Extremist Shiites

Extremist Shiites
Author: Matti Moosa
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 614
Release: 1988-02-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780815624110
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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.

Visualizing Sufism

Visualizing Sufism
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2023-01-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004516093
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Visualizing Sufism approaches the question of the presence of graphic materials in Islamic mystical literature from a broad and comprehensive perspective. To this goal, an international group of specialists in the field worked on largely manuscript and unpublished sources with the aim of analyzing the use of visual elements in the works of some key figures of Islamic mysticism—Ibn al-ʿArabī, Aḥmad al-Būnī, Saʿd al-Dīn Ḥamūyeh, al-Shaʿrānī—, and in intellectual networks—Ḥurūfiyya and Bektashiyya, Shīrīn Maghribī and his connections. The result is the most extensive collection of specimens of Sufi graphic materials ever brought together and discussed in a single volume. By virtue of the object of study investigated in the chapters of this book, in addition to the history of Sufism, questions are raised that touch upon numerous areas in the field of Islamic Studies, including intellectual history, codicology, and art history. Contributors Elizabeth R. Alexandrin, Noah Gardiner, Ali Karjoo-Ravary, Evyn Kropf, Giovanni Maria Martini, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, and Sophie Tyser.

Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism

Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism
Author: Abbas Amanat
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2009-02-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 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.

Accusations of Unbelief in Islam

Accusations of Unbelief in Islam
Author: Camilla Adang
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 552
Release: 2015-10-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004307834
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The present volume—the first of its kind—deals with takfīr: accusing one ́s opponents of unbelief (kufr). Originating in the first decades of Islam, this practice has been applied intermittently ever since. The nineteen studies included here deal with cases, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world, of individuals or groups that used the instrument of takfīr to brand their opponents—either persons, groups or even institutions—as unbelievers who should be condemned, anathematized or even persecuted. Each case presented is placed in its sociopolitical and religious context. Together the contributions show the multifariousness that has always characterized Islam and the various ways in which Muslims either sought to suppress or to come to terms with this diversity. With contributions by: Roswitha Badry, Sonja Brentjes, Brian J. Didier, Michael Ebstein, Simeon Evstatiev, Ersilia Francesca, Robert Gleave, Steven Judd, István T. Kristó-Nagy, Göran Larsson, Amalia Levanoni, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Hossein Modarressi, Justyna Nedza, Intisar A. Rabb, Sajjad Rizvi, Daniel de Smet, Zoltan Szombathy, Joas Wagemakers.

Esoteric Transfers and Constructions

Esoteric Transfers and Constructions
Author: Mark Sedgwick
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2021-04-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3030617882
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Similarities between esoteric and mystical currents in different religious traditions have long interested scholars. This book takes a new look at the relationship between such currents. It advances a discussion that started with the search for religious essences, archetypes, and universals, from William James to Eranos. The universal categories that resulted from that search were later criticized as essentialist constructions, and questioned by deconstructionists. An alternative explanation was advanced by diffusionists: that there were transfers between different traditions. This book presents empirical case studies of such constructions, and of transfers between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the premodern period, and Judaism, Christianity, and Western esotericism in the modern period. It shows that there were indeed transfers that can be clearly documented, and that there were also indeed constructions, often very imaginative. It also shows that there were many cases that were neither transfers nor constructions, but a mixture of the two.