This documentary explores the early life of Hussain ibn Ali, the moral and political struggle he faced against Yazid, the tragic events of Ashura as well as the aftermath and Hussain's legacy 13 centuries later....
Read More »Article: Twelver Shia in Edinburgh: Marking Muharram, Mourning Husayn
In light of the relative dearth of scholarship on the Shia in Scotland and of their religious spaces, this article focuses on an annual ritual procession emerging out of a Twelver Shia imambargah in Edinburgh, Scotland, which situates it both within a...
Read More »The Women of Karbala: Ritual Performance and Symbolic: Discourses in Modern Shi‘i Islam
This book deals with the minority group called Shiʻis, which today make up approximately fifteen percent of Muslims. While Iran has the single largest concentration of Shi is, our analysis will include Shiʻi communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, and the...
Read More »Article: Dating Versions of the Karbalāʾ Story
In this paper, the writer will discuss the relative date of two important versions of the Karbala story related by Ṭabarī: one, relatively short and lacking in detail, is ascribed to Imam al-Bāqir (d. 114/732); the other, much longer and more detailed, is compiled by...
Read More »Book: Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World
Avoiding the traps of sensational political exposes and specialized scholarly Orientalism, Carl Ernst introduces readers to the profound spiritual resources of Islam while clarifying diversity and debate within the...
Read More »Fatwas of Ayatollah Sistani and Ayatollah Khamenei on Imam Hussain’s Mourning
As we observe the month of Muharram, and commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (as), the believers are to be reminded about the opinion of the Jurist (Marja) on the topic of...
Read More »Article: The Image of Ḥusayn Ibn ‘Alī in “Maqātil” Literature
This research concerns the image of Husayn ibn 'All as reflected in the maqatil al-Husayn. Husayn's dramatic death inspired many Shiite poets, and from the second century of the Hijra (8th century AD), historians began to...
Read More »Pakistan’s Shia Muslims Face Double Threat: Suicide Attack and Online Hate Speech
The right to practice religion is a universal one that extends to every inhabitant of the world. In Pakistan, however, this right is frequently violated, as Shia face suicide attack and online hate speech on a...
Read More »Significance of the Months of Muharram and Safar in Islam
The months of Muharram and Safar offer the yearly opportunity to commemorate the martyrdom of al‑Husayn ibn `Ali (A), the grandson of the Prophet (S) and the third Imam of the Shiite Muslims, at Karbala' on the tenth of Muharram in the year 61....
Read More »Book: Monotheism and Human Nature
The main question of this Element is how the existence, supremacy, and uniqueness of an almighty and immaterial God bear on our own nature...
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