One of the doubts often raised by skeptics in connection with the event of Karbala is about the Shi‘ah belief that every imam is prescient so has knowledge of things that are hidden from most...
Read More »Imam Sajjad (as) in the Court of Ibn Ziyad
When Ibn Ziyad ordered that Ali ibn Husayn should be killed, Lady Zaynab said: "O son of Ziyad! If you want to kill him kill me along with him". The Imam, however, said: "Dear aunt! Be calm, I shall give him a reply myself". Then he said: "O son of Ziyad! Do you threaten to kill me? Don't you know that being killed is...
Read More »Imam Hussain (A.S) Tried His Best to Avoid Direct Conflict
The entire course of events that led to the battle of Karbala shows that at each and every step Imam Hussain (A.S) tried his best to avoid direct conflict and consequent bloodshed...
Read More »Understanding Karbala: Abridged and Adapted from the Original Work of The Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Saeed al-Hakeem
Based on the work of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Saeed al-Hakeem, this book looks at the driving factors behind Imam Hussain’s journey...
Read More »Book: The Martyrs of Karbala: Shiʻi Symbols and Rituals in Modern Iran
This innovative study examines patterns of change in Shi'i symbols and rituals over the past two centuries to reveal how modernization has influenced the societal, political, and religious culture of...
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: 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....
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