The relevance of the Usuli/Akhbari controversy

A received notion of contemporary Shi'i law is the major division in the history of Ja'farism between two schools of law, the Usuli and the Akhbari madhhabs (schools), and the dominance of each alternatively since the emergence of Shi'i fiqh. Since the end of the eighteenth century however, it is generally acknowledged that Shi'i law came under complete control of the Usuli school.

Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the two schools, and some good research carried out on the earlier periods of Akhbari dominance, at the beginning of the Safavid period, as well as the critical period in the eighteenth century that saw the triumph of the eponym of the present Usuli school, Al-Wahid al-Behbehani, about whom very little is known.

The present analysis is less concerned by the establishment, rise and wane of Akhbarism and Usulism than with the present perception of the debate by modern Shi'i jurists. The emphasis on the contemporary perception is partly related to the difficulty in accessing early documents. But it is also premised on the necessity to emphasise methodologically the relevance of the controversy on the present structure of Shi'i law. Whatever the earlier dissensions and their historical dimension, the differences have to some extent become mooted, since the Akhbari school has been discarded for over two centuries. Usulism rules unchallenged. The extremely limited geographical sway of Akhbarism confines its role, by contrast, to that of a revelator of Usuli characteristics: the distinguishing features of contemporary Usuli Shi'i law can be more clearly perceived in the light of their contrast with Akhbarism.