Well before the Occultation of the Twelfth imam in 330/942 and before the time of the great Shi 'i theologians such as al-Shaykh al-Mufi d (d. 413/1022), the Shi 'ah had constructed their own integral and elaborate system of thought. This thought is expressed in the sayings of the Shi 'i imams, recorded in hadi th collections gathered in the traditionist centres of Kufah and Qum. It is apparent when these narratives are pieced together that the Shi 'i system as presented by the Shi 'ah themselves bears little resemblance to the descriptions of the heresiographers. At the centre of the Shi 'i worldview is the relation between the imams and the community. The imams' constitution is altogether supernatural, and they succeed to the whole of the prophetic knowledge, while the Shi 'ah, who were created of the same substance as the imams, are the bearers and beneficiaries of that knowledge. The imams continue to receive intelligence from God so that they know every thing and are able to address themselves to every circumstance, while the Shi 'ah must resort to no one else to guide them. God is known only through the imams and they conduct their followers to Paradise while others are left for the Fire. There is, however, evidence of revision of belief already in the time of the first traditionists. The definition of faith is emended so as to allow the non-Shi 'ah a place in Paradise and enable the Shi 'ah to integrate into the larger community. The confinement of the imams by the Abbasids and the lesser Occultation lead to reconsideration of the question of authority: human reason is given a greater role as the Shi 'ah set about thinking how to evaluate the words of the imams already recorded. Kalam, a field of enquiry formerly forbidden to the faithful Shi 'ah due to the necessity of absolute submission to the statements of the imams, is sanctioned so that dicta concerning theology are issued under their names. Tradition now moves away from predestinarianism, and other

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The thesis aims at studying the growth and systematization of Shi'i usul al-fiqh in the fifth century, A.H. The attempt involves an analysis of the background against which this systematization developed and takes into account the two major works of the period, representing this systematization. The first is al-Dhari'ah of Sharif al-Murtada (d. 436/1044) and the second, 'Uddat al-Usul of Shaykh Abu Ja'far al-Tusi (d. 460/1067). The analysis of the books attempts to trace the pattern of development each writer has followed, the methodology of each and, ultimately, the basic principles each evolved as a basis for his usul al-fiqh. A certain amount of emphasis has been laid throughout the work, on determining what distinct concepts were being developed, as compared to the Sunnis. The main themes investigated are khabar, ijma' and ijtihad and how they affected the systematization.

The Shi'ite orthodoxy, represented by the Usuli trend, introduced a new institution, i.e. marja'-i taqlid, in the middle of the thirteenth/nineteenth century when the struggle for the authority of the Imam was heightened by the representatives of speculative thought in Shi'ism. This institution combined the status of the most learned mujtahid with the charisma derived from the vicegerency of the Imam of the Age without committing itself to miraculous performances or directly jeopardizing the ruling establishments. The Usuli orthodoxy successfully fought the Akhbaris' detachment from the formal bases of argumentation on the one hand and the direct pretension to the authority of the Imam by the Sufis and Shaykhis on the other hand. The Usulis not only placed the marja'-i taqlid at the head of the Shi'ite learned hierarchy, but gave his pronouncements as of binding authority for the community. Marja'-i taqlid benefitted from the growth of popular religion among post-Safavid Iranians whose religious alms and charities guaranteed the financial independence of the supreme mujtahids. Marja'-i taqlid played important roles in the socio-political development of the Shi'ite people of Iran and Iraq either by legitimizing their constitutional and reformist movements or opposing colonialist and Westernizationist processes. However, in practice, the institution of marja'iyat escaped any attempts to embed the institution into the constitutional system or into any formal structure of juristic hierarchy.

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Shayk Tabarsi was a Shiite scholar, the only Shiite theologian of importance in the twelfth century A.D. He produced a commentary on the Qur'an which scholars, both Shiite and Sunnite, have acclaimed as the leading work in the field of tafsir. No Western scholar has done any study on Tabarsi or on any of his works. This dissertation is therefore, the first work in a Western language to be devoted to this important Muslim scholer and theologian.