caa a22 4500 388101709 CHVBK 20180307125323.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199905 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0020743800054003 doi S0020743800054003 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0020743800054003 Judd Steven C. Ghaylan al-Dimashqi: The Isolation of a Heretic in Islamic Historiography [Elektronische Daten] [Steven C. Judd] The meaning and significance of accusations of heresy are difficult to ascertain, regardless of the religious setting or historical milieu in which they appear. Scholars studying medieval European religious history have described heresy as opposition to the Christian church's doctrinal authority, emphasizing that heretics were not only religious but also political dissenters. They questioned church doctrine per se, but also, perhaps more significantly, challenged the church's authority to determine doctrine. In early Islamic history, concepts of heresy and orthodoxy are somewhat more difficult to define. After the Rashidun, there was no dominant religious voice in the community. Instead, a variety of opposing parties struggled for the right to define doctrine. In such circumstances, there could be no orthodoxy, since none had sufficient moral authority or coercive power to impose their views to the exclusion of all others. Consequently, there could be no heresy either, because heretics are simply those whom the dominant religious authority deems to be outside the bounds of orthodoxy. Only after proponents of a particular set of views gained sufficient power to impose their views on others could heterodoxy become heresy. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999 International Journal of Middle East Studies Cambridge University Press 31/2(1999-05), 161-184 0020-7438 31:2<161 1999 31 MES https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800054003 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743800054003 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Judd Steven C. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Journal of Middle East Studies Cambridge University Press 31/2(1999-05), 161-184 0020-7438 31:2<161 1999 31 MES CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge