The Shiʿi World Pathways in Tradition and Modernity
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies
The world's 200 million Shiʿi Muslims express their faith in a multiplicity of ways, united by reverence for the ahl al-bayt, the family of the Prophet. In embracing a pluralistic ethic, fourteen centuries of Shiʿi Islam have given rise to diverse traditions and practices across varied geographic and cultural landscapes. The Shiʿi World is a comprehensive work authored by leading scholars from assorted disciplines, to provide a better understanding of how Shiʿi communities view themselves and articulate their teachings. The topics range from Shiʿi Islam’s historical and conceptual foundations, formative figures and intellectual, legal and moral traditions, to its devotional practices, art and architecture, literature, music and cinema, as well as expressions and experiences of modernity. The book thus provides a panoramic perspective of the richly textured narratives that have shaped the social and moral universe of Shiʿi Muslims around the globe. This fourth volume in the Muslim Heritage Series will appeal to specialists and general readers alike, as a timely resource on the prevailing complexities not only of the ‘Muslim world’, but also of the dynamic Shiʿi diasporas of Europe and North America.
List of Illustrations
About the Contributors
Introduction
Farhad Daftary, Amyn B. Sajoo, Shainool Jiwa
1. Remembering Muhammad
Omid Safi
2. Imam Ali
Reza Shah-Kazemi
3. Imam Jaʿfar al-Sadiq and the Elaboration of Shiʿism
Karim Douglas Crow
4. Legal Traditions
Andrew J. Newman
5. Intellectual Traditions
Paul E. Walker
6. Governance and Pluralism under the Fatimids (909–996 CE)
Shainool Jiwa
7. Moral Authority in the Safawid State
Rula J. Abisaab
8. Devotional Practices
Ali S. Asani
9. Shiʿi Communities in History
Farhad Daftary
10. Remembering Fatima and Zaynab: Gender in Perspective
Zayn Kassam and Bridget Blomfield
11. Art and Architecture
Jonathan Bloom
12. Literature
Eric Ormsby
13. Music
William Sumits
14. Shiʿism in Iranian Cinema
Nacim Pak-Shiraz
15. Diasporas
Zulfikar Hirji and Karen Ruffle
16. Modernity: The Ethics of Identity
Amyn B. Sajoo
Glossary
Index
Farhad Daftary is Co-Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. He is the author of numerous texts and co-editor of Encyclopaedia Islamica as well as the general editor of the ‘Ismaili Heritage Series’ and the ‘Shi‘i Heritage Series’.
Amyn B. Sajoo is Scholar-in-Residence at Simon Fraser University's Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures (Vancouver). He has held visiting appointments at Cambridge and McGill Universities, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, and The Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.
Shainool Jiwa is head of the Constituency Studies Unit at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, where she is a specialist in Fatimid history. Dr Jiwa is on the Board of Governors of Edinburgh Napier University, and serves as a chief examiner in Islamic history for the International Baccalaureate Organization.