Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism

Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism PDF

Author: Abbas Amanat

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2009-02-19

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0857710443

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Interest in Shi'i Islam is running at unprecedented levels. International tensions over Iran, where the largest number of Shi'i Muslims live, as well as the political resurgence of the Shi'i in Iraq and Lebanon, have created an urgent need to understand the background, beliefs and motivations of this dynamic vision of Islam. Abbas Amanat is one of the leading scholars of Shi'ism. And in this powerful book, a showcase for some of his most influential writing in the field, he addresses the colourful and diverse history of Shi' Islam in both premodern and contemporary times.Focusing specifically on the importance of apocalypticism in the development of modern Shi'i theology, he shows how an immersion in messianic ideas has shaped the conservative character of much Shi'i thinking, and has prevented it from taking a more progressive course. Tracing the continuity of apocalyptic trends from the Middle Ages to the present, Amanat addresses such topics as the early influence on Shi'ism of Zoroastrianism; manifestations of apocalyptic ideology during the Iranian Revolution of 1979; and the rise of the Shi'i clerical establishment during the 19th and 20th centuries. His book will be an essential resource for students and scholars of both religious studies and Middle Eastern history.

The Other Islam

The Other Islam PDF

Author: Muhammed Al Da’mi

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2013-11-10

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1491825960

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The reputation of Shiism in the Islamic world, as elsewhere, has undergone many vicissitudes, but it is now higher than ever. In this new study, The author moves us toward an understanding of the social, intellectual, and theological crises that Prophet Muhammed and his cousin, Ali, together with some of the impoverished early Muslims (the precursors of Shiism) were struggling to solve. The issues were many: the idols, their social and economic embodiments in class, tribe, gender and ethnicity; the necessity of the revolutionary spirit, and its resumption in the Shii rebellious ethos; the question of the non-Arab converts to Islam; the exaggeration of the status of the imams (Shii extremism); the extension of the Islamic idol-Breaking spirit to encompass and examine modern issues or novel contemporary phenomena. Al Dami brings to the discussion of these historically complicated questions the lively investigation that many readers of English are not expected to know and comprehend outside the context of the self-consuming sectarian conflicts which penetrate and segment the Islamic world.

Shi'ism

Shi'ism PDF

Author: Hamid Dabashi

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2012-05-07

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0674262913

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For a Western world anxious to understand Islam and, in particular, Shi’ism, this book arrives with urgently needed information and critical analysis. Hamid Dabashi exposes the soul of Shi’ism as a religion of protest—successful only when in a warring position, and losing its legitimacy when in power. Dabashi makes his case through a detailed discussion of the Shi’i doctrinal foundations, a panoramic view of its historical unfolding, a varied investigation into its visual and performing arts, and finally a focus on the three major sites of its contemporary contestations: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. In these states, Shi’ism seems to have ceased to be a sect within the larger context of Islam and has instead emerged to claim global political attention. Here we see Shi’ism in its combative mode—reminiscent of its traumatic birth in early Islamic history. Hezbollah in Lebanon claims Shi’ism, as do the militant insurgents in Iraq, the ruling Ayatollahs in Iran, and the masses of youthful demonstrators rebelling against their reign. All declare their active loyalties to a religion of protest that has defined them and their ancestry for almost fourteen hundred years. Shi’sm: A Religion of Protest attends to the explosive conflicts in the Middle East with an abiding attention to historical facts, cultural forces, religious convictions, literary and artistic nuances, and metaphysical details. This timely book offers readers a bravely intelligent history of a world religion.

The History of Shi'ism and Iranian Shi'ism

The History of Shi'ism and Iranian Shi'ism PDF

Author: Sophie Duhnkrack

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 3640517180

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Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: 85, Ben Gurion University, course: Iran, language: English, abstract: Ervand Abrahamian introduces his work Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic with a discussion of two terms interesting for an analysis of the Islamic Revolution, particularly considering Western images of Khomeini and his movement: fundamentalism and populism. These ideologically loaded concepts depict the book's central thesis, namely that fundamentalism is not an appropriate term for describing Khomeini, his ideas and movement. According to Abrahamian, it alludes "religious inflexibility, ... political traditionalism, ... social conservatism, the centrality of scriptural-doctrinal principles, [and] ... the rejection of the modern world." He instead presents populism as a more apposite term, which "connotes attempts made by nation-states to enter that world." The scholars Daniele Albertazzi and Duncam McDonnell define 'populism' in a widely accepted definition as an ideology which pits a virtuous and homogeneous people against a set of elites and dangerous 'others' who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive) the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity, identity and voice. Essentially approving of Abrahamian's cited thesis, this essay attempts to illustrate that the Islamic Revolution, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, does not represent a movement driven by "religious fundamentalism" or "fanaticism," but the Iranian way of emancipation from domestic and foreign oppression and domination, materialized by the Shah and the West. This thesis will be developed through exploring the Shi'ite history and especially its appearance in Iran. Furthermore it will continually explore the religion's revolutionary and supposedly fanatical characteristics and its contribution to the 1979 revolution, which, as

Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam

Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam PDF

Author: Todd Lawson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-03-12

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 1136622888

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Of the several works on the rise and development of the Babi movement, especially those dealing with the life and work of its founder, Sayyid Ali Muhammad Shirazi, few deal directly with the compelling and complex web of mysticism, theology and philosophy found in his earliest compositions. This book examines the Islamic roots of the Babi religion, (and by extension the later Baha’i faith which developed out of it), through the Qur’anic commentaries of the Bab and sheds light on its relationship to the wider religious milieu and its profound debt to esoteric Islam, especially Shi'ism. Todd Lawson places the two earliest writings of the Bab within the diverse contexts necessary to understand them, in order to explain why these writings made sense to and inspired his followers. He delves into the history of the tafsir (Qur’an commentary) genre of Islamic scholarship, situates these early writings in the Akhbari, Sufi and most importantly Shaykhi traditions of Islam. In the process, he identifies both the continuities and discontinuities between these works and earlier works of Shi’i tafsir, helping us appreciate significant elements of the Bab’s thought and claims. Filling an important gap in the existing literature on the Babi movement, this book will be of greatest interest to students and scholars of Qur'an commentary, Mysticism, Shi'ism, the modern history of Iran and messianism.

Shi'a Islam

Shi'a Islam PDF

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.

The Other Islam

The Other Islam PDF

Author: Muhammed Al Da'mi

Publisher:

Published: 2013-10

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9781491825952

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The reputation of Shi'ism in the Islamic world, as elsewhere, has undergone many vicissitudes, but it is now higher than ever. In this new study, The author moves us toward an understanding of the social, intellectual, and theological crises that Prophet Muhammed and his cousin, Ali, together with some of the impoverished early Muslims (the precursors of Shi'ism) were struggling to solve. The issues were many: the idols, their social and economic embodiments in class, tribe, gender and ethnicity; the necessity of the revolutionary spirit, and its resumption in the Shi'i rebellious ethos; the question of the non-Arab converts to Islam; the exaggeration of the status of the im ms (Shi'i extremism); the extension of the Islamic idol-Breaking spirit to encompass and examine modern issues or novel contemporary phenomena. Al Da'mi brings to the discussion of these historically complicated questions the lively investigation that many readers of English are not expected to know and comprehend outside the context of the self-consuming sectarian conflicts which penetrate and segment the Islamic world.

Iran

Iran PDF

Author: Abbas Amanat

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780300248937

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A masterfully researched and compelling history of Iran from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first

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