History of Shi'i Islam / Farhad Daftary.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daftary, Farhad, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islam.

Religion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 315 pages) : genealogical tables

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

Summary:

Shiʻi Muslims have played a crucial role, proportionally greater than their relative size, in furthering the civilizational achievements of Islam. Indeed, the Shiʻi scholars and literati of various branches and regions, including scientists, philosophers, theologians, jurists and poets, have made seminal contributions to Islamic thought and culture. There have also been numerous Shiʻi dynasties, families or individual rulers who patronized scholars, poets and artists as well as various institutions of learning in Islam. In spite of its significance, however, Shiʻi Islam has received little scholarly attention in the West, and when it has been discussed, whether in general or in terms of some of its subdivisions, it has normally been treated marginally as a 'sect' or a 'heterodoxy'. Although some progress has been made in certain areas of Shiʻi studies in recent decades, it is a fact that Shiʻi communities of all traditions continue to be variously misunderstood and misrepresented, not only by the Sunni Muslims but by non-Muslims as well. The present book draws on the scattered findings of modern scholarship in the field, attempting to explain the formative era of Shiʻi Islam, when a multitude of Muslim groups and schools of thought were elaborating their doctrinal positions. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the history of the Ithnaʻasharis, or Twelvers, the Ismailis, the Zaydis and the Nusayris (now more commonly known in Syria as the ʻAlawis), the four communities that account for almost the entirety of the Shiʻi Muslim population of the world (ca. 200 million). The result is a comprehensive survey of Shiʻi Islam that will serve as an accessible work of reference for academics in both Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, as well as the broader field of the History of Religions, and also more general, non-specialist readers.

Contents:

1. Introduction: Progress in the Study of Shiʻi Islam. Diversity in Early Islam

Medieval Sunni Perceptions

Medieval European Perceptions

Orientalist Perspectives

Modern Scholarship on Shiʻi Islam. 2. The Origins and Early History of Shiʻi Islam. Origins of Shiʻi Islam

The Early Shiʻa

The Kaysaniyya

The Ghulat

The Early Imamiyya

The Imami Shiʻi Doctrine of the Imamate. 3. The Ithnaʻasharis or Twelvers. The Later Twelver Imams and the Hidden Mahdi

From the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam to the Mongol Invasions

From Nasir al-Din al-Tusi to the Advent of the Safawids

From the Safawids to Early Modern Times

From around 1215/1800 to the Present. 4. The Ismailis. The Early Ismailis

The Fatimid Phase in Ismaili History

The Tayyibi Ismailis: The Yamani and Indian Phases

The Nizari Ismailis: The Alamut Phase

Later Developments in Nizari Ismaili History

The Anjudan revival

The modern period. 5. The Zaydis. The Early Zaydis

The Zaydis of the Caspian Region in Persia

The Zaydis of Yaman. 6. The Nusayris or 'Alawis. Nusayri Studies

History of the Nusayris

The Nusayri-ʻAlawi Doctrines.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.