The emergence of modern Shi'ism : Islamic reform in Iraq and Iran / Zackery M. Heern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heern, Zackery M., author.

Contributor:

Edwin B. Cole Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shīʻah.

Islam--Iran.

Islam.

Iran.

Islam--Iraq.

Islam--Middle East.

Middle East.

Iraq.

Physical Description:

xv, 220 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London, England : Oneworld, 2015.

Summary:

Scholars often locate the origins of the modern Islamic world in European colonialism or Islamic reactions to European modernity. The Emergence of Modern Shi'ism focuses instead on the rise of Islamic movements indigenous to the Middle East, which developed in direct response to the collapse and decentralization of the Islamic gunpowder empires. In other words, new Shi's, Sunni, and Sufi movements emerged as the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal, empires decentralized and disintegrated. Professor Heern specifically highlights the emergence of modern Usuli Shi'ism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Therefore, this book outlines the historical background and ideological roots of the most powerful movement in modern Shi'si history. The long-term impact of the Usuli revival was that Shi'I scholars gained unprecedented social, political, and economic power in Iran and southern Iraq. Usuli clerics claimed authority to issue binding legal judgments, which, they argued, must be observed by all Shi'is. By the early nineteenth century, Usulism became a popular, fiercely independent, transnational Islamic movement, and Usuli clerics continue to operate at the heart of social and political developments in contemporary Iraq and Iran. Thought provoking and challenging, this book examines the foundations of modern Islam, and provides fascinating insight into the region's religious and political developments both past and present. Book jacket.

Contents:

The Triumph of neo-Usulism 1

The Eighteenth-Century Moment 5

Contemporary Shi'ism and its Roots 8

Shi'i Knowledge and Authority 13

Summary of Chapters 18

Chapter 1 The Times and Places of Reform in the Modern World 21

Introduction 21

The Place of Modernity 23

The Time of Modernity 27

World Systems and Multiple Modernities 28

Creation of the Modern World 31

Tradition and Change: From Pre-Modern to Modern 33

Chapter 2 Shi'ism and the Emergence of Modern Iran 39

Introduction 39

Safavid Centralization of Iran (1501-1722) 39

Decentralization of Iran (1722-85) 48

Qajar Recentralization of Iran (1785-1925) 52

Conclusion 56

Chapter 3 Shi'ism and the Emergence of Modern Iraq 57

Introduction 57

Ottoman and Mamluk Rule in Iraq 58

Shi'ism and Arab Tribes in Southern Iraq 65

Conclusion 69

Chapter 4 Wahid Bihbihant: Shi'i Reviver and Reformer 71

Introduction 71

Reviver of the Eighteenth Century 73

Bihbihani's Early Life 75

Bihbihani in Bihbihan 76

Usuli-Akhbari Dispute in Karbala' 77

The Historical and Mythical Bihbihani 82

Conclusion: Why Usulism Prevailed 85

Chapter 5 Wahid Bihbihani's Usuli Network in Iraq and Iran 87

Introduction 87

Usuli-Qajar Alliance 88

Bihbihani's Students in Iraq 92

Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi Tabataba'i "Bahr al-'Ulum" (Najaf) 92

Sbaykb Ja 'far al-Najafi "Kashif at-Ghita'" (Najaf) 94

Mirza Muhammad Mahdi Sbahristani (Karbala') 97

Sayyid 'All Tabataba'i (Karbala') 98

Bihbihani's Students in Iran 99

Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qummi (Qum) 99

Mulla Ahmad Naraqi (Kasban) 101

Muhammad Ibrahim Kalbasi (Isfahan) 102

Muhammad Baqir Shafti (Isfahan) 103

Additional Students of Bihbihani 106"

Conclusion 107

Chapter 6 Wahid Bihbihani's Conception of Islamic Law 109

Introduction 109

Bihbihani's Legalistic Conception of Knowledge 110

Four or Five Sources of Usuli Shi'i Law? 114

1 The Qur'an 114

2 Traditions (Hadith) 115

3 Consensus (ijma') 118

4 Reason ('aql) 119

5 Transference (ta'diyya) vs. Analogy (qiyas) 122

Language (lugba) and Custom ('urf) 123

Conjecture of Mujtahids 127

Conclusion 128

Chapter 7 Founding Fathers of Modern Islam 131

Introduction 131

Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and the Wahhabi Movement 133

Ibn Idris and Neo-Sufism 134

Political Influence of the Reformers 137

Knowledge and Authority 140

Opponents of the Reformers 144

Primary Concerns of the Reformers 145

Conclusion 147.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical referencs (pages 189-211) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edwin B. Cole Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

178074496X

9781780744964

OCLC:

881440774

Publisher Number:

99964274047