ABSTRACT
Let me begin by defining what I mean by “early Shiʿis” (“Shi‘ites”) and what by “cosmology.” By the former, I refer to a community of Muslims who lived between the early eighth and the late ninth centuries in Iraq, and who viewed the line of the Prophet Muhammad’s male descendants, called Imams, as his sole legitimate successors. By the latter I refer to the imagined structure of the universe, which encompasses the origin and fate of humans, their relations to God, and the cosmic and worldly role of the Imams.
