A Critical Review on the Book “The social and intellectual life of the Manichaean” (until 3rd century AH)

The main topic of the book is the social and intellectual life of the Manichaean minority in Islamic society until the 3rd century AH. It includes three sections and six chapters. The first part provides a brief introduction to Manichaeism and its historical background according to Arabic books.  In two later chapters, there are the names of famous Manichaeans or Zandiqs, mentioned in Arabic books, but there is no new point about these persons. Overall, the present book is totally dependent upon old Arabic sources and denies original Manichaean texts or western studies. The study is based on Talcott Parson’s theory of structural functionalism.  Parson’s theory sees society as a system, which has four interpenetrating and interrelated subsystems, and analyzes both the general system and the subsystems, that all of them contribute to its operation as a whole.  This theory is not appropriate for the study of the cultural coexistence of Manicheans and Muslims under the Umayyads and Abbasids.