. The Just Ruler, pp. ٢٢٧-٢٩.
I ٠. Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, ١٩٧٨), pp. ٢٢-٢٤.
a. Sachedina, "Activist Shlism," p. ٤٤١.
١٢. Batatu, Old Social Classes, p. ٤٧.
١٣. Chibli Mallat. "Iraq." in The Politics of Islamic Revivalism: Diversity and Unity, ed. Shirin T. Hunter (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, ١٩٨٨), p. ٧٤;
١٤. Ibid., pp. ٧٦-٧٧.
١٥. For a detailed discussion of the revolutionary fervor that existed at this time in the major Shlite centers in Iraq. see Joyce N. Wiley, The Islamic Movement of Iraqi Shias (Boul‌ der, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, ١٩٩٢), chap. ٣.
١٦. This was an indirect hint in regard to al-KhDTs quietist reform program in Najaf.
١٧. Wiley, The Islamic Movement. p. ٥٤.
١٨. Ibid .. p. ٥١.
١٩. Ayatollahs Mui:Iammad Riqa Gulpaygani ( ١٨٨٩-١٩٩٣), Abd Allah Masawi Shirazi ( ١٩٠١-٩١ ), and l:lasan Taba(abaT QummT (b. ١٩١١) are among the few senior mujtahidwho disagreed with the constitutionally formalized "governance of the jurist" in Iran.
٢٠. This./(uwil was communicated by Sayyid Majid al-KhDI.