Imam Reza’s(A.S) Discourse of Successorship: In_between “Bio-Power” and “Bio-Politics” approaches
Volume 1, Issue 3, Autumn 2013, Pages 49-87
Hassan Bashir
Abstract The issue of Imam Reza’s becoming al-Ma’mun’s successor, offered by al-Ma’mun himself, is an important historical events highly associated with issues including Imamate, sovereignty and Islamic rule and requires special discourse analysis. Al-Ma’mun’s era was a particular period in Abbasid history which experienced different political-social and cultural-religious flows and therefore requires a succession-based discourse. This article seeks to analyze the succession discourse as an effective issue in presenting viewpoints regarding “domination” and “contraption” based on “bio-power” and “bio-politics” approaches. It also evaluates al-Ma’mun’s treatment (domination approach) and Imam Reza’s treatment (contraption approach) based on this discourse and through PEDAM method.