Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Khomeini and Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī: Revisiting the Origins of the “Guardianship of the Jurisconsult” (wilāyat al-faqīh)

Abstract This article revisits the origins of Khomeini’s concept of the guardianship of the jurisconsult ( wilāyat al-faqīh ) and argues that his own formulation of this concept needs to be embedded in debates around the clerical mandate in the state among clerical activists in Iraq he encountered during his exile.

Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam

Guest Editor: Cameron Zargar, University of Exeter The Journal of the Contemporary Study of Islam invites articles for a special issue related to the theme of ” Marja’iyya and Society.” We encourage submissions that engage with how the marāji”s fatwas help shape and are shaped by Twelver Shī’ī communities.

The Struggle for the Soul of Twelver Shiʿism in Qajar Iran

Abstract From the 1770s onwards, there was a struggle for the soul of Shiʿism in Iran – a struggle over what the true nature of religion should be. On one side was the dominant Uṣūlī religious hierarchy, focused on the Shariʿa and asserting that its rationalist methodology was the path to true knowledge.

From Attachment to a Sacred Figure to Loyalty to a Sacred Route: The Walking Pilgrimage of Arbaeen

Around 20 million Shia pilgrims shape one of the world’s biggest pilgrimages in Iraq, called “Arbaeen,” many of whom walk long distances to Karbala city as a part of the ritual every year.

Extended Call for Papers: “The Regulation of Purity (Ṭahāra) and Impurity (Najāsāt) in Islam: Practical, Socio-Ethical and Theological Implications” – Al-Mahdi Institute

In light of the current circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI) has decided to virtually host its 8th Annual Contemporary Fiqhī Issues Workshop. As such, AMI has elected to extend the deadline, for the submission of abstracts, to Monday …

Shi’i clerical networks and the transnational contest over …: Ingenta Connect

This article explores the transnational contest over sacred authority in contemporary Shi’i Islam as it plays out between contemporary maraji’ (sources of emulation) and the Iranian Supreme Leader, and in practice between their respective networks.

The Impact of the Black Death on Iranian Trade (1340s-1450s A.D.)

The Great Plague, generally known as the Black Death, swept many parts of the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe in the mid-14th century repeatedly for decades and inflicted widespread demographical, social and economic consequences.

“All the City’s Courtesans: A Now-Lost Safavid Pavilion and Its Figural Tile Panels”: Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 54 (2019) | MetPublications | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum Journal is issued annually and publishes original research on works of art in the Museum’s collection. Highlights of volume 54 include conservators’ discoveries of Renaissance sculptor Andrea della Robbia’s workshop techniques; a new reading of lavishly dressed women on tile panels from 17th-century Iran; and John Singer Sargent’s decisive role in choosing his socialite sitters’ fashionable attire.

Legalised Pedigrees: Sayyids and Shiʽi Islam in Pakistan | Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society | Cambridge Core

Legalised Pedigrees: Sayyids and Shiʽi Islam in Pakistan – SIMON WOLFGANG FUCHS

Beyond structure and agency: Rethinking political identities in Iraq after 2003

This paper examines ethno‐symbolic and instrumental explanations of ethnic and sectarian identities placed within the constructivist turn in the study of political identity, both in the abstract and how they have been deployed to explain the increasing contemporary influence of ethnosectarian mobilisation in Iraq and the wider Middle East.