‘Ottoman Archival Documents on the Shrines of Karbala, Najaf, and the Hejaz (1660s-1720s): Endowment Wars, the Spoils System, and Iranian Pilgrims’
Selim Güngörürler
JESHO, 64/2021, 897-1032

This study introduces and publishes an array of Ottoman archival documents on the shrines of Ahl al-Bayt imams in Iraq, the endowments dedicated to these shrines, and the Shiite-Iranian pilgrims visiting these sites as well as the Kaaba and the shrine of Muhammad in the Hejaz. Focusing on the later seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries, it discusses the political-economic function of Islamic endowments, interconfessional contacts resulting from pilgrimage by Shiites in Sunni territory, and the potential use of Ottoman archives to enrich our knowledge on trans-Ottoman themes.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/nonsunni-muslims-in-the-late-ottoman-empire-9780755644742/?utm_campaign=NL-CT_NIPPODs_SEPT_23&utm_content=Non-Sunni%20Muslims%20in%20the%20Late%20Ottoman%20Empir&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra

The ‘Alawī Religion: An Anthology
M. Bar-Asher, A. Kofsky
Brepols, 2021
The ‘Alawī religion, known for most of its history by the name Nuṣayriyya, emerged in Iraq over a millennium ago. An esoteric, syncretistic religion with a close affinity to Shī‘ī Islam, its origins are shrouded in obscurity. Over time, beliefs and rituals deriving from paganism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity were grafted to the radical Shī‘ī substrate, giving the religion its distinctive character. Throughout their history the ‘Alawites were a persecuted religious minority, but in the 1970s they came to power in Syria and retained absolute rule until recently. There is also a significant population in Hatai Province in southern Turkey.
Arising from the authors’ long-standing interest in the ‘Alawī religion, this anthology offers for the first time a selection from the distinctive literature of the mysterious religion. The book opens with a detailed introduction setting the background for the themes it will cover: the mystery of the divinity in the ‘Alawī faith; rituals and ceremonies; calendar and festivals; the doctrine of reincarnation; initiation into the divine mysteries and the esoteric circle; and finally, the identity and self-definition of the religion’s followers vis-à-vis Islam and other religions.

‘Solidarity theologies and the (re)definition of ethnoreligious identities: the case of the Alevis of Turkey and Alawites of Syria’
N. Sandal
BJMES, 48/3 (2021)

‘The Historical Roles of Jihād in Sunnī-Shīʿī Relations’
D. Stewart,
The Journal of the Middle East and Africa Volume 12, 2021 – Issue 2

‘Legacies of Islamic Ecumenicism:
Taqrib, Shi’a-Sunni Relations, and Globalized Politics in the Middle East’
Weatherhead Center, 2021
M. Sagha, ed.
https://shiism.wcfia.harvard.edu/publications/legacies-islamic-ecumenicismtaqrib-shia-sunni-relations-and?

‘Alid loyalty or Shiʿite tendency: a comparative approach to the Alevi Buyruk texts’
R. Erdoğdu-Başaran
Middle Eastern Studies, 2021