Download or read book The Divine Guide in Early Shi ism written by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2016-03-22 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Imam, the Divine Guide, is the central point around which the Shi'ite religion turns. The power of Shi'ism comes from the actions of the Imam. This title is reserved exclusively for the sucessors of the prophets in their mission. The author shows that from the beginning of Shi'ite Islam until the tenth century, the Imam was primarily a master of knowledge with supernatural powers, not a jurist theologian. The Imam is the threshold through which God and the creatures communicate. He is thus a cosmic necessity, the key and the center of the universal economy of the sacred. The author presents Shi'ism as a religion founded on double dimensions where the role of the leader remains constantly central: perpetual initiation into divine secrets and continued confrontation with anti-initiation forces. Without esotericism, exotericism loses its meaning. Early Imamism is an esoteric doctrine. Historically, then, at the beginning of esotericism in Islam, we find an initiatory, mystical, and occultist doctrine. This is the first book to systematically explore the immense literature attributed to the Imams themselves in order to recover the authentic original vision. It restores an essential source of esotericism in the world of Islam.
Download or read book The Spirituality of Shi i Islam written by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second largest branch of Islam, with between 130 and 190 million adherents across the globe, Shi'i Islam is becoming an increasingly significant force in contemporary politics, especially in the Middle East. This makes an informed understanding of its fundamental spiritual beliefs and practices both necessary and timely. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi is one of the most distinguished scholars of Shi'i history and theology, and in this volume he offers a wide-ranging and engaging survey of the core texts of Shi'i Islam. Examining in turn the origins and later developments of Shi'i spirituality, t.
Download or read book The Spirituality of Shi i Islam written by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-31 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second largest branch of Islam, with between 130 and 190 million adherents across the globe, Shi'i Islam is becoming an increasingly significant force in contemporary politics, especially in the Middle East. This makes an informed understanding of its fundamental spiritual beliefs and practices both necessary and timely. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi is one of the most distinguished scholars of Shi'i history and theology, and in this volume he offers a wide-ranging and engaging survey of the core texts of Shi'i Islam. Examining in turn the origins and later developments of Shi'i spirituality, the author reveals the profoundly esoteric nature of the beliefs which accrued to the figures of the early Imams, and which became associated with their interaction between the material and spiritual worlds. Many of these beliefs have remained much misunderstood even within the wider Muslim world. Furthermore, Western scholarship has tended to follow the lead of the earlier orientalists and critics, viewing Shi'i teachings as marginal. In this study the author shows, by contrast, how central and creative the very nature of spirituality was to the development of Shi'i Islam, as well as to classical Muslim civilisation as a whole. In this comprehensive treatment, the esoteric nature of Shi'i spirituality emerges as an essential phenomenon for understanding Shi'i Islam.
Download or read book Roman Catholics and Shi i Muslims written by James A. Bill and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2002-05-09 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: i" --> This timely work explores two influential religious traditions that might seem to have little in common: Twelver Shi'i Islam and Roman Catholicism. With the worldwide rise of religious fundamentalism, it is imperative that religious movements such as Christianity and Islam begin working harder to understand one another's history and beliefs. Myths and misunderstandings continue to prevail, and observers tend to focus on the differences between the two faith systems. Without denying these differences, the authors of this book reveal a number of interesting linkages between Roman Catholicism and Twelver Shi'ism. They compare the histories of the two faiths, consider parallels between important figures in each, and highlight the doctrinal, structural, and sociopolitical similarities they share. Balanced in tone and carefully researched, the book helps explain the essence of both traditions while enriching our understanding of each. There are an estimated 140 million Twelver Shi'is in the world today. The highest percentages live in Persian Gulf countries, including Iran and Iraq, and in Azerbaijan, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. Sizable numbers also inhabit Pakistan, India, and Turkey. The largest Christian denomination, Roman Catholicism is present across the globe, though its population of more than one billion people is concentrated in North and South America and in Europe.
Download or read book Shi ite Islam written by Yann Richard and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 1995-02-27 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The return of Ayatollah Khomeyni to power and the installation of a Shi'i theocracy in Iran in 1979 brought the revolutionary aspects of Shi'ite Islam to the Western centre stage. Fuelled by pictures of bloodshed and atrocities, images of violence linked to Shia states have left their mark on Western perceptions. Shi'ism has today become synonymous with militancy and violence - Hezbollah, Islamic Jehad, hostage taking... Yet, the media has taken merely one aspect of this important phenomenon: namely a contempory Shi'ism firmly anchored in militancy. Yann Richard's careful narrative counters naive explanation, offering both a portrait of the spiritual and mystical faith which explains the deep history and mythology of Shi'ism up to the present. Islam is no more an Arab religion than Chritianity is a uniquely Western religion - not confined to the Arab world, the largest number of Muslims today are found in Asia, Indonesia, and the Indo-Pakistan peninsula, whilst the Iranian nation today represents the great centre of Shi'ite Islam. Not only does the narrative chart the spread of Shi'ite influence over the Imanite communities, it uncovers the fundamental beliefs of Shi'ite identity on which a polity has been built. Richard examines both the development of Shi'i as theology and as a cultural history. This book will stand the test of time to become a seminal text in Middle Eastern history and the study of world religions.
Download or read book Reason Esotericism and Authority in Shi i Islam written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-08-16 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume advances the critical study of exegetical, doctrinal, and political authority in Shiʿi Islam. It presents new frameworks for interpreting the diverse modes of rationality and esotericism in Shiʿism and the socio-epistemic values they represent within Muslim discourse.
Download or read book Monks and Muslims written by Mohammad A. Shomali and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Christians and Muslims are to live in peace, encouraging one another to grow in holiness and working together for the good of all God's creation, they must move beyond politicized and often negative images of one another. Monastic/Muslim dialogue-issuing from friendship and focused on revelation, prayer, and witness-is an important component in this effort. Indeed, it is essential. Monastic Interreligious Dialogue is a commission of the Benedictine Confederation that promotes and coordinates dialogue between Catholic monastic men and women and spiritual practitioners of other religious traditions. The organization invited Iranian Shi'a Muslims and Christian monastics to share their faith in a revealing God, their understanding and practice of prayer, and their desire to be witnesses to the world of divine mercy and justice. This book invites readers to listen in and learn from their conversation.
Download or read book Shi ism written by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1988-08-29 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an anthology of the most significant writing on the doctrinal, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of Shicism. The works included here foster an interpretive understanding of Shicism in its dogmatic and cognitive aspects. The intent of this book is to balance the attention that has been focused on the political aspect of Shicism. Shicism is often seen, not only as an essentially political phenomenon, but as a creed of violence. Understanding Shicism in its total reality will encourage a more balanced approach to issues which are viewed mostly politically. While not denying the importance of political manifestations, this book offers an understanding of the often neglected religious beliefs and spiritual practices of this world community.
Download or read book The Silent Qur an and the Speaking Qur an written by Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two major events occurred in the early centuries of Islam that determined its historical and spiritual development in the centuries that followed: the formation of the sacred scriptures, namely the Qur'an and the Hadith, and the chronic violence that surrounded the succession of the Prophet, manifesting in repression, revolution, massacre, and civil war. This is the first book to evaluate the writing of Islam's major scriptural sources within the context of these bloody, brutal conflicts. Conducting a philological and historical study of little-known though significant ancient texts, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi rebuilds a Shi'ite understanding of Islam's early history and the genesis of its holy scriptures. At the same time, he proposes a fresh interpretative framework and a new data set for theorizing the early history of Islam, isolating the contradictions between Shi'ite and Sunni sources and their contribution to the tensions that rile these groups today.
Download or read book Shi i Islam in Iranian Cinema written by Nacim Pak-Shiraz and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2018-06-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years there has been a remarkable surge in Iranian films expressing contentious issues which would otherwise be very difficult to discuss publicly inside the Islamic Republic of Iran - such as the role of clergy in Iranian society. Nacim Pak-Shiraz here highlights how many Iranian film directors concern themselves with the content of the religious and historical narratives of culture and society, sparking debate about the medium's compatibility or incongruity with religion and spirituality. She explores the various ways that Shi'i discourse emerges on screen, and offers groundbreaking insights into both the role of film in Iranian culture and society, and how it has become a medium for exploring what it means to be Iranian and Muslim after thirty years of Islamic rule. This is invaluable reading students and scholars of Film Studies and contemporary Iranian cinema, but also of the culture and identity of Iran more widely.
Download or read book Religious Performance in Contemporary Islam written by Vernon James Schubel and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Islamic Spirituality written by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published 1987. The first part of the volume is concerned with "The Roots of the Islamic Tradition and Spirituality". These are seen to include the Qu’ran as the central theophany of Islam, the Prophet who received the word of God and made it known to mankind and the rites of Islam. The second part examines the divisions of the Islamic community with their distinctive pieties and emphases: Sunnism and Shi’ism and female spirituality. Part III is devoted to Sufism – its nature and origin, its early development, its various spiritual practices and its science of the soul.
Download or read book The Iranian Metaphysicals written by Alireza Doostdar and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do the occult sciences, séances with the souls of the dead, and appeals to saintly powers have to do with rationality? Since the late nineteenth century, modernizing intellectuals, religious leaders, and statesmen in Iran have attempted to curtail many such practices as "superstitious," instead encouraging the development of rational religious sensibilities and dispositions. However, far from diminishing the diverse methods through which Iranians engage with the immaterial realm, these rationalizing processes have multiplied the possibilities for metaphysical experimentation. The Iranian Metaphysicals examines these experiments and their transformations over the past century. Drawing on years of ethnographic and archival research, Alireza Doostdar shows that metaphysical experimentation lies at the center of some of the most influential intellectual and religious movements in modern Iran. These forms of exploration have not only produced a plurality of rational orientations toward metaphysical phenomena but have also fundamentally shaped what is understood as orthodox Shi‘i Islam, including the forms of Islamic rationality at the heart of projects for building and sustaining an Islamic Republic. Delving into frequently neglected aspects of Iranian spirituality, politics, and intellectual inquiry, The Iranian Metaphysicals challenges widely held assumptions about Islam, rationality, and the relationship between science and religion.
Download or read book Spirituality of the Shi ism and Other Discourses written by Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn At-tabataba'i and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-11-11 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text presents a series of twenty-one discourses related to the spirituality of Shi'ism and various key interesting topics in Islam.This book is one of the many Islamic publications distributed by Ahlulbayt Organization throughout the world in different languages with the aim of conveying the message of Islam to the people of the world. Ahlulbayt Organization (www.shia.es) is a registered Organization that operates and is sustained through collaborative efforts of volunteers in many countries around the world, and it welcomes your involvement and support. Its objectives are numerous, yet its main goal is to spread the truth about the Islamic faith in general and the Shi`a School of Thought in particular due to the latter being misrepresented, misunderstood and its tenets often assaulted by many ignorant folks, Muslims and non-Muslims. Organization's purpose is to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge through a global medium, the Internet, to locations where such resources are not commonly or easily accessible or are resented, resisted and fought! In addition, For a complete list of our published books please refer to our website (www.shia.es) or send us an email to [email protected]
Download or read book Shi ism Resistance And Revolution written by Martin Kramer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent revival of interest in the Muslim world has generated numerous studies of modern Islam, most of them focusing on the Sunni majority. Shi'ism, an often stigmatized minority branch of Islam, has been discussed mainly in connection with Iran. Yet Shi'i movements have been extraordinarily effective in creating political strategies that have
Download or read book Partners of Zaynab written by Diane D’Souza and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do pious Shia Muslim women nurture and sustain their religious lives? How do their experiences and beliefs differ from or overlap with those of men? What do gender-based religious roles and interactions reveal about the Shia Muslim faith? In Partners of Zaynab, Diane D'Souza presents a rich ethnography of urban Shia women in India, exploring women's devotional lives through the lens of religious narrative, sacred space, ritual performance, leadership, and iconic symbols. Religious scholars have tended to devalue women's religious expressions, confining them to the periphery of a male-centered ritual world. This viewpoint often assumes that women's ritual behaviors are the unsophisticated product of limited education and experience and even a less developed female nature. By illuminating vibrant female narratives within Shia religious teachings, the fascinating history of a shrine led by women, the contemporary lives of dynamic female preachers, and women's popular prayers and rituals of petition, Partners of Zaynab demonstrates that the religious lives of women are not a flawed approximation of male-defined norms and behaviors, but a vigorous, authentic affirmation of faith within the religious mainstream. D'Souza questions the distinction between normative and popular religious behavior, arguing that such a categorization not only isolates and devalues female ritual expressions, but also weakens our understanding of religion as a whole. Partners of Zaynab offers a compelling glimpse of Muslim faith and practice and a more complete understanding of the interplay of gender within Shia Islam.
Download or read book In Praise of the Few Studies in Shi i Thought and History written by Etan Kohlberg and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-05-06 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Praise of the Few: Studies in Shiʿi Thought and History is a selection of Etan Kohlberg’s research on Shiʿi Islam over a period of fifty years. It includes previously published articles, revised dissertation chapters, and a full bibliography of the author’s work. Divided into two parts, the collection begins with chapters from Kohlberg’s Oxford doctoral dissertation (1971) and related articles that investigate Sunni and Shiʿi views on the Prophet’s Companions and debates concerning the extent of their authority as sources of religious knowledge. Part Two traces the doctrinal and historical developments pertaining to various dimensions of Imāmī Shiʿi intellectual tradition such as theology, hadith, law, jurisprudence, and exegesis.
