Some youth who do not have bad intentions, believe that we now need to speak the language of the day, when the truth is that the words of Imam Hussain (as) are the words of the..
Read More »Answering the Jurisprudential-Theological Doubts of Mourning
Even in the Sunnī sources there are permissible for crying. Where is this order followed in these Sunnī circles? Only a dry Wahhabī tendency has such views and problems, not the majority of Sunnīs whose proofs are....
Read More »Shi’i Narratives of Karbala and Christian Rites of Penance: Michel Foucault and the Culture of the Iranian Revolution, 1978-1979
In 1978-79, in the course of a massive urban revolution with several million participants, the Iranian people toppled the government of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941-79), who had pursued an...
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 »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 »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 »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 »The Effects and Consequences of the Ashura Revolt according to Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi
There is hope that in the world of today, the oppressed nations will take lesson from the story of Karbala and rise up, crushing their oppressors once and for all....
Read More »Challenges Surrounding Commemorating the Tragedy of Imam Hussain (as)
The ceremonies that recall the tragedy of Imam Hussain (p) and his family are held communally, as mosques, Islamic centers, and homes are filled with incredible intensity and zeal—a practice that has historical roots and....
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