Amir-Moezzi's Approach to Shiite Studies

This article examines the practical method or in the scientific term "scientific research methodology" of Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, a Shiite scholar and orientalist of the Sorbonne University. Through studying and researching ancient Shiite texts and works, he mostly tries to present an image of the early Shia in the first centuries. The image based on his scientific approach, which emphasizes historical events, is different from that of his master, Henry Carbone, the great French scholar in Shiite studies. According to Amir-Moezzi, the compilation of Shiite works in the first century mostly arose from the political view of Shiite scholars, and in the second and third centuries A.H, they were the result of Shiite esotericism. The necessity of explanation and allegorical interpretation of religious texts, as well as following the esoteric concepts of verses and traditions, are the signs of the strong tendency of Shiites of that period to "originality of the inner" in understanding religious concepts.
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