The Other Shiites

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.

Time Out of Memory: Ta'ziyeh, the Total Drama by Peter J. Chelkowski The Ta'ziyeh of the Martyrdom of Hussein translated and with an introduction by Rebecca Ansary Pettys The Origins of the Sunnite-Shiite Divide and the Emergence of the Ta'ziyeh Tradition by Kamran Scot Aghaie Muharram Ceremonies observed in Tehran by Ilya Nicolaevich Berezin (1843) by Jean and Jacqueline Calmard Acting Styles and Actor Training in Ta'ziyeh by William O. Beeman and Mohammad B. Ghaffari Identification and Analysis of the Scenic Space in Traditional Iranian Theater by Mohammad Reza Khaki; translated by Iraj Anvar Peripheral Ta'ziyeh: The Transformation of Ta'ziyeh from Muharram Mourning Ritual to Secular and Comical Theatre by Iraj Anvar A View from the Inside: The Anatomy of the Persian Ta'ziyeh Plays by Sadegh Homayouni Garden of the Brave in War: Recollections of Iran by Terence O'Donnell Karbala Drag Kings and Queens by Negar Mottahedeh Compelling Reasons to Sing: The Music of Ta'ziyeh by Stephen Blum Ta'ziyeh as Theatre of Protest by Hamid Dabashi Shi'ite Narratives of Karbala and Christian Rites of Penance: Michel Foucault and the Culture of the Iranian Revolution, 1978-79 by Janet Afary Moses and the Wandering Dervish: Ta'ziyeh at Trinity College by Milla Cozart Riggio Mohammad B. Ghaffari, Ta'ziyeh Director: an interview with Peter J. Chelkowski Presenting Ta'ziyeh at Lincoln Center by Nigel Redden Ta'ziyeh in France: The Ritual of Renewal at the Festival d'Automne by Alain Crombecque Ta'ziyeh in Parma by Anna Vanzan Remembering Ta'ziyeh in Iraq by Elizabeth Fernea Ritual, Blood, and Shiite Identity: Ashura in Nabatiyya, Lebanon by Augustus Richard Norton Shiite Theater in South Lebanon: Some Notes on The Karbala Drama and the Sabaya by Sabrina Mervin Flagellation and Fundamentalism: (Trans)forming Meaning, Identity, and Gender though Pakistani Women's Rituals of Mourning By Mary Elaine Hegland The Heart of Lament: Pakistani-American Muslim Women's Azadari Rituals by Bridget Blomfield From the Sun-Scorched Desert of Iran to the Beaches of Trinidad: Ta'ziyeh's Journey from Asia to the Caribbean by Peter J. Chelkowski.

The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule provides an original perspective on the history of the Shiites as a constituent of Lebanese society. Winter presents a history of the community before the 19th century, based primarily on Ottoman Turkish documents. From these, he examines how local Shiites were well integrated in the Ottoman system of rule, and that Lebanon as an autonomous entity only developed in the course of the 18th century through the marginalization and then violent elimination of the indigenous Shiite leaderships by an increasingly powerful Druze-Maronite emirate. As such the book recovers the Ottoman-era history of a group which has always been neglected in chronicle-based works, and in doing so, fundamentally calls into question the historic place within 'Lebanon' of what has today become the country's largest and most activist sectarian community.

This book illuminates the historical origins and present situation of militant Shia transnational networks by focusing on three key countries in the Gulf, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, whose Shia Islamic groups are the offspring of Iraqi movements. The reshaping of the area's geopolitics after the Gulf War and the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 have had a profound impact on transnational Shiite networks, pushing them to focus on national issues in the context of new political opportunities. For example, from being fierce opponents of the Saudi monarchy, Saudi Shiite militants have tended to become upholders of the Al-Sa'ud dynasty.The question remains, however, how deeply in society have these new beliefs taken root? Can Shiites be Saudi or Bahraini patriots? Louer concludes her book by analysing the transformation of the Shia' movements' relation to central religious authority, the marja', who reside either in Iraq and Iran. This is all the more problematic when the marja' is also the head of a state, as with Ali Khamenei of Iran, who has many followers in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Little is known in the West about the division of the Islamic world into Shiites and Sunnites and even less about the stratification of these two groups, with most of the attention going to the Sunnites. Moosa's comprehensive study of the origins and cultural aspects of the different extremist, or Ghulat, Shiite sects in the Middle East is a ground-breaking work. These sects whose 'extremism' is essentially religious are generally a peaceful people and, except for the Nusayris of Syria, are not political activists.

This book traces the politics of the Shia in the oil-rich Eastern Province of Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia since the nineteenth century.

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.

In this gripping narrative history, Lesley Hazleton tells the tragic story at the heart of the ongoing rivalry between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam, a rift that dominates the news now more than ever. Even as Muhammad lay dying, the battle over who would take control of the new Islamic nation had begun, beginning a succession crisis marked by power grabs, assassination, political intrigue, and passionate faith. Soon Islam was embroiled in civil war, pitting its founder's controversial wife Aisha against his son-in-law Ali, and shattering Muhammad’s ideal of unity. Combining meticulous research with compelling storytelling, After the Prophet explores the volatile intersection of religion and politics, psychology and culture, and history and current events. It is an indispensable guide to the depth and power of the Shia–Sunni split.

Table of contents

*Includes pictures *Discusses the political and religious history of both main branches of Islam *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading "Our followers are of three kinds, one who follows us but depends on others, one who is like a glass involved in his own reflections, but the best are those who are like gold, the more they suffer the more they shine." - Muhammad al-Baqir Different branches of the same religion are the exception more than the rule, and they have had a profound impact upon history. The schism between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches influenced relationships between nations across Europe, and religious intolerance based on different Christian faiths led to persecution and outright violence across the continent for centuries. The Protestant Reformation split Christianity further, and the results culminated in the incredibly destructive Thirty Years' War in the 17th century. Today, the most important religious split is between the Sunnis and the Shias (Shiites) within Islam. Unlike divisions in other faiths - between Conservative and Orthodox Jews or Catholic and Protestant Christians - the split between the Sunnis and Shia has existed almost as long as the faith itself, and it quickly emerged out of tensions created by the political crisis after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. In a sense, what are now two different forms of Islam essentially started as political factions within the unified body of Muslim believers. Over the past few centuries, Christians have mostly been able to live alongside their co-religionists, but the split between the Sunnis and Shias is still so pronounced that many adherents of each branch view each other with disdain if not as outright apostates or non-believers. The religious divide is perhaps the most important fault line in the turbulent Middle East today, with Sunni nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia at odds with Shiite nations like Iran. At lower levels, non-state groups like the Islamic State and Hezbollah are fighting each other in ways that cross state lines in places like Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. Although it is technically a split in religion, the divide has had substantial global ramifications for decades, and there seems to be no end in sight. The History of the Sunni and Shia Split traces the origins of the split and the historic effects of the main divide within Islam. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the history of the Sunnis and Shias like never before, in no time at all.