The reason behind the occultation of the Imam of the Age is steeped in divine mystery; and it is possible that we will never be able to fathom it in all its profundity....
Read More »Ayatollah Sistani Offers Condolence over Demise of Ayatollah Alavi Gurgani
Iraqi-based Shia marja’ Grand Ayatollah Seyed Ali Sistani in a statement has offered his condolences over the passing of Iranian Shia cleric, Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Ali....
Read More »Ḥadīth, the Shī‘a Cultural Memory
One of the specialized Ḥadīth domains in the recent orientalist studies is the investigation of the reasons and factors of the appearance and advent of the Shī‘a Ḥadīths and the reason behind the Shī‘a followers and scholars in...
Read More »The Origins of the Shī’a: Identity, Ritual, and Sacred Space in Eighth-Century Kūfa
This book explores the birth and development of Shī'i identity. Through a critical analysis of legal texts, whose provenance has only recently been confirmed, the study shows....
Read More »Twelver Shī‘ism and the Problem of the Hidden Imām
The disappearance of the twelfth Imām in 874 plunged the Twelvers (then Imāmīs) into a prolonged state of crisis.....
Read More »The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam
The purpose of this study is twofold. Drawing on the sociology of Max Weber, it purports to offer a new interpretive perspective for the analysis of the role of religion in political action and societal change in...
Read More »Ayatollah Khamenei’s Message of Condolence on the Demise of Ayatollah Alawi Gurgani
On the occasion of the demise of the pious scholar, Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Ali Alawi Gurgani, Ayatollah Khamenei issued a message of condolence....
Read More »The Literary-Religious Tradition among 7th/13th Century Yemenī Zaydīs: The Formation of the Imām al-Mahdī li-Dīn Allāh Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim (d. 656/1258)
The sīra of the Imām al-Mahdī li-Dīn Allāh Abū Ṭayr Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn (d. 656/1258) was composed by Sharaf al-Dīn Yaḥyā b. al-Qāsim al-Ḥamzī (d. 677/1278-9). The primary significance of the section of...
Read More »The Origins and Early Development of Shi’a Islam
This book reconstructs the development of an Islamic ideal in the form of Shi'ism It traces the Shi'a response to this ideal, from its origins among a group of the Prophet's Companions until the...
Read More »Late Ayatollah Alawi Gurgani’s View on Takfirism
One should not persist in taking the road of fomenting division and creating an atmosphere of hostility. This is only to the benefit of international supremacism and Zionism. In...
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