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Shiis perform a number of rituals on the first 10 days of the Islamic month of Muḥarram to mourn the killing of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Husayn, in Karbala in southern Iraq in 680CE. Among the most controversial rituals is the practice of blood-letting self-flagellation (taṭbīr). This article provides a comprehensive discussion of debates around this ritual among prominent Shii cleric

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. Focus will be on the so-called Shīrāzī network around the brothers Muhammad (1928-2001), Hasan

Since the 1980s, the Borough of Brent, in north-west London, has been a major global hub of transnational Twelver Shiism. With the influx of Iraqi refugees, many clerical leaders of Twelver Shia Islam established their European headquarters in Brent, and, in addition to Damascus and Tehran, London became a major centre of Iraqi diaspora politics during Saddam Hussein’s regime. The transnational ne

Academic scholarship on Shia Muslim minorities in the West has described them as ‘a minority within a minority’ (Sachedina 1994: 3) or as ‘the other within the other’ (Takim 2009: 143), referring to a certain sense of double-marginalization of Shia Muslims in non-Muslim societal contexts. They need to undertake particular efforts to maintain both an Islamic as well as particular Shia identity in t

Islam is a scriptural religion par excellence whose primary reference point is the Quran – according to the Islamic tradition, the collection of revelations that Muhammad received during his prophetic career from around 610 CE until his death in 632 CE. The Quran is full of references and allusions to particular figures, events and practices without providing further detail, assuming that the read

Since 9/11, the interest in Muslims in Europe has increased significantly. There has been much public debate and academic research focused on Muslims living in larger Western European countries like Britain, France or Germany, but little is known of Muslims in Ireland. This book fills this gap, providing a complete study of this unexplored Muslim presence, from the arrival of the first Muslim resi

This article serves as an introduction to the special issue on Islam in the Republic of Ireland. The introduction gives a brief overview of previous studies on Islam and Muslims in Ireland and shows their links with the studies published in this issue. Second, it presents in a concise manner the historical development of Islam in Ireland with respect to the increasing numbers of Muslims. As Irelan

Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905) was one of the key thinkers and reformers of modern Islam who has influenced both liberal and fundamentalist Muslims today. 'Abdul-Baha (1844-1921) was the son of Baha'ullah (1817-1892), the founder of the Baha'i Faith; a new religion which began as a messianic movement in Shii Islam, before it departed from Islam. Oliver Scharbrodt offers an innovative and radically ne

This article questions certain assumptions on the intellectual history of modern Islam and on one of the most influential modern reform movements, the Salafiyya. By looking at the Sufi origins of one of the main Salafi reformers, it relativizes the notion of an inherent anti-Sufism of this reform movement. The article examines how Muhammad 'Abduh (1849-1905), the famous Egyptian reformer, conver

Spurred by the degraded forest in the 2022 Chongli Winter Olympic Games area, the Chinese government initiated a national program for mountain forest rehabilitation. We developed a method to assess the quality of mountain forests using an index system composed of stand structure, site conditions, and landscape aesthetics at three criteria levels. The method involves index weights determined by the

In this chapter, I develop an ethnographic understanding of khidma (Arabic for serving), exploring the effect serving Ahl al-Bayt (Family of Prophet Mohammed) has on devotees with a particular focus on materiality. More specifically, I will trace the process of khidma through art and show how art is utilized in religious service, which highlights the centrality of materiality in contemporary Shii

This position paper examines new forms of painted artworks made by pious Shi`a female artists in Kuwait, which treat imagery and experience known as Karamah (sing.) and Karamat (pl.), commonly understood as ‘miracle'. I examine current anthropological considerations of ‘miracle' and I find that the most suitable translation of the Arabic word Karamah may be ‘marvel', rather than ‘miracle', althoug