Shi'a Islam

Shi'a Islam

Author: Heinz Halm

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Attempts to explain the bewildering events in the Middle East.


Shia Islam and Politics

Shia Islam and Politics

Author: Jon Armajani

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-05-20

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1793621365

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This book argues that ever since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which established a Shia Islamic government in Iran, that country’s religious and political leaders have used Shia Islam as a crucial way of expanding Iran’s objectives in the Middle East and beyond. Since 1979, Iran’s religious and political leaders have been concerned about Iran’s security in the face of the hostility and expansionism of the United States and other western countries, and the threats from powerful neighboring Sunni leaders and countries. While Iran’s government has attempted to align itself with Shia Muslims in various countries, such as Iraq and Lebanon, against American and Sunni expansionism, the Iranian government has attempted to religiously nourish and politically mobilize those Shias as a matter of principle, not only because of the Iranian government’s desires to protect Iran from external threats. The book analyzes Shia Islam and politics in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon which have among the largest proportional Shia populations in the Middle East and are vibrant centers of Shia intellectual life. The book's clear and jargon-free approach make it especially accessible for students and general readers who would like an introduction to the book's topics.


Sociology of Shiʿite Islam

Sociology of Shiʿite Islam

Author: Saïd Amir Arjomand

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2016-07-18

Total Pages: 498

ISBN-13: 9004326278

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Sociology of Shiʿite Islam is a comprehensive study of the development of Shiʿism. Its bearers first emerged as a sectarian elite, then a hierocracy and finally a theocracy. Imamate, Occultation and the theodicy of martyrdom are identified as the main components of the Shiʻism as a world religion. In these collected essays Arjomand has persistenly developed a Weberian theoretical framework for the analysis of Shiʿism, from its sectarian formation in the eighth century through the establishment of the Safavid empire in the sixteenth century, to the Islamic revolution in Iran in the twentieth century. These studies highlight revolutionary impulses embedded in the belief in the advent of the hidden Imam, and the impact of Shiʻite political ethics on the authority structure of pre-modern Iran and the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


Shi'ite Islam

Shi'ite Islam

Author: Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʼī

Publisher: The Other Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 9675062436

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The Other Shiites

The Other Shiites

Author: Alessandro Monsutti

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9783039112890

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Shia Islam is a central issue in contemporary politics. Often associated with Iran, Shiite communities actually exist in many Islamic countries. Focusing on the «other Shiites» outside Iran, this book offers a survey of their diversity and multiplicity in the last two centuries. The contributions cover three major topics. The first part deals with the relationship of Shia minorities to the Sunni regimes. Secondly the public affirmation of their identities through specific rituals and social attitudes is analysed. Finally, the third part of this volume examines the strengthening of these identities through traditional religious rituals and cultural performances, or through the re-interpretation and adaptation of these to present-day life. Coming from various academic backgrounds, the authors have used different methodologies and have been engaged in field-work.


Shiʿism

Shiʿism

Author: Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1988-08-29

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 1438414277

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This is an anthology of the most significant writing on the doctrinal, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of Shicism. The works included here foster an interpretive understanding of Shicism in its dogmatic and cognitive aspects. The intent of this book is to balance the attention that has been focused on the political aspect of Shicism. Shicism is often seen, not only as an essentially political phenomenon, but as a creed of violence. Understanding Shicism in its total reality will encourage a more balanced approach to issues which are viewed mostly politically. While not denying the importance of political manifestations, this book offers an understanding of the often neglected religious beliefs and spiritual practices of this world community.


The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism

The Divine Guide in Early Shi'ism

Author: Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2016-03-22

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 0791494799

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The Imam, the Divine Guide, is the central point around which the Shi'ite religion turns. The power of Shi'ism comes from the actions of the Imam. This title is reserved exclusively for the sucessors of the prophets in their mission. The author shows that from the beginning of Shi'ite Islam until the tenth century, the Imam was primarily a master of knowledge with supernatural powers, not a jurist theologian. The Imam is the threshold through which God and the creatures communicate. He is thus a cosmic necessity, the key and the center of the universal economy of the sacred. The author presents Shi'ism as a religion founded on double dimensions where the role of the leader remains constantly central: perpetual initiation into divine secrets and continued confrontation with anti-initiation forces. Without esotericism, exotericism loses its meaning. Early Imamism is an esoteric doctrine. Historically, then, at the beginning of esotericism in Islam, we find an initiatory, mystical, and occultist doctrine. This is the first book to systematically explore the immense literature attributed to the Imams themselves in order to recover the authentic original vision. It restores an essential source of esotericism in the world of Islam.


The Charismatic Community

The Charismatic Community

Author: Maria Massi Dakake

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0791480348

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The Charismatic Community examines the rise and development of Shiite religious identity in early Islamic history, analyzing the complex historical and intellectual processes that shaped the sense of individual and communal religious vocation. The book reveals the profound and continually evolving connection between the spiritual ideals of the Shiite movement and the practical processes of community formation. Author Maria Massi Dakake traces the Quranic origins and early religious connotations of the concept of walayah and the role it played in shaping the sense of communal solidarity among followers of the first Shiite Imam, Ali b. Abi Talib. Dakake argues that walayah pertains not only to the charisma of the Shiite leadership and devotion to them, but also to solidarity and loyalty among the members of the community itself. She also looks at the ways in which doctrinal developments reflected and served the practical needs of the Shiite community, the establishment of identifiable boundaries and minimum requirements of communal membership, the meaning of women's affiliation and identification with the Shiite movement, and Shiite efforts to engender a more normative and less confrontational attitude toward the non-Shiite Muslim community.


Shi'ism in America

Shi'ism in America

Author: Liyakat Nathani Takim

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2009-09-01

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0814783287

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An authoritative introduction to the Shi’i community in America, tracing its history, composition, and the development of American Shi’i identity. There are over two million Shi’is Muslims in the United States. With community roots going back sometimes close to one hundred years, Shi’is can be found in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, and Dearborn, Michigan. Early in the century, Shi’is and Sunnis sometimes arrived at the same time, worshipped together, shared similar experiences, and confronted the same challenges despite their sectarian differences. In this comprehensive study, Liyakat Nathani Takim provides an in-depth account of the American Shi’i experience. Both tracing the early history and illuminating the more recent past with surveys and interviews, Takim explores the life of this community. Filling an important scholarly gap, he also demonstrates how living in the West has impelled the Shi’i community to grapple with the ways in which Islamic law may respond to the challenges of modernity. Shi’ism in America provides a much-needed overview of the history of this United States religious community, from religious, cultural, and political institutions to inter-group relations, to the experience of African American Shi’is.


Shi'i Islam

Shi'i Islam

Author: Najam Haider

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1107031435

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This book examines the development of Shi'i Islam through the lenses of belief, narrative, and memory.