This installment of Text and Interpretation examines the ideology of renowned religious scholar Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, whose school of legal thought emerged in the mid-700s CE. In studying the origins of this branch of Islamic law, Modarressi’s book goes beyond the recent literature in detailing Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq’s positions on a range of issues — as well as the interpretative approach that shaped those stances. (Harvard University Press [1])