The Conceptualization of Guardianship in Iranian Intellectual History (1800-1989): Reading Ibn ʿArabī’s Theory of Wilāya in the Shīʿa World

This book is a study of the concept of wilāya and its developments among Shīʿī scholars from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Leila Chamankhah addresses a number of issues by delving into the conceptualizations of wilāya through the examination and interpretation of key texts.

She focuses on the influence of ibn ʿArabī’s mysticism, with regard to the conception of wilāya, on his Shīʿa successors and expositors in later centuries. She also discusses the development and transformation of the conception of wilāya over two hundred years, from the esoteric school of Shaykhīsm to the politicization of wilāya in the theory of wilāyat al-faqīh.

 

This ground-breaking series, edited by one of the most influential scholars of Islamic law, presents a cumulative and progressive set of original studies that substantially raise the bar for rigorous scholarship in the field of Islamic Studies. By relying on original sources and challenging common scholarly stereotypes and inherited wisdoms, the volumes of the series attest to the exacting and demanding methodological and pedagogical standards necessary for contemporary studies of Islam.
These volumes are chosen not only for their disciplined methodology, exhaustive research, or academic authoritativeness, but for their ability to make critical interventions in the process of understanding the world of Islam as it was, is, and is likely to become. They make central and even pivotal contributions to understanding the experience of the lived and living Islam, and the ways that this rich and creative Islamic tradition has been created and uncreated, or constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. In short, the volumes of this series are chosen for their great relevance to the many realities that shaped the ways that Muslims understand, represent, and practice their religion, and ultimately, to understanding the worlds that Muslims helped to shape, and in turn, the worlds that helped shaped Muslims.

About the Author

Leila Chamankhah is a dual PhD in Islamic studies (with specialization inShia intellectual history) and political science (with specialization in Iranian studies). Her areas of interest are Islamic studies, Shia intellectual history, Iranian Studies and Middle Eastern politics.

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Conceptualization of Guardianship in Iranian Intellectual History (1800-1989): Reading Ibn ʿArabī’s Theory of Wilāya in the Shīʿa World

Author(s): Leila Chamankhah

Publisher: ‎ ‎Palgrave Macmillan

Length: 301 pages

ISBN: 978-3030226916

Pub. Date: September 18, 2019

The Conceptualization of Guardianship in Iranian Intellectual History